Deadly Shades (Shades Series) (2 page)

He paused long enough to stare down at her. His blue eyes almost black with passion gazed down at her with such intensity, that Kennedy wanted to believe what they had could last. Shirtless, with wide shoulders, thick chest, flat belly, a pair of low-slung jeans riding his trim hips, Luke looked like he’d stepped from the mists of an erotic dream or fantasy.

“You have no idea how you tie me up,” he breathed.

Other clothing followed. Pants, underwear, bra and socks. They littered a path down the hardwood hall and into her bedroom. By the time they reached the cool cotton of her bed, they were both naked. His skin against her naked flesh was intoxicating, addicting, and impossible to keep her hands off of.

She slid back on the bed with Luke following. The mattress sank with their weight. The feel of his body from his chest to his hair roughened legs was heaven. The heat of his erection burned against her belly as her thighs cradled his hips.

He nipped at her bottom lip. She gasped and his mouth moved over her own, his tongue delving, devouring, taking. She arched, rubbing her breasts against the wall of his chest.

His hands caught in her hair, anchoring her head against the feather pillow as his kiss deepened, grew hot and demanding. Kennedy matched him with equal fervor, clinging, then clutching at his body when he entered her. She gasped, wrapping her legs around his hips, her arms around his back.

He slid into her slick heat. The way he filled her so completely fanned her hunger and drove her closer to the edge. She rocked against his body, matching each thrust again and again, grasping his back, his hips, tightening her legs around him to urge him deeper.

Her climax hit her hard, crashing into her body, ripping the breath from her lungs, gripping every muscle with mind numbing pleasure. He shuddered above her, pressing his lips against her temple, holding her like he never wanted to let her go.

Luke’s ragged breath fanned her temple. She closed her eyes, relishing the weight of his body against her, the heat of his skin molded against her own.

Just two weeks, but it had felt forever.

How could one man make her feel so alive, so unsure?

It scared the hell out of her.

Luke eased back on his elbows and stared down at her. The heat of his gaze hadn’t dissipated. They burned her with their intensity. “How can you walk away from that?”

She stiffened.

“Shit.” He touched his brow to hers, then kissed the tip of her nose and moved to the side, while keeping a leg draped over her thighs. “Forget I said anything.”

She pushed away from him. “But it’s out there. You’re always going to want something I’m unwilling to give. It’s not fair to you.”

He pulled her deeper into his arms. “I won’t hurt you.”

“You say that now.” She closed her eyes against the fear.

“I can’t guarantee anything, but I do know I love you. You’ve got to know that.”

“I know. But sometimes all the love in the world isn’t enough.” Panic started welling inside her chest, and Luke must have seen it because he smiled with a touch of sadness in his eyes and relented. “I don’t know about you, but how about we order pizza? It’s almost three and I forgot all about lunch.”

“That sounds perfect,” she returned, thankful that he was going to ignore the elephant in the bed with them. Feeling suddenly vulnerable, she rummaged in her dresser drawer, grabbed a t-shirt of Luke’s she hadn’t found the will-power to discard, stuffed her arms into the holes and yanked it down to her hips.

Luke must have taken the hint, because he grabbed his underwear and pants from out in the hall and got partially dressed. He left his shirt off which Kennedy had to admit was more than a bit of a distraction.

“Veggie or meat lovers?”

“Well, since I’ve already had a bit of meat,” she smiled suggestively, “how about we go with the veggie?”

“You got it.”

Barefoot, she followed him into the living room, watching and loving how those jeans of his hugged his butt in all the right places.

“Hey, you dropped your purse and sunglasses on the floor.” A wicked grin laced Luke’s face after he picked her sunglasses up from the ground. “You must have been sidetracked.”

“I wonder how that happened, hmm?” They must have fallen in their hurry to get naked. Her purse was also lying on its side by the door. Another sign that nothing but getting in bed with Luke had been on her mind.

He turned the glasses in his hands. “New? Very modern looking.”

Her heart missed a beat. She’d forgotten about them. “Try them on.”

He arched a brow.

“Please.” She smiled with encouragement, keeping quiet as to the reason why for a minute. She wanted an unbiased view of the glasses.

As he slipped them on, she waited tensely. For the briefest of moments, she thought he stiffened, but when he didn’t immediately say anything, she asked, “And?”

“And what?”

“What do you see?”

“You.” His lips curved into a sexy grin. “And boy are you some damn, sexy woman. That’s all I can say. Knowing you don’t have any underwear on under that big t-shirt of yours, is making me think of dragging you back into bed.”

“You need to feed me first.” Kennedy cocked her head to one side. “But do you see anything strange?”

“Strange?”

“Yes, strange.” Maybe the glasses weren’t odd after all and she’d imagined everything. She hadn’t eaten all day, so she might have started seeing things that just weren’t there. No, another part of her argued. She wasn’t going cuckoo. Even light-headed with food wouldn’t have made her see rainbows coming from people.

His brow creased. “Now that you mention it. There was a flash across the lenses, almost like that from a camera. I thought it might just have been me and being hungry. But there’s another kind of strange thing. Everything’s in color but you.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’re like a black and white movie. Actually more like various shades of gray.” He flipped them off. “Kind of interesting. Where did you get them?”

“A woman shoved them at me at the mall. I have no clue why.” Maybe because she wasn’t in color? The idea made her stomach knot. The whole thing was too bizarre. “She thought I might find them useful.”

“Strange glasses from a strange woman?” He shrugged a shoulder. “You get all kinds.” He glanced down at them, then offered them back to her. “They look pretty expensive.”

She took them from him and put the lenses on, too curious to wait to find out what color he was. “I might be an old movie, but you’re a whole lot of orange.”

His lips twitched. “Are you reading my aura?”

“Aura?”

“Yeah, the electromagnetic or energy field around a person or object. You’ve heard of them, right?”

“Yes, but they’ve never really come up in any conversations I’ve ever had. It sounds like you know something about them. It’s a little too new age for me I guess.”

“A know a bit, but nothing like my mother.” A wry smile lifted the corners of his lips. “Actually, she’s pretty into it. A lot of people get this misconception that an aura shows a person’s psychic abilities but it’s more about a person’s well-being. My mother told me at one point that she could tell if a person was about to die by the color of their aura. She actually had a web site on the subject. She’s really into astrology and all that new age stuff.”

“You never told me that.”

“You never asked.”

Kennedy snapped her mouth shut. He was right. She’d been so damn selfish, not wanting to know more about Luke. Because the more she learned about him, the more she would come to care for him. Something she never wanted.

“It would be far too weird if these things read a person’s aura.” She arched a brow. “You haven’t heard of anything that can do that, have you?”

“I know there’s some metaphysical shops out there with camera’s that read a person’s aura.”

“But have you heard of black or gray colors coming from a person?”

“Ah…” He glanced around, the humor suddenly draining from his face.  “I need to order the pizza before the both of us end up starving. Ronnie’s Parlor can take a while to get here.”

Kennedy suspected he was avoiding her question, but she let it go. While Luke got on the phone for a delivery person, she walked over to the living room window, and peered outside with the glasses till perched on her nose. She didn’t have to wait long for someone to show up by the window.

A mother and child walked along the sidewalk. Yellows radiated from a girl of about three. Brunette curls bounced against her shoulders as she skipped and clung to her mother’s hand. Kennedy didn’t have to ask to know that yellow meant joy, freedom and innocence that only a child could have. What a beautiful little girl...

Sudden pain sliced into her chest, almost as if someone jabbed a sharp and serrated knife into her heart. She sucked in a lungful of air and shut her eyes against the sudden anguish and despair. She placed a hand against the window jam, and fought back the sudden nausea. She shook off the past with vicious intensity. Now wasn’t the time to cave into the memories. Maybe when she was alone, but not now.

She blinked and focused instead on a couple just stepping out from their car. The man radiated an aura she hadn’t seen before. “Luke. You have to look at this.”

“One second.” After hanging up, he joined her by the window. “What?”

“Take a look at this couple.”

“What about them?”

“She’s blue and green with a touch of orange around her shoulders, but he’s a real muddy green. Very drab-like. What would you make of that?” She shoved the glasses at him. He had to see the same colors or she was going to start wondering if she had a screw loose inside her head.

Lips firming, he slipped them on and looked at the couple. “Yeah, I see what you mean. Maybe it’s a person’s mood. The guy looks disgruntled. Maybe envy or jealousy? I get a negative feeling from it. Her colors are more vibrant. But that doesn’t explain you. You’re never in a bad mood when I get you in the sheets.” He sent her a wicked grin. “Obviously there’s more to it.” He nodded to the couple outside “Do you know him?”

“No.” She twisted her lips. “Not sure if you remember mood rings? My older sister had one. The glasses are almost a sophisticated version of it.”

Still looking out the window, Luke murmured. “Her color seems to be fading a bit.”

“He’s probably leaching off her energy,” Kennedy mused darkly. “Maybe he’s an energy vampire.”

Luke’s brow arched above the sunglass lenses. “Or maybe the glasses are losing their power or whatever you want to call it.”

“Well, something’s strange about them.” Kennedy glanced over at her laptop on the sofa’s ottoman. “I bet if I do a quick search for auras, I’ll be able to find out the meanings of all the colors.”

“You can always talk to my mother.”

“Hmm…” She eyed him with a wry smile. “Not going to happen.”

“Why? Don’t feel like being in front of a firing squad and spilling all your secrets?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say a firing squad,” Kennedy tried to be diplomatic. In truth, of the three time’s she’d been in Melinda’s company, the woman had hit her with far too many personal questions, and if the questions hadn’t done Kennedy in, the woman’s inability to keep silent for more than a minute would have knocked her for a loop.

Kennedy plopped down on the sofa. Luke sank into the cushion beside her and set the glasses down by the laptop. It took less than a minute to connect to the internet and find a web site on auras. “There’s so many colors.” She slipped the glasses on her nose and peered at Luke. “You have green, a bit of blue, but there’s a whole lot of orange along your upper body and head.”

She scrolled down the screen “Orange is about virility, lots of energy and stamina.”

“Stamina, eh?”

“You can remove that smirk.” Laughing, she shook her head. “You wicked, wicked man. Okay, I can see why you’re orange. You have plenty of stamina.”

“I’ll have a little more stamina after the pizza arrives.”

“You don’t stop, do you?”

“Never.” Luke smiled back at her, his eyes flaring with a distinct devilish gleam. “I’ve got too much energy.”

She turned back to the screen. “I don’t see anything yet about gray or black. But there’s something here about muddy green though. We were pretty darn close. Muddy green means deceit, even jealousy. Glad I’m not the woman with that guy is all I can say. Maybe he’s been cheating on her. Hence, the deceit? Or he’s jealous of her career or life?”

“You love trying to dig into a mystery when there isn’t one.”

“Hmm. Probably too many true-crime shows when I was a teenager.” She scrolled down further on the screen. “Here we are. Muddy gray, black. It says that it’s usually someone who suffers from depression or negative emotions. It might also be someone who is a drug addict, or has experienced great trauma or torture.” She didn’t like where this was going, but some compulsion had her clicking onto another web site. “Oh, on here it says death, evil, hatred.” She sank back against her chair. “Oh, great. I never considered myself evil or full of hate, so I’ve got only one other choice. Death. How nice.”

“Get that look off your face. You have no clue who wrote what you’re reading.  That site could be from a fifteen-year-old or a complete wacko. Seriously, the topic is just crazy.”

Unease settled like an uncomfortable meal in her stomach. “How do you explain the glasses, then?”

“Maybe they’re some type of gag gift.”

“They look far too expensive for a gag gift.” She waved the glasses at him. “See for yourself.”

“I’ve already tried them.” His lips thinned.

“Try again.” When he looked about to argue, she softened her voice. “Please. I just want to make sure you saw what you saw.”

Frustration deepened his voice. “Kennedy, I don’t like how—”

“Please...” She leaned over and brushed her lips over his, kissing the corner of his mouth, then nibbling a path across his jaw to nip gently on his ear lobe. She drew back. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

He arched a brow. “You are such a tease.”

“Oh, but you love it.’

“Fine.” He lifted a hand, opened a palm and shook his head.