Desire in Frost (10 page)

I gaped at him for a second before composing myself. I had assumed the kiss was my body acting on the motion in the vision. Nothing about this seemed to make sense right now.

Most of all, I couldn’t figure out why he would kiss me. Especially not when he had a . . . I interrupted my own thoughts so I could speak. “But, you have a girlfriend! I won’t help you cheat on someone.”

His brow furrowed in confusion. “A girlfriend? Where’d you get that idea?”

“That girl you’re always texting. I asked you if she was your girlfriend, and you said she was.”

Robin looked confused for a moment and then threw his head back and laughed. “Sage? I may have said something, but I never said she was my girlfriend. You assumed that all by yourself. She’s just my lab partner. We were talking about our homework project. And I wasn’t just texting
her
.”

Something about this newfound knowledge left me with a sense of relief. It meant that Robin was available that we could . . . Wait. “But we’re, like, cousins,” I pointed out.

Robin shifted and came to sit on the edge of his bed just a few feet from my own. His body was so close to mine now, and it felt like as each second passed, he closed the gap another inch. He was still wearing his jeans, but he didn’t have a shirt on. I couldn’t help but notice the fantastic curves of his abs. I looked away quickly before he would notice, and I discovered I was biting my lip. I stopped instantly.

“Crystal, it’s not like it’s incest. We’re not actually cousins.” The way he said it sounded like an invitation, which only made my desire to touch his polished skin burn brighter.

"And what if it doesn't work out?" I asked. "Wouldn't things be weird between us?"

Robin shrugged. "And what if it does work out? You wouldn't want to miss that chance, would you?"

Silence stretched between us as if the questions didn't actually need answering.

“So, what?” I finally asked in a quiet voice. “You like me?” I couldn’t believe I was asking him that, nor could I contain my heart in anticipation of his response.

He smiled that sideways smile that made me go faint. I longed to kiss him again. “What’s not to like? You have a strong personality, you’re a lot of fun to be around, and you’re really pretty.”

I could hardly focus on his words. All I could pay attention to right now was his fingers caressing my face when he said I was pretty.

"Plus, I really feel like I can talk to you," Robin said. "All that stuff I said on the beach—about my insecurities. I wouldn't admit that to just anyone. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since. About . . . doing this."

The next few moments passed in slow motion. My heart thumped quicker in my chest, yet the sound of my pulse slowed in my ears as if time altogether decelerated. Robin’s hands came to cradle my face as he leaned across the space between the beds and pressed his lips to mine. I met his lips in return. I was too overcome with a need for him to even wonder if I was doing it right.

The last few moments disappeared to the back of my mind as a greater sensation overcame me. I completely forgot my anxiety about telling him my secret. His reaction didn’t even register in my mind as my lips crushed into his for a second time.

His hand moved into my hair and then trailed across the back of my neck. His tongue lightly grazed my lips. I wanted to grab and claw at him and press my body tight against his.

Instead, I pulled away. Part of my mind scolded my actions, but I thanked another for being rational. We both breathed deeply as we came up for air. I couldn’t help but marvel at Robin’s smile, and when I couldn’t take it anymore, my face broke into a full on grin. I’d never imagined a first kiss—or rather, a second kiss—would feel like that. But as much as I didn’t want it to ever end, it didn’t feel right with everything else happening right now that needed my immediate attention.

I didn’t have to say anything. Robin nodded his head in understanding. “Thank you,” he said.

“For what?”

“Pulling me off of you.”

I laughed.

“I mean, Uncle Teddy and your mom trust us. It just wouldn’t be right to do it here.”

My eyes widened.

He caught a glimpse of my face and quickly corrected himself. “No! I didn’t mean that! I respect you. I mean . . . Let’s just take it easy.”

A part of me didn’t want to. A part of me wanted to jump on him and lock my lips to his and never stop. But I knew exactly what he was saying.

“It’s just that I really like you is all I’m saying,” Robin explained.

My heart fluttered at the compliment, but I also knew I needed to put some distance between us. He was right. It wouldn’t be right to break Mom and Teddy’s trust.

“Well, uh, I’m going to go to the bathroom,” I announced, my anxiety showing through in my tone.

Once I had a chance to get away from him for a few moments, Robin suddenly became less important in my mind. I desperately wanted him to believe me, but the fact that he still liked me even if he didn’t accept my abilities left me with a sense of comfort.

Still, I had bigger things on my plate. I hopped in the shower and let the mystery of Hope’s abduction consume me. Now I had most of the pieces to the puzzle, although it should have been obvious to begin with. I still had one problem, though. I had to rescue Hope. But what could I do? Lauren already knew my face. She knew what car we drove. She would never open the door to us. Besides, what would happen if she
did
? How would that actually help anyone?

When I exited the shower and was pulling on my clothes from the day before, a knock sounded at the bathroom door. “Do you want to go downstairs to get some breakfast?” Robin asked through the door.

“Why don’t you go on without me? I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

I heard the door to our room click behind him. I quickly reached into my purse and grabbed a handful of change and turned to make my way down to the lobby.

Just then, my phone rang. The caller I.D. said it was Emma, so I answered right away. “Hello?”

“Hey, Crystal. Are you ready for our yoga session? I texted you but you haven’t answered yet.”

I pulled my phone away from my face. Sure enough, there was a message notification. “Sorry. There’s just been a lot going on lately. I don’t think I can join you this morning.”

“Why not?” Emma’s voice filled with disappointment.

“I don’t have my computer with me, so we can’t video chat.”

“Use your phone,” Emma suggested.

“Now’s not a good time,” I admitted. “My yoga mat isn’t even here.”

“What? Where are you?”

I wanted to tell Emma about Robin so badly, but I knew she’d just rub it in my face that she was right. My heart flipped at the thought as I replayed Robin’s kiss in my mind. I was glad she was right, yet I had so much more to tell her. “Well, uh, how much time do you have?”

“I still have time before I have to leave for school.”

Right. It was only Wednesday, so classes were still going on.

Emma’s tone shifted and rose a few notes. “Are there juicy details?”

I couldn’t help but smile.
Yes!
I wanted to shout, but I kept my cool. “Well, let’s just say you were right about Robin.”

Her voice rose about two octaves as she squealed into the receiver. I had to pull the phone away from my ear to avoid hearing loss. I could feel my face flame in response to her excitement.

“What happened?” Emma asked once she calmed herself down. “And where are you?”

“We kind of got stuck in a hotel room together,” I confessed.

“Like, overnight? Did anything happen?” I could practically hear her raising her eyebrows suggestively through the phone.

The idea of teasing her with fake juicy details crossed my mind, but I was too excited about what
did
happen between us that I told Emma the truth.

There was a brief silence, and in that moment, I remembered the change in my hand. I knew there were more important matters to attend to than spilling details about my love life, no matter how much I wanted to talk about it.

“Speaking about love,” Emma started, but I cut her off.

“Look, Emma, I have to go. I’ll tell you everything later about me and Robin and everything else that’s happened, okay?”

“Okay, I guess.” Disappointment held heavy in her voice. “Well, have fun! Bye.”

I hung up the phone and plugged it in to charge—luckily I had my charger in my purse—before leaving the hotel room. When I reached the first floor, I hung around the corner near the payphone and peeked toward the breakfast area to check on Robin. He was facing away from me and trying to choose a muffin flavor.

I turned toward the payphone and slipped a quarter in. I didn’t know if I actually needed one to dial 911, but I put it in anyway. When a voice picked up on the other end, I lowered my tone and gave her Lauren’s address and told her that’s where Hope Ross was.

“Can you please tell me your name?” the woman on the other end of the line asked.

I hesitated. I couldn’t. They’d ask too many questions, and they wouldn’t believe me. I hung up. Just because I was paranoid, I used the bottom of my shirt to wipe the phone of any prints, even though they didn’t have my prints on file and that didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

My heart beat wildly against the walls of my chest at the same time I breathed a sigh of relief. This was all over for me now. The police would find Hope, Lauren would get the mental help she needed, and Penny and Scott could cross over.

My nerves eased, and I smiled as I basked in the glory of completing another psychic mission. I finally rounded the corner to meet Robin for breakfast. Now that I knew Hope would be safe, I let myself focus on Robin. I filled my plate with free food—they even had bagels, my favorite—and went back to sit by him. He smiled across the table at me, and I couldn’t help but get lost in his eyes.

I took a gamble and asked him about his leg about halfway through our breakfast. “So, what happened?”

Robin shifted, and I could tell the subject was uncomfortable for him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to prod or anything. I’m just curious.”

“No, it’s okay,” he assured me. “It was a bad car accident a couple of years ago. All I lost was a leg. It could have been worse.”

All he lost was a leg? He seemed a little too optimistic about the situation, but something about his positive attitude made me like him a little bit more.

“And you can still drive?” I asked.

“Oh, sure. No problem.”

I wasn’t sure how much the subject bothered him, so I dropped it, and we talked about happier things like his music. He told me a little more about his friends who were in his band, and I shared a few of the less embarrassing stories about Emma, Derek, and me. We went back and forth like this for what seemed like hours but probably wasn’t. I laughed at his stories and was honestly enjoying myself.

In the middle of our lighthearted chat, a strange but all too familiar sensation suddenly overcame me. My joy came to a screeching halt when I looked up and saw a girl with dark brown hair and green eyes standing at the other end of the room. Penny stared back at me with an expression that told me this wasn’t over yet.

I excused myself and dropped my paper plate in the trashcan Penny was standing next to.

“What is it?” I hissed more sharply than I intended. I was sure this was all over and Hope would be returned safely home, but the look in Penny’s eyes told me I wasn’t even close to done with this mission.

“They’re gone!”

“What?” I kept my voice low and glanced around to make sure no one heard me. Robin was rising from his chair and would be next to me in a matter of moments. I threw Penny a glance to make it quick.

“They’re not at my house anymore. You still have to find her.”

I could feel Robin’s heat radiating off his body as he came in close to me, almost touching, and threw his own dishes in the garbage.

“Ready?” Robin asked.

I wanted to smile up at him and never let go of the mood I was in just moments ago, but the high I was feeling plummeted to the ground as I processed what Penny had said. I didn’t think about what I was doing when I wrapped my arms around Robin’s waist and rested my head on his chest. I just needed a bit of emotional support. His fresh spring scent soothed me.

“You okay?” Robin asked, running a hand through my hair.

I pulled away from him and forced a smile onto my face. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I turned away quickly when my eyebrow started twitching.

We spent the next few hours in our hotel room listening to music until the garage called and told us our car was ready for pick up.

I tried my best not to worry about Hope in those few hours. Part of me was really enjoying Robin’s company and wanted to bask in the glory of it. Another part of me trusted that wherever Lauren took Hope, the police would use my anonymous tip and somehow track them down. I also reminded myself that I still didn’t know where Hope was and that the best thing I could do was forget about her and enjoy myself so that another vision would come and show me where to find her. Yet my heart knotted while I guiltily enjoyed myself instead of focusing on Hope.             

The hotel graciously let us ride their shuttle to the garage. When we got there, the car looked good as new apart from the few scratches that remained. It was hard to believe that just yesterday the tires were slashed and the windows were smashed.

Soon enough, we were on the road. Being in the car again only made me think back to what the vehicle looked like the day before when we walked out of the restaurant. I remembered the note still shoved in my pocket. I couldn’t look at it, but it made me think of how serious Lauren was about Hope. I still didn’t quite understand what drove her to take her away from her mother. In fact, there were a lot of things I still didn’t understand, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it right now. I’d already tipped off the cops, and that was the best solution I could think of.

The series of events that had transpired over the last few days once again ran through my mind, and I thought back to when I had tried to tell Robin I was psychic, only he didn’t believe me. But he still liked me. I didn’t get it, but I knew that above all else, I wanted—no, I needed—him to believe me.

My hands knotted in my lap, trying to work up the courage to talk about it. I’d only told people close to me, people who had known me for years. None of them seemed to flat out reject the idea as much as Robin had, yet right now, he was the one I wanted to believe me the most.

For the longest time, I didn’t think I could bring up the subject again. To ease my shaky hands, I knew I needed to give them something to do, so I dug my phone out of my purse and texted Emma. I noticed she’d already left me a text asking about the details between Robin and me, so I told her as much as I could. I wasn’t expecting her to respond because I knew she was in class, but she must have snuck her phone in because she texted me back right away.
Sounds romantic!

Yeah, but there’s more
, I texted back. And then I went on to tell her as much as I could through text about what had happened with Hope over the past few days.
But Robin doesn’t believe me
, I complained.
I really want him to
.

Have you told him about Hope?

Not yet.

Well, maybe you should.

I really wanted to take Emma’s advice, but it was hard enough for me to tell him in the first place. I didn’t want to get rejected again, especially now that I knew he didn’t share my gift in any capacity.

Did you find Derek’s dog?
I asked when Emma didn’t text for a while.

Not yet
, she texted back with a sad face.

Are you using your
, I paused typing, trying to come up with the right word,
abilities?

I’ve already told you I don’t have psychometry.

But you get feelings. Go around town and see which direction feels right,
I suggested.
Maybe get Sophie and Diane to help.

That’s a good point. Now go convince Robin what you can do.

I smiled at Emma’s last text. It was so like her. I sat in my seat quietly for several long minutes, stealing glances Robin’s way to try gauging what would convince him. I rolled my owl necklace between my fingers for good luck and took a deep breath. I opened my mouth to cut through the music playing in the car, but my jaw snapped tight before I could get a sound out. I must have done this two or three more times as I contemplated what to say to him, until I finally managed to squeak out his name.

Robin looked at me and turned the radio down. “Something bothering you?” His eyes shifted between me and the road.

My gaze fell to my hands. “I’m fine.” I didn’t even bother hiding my twitching face this time. The lie showed through in my tone.

Robin glanced at me again and then turned his eyes back to the road. “No, you’re not. Is it about us? Because we don’t have to kiss again if it’s too weird.”

“No!” I practically shouted. I didn’t want to think about ending things with him, even though we weren’t anything official yet.

“I mean, it’s not that. It’s . . .” I didn’t speak for several long seconds, and Robin let me have a moment to collect my thoughts. “It’s about what I told you earlier. I know you think I’m crazy, but it’s the truth.”

A look of confusion fell over Robin’s face like he didn’t know what I was talking about. “Oh,” he finally said. “You mean about the hotel being haunted?”

“Robin, I’m serious. I never said the hotel was haunted. I said that I saw ghosts. They aren’t attached to the hotel. They’re attached to . . . me, I guess.”

When Robin didn’t say anything, I continued. “They came to me for help. The girl I went to meet, she’s not exactly my friend. I wasn’t lying when I said she was from my town. It’s just that she’s six years old. Her sister and dad came to me asking me to help her because she was abducted.”

I waited for Robin’s response. Yet again, he didn’t react how I expected him to. I was sure he would cut me off at some point and tell me I was crazy, but he didn’t. He simply narrowed his eyes in thought while I spoke. I gave him a few moments to digest this, and then his words cut through the silence.

“Crystal, I can tell that you believe every word you’re saying.” His tone had a hint of something to it I couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“What do you mean by that?” My voice came off sounding more offended and accusatory than I intended.

He sighed and glanced at me. “I mean I can tell when you’re lying. Your eyebrow twitches every time you do.”

My hand flew up to my face. “What? It does . . .” I trailed off. I couldn’t even try lying about that now. How did he know? Did Emma tell him?

“I noticed,” he said, answering my unspoken question. It only made me blush at the realization of how much he’d been paying attention to me.

“Well, then you should know I’m not lying about being psychic,” I insisted.

“Like I said, I think you believe it. It’s not hard to lie about something you believe as truth. But how am I supposed to believe in something like that?”

His words cut deep, but I still understood on some level where he was coming from.
Now, how do I convince him?

“The car,” I blurted without really thinking about where I was going with this.

Robin shot me a confused expression.

“It wasn’t a random hit,” I explained. “I knew when it happened that it wasn’t. It was Lauren.”

His blank expression reminded me that he didn’t yet know who Lauren was. I quickly told him everything I knew about the case before he could interrupt me. When I recounted the part about the car, even though he clearly knew this part, I finally told him about the note left in the passenger seat. I dug into my jeans pocket and pulled it out.

“And how do I know you didn’t write that yourself?” he asked skeptically.

I looked at him in disbelief for a few moments. “Robin, look at the handwriting. You’ve seen my handwriting. I write in chicken scratches. You know I can’t write this well.”

He took a long look at the paper before turning his eyes back to the road. Then he glanced at me a few more times. “You are serious, aren’t you?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s what I’ve been telling you this whole time!”

“Well, that explains a lot, I guess.” He paused, and I could tell he had more to say, so I didn’t interrupt him despite the anticipation that was killing me. “Okay,” he said. “I believe you. But you know what that means?”

“What?” I asked, a little afraid of the answer at the same time my heart flipped.

“It means we’re going to have to find that little girl with or without Teddy’s help.”

I beamed. Robin was on my side.