Seal All Exits (Tangled Web #3) (9 page)

Her blue eyes were warm but guarded and Kiefer wished he could translate what they were trying to communicate, but in the short time they’d spent at Johnny’s, Kiefer had learned something about Heather—she was closed off, as though she’d sealed all the exits from her heart, and she was never going to let a single emotion out.  It felt as though they were conducting a business transaction, but he knew better about her.  Online, she was a different person, and somehow he had to find a way to make both of those parts connect.

He resisted the urge to slide down against her body and kiss her, because he didn’t think that was what she wanted.  Yeah, sure, she wanted to fuck.  But she didn’t want to connect, and he needed to accept that before moving forward.  That and he kept hoping he’d break through somehow.  He swallowed and said, “I’m sure that doesn’t make any sense to you, but I’ve probably told you more about myself, inside and out, than I’ve ever told anyone else.”  He could see the understanding wash over her eyes and he wasn’t sure what that meant.  He knew, though, that he was in a precarious position, because if she didn’t really feel the same way, he was all kinds of vulnerable.  So he forced a grin on his face and said, “Even more than I ever told my dealer.”

Heather’s smile in return seemed equally forced, so he didn’t feel his muscles relax until her smile faded and she rested her head back on his chest.  Maybe he simply needed to enjoy the moment, take it for what it was, whatever that turned out to be, and just move on when the time came.

It was a skill he was quite adept at and maybe it was time to practice it once more.

Chapter Nine

HEATHER FELT A little too warm and she had a kink in her neck.  As she stirred, she realized she had fallen asleep on Kiefer’s chest, and easing into wakefulness, she realized she could hear his voice.  “You awake?”

She stifled a yawn and said, “I am now.”

“Let’s take a walk.”

“
Now?
”  She needed to move, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to sit up yet.  “What time is it?”

“It’s barely eleven.  Not even bedtime.”

“Ha.”  She rolled off Kiefer and forced her body into an upright position.  She wasn’t going to admit it, but that had been very nice.  She’d asked for one thing—hot sex—and received something quite different.  She’d always known Kiefer was a sweetheart and a softie down to the core, and his actions shouldn’t have surprised her.

They
did
, though.  Heather wasn’t used to people—okay,
men
—acting nice or acting like they cared.  She expected most men to act like her fucking father, and—until tonight—they had all lived up to those expectations.

What was it about Kiefer?  What made him different…and why did he care?

She didn’t know, but she was beginning to think she’d have to find a way past all of it—past who she had been up to this point, past all the walls she’d had up since adolescence, past her doubt and fear…and just go with it.

But part of her was worried that maybe it wasn’t real, that maybe she was just a plaything for him while they were there.

That couldn’t be, though.  She
knew
Kiefer, right?  The real Kiefer?

For now, half asleep, she was going to trust him.  She was going to follow him wherever he wanted to take her.  “A walk?  Where do you want to go?”

She felt her breathing grow shallow as she met his smoldering green eyes.  They twinkled at her as he answered.  “Wherever our feet will take us.”

She couldn’t help the grin that she could feel pulling at her lips, and she stood, stretching her arms and breathing in deeply through her nostrils.  “Okay.”

He got up off the bed and stood beside her, and then he followed her to the door.  She cracked it open and looked in the hall before opening it all the way.  Her voice was low when she said, “Coast is clear.”

He nodded and walked out the door.  She reached back in the room to flip off the light switch, and then she followed Kiefer’s lead as he began walking down the hall away from the main areas of the house.  Heather wasn’t going to say it aloud, but she was relieved that they weren’t heading toward the kitchen or great room.  Those rooms were more likely to have people in them, and she didn’t want to have to explain why they were hanging out together so late at night.

The house was drowning in shadows now that there was no sun shining in all the windows, and it would have been creepy if Kiefer hadn’t been with her.  Instead, it was eerie in its stillness.  Had the house not been so damn big, Heather wouldn’t have felt that way, because she knew she would have been able to hear all the people in the rest of the building, but they might as well have been in a barn down the road.

“Did you ever play the first Resident Evil game?”

“The super-old one?  The one for the first PlayStation?”

“Yeah.”

“Once or twice.  One of my cousins had it when I was a kid.”

Heather tried not to seem bitter when she spoke.  “I had a PlayStation and a ton of games.  My dad bought me stuff he thought I wanted so I’d leave him alone.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah.  That’s not why I brought it up, though.  Sorry.  Anyway, Resident Evil…the first game.  You know how damn creepy that game felt?  Kind of scary.  It made me jump all through the whole thing.”

Kiefer shrugged, and Heather noticed his hands were shoved in his pockets.  “Yeah, I can see how it could do that.”

“This house, right now, is giving me the same creepy feeling.”

Kiefer tilted his head toward her but didn’t stop walking.  “Shit.  Sorry.”  They kept making their way down the hall for a few feet until he said, “Do you want to go back?”

Heather giggled, hoping she didn’t sound as stupid as she thought she did.  “Nah.”

He removed his left hand from his jeans and draped his arm around her shoulders.  “Does that help?”

Actually, it
did
, and because she didn’t think anyone would be near the back wing of the house this late at night, she wasn’t worried about anyone catching them getting cozy with each other.

So she nodded and let her head rest in the crook of his arm as they continued down the hall.  They were in no hurry, going nowhere, so she decided to simply enjoy his presence.  Her mind wandered back over the day’s events and she said, “You know, Johnny and Katie’s announcement didn’t come as any surprise, but it still freaked me out.  You know what I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“I think it was because, even though I knew they loved each other, I never once heard them talk marriage.”

Kiefer shook his head.  “They never did around me either if that makes you feel any better.”

“It’s cool, though.  Katie deserves happiness.  Johnny too.”

She felt Kiefer nod his head while they continued walking.  What Heather was finding most comforting was that she felt no
need
to talk.  They were relaxed either way.  She hadn’t felt like that around someone in a long time, and that just confirmed how close she was to him.  It was hard, but she was beginning to be able to reconcile that Kiefer, this hot guy here, was also her best friend, the sweet guy she chatted with online.

They arrived at the big door that belonged to the swimming pool, and Kiefer opened it.  Heather was beginning to think maybe Kiefer hadn’t had the big tour and was exploring.  Well, he’d figure out what was inside as soon as the humidity and smell of chlorine hit him.  But, even though the lights were off, Heather noticed that there were low lights in the pool, following the entire perimeter, and they were bright enough that she could make out the lines on the bottom under the water.  She looked up as well, because she hadn’t noticed the skylights before when Katie had given her the tour.  The pool somehow seemed bigger tonight than it had earlier in the day.  It still seemed a little creepy too, but Heather imagined switching on the lights would help with it.

Kiefer said, “Let’s get in.”

Heather grinned.  “I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”

“So?”

She shook her head, still smiling, and started looking around for a light switch.  It had to be around there somewhere.  When she turned back around to look elsewhere, she saw that Kiefer already had his shirt off and was pulling off his shoes.  “You’re serious.”

“Yeah.  C’mon, Heather.  They pay good money to keep the water warm.  It’s going to waste if we don’t jump in.”

“I don’t want to without a swimsuit.”

He chuckled.  “Not stopping me.”

She shook her head again.  He was really going to do it.  “Anyone could come in here at anytime.”

“Part of the fun of skinny dipping.  But, hey, just get your feet wet if you don’t want to take the plunge.”  Heather thought she could do that much and pulled off her shoes.  Kiefer was down to his underwear by the time she looked up again.  “I could leave these on if it makes you feel better.”  He had a point.  Instead of saying anything, she pulled her top over her head and began unfastening her jeans.  “That’s the spirit.”  Before she could even steal a peek, he threw his shorts to the ground and jumped in the pool.

Damn…he had a nice ass.  So cute.

Heather had no problems with feeling the adrenaline rush that went with the danger of potentially being caught doing something, but she didn’t like the idea of someone finding her naked.  They were two different things entirely, and if Kiefer knew the problems she’d had with body image her whole life, he’d understand that.

But she hadn’t told him, so how would he know or even suspect what was rolling through her head?

She decided to leave the underwear on, in case one of the many men in the house decided to go for a midnight swim (she’d
die
if Johnny ever caught her without clothes on), and then dipped a toe in.

Ah…Kiefer was right.  The water was incredibly warm.  She didn’t know how her underwear would fare if she jumped in, so she found the metal railing beside the pool and climbed into the water one step at a time to make sure everything stayed put.

Kiefer wasn’t exactly swimming laps, but he had swum the length of the pool and was heading back toward her.  The pool room, frankly, still had the same creepy feel the hallways had, like Heather had entered a horror movie, but the only thing to keep her from freaking out and running back to her room was Kiefer.  Heather wouldn’t have chosen to come here on her own this late at night, especially with the weird vibes in the house, but maybe if they’d turned the lights on, not only in the hall but here in this cavernous place, it would have felt normal.  She had yet to figure out where the light switches were, but she supposed the pool had enough light.  After all, she could
see
Kiefer.  He just wasn’t well lit.

As he got closer to her, she tried not to think about the fact that he was completely nude.  Sure, yeah, she’d fucked him the night before, but they hadn’t stripped down to nothing.  Now that he was touching the bottom of the pool and walking toward her on the shallow end, she could see that he had a little definition in his chest too.  He wasn’t a body builder, but he looked firm and she wanted to touch him…

Except now he seemed reluctant.  What had that been about back in her room?  He’d responded to her kiss but then asked to snuggle with her.  It was strange.

“Great idea, huh?”

She couldn’t help but smile.  Kiefer was wearing a boyish smile on his face, and he was at home in the water.  He’d been swimming like a fish.  “Yeah, sure.”

“Aw, c’mon, Heather.  It’s an
awesome
idea.  The water’s warm and it’s not a hot night.”  She shrugged and smiled, making an effort to relax.  “And I get to see you looking hot.”

She scoffed.  “Hot.  Yeah, right.”

He got closer.  “Really.  Lacy black panties and bra?  Nice.”  He touched his nose to hers and she took in a breath, wondering why she couldn’t pull the air to the bottom of her lungs.  But he didn’t kiss her.  Instead, he pushed off the bottom of the pool and floated backward.  “I like it.”  Then he flipped over and swam to the deep end again.

Heather walked farther in so that the water covered her shoulders, and then she eased her way toward the edge of the pool.  She rested her arms up on the concrete so her legs floated out in front of her, swaying with the motion of the blue water, helping her sense a weightless feeling.

She allowed herself to relax.  It
was
fun being there with Kiefer, just the two of them, enjoying the water, the semi-darkness and near quiet, all except the lapping and splashing of water, but even the noise the water made seemed quiet in that vast, echoing space.

Kiefer swam back towards her, all smiles.  He’d talked about the beach once or twice in their online correspondence, but she’d had no idea what a swimmer he was.  It explained his upper body physique.  He got close to her again and then leaned against the wall of the pool too, right beside her.  “Nice, huh?”

She nodded, resting her head back against the concrete and closing her eyes.  “Yeah.”

“You want to swim a little?”

“No.  It’s more fun watching you do it.”

He chuckled.  “I haven’t been in the water in a while.  It felt good swimming the length of the pool a little.”

Her eyes were still closed when she said, “You seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

“I was.”  His voice was closer now.  It sounded lower and yet clearer, and it took her a second to realize that was because he had turned his head so his lips were near her ear.  “But maybe you’re ready to get out of the pool now?”

She opened her eyes then and turned her head.  His face was so close to hers—close enough to kiss—and he looked ready too but something was holding him back.  Or maybe it was her?

Perhaps he was ready to take her up on her offer…and the pool was definitely not the place for that.  She nodded, finally understanding his message, and let him lead the way.  When they reached the ladder, though, he said, “Ladies first.”

Heather grinned, thinking to herself she was the only female there, and she didn’t know how much of a lady she was.  She placed her foot on the first step, climbing the ladder one rung at a time, amazed at how light her leg felt once it was out of the water and back on land.

She followed up with her second leg and then turned around.  Holy shit.  She couldn’t believe the way Kiefer was looking at her.  He’d been checking her out as she’d climbed out of the pool and she hadn’t even thought about it.  Yeah…he was ready.

So was she.

But when his feet hit the concrete floor, he grabbed Heather’s hand.  No kissing, no getting up close, just pulling her along to who knew where.  They walked toward a door on the other side of the pool, a wooden one that looked bare except for the window in it, and when they got closer, Heather realized it was a sauna.  Kiefer flipped a couple of switches and then pulled the door open for her.  As she walked in, she said, “I had no idea they had a sauna.”