The Final Omen: Second Sight Book Four (8 page)

Her heart sang at the thought of having a psychic free night with Jared. She could use her abilities during the day to try and see into the abducted woman’s head again. Once night arrived, Kate would give herself a reprieve and relish in the fact she finally had him all to herself.

Chapter Fourteen

Kate fingered the hem of her dress nervously as she watched the door. This could be the most embarrassing moment of her life to date, and she had quite a few to her name. If the date turned out to be an utter failure, she could blame it on her lack of experience. She had only one other serious boyfriend and he’d dumped her years ago—after she surrendered her virginity and slept with him. A text message break-up was a far cry from the candy and roses she expected the next day.

Her day had proven uneventful. She hadn’t seen a vision of the woman again and there were still no news reports of a missing woman fitting the description. Kate wasn’t giving up though; since she never predicted when another vision of the same person could appear.

She lowered the lights and lit a couple more candles as she tapped her foot. Her breath caught as she heard the door open and Jared appeared in the doorway. His eyebrows raised in confusion as he gestured to the living room and kitchen. “What’s all this?”

“This, Jared Corbett, is your prom,” she announced and pointed to a banner she’d hung across the foyer that read “Welcome Class of 2002.”

“Why, exactly, is there a prom in our living room?” he asked, his voice laced with humor.

“Well, you told me once you were part of the nerd herd and never went to prom. I thought we could have our own version.”

“I doubt the words ‘nerd herd’ ever escaped my lips.”

“Maybe not, but you did say you went to school with a bunch of idiots who judged you on your aunt instead of taking the time to see how freaking amazing you are.” She strode to him and gripped his hand. “I can say with no reservations you’re incredible and deserve the best. You deserve your own kick ass prom.”

“No girl as beautiful as you would’ve given me the time of day in high school,” he said teasingly.

“Are you serious?” she demanded settling her hands on her hips. “I’d be all over you in a hot second and the reigning queen of the nerd herd.”

When Kate first met Jared, she didn’t know what to expect. He was gorgeous and funny, but it took time together for her to see how much depth he had. He didn’t have it easy growing up—orphaned at seven and sent to live with an eccentric but loving aunt whose reputation made him the target of bullies—but it had shaped him into the amazing person who stood before her. He never fit in, and it drove him to have a Type A personality; constantly striving for the best post-high school. His ambition led him to be hired by the department when barely out of high school. The flip side was, it also prompted him to have a relationship with a vapid beauty to try and prove he was good enough.

She glanced around and admired her handy work. She’d enlisted her mom and Julie to help gather up everything needed to recreate a prom scene in the house. Instead of dragging Declan around town on bodyguard duty, Kate gave him the day off. It was fun to have a day with her two favorite women and let them doll her up for a romantic night with Jared.

Although her mom had wanted a gourmet menu, she’d brought over cocktail wieners, bags of chips and pizza bagels at Kate’s insistence. Mom had also helped Kate put together a spiked punch complete with floating pieces of fruit. They hung up blue and gold streamers, Jared’s high school colors, and she created the banner through Photoshop. She’d scanned his yearbook photo and his pouting face was printed in the center of the banner. It was cheesy, over the top and she loved it.

Julie brought over her endless makeup bag and curling iron. With a skill Kate could never master, Julie had transformed Kate’s plain, light brown hair into a gorgeous style with loose curls clipped to the nape of her neck. Julie gave her friend a look that was described as tastefully slutty with red lips and dark mascara, but Kate wiped half the makeup off in the bathroom to make herself more natural looking.

In her closet, she discovered a dress she’d worn once, years ago, to a wedding. It was off-white with a lace overlay and a ruffled and feathered hem. The short cap sleeves and hem resting mid-thigh gave it a fun and flirty look. The dress was short, but not revealing enough her scars would be in plain view. She flexed her hand; looking at the line across her palm. She shook off the painful memory and gave Jared a hopeful look.

She grabbed the suitcase from his hands and placed it on the foyer floor, then proceeded to lead him towards the sunroom. She’d hung fairy lights to create a romantic atmosphere. Her iPod was also set to play songs popular in 2002. He dug his heels into the ground before she could lead him through the doors. “I probably should change. I look underdressed next to you.” He frowned down at his wrinkled black suit with a blue and silver striped tie. He removed his jacket and draped it across the kitchen counter.

“Your modesty makes me laugh. You know you look good in your work clothes,” she chided.

He tilted his head as they entered the sunroom. “Is that Nelly’s
Hot in Here
you have playing?”

“Yes; and let me tell you it was slim pickings trying to find decent music from the year you graduated. After some investigation on my part, I did find out your school’s prom song,” she bragged.

He followed her to the iPod while she shuffled through the songs. Eve 6’s
Here’s to the Night
blared through the sound system. She’d cleared away the patio set they had in the sunroom to create a makeshift dance floor. His hands instinctively wrapped tightly around her waist and they began to sway to the music.

“I wish my class had picked a more upbeat song. The lyrics ‘In a day and a day love, I’m gonna be gone for good again’ doesn’t exactly work for our fun night.”

“We should’ve picked my prom song. It was
Love Story
,” She added after he twirled her. “You can’t go wrong with Taylor Swift.”

He dipped her low and kept her suspended. Her left leg reached out in front of her body as he supported her weight by pressing his hands against her lower back. He shifted forward to rain a trail of kisses starting at her chin to the top of her neckline. “I can’t believe you went to all of this trouble for me. It’s amazing.” He moved his lips to her ear. “
You
are amazing.”

She snaked her hands around his neck and lifted out of the dip. She crushed her mouth against his and he responded hungrily. His hands caressed down her back before resting against her backside. He palmed her behind and pulled her nearer while never breaking their kiss.

As she broke away, breathless, she laughed nervously. “You can’t grope me yet, you haven’t even tried the punch.”

“Maybe we could have the punch later.” Between the gleam in his eyes and the seductive tone of his voice, he was apparently putting the moves on her. Judging by her weakened knees, it was working.

Opening her mouth to protest, she instead was silenced by his kiss. His tongue slipped inside her mouth and collided with her own. His hand moved to the front of her dress and he caressed her breasts. As he flicked the fabric across her nipples, she moaned into his mouth. She felt dizzy over his actions and unsure of whether to pay attention to what he was doing with his mouth or with his hands.

She pressed into him and he fell back onto the patio sofa. Refusing to halt the passionate embrace, she instead straddled him across his lap. As she moved close to nibble his earlobe, her knees dug into the sofa cushions. His hand became tangled in her hair, prompting her to remove the clip and toss it to the floor. His tongue snaked up her neck until he began to nibble on her ear. He growled, “God, I’ve wanted you for so long.”

Kate realized she should stop him. He was heading into territory she wasn’t ready to visit. But her throat seized up when she tried to tell him to hit the brakes. Her body wanted him and the things he was doing to her made it impossible to imagine ending the moment.

His hands moved to her thighs and he stroked the bare skin below her dress’s hem. She rocked forward and his fingers inched below the skirt. Her skin tingled where he touched, and she felt his mark long after his hands moved to another part of her. As she leaned forward to kiss him, she felt him growing excited beneath her.

Her body screamed for him, desiring nothing more than to revel in the feeling of him inside of her. Yet as his hand reached for her back zipper, she leaped off of him. She stumbled backwards in her haste, just barely regaining her balance as her face grew hot with embarrassment.

“Kate?” he questioned softly.

“I think I need a minute…I’ll be back in a sec.” Without daring to look at him or wait for his reply, she darted to their master bedroom. Her heels clicked against the hardwood flooring until she entered their carpeted bedroom. Slipping off her shoes, she tossed them to the side of the room. She flailed her hands up and down as she attempted to regain control over her tumultuous feelings. A minute later, his tall and muscular form filled the doorway.

“Kate, don’t run away. Tell me what’s going on with you,” he commanded gently.

She wouldn’t meet his eyes as she muttered, “Let’s forget about it. I’m just not ready.”

“I don’t have a problem waiting, Kate. I’m a very patient man and if I had to wait forever to have you, then it would be worth it.” As upset as she was, his words forced a smile out of her. “But I’m trying to understand your reasons for waiting. Because if it’s a commitment from me that you need, you have it—I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“I love you, Jared, and you don’t have to convince me how committed you are to me. I feel the same way. It’s just…” She cleared her throat and stared intently at his shoes. “My scars are disgusting. You’re going to see me undressed and figure out a polite way to ask me when a plastic surgeon will be able to fix me up.”

He stood before her and tilted her head, forcing her to meet his intense gaze. “Kate, we’ve been through this. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You’re stunning and I think your body is beautiful.”

It was ironic. She had spent years disliking her body, always feeling she’d look better if she could only lose a few pounds. She was ten pounds lighter because the painkillers had made her sick to her stomach, but she’d do anything to have her old body back.

She hated how her confidence had been shaken. It was humiliating to feel like he wouldn’t love her anymore because of how she looked beneath her clothes. It was harming her psyche to feel like she was damaged goods and no longer worthy of her sexy boyfriend.

“Do you want us to be together?” His voice was low and serious.

“Of course I do. I’ve wanted us to take this step for a long time. It has to do completely with my feelings about myself and nothing about how I feel about you,” she insisted.

“You trust me then?” At her nod, he continued, “Then I’d like to try something if that’s okay with you.”

He spun her around slowly, facing her away from him. Her body froze as she felt his fingers at the top of her zipper. Resolving not to stop him, she allowed him to unzip the back of her dress. Tenderly, he pulled the dress down her body until it fell to the floor, gathering around her feet. He guided her back to face him.

She gasped as she felt his forefinger trace her largest scar—the one down the center of her chest—the wound that should’ve killed her. “Do you know what I see when I look at this?”

She dared a look down. The words “ugly” and “grotesque” were on the tip of her tongue, but she remained silent. The scar was jagged with a discolored outline where the tissue healed, denoting the trail where she’d been carved. The markings on her hip and back were ghastly as well, and she cringed when his eyes darted to her side. Her concern over the scars dulled her nervousness over standing in front of him in a white lace bra and matching panties. “What do you see?”

“I see a survivor. I see you fighting for us and coming back to me.” He cradled her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. “You’re here and the scar is a reminder to never take you for granted because each day we spend together is a gift.”

His words warmed the coldness left behind after her attack. “I don’t know what I did to deserve a second chance with you, or why I survived, but I’ll always belong to you and, if you’ll have me, I’d like to give you all of me.”

Unclasping her bra, she removed it while watching him swallow. Placing her hand over his heart, she could feel it pound rapidly through his shirt. She needed the confirmation he desired her as much as she wanted him, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt he wasn’t faking his physical need for her.

His voice thickened with desire as his eyes raked the length of her body. “If you need me to stop, I will. Tonight is about you and if something makes you uncomfortable, we won’t go any further.”

By the tingling below, she doubted she’d be the one to say stop, but he was waiting for her approval. She smiled softly. “The only thing making me uncomfortable is that I’m naked and you still have on all of your clothes.”

His laughter was strangled as she began helping him unbutton his shirt. He loosened his tie, she pulled it over his head and tossed it aside. When his shirt was completely unbuttoned, she ran her hands seductively across his torso.

Jared was in incredible shape, which she confirmed as she felt the hard muscles of his chest and abs. His breath hitched as her fingertips stopped at the top of his slacks. She unbuckled his pants and he eased out of them. She fell into his arms and crushed her breasts against his defined chest.

The air had become charged since their kissing session in the sunroom. Her anxieties were left behind and she only looked forward with anticipation. Despite months of build up and her limited sexual experience, Kate wasn’t nervous. She trusted Jared, and believed what they were about to do would only cement their already strong connection.

He shuffled forward and she fell backwards on their king-sized bed. His arms encased her small body as his lips melded into her own. His lips slipped from her mouth and made their way down the center of her chest. She cried out as he fondled her bare breast and flicked his tongue over her nipple. He took his time teasing her before moving to the other nipple. Her back arched and she began to squirm beneath him, aching for him to keep tasting her skin.