Ethereal Knights (11 page)

I love kissing Logan,
Skyla’s mind reels with lust.
Kissing Logan at the Falls of Virtue is like stepping into a fairytale. Suddenly, I’m transported to a land with dragons and villains. Of course, I’m the princess, which in turn makes Logan the perfect prince.

I pull back and dot the tip of her nose with my lips.

“You up for a swim,
princess
?”

Her mouth falls open at the realization that I’ve read her thoughts.

“I don’t have my bathing suit.” She gives a sexy-as-hell smile, and the bulge in my jeans rises to salute her.

“Swim in your underwear—or without. Your choice.” Choose without. I relax my grip around her sweater. Too bad she didn’t hear my preference.

“I don’t have a towel.” It comes out pressured and gives away the fact she’s not so hot on the idea.

“I have a few in the truck for emergencies.” No point in letting her off so easy. I try to hide the grin wanting to take over.

“Does this qualify as an emergency?” Skyla licks her lips slowly, in one clean sweep like she’s trying to seduce me.

“It’s the only one I know of.” My jeans tighten just below the hips. I turn slightly so I don’t stab her in the leg with my newfound protrusion and send her running for the hills. “I’ll stay in my boxers.” I hold up a hand, swearing to my declaration.

She takes a heated breath, as if a preview of what’s to come just swirled through her mind like some wild porno flick. Not that I plan on doing anything wildly pornographic with her. In fact, I plan on taking it slow—doing things right. This isn’t some dime-a-dozen girl I’ve latched onto at one of Ellis’s VD petri dish get-togethers. Skyla is special—a princess, someone to build a life with. 

“Sure.” She finally concedes and starts heading toward the truck.

I whip out my cell to send a big FU to Gage, and my thumb hits “camera” instead of messages, so I go with it. I aim high and snap of picture of Skyla’s arms in the air, her sweater knotted up by her wrists.

I’m mesmerized as her golden hair falls against her bare skin. Her pink bra straps set my body on fire, and I groan, pushing off my jeans. I’m already testing the resolve of my boxers. I’d better get it under control, and fast.

I land my phone and jeans on the hood of the truck, take off my T-shirt, and hook it over the windshield.

Skyla walks over, slow and methodical, swiveling her hips like a well-polished vixen. Her pink toenails call to me like candy. Her tan legs rise like skyscrapers that I long to climb. I ride my gaze up her body and trace out her yellow lace underwear, her hot pink bra with a diamond-cut jewel shining between her cleavage. If I didn’t know better, I’d think swimming in our underwear was a well thought-out plan on her part.

Her face turns ten shades of red as she sweeps her eyes over me. She blinks down at my boxers and bounces her gaze right back to my face.

I press my lips against her, and land her stomach over mine. My body seizes with the touch of her heated skin, and a strangled sound of pleasure gets trapped in my throat.

“You think the water’s cold?” She lands her cool hands over my chest and pushes me back a good twelve inches.

“I hope so.” For the sake of my sanity, it’d better be.

I walk her over to the “diving board,” a granite ledge that hangs over the top of the falls, and give her a smile as we jump hand in hand. The lake swallows us down, engulfing us with its sharp, icy sting—fire and ice, all in one. This is what it feels like being with Skyla, a delirium of sensation, the logic of up and down, hot and cold is erased in her bewitching presence. 

Skyla and I cement our feelings for one another under each of the three falls by way of our lips, our arms, her legs riding over my back. These are lust-borne kisses, mysterious kisses that stretch back and forth in time, explosive lingual exchanges that just might be illegal in all fifty states. We set the water on fire—turn the entire lake into a boiling cauldron as we drop beneath the surface, our mouths interlocked, exchanging the air from our lungs like currency.

Skyla coils her legs around me. Her fingernails dig into my back as she pushes in with great intensity.
There’s no way I would ever become Gage’s anything. Logan has me totally and completely. This is something that surpasses the length of years, the ladder of time. We’re building something eternal. I can feel it.

We pop to the surface and gasp for air as laughter trembles from our lips.

Something catches her attention off in the ebony pines, and I follow her gaze.

Nevermore.

I dive back under for a minute. Gage won’t let her out of his sight, and I finally know why.

I’m about to prove Gage and his gift of knowing wrong. I’ll be damned if I let him get in the way our love.

Skyla and I will get our happily ever after, with or without destiny’s approval.

Gage

The television flickers in the background of the family room as I lay on the couch waiting for Logan to show. Mom and Dad are at a meeting downtown, and the rain just began beating over the windows like a thousand mad men, trying to break in. It might as well be drilling into my skull, because it feels like shit knowing Logan’s out there with her, touching her, kissing those lips. I studied the picture he sent of her voluntarily disrobing for him.

If making me feel like crap was his goal, he succeeded.

Headlights shine through the entry, then cut out. Looks like the bastard’s home. I sit up on my elbows and take a breath. It’s not like I’m going to ask what happened, although I am a little curious if Skyla brought up the vision I was stupid enough to share. I should write a book on how to keep a girl at bay—

The door slams so loud it sounds like a stick of dynamite detonating in the entry. Logan rushes into the room with his eyes on fire, a look to kill embedded in his face.

Within seconds, he twists his fists into my shirt and yanks me off the couch.

“You fucking little shit.” He grunts, pushing me up against the window.

“Whoa…” A smile escapes my lips. “I guess Skyla told after all.”

“You’re damn right, she did.” He slams my head against the glass so hard I brace for the shards, but the window holds its resolve. “What’s the matter? You didn’t have the balls to tell me yourself? You needed Skyla to do your dirty work for you?”

He launches me back on the couch face first. I bounce onto my feet and hold up my hands in surrender.

“Swear to God”—I hold back the nervous laughter already trembling from my chest—“it just came out. I’m like an idiot around her, and I didn’t even mean to say it. I was going to tell you first.”

His chest pumps in and out. His lips twitch as he seethes in my direction. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Logan so overtly pissed before, at least not at me.

“You should have told me the second you knew.” He spits it out. “I might have backed down for you.” He shakes his head. “But you’re not getting that courtesy—not now, not ever. You want to hook up with Skyla in your perverted fantasies? Go right ahead. But the only one she’ll be with in the real world is me.”

I charge and land him flat on his back, sending the air expelling from his lungs with a hiss. I clock him a good one just below the jaw as he flips me, pinning me to the carpet like a champion wrestler.

“I have never hurt you, Gage.” He pauses to dab the back of his hand against his lip and inspects the blood showboating for his attention. “I have never beat the living shit out of you before, but I’m about to rectify that.”

He brings his knee up, and I pinch my legs shut and roll before he can erase my future children from the planet. We wrestle and kick for a small eternity. Logan rattles me in the air before knocking my head against the coffee table like cracking a walnut.

The room warps in and out as I crash on the floor. I stare up the ceiling as it starts in on a slow, steady spin. Logan lands next to me, trying to catch his breath.

“Sorry, man.” He taps me on the knee.

“It’s all right. I’ll pay you back one day.”

“I thought for sure Skyla was the Celestra you said I’d be with.”

“I’m pretty sure she is.”

Logan glances over. We don’t say anything for a very long time.

“Looks like we’ve got a problem,” he whispers.

“Looks like we do.”

***

The next day, the sky rages down its special brand of fury over the island, complete with spasms of lightning that inspire the electricity to go into brownout mode now and again. It doesn’t seem to hurt business though. The bowling alley is alive with people—all the wrong people, considering Skyla isn’t one of them.

Then, like a dream, she walks through the dark hole of the arcade, and a rush of heat washes over me. The only thing that can brighten this day just walked through the door. Brielle mentioned she invited Skyla and her stepbrother down so they can hang out after her shift.

Skyla walks over to the counter where Logan waits with a smile. I watch as he takes her money and hands her a pair of shoes. She turns her body into the counter as if she’s trying to seduce him—as if there was a need.

I walk over, still out of her line of vision.

She laughs into him. “How about you take me to dinner and a movie? We’ll call it even.”

My stomach drops. Perfect. I’m sure those words will haunt me well into my dreams.

“Deal.” He shuts the register and glances back at me with the slight look of remorse. Skyla takes off and heads toward Brielle.

“You okay?” He pretends to wipe down the chrome on the rail to take the heat out of the moment. “You can split if you want.”

“No, it’s fine,” I say. “I’ll finish my shift.”

Logan pans over the bowling alley until his eyes snag on a bunch of cheerleaders from West.

“Look, I need to talk to Michelle”—he presses out a depleted smile—“see if I can get the diary.”

Logan’s been after something he believes is buried in Chloe’s diary for months—the protective hedge he foolishly gave her.

“Not a problem. I’ll distract your ‘girlfriend’ for you.” I dig in a smile and take off in Skyla’s direction without waiting for a response.

I find her sitting alone while Brielle does her best to shove Drake’s face down the front of her barely-there shirt. 

“You playing?” I plop down next to Skyla and tap the shoes in her hand.

She examines me for a moment. I can
feel
her looking at me. That’s no platonic glance she’s giving. Something is stirring in her, and it’s all for me.

“You always this bright?” She twists her lips and drives home the sarcasm. If I had control over myself when I’m around her, I would have never told her about our impending nuptials, but a part of me is glad I did. God knows we need to start somewhere.

“I’m off in ten.” I shrug, trying to sound casual. “If you want to make it even, I can hang out.” I point up at the game board and hope she’ll let me stay.

“Whatever.” She glances back Logan, who’s busy trying to juggle three tasks at once. It looks like the entire island is draining in through the front door. 

Drake spells out
Count Drakeula
up on the main board, and I hold back a laugh. He adds
Sexy Thang
for Brielle, I assume—then Skyla’s name appears. I head over and plug my name in just beneath hers. I glance up at our names together in lights—Skyla and Gage. It takes a little restraint not to add ‘forever’ just below that. That’s how I feel, though. That’s exactly how long I plan on holding her in my heart. Instead, I land back beside her and give a shy smile. 

“You think it’ll look like that on our wedding invitations?” She bites down on her lip as she puts on her shoes.

Nice. At least we’re on the same page, sort of.

I blink a quick smile, sliding down into the seat. I can see her underwear rising out of the back of her jeans like a whale’s tale. She’s got a G-string on, light blue like her eyes. I sink a little lower until I can feel the warmth emanating from her skin, and my dick springs to life.

Shit. I fold my arms, trying to hide the protruding evidence, and gnaw on the inside of my cheek as she turns to face me.

Skyla locks onto me with her gaze and doesn’t let go. An entire wellspring of desire pulsates between us, and I wonder if she feels it, too.

“You’re up.” I give her foot a playful tap. Maybe by the time she comes back, I can decompress. That, or I’ll have to pull off my shirt and wrap it around my waist.

She picks up a kiddie ball, the one Bree likes because she can make it fly. Skyla shoves her fingers in the undersized holes, and the ball shoots straight up, causing it to detonate over Logan’s brand-new polished floors like a cannon.

She crouches down in embarrassment. Skyla spins slowly on her heels and takes in the three of us, amazed at her gravity-defying feat. Good thing Logan has a watertight insurance policy, because with Doctor Destructo more than likely to frequent the place, he’s going to need it.

She glances over at Emily, Lexy, and Michelle, and her face darkens as she makes her way to the ball return. Skyla boldly picks up the ball again with a little less bravado than she had a few minutes ago.

Logan springs up beside her. Usually, he tries to give some verbal cues to customers who hold the potential to jack up his flooring, but something tells me Skyla is in for a physical demonstration. He offers her the blue mother-of-pearl ball, favored by most girls, and helps her back onto the lane. He leans over her, filling in her curves with his body, and everything in me goes rigid. He could give a rat’s ass that Skyla is the one I’m supposed to be with. Although, in this case, I suppose the argument can swing both ways. Looks like I’ll have to fight a whole hell of a lot harder to make sure those visions stay on track—not sure they wouldn’t regardless, but I’m not about to sit around and find out. 

Skyla laughs and sails the ball down the lane with missile-like precision, landing half the pins flat on their backs. Logan gives her a quick high-five before taking off.

And there it is. A public display of affection I was unlucky enough to be privy to. I’m sure it’s just one incident of many I’ll be subject to, and my stomach ties up in knots at the idea.