Flutter (The Discover Series) (32 page)

My eyes narrowed at him. “You were
spying
on us?” I accused.

“Guilty as charged.” He confessed shamelessly.

“Well at least you’re honest.” I said with a pout.

“It kind of sounds like you’re mad at me?” He asked and fiddled with a piece of my hair.

Smacking his hand away, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Nothing gets past you. Now I just can’t decide if I am angrier at you for your new found stalker status, or for baiting Scott the way you did. Why did you do that?”

“I warned you I would fight dirty.” He said simply.

“You shouldn’t be fighting at all. I told you I have a boyfriend. You just want what you can’t have, and I refuse to be a challenge for you.”

His arm snaked out so fast it was almost a blur, and he whirled me around until I was pinned between him and the house. My chest rose and fell, pushing against his. I tried not to focus on how good it felt. He grabbed my chin firmly but gently, between his fingers,. Tilting my face up until I was forced to look at him, his eyes were blazing and I could feel the annoyance vibrating off him.

“I don’t believe for one minute that you think you’re only a challenge to me.” He whispered fiercely.

“I don’t know what to believe! I haven’t known you long enough to know what kind of game you’re playing.”

“I’m not playing a game with you. It doesn’t matter that I just met you yesterday; you know there is a connection between us.”

I was shaking my head, denying his words before he could get them out, but his firm grip didn’t allow much for the movement. “NO?!” he freaked. “You’re denying you feel it too?” He pinned me with his heated gaze for a long, slow, agonizing minute before his face melted into a dangerous smile. “Actually I’m glad you said that.” He confessed and bent his head. I gasped when I felt the tip of his nose and lips running up and down the side of my neck.

My hands had balled into fists, and I flattened them against the wall as I let him torture me. The minute his skin touched mine his point was proven and my skin caught on fire. The trail he was creating burned hotly, and I shivered under his gentle touch. I could feel the smile on his lips as he continued to run a rampage on my nerves. The flutter was out of control, and my body was buzzing just having him this close to me.

“Sara.” He whispered my name in a trail down my throat. “I know you feel that.” His voice was urgent. “You can deny it with every sweet, intoxicating, breath in your body, but I know damn well that you feel that!” He lifted his head and I wanted to protest, but he was lifting my hand and placing it over his chest, and I could feel the rapid pounding of his heart underneath my fingers. “I know you feel it, because I can feel it too. It happens whenever I’m close to you, whenever I’m thinking about you.”

I stared into his earnest face. “I can’t hurt him.” Was all I could say.

“Do you feel this way around him? Does he make your heart pound the way I do? Does he make electricity run through your body, and your blood boil?” He challenged and his voice got even quieter. “Can he make you blush with a simple word, a look…a touch?”

I swallowed hard.

His breath came in warmth puffs that covered my face and neck, causing shiver bumps to erupt across my skin. “And what solid evidence do you have, that suggest you do
all
of that to me? Yes maybe you can get my pulse worked up, and yes some of the things you say can cause me to blush,
but
everything else is obviously coming from the over active imagination of your brain.” I shook my head, trying to clear the fog he had created around us.

“Ugh I can’t think straight when you’re this close to me.” I said and squeezed out from underneath him. I stood with my back to him, facing into the dark woods. I could feel my wolf’s eyes on me, and I could feel Adan’s eyes on me. “He was willing to risk his own life earlier to save me. I can’t just…” I didn’t know what else to say.

“And you don’t think I would do the same for you?”

“I didn’t say that.” I protested.

“Okay then let me rephrase that. Do you think I would do the same for you?”

“Give up your life to save mine?”

He nodded firmly.

“I honestly don’t know. Why would you have any reason too? You haven’t even known me a full 48 hrs. I’m nobody to you.”

He sighed dramatically and dropped his head back until he was staring into the sky. “You’re nobody to me?” he repeated, like it was the silliest thing he had ever heard.

“What?! You can’t expect me to believe that in less then a day you would be willing to give up your life for mine!”

“Does that mean you wouldn’t give up your life to save mine?”

I stared at him flabbergasted. I hadn’t expected him to turn that around on me, and even as I thought about it, I couldn’t confidently say that I
wouldn’t
do whatever I could to save his life…even if that meant giving up my own. And yet here I was accusing him of being so outrageous as to mirror these same feelings.

“Don’t do that,” I said. “Don’t turn this around on me.”

“Why? Because you would have to admit that you wouldn’t, or because you would have to admit that you
would!
”

“I can’t believe we are having this conversation. This is insane!” I said throwing my hands up in defeat, I turned away from him.

Neither one of us said anything for what seemed like an eternity, but I could feel his eyes burning into my skin.

“
Your
wolf?” He finally asked, changing the subject. I felt him come to stand behind me.

I smiled, thankful for the subject change. “Yes, he’s
my
wolf.” I said possessively. “He saved my life.”

“He saved your life too? Do you make it a habit of needing your life saved all the time?”

I laughed. “It’s a long story. I can feel him watching us, watching me.” I said, and turned around to look at him. God, he was breath taking.

“You can feel him?”

“Are you just going to repeat everything I say?”

He laughed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say it sounds like you were in love with him.”

I looked over my shoulder toward the woods again and smiled softly. “I think I kind of am.”

“So it’s a real life beauty and the beast tale?”

“I guess you could say that.” My smile grew bigger as images of my wolf filled my thoughts. With his size and the way he protected me, he really could be my beast. “Yes he is my beast.”

“Does that mean he is going to magically transform into some handsome hero, and carry you off into the night?”

I snorted. “I only wish! Unfortunately magic, with its sparkly dust and magic wands, doesn’t exist. No matter how much I might want it too.”

“You never know. I think
you’re
pretty magical.” He said smiling at me. Gone was his cocky attitude, he was looking at me in a way that left me forgetting how to breathe.

“I can’t imagine what I have done to give you that idea, but thank you.” I didn’t feel like ruining the moment with an unneeded sarcastic retort.

“So,” He said breaking the spell. I blinked a couple of times, I trying to focus. “Is there any
one
or anything else I should be aware of, that I might have to compete with?”

I laughed. “I’m sorry to tell you this Adan, but if My Wolf did magically appear as my flesh and blood, knight in shining armor, in front of my very eyes, there would be
no
competition. I would be all his.”

He seemed to be pleased by that and I frowned. “Is that so?”

“Yes…” I eyed him suspiciously. What was he up too?

“Noted,” Was all he said. “And Scott? Where do I measure up to him?”

“I may not react to Scott the same way I react to you, or have connection with him the way I have one with my wolf.”

He looked at me waiting for more. “But…?”

I shook my head. “But what?”

“What do you mean?” he said confused. “That sentence was clearly missing a ‘but’ ‘but of course my strong physical and emotional connection to you most definitely, couldn’t possibly compare, and completely outweighs the lack of spark with my boy-next-door boyfriend.’ That was just
one
of the many explanations I was expecting.”

I was laughing. “Sorry to disappoint you Adan.”

It only took an instant for his expression to grow dark and smoky at the sound of my saying his name. “Believe me Sara, you, without question, do
not
disappoint me. Confuse me:
yes
. Drive me crazy:
definitely
. But disappoint,
never.
” He waited for me to catch my breath before he continued. “So that’s it? That’s all you have to say about the matter?”

I tried to control my grin at his expression. “Yes. That’s it.”

“That’s pretty vague don’t you think?”

“Maybe. I guess…” I thought for a moment. “You remind me of him a little you know. My wolf I mean.”

“I do?”

“Yes.” And wondered what had made me admit that last part to him.

He circled around me and whispered behind into my hair. “Does that mean you’re kind of in love with me too?”

“You’re incorrigible.” I said rolling my eyes to hide my grin.

“And you’re a-”

I quickly turned on him. “Don’t say it.” I said placing my finger firmly over his lips.

His eyes nearly glowed in the dark as the touch of my finger sizzled against his lips. We didn’t say anything, and I couldn’t find the control to drop my hand away. He stared at me, and I could feel his warm breath against my finger. His hand came up and his fingers wrapped around my wrist, bringing it up to his mouth, he kissed the center where my pulse pounded violently. Pulling it away, he drew lazy circles, around the spot that had been scorched from his kiss, with his thumb before he finally lifted his eyes to mine.

“I should go,” he whispered.

I was too dazed to do anything but stare at him. With a gentle tug he pulled me toward him.

“Sweet dreams Sara.”

I stayed outside long after Adan had disappeared into the night.

             
My flushed skin welcomed the cool temperature of the night, and I decided to stay out for a while. I sat on the deck looking up at the dark sky filled with endless stars. I wondered how my life had managed to get so chaotic, in such a short amount of time. I wasn’t any closer to figuring out what I was going to do about Scott or Adan, and I decided that I probably wasn’t going to figure it out tonight.

Using the railing I pulled myself up, and turned to go into the house. Twisting the knob, I pulled open the back door an inch and then stopped, I didn’t need to turn around to know the soft thumps belonged to my wolf. If that hadn’t been enough, the tell-tale, spike of the flutter was a dead giveaway. Letting go of the door, I looked over my shoulder to see him standing just a few feet behind me.

“Hey you.” I said and closed the distance between us. “You did a real number on Scott earlier. That wasn’t very nice you know, he was just trying to protect me.”

He stared at me with no apology or remorse in his eyes.

“Yeah I kind of thought you would look at me like that. I don’t understand,” I said dropping my voice to a whisper. “
How
are you here? How did you know where to find me?” he watched me. “I know you can’t answer, but it feels better getting those questions out.” I looked back at the quiet house, and then faced him again. “Come on,” I said and walked back up the deck.

Opening the French doors to my room I walked in. He stopped, sitting just outside the doors. Watching me.

I went around the room, picking up clothes until my arms were full, and dropped them into the laundry basket. Taking out a fresh pair of pajamas, I sauntered past him into the bathroom to change. After going through my nightly ritual, I returned to the bedroom. My wolf was still sitting there, watching me as I moved about the room. I climbed into bed and pulled the blankets up over my lap, and stared at him.

I didn’t feel the need to shut the doors or lock them. Who was going to bother trying to get into my room with him standing guard?

“I don’t know how you’re here, or why you’re here, but I’m glad you’re here. I was so worried about you. I hated leaving you, but Andres forced me to go. I know you probably don’t understand any of this, but again I feel better getting it out.”

He just stared at me, his eyes softening.

“Goodnight.”

Turning off the light, I smiled sleepily at the thought of my wolf sleeping only a few feet from me, but as happy as that made me, there was only one face I saw behind my lids: Adan’s. Since waking up in ice, I had felt like something was missing, and than Adan shows up and now everything was different.

I slept nightmare free for the first time in months as dreams of Adan filled my subconscious long into the morning.