New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two (25 page)

“I
will ruin
you. No honorable gentleman
would ever accept you as his wife once he discovers another man has taken your maidenhead.”

She rested her body against the bed
sheets
and beckoned him near. Arching her back
and arranging her
blonde
hair over the pillow
,
she offered herself to him.
She ran her hands down the silk of her gown to bring attention to every perfect curve of her body.

“Bart,” she purred his name. “You leave port in two
days. Let me have a night
I may cherish for the rest of my days.”

“Damnation,” he swore and moved swiftly over her.

His scorching kiss quickened her pulse and started a fire in her belly.
His hands moved expertly and she
felt her body blossom under his touch. Her soul burned for him and Lucinda could not bear the idea of him leaving without knowing what it felt to be with a man like Bartholomew.
Her heart would sure
ly stop beating on the day
Bart set out to sea.

He removed his shirt, leaving only his britches on. Lucinda gasped at his masculine beauty.
His chest was broad with dark course hair that trailed
down
from his belly button.
His biceps bulged with muscles earned from hard labor on the ship. As her desire built, her petals begged to be ravished by him.

Her eyes
moved downwards to the
snug
ness of
his pants. Her insides twisted in anticipation as he placed his hand on his belt and pulled
out
…

“What are you doing?”

“Oh my god
!” Kate cried dropping her book and almost falling out of her lawn chair.
Her entire body felt
flushed as she noticed Jared standing over her with an amused smirk.

Since he wasn’t wearing his normal sui
t, she guessed he hadn’t been at work that morning
. Instead, he wore a fitted black t-shirt and a
pair of running s
horts. He looked completely irresistible
. He ran his fingers through his hair before shooting her an inquisitive look. “I tried your cell and the front door. I figured you might be back here when I saw your car in the driveway.”

“I left my phone inside,”
she choked out as she tried to gain a hold of herself.
She pulled up the straps of her bikini and squirmed in her seat.

“What were you reading?
” Jared asked before adding,
“
You had such an intent look on your face.”

“Um…nothing,” she mumbled.

His arm brushed against her leg as he reached
down
to pick up her paperback
off of the ground next to her
. As his gray eyes took in the cover, she wondered if it was
humanly
possible to be anymore mortified than she was at that moment
.

“
Lust at Sea
,” he read the title aloud with a wry undertone.
“
Doesn’t sound like school reading,
” he teased.

“No, maybe not exactly…
but I was reading it for educational purposes.”
She pushed a strand of light brown hair out of her face and sti
ll wouldn’t look at him directly
.

“And did it help?”

His
gray
eyes lingered over her body and it called to attention how very little she was wearing.
She couldn’t tell if the rosy color of her skin was from her embarrassment or from the time out in the sun
.

“Don’t thi
nk so. Lots of talks about seeds
and flowers and you know I’ve never been good with metaphors.” Her voice sounded
way too high pitched for normal. “I
s it super hot out or what?” Kate
fanned her face for emphasis. “Why don’t I get us some lemonade?”

B
efore Jared
could reply, Kate
jumped to her feet and entered the house through the sliding glass door. Entering the kitchen, she reached into the refrigerator to pull out a pitcher of lemonade.
Jared suddenly appeared close behind her
.
Gooseflesh erupted on her arms and she visibly shivered.

“Where’s your mom?” he asked
.

“She’s having lunch with a friend and then she h
as a sales call to go to. Why?”

Kate
turned around and before she could react, Jared took the lemonade out of her hand and placed it on the counter behind them.
He pulled her body to him and gave her a long kiss that left her
out of breath
.

His breathing was
heavy
as he pulled away.
Her hair had loosened from the haphazard bun she had placed it in while sunbathing. Jared
tucked a piece of her hair behind her ears. “I’ve tried to wait, Kate
…
I really did. I just wanted to make sure you were ready.”

She laced her fingers around his neck and gave him an earnest look.
“I’m ready.”

Moving into the hallway, he began to rain an endless number of kisses on her.
Jared’s
fingers didn’t fumble as he easily
untied the back of her bikini.
The fabric glided down her body and fell to the floor between them.
His hands moved down her bare back and she felt herself relating to the fiery emotions Lucinda had just been describing in Kate’s romance novel.
His voice was a ragged whisper.
“You’re sure she won’t be home soon?”

“No, we have hours.”

Kate
moaned into his mouth as things began to heat up. She barely recalled making their way up to her bedroom. She fell onto her bed and wondered if she had time to fan her hair out attractively the way Lucinda had. Jared didn’t seem to mind the way
she
appeared
as
he blanketed her body with his own.

“Kate, I wanted this…I wanted you
for so long
…”
he breathed out.

Jared’s
guard was down and Kate could see the vulnerability he usually concealed.
She was afraid to speak. Her tendency to put her foot in her mouth made her fearful she could easily ruin the significance of this moment
.

Instead, Kate
parted her lips for another kiss and hoped her body was demonstrating how much she returned the sentiment. It was arousing to see him in such a state. Jared always seemed in control. It thrilled her to see she could chip away at his composure.
He made her
feel
desirable and it eased any nerves she had about them being intimate.

His shirt fell to the floor.
Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pulled him as close to her as humanly poss
ible.
His words were barely audible as he
groaned
into her hair,
“Kate, you are so beautiful.”

“Jared,
you’re amazing,” she said softly between kisses. “This is so much better than I could ever have imagined,” she confessed
huskily.

The sensation of being this close to him made her dizzy. It was
challenging
for Kate to maintain control, but Jared continued to kiss and hold her in a gentle and loving way. Each movement felt deliberate—as if he understood her nervousness and only cared for her comfort.
It must’ve cracked
at his self-control to keep his hands moving slowly and seductively over her body. Each time he dared to touch her somewhere new, his eyes confirmed with hers that s
he was ok
with it. Her skin burned with need each time his lips brushed against flesh
.

Suddenly
, she felt Jared’s body grow taut. He stilled even as she co
ntinued to try and kiss him. Kate
gave him a worried look
and wondered if she had done something wrong
. “Jared?”

“Were you expecting someone to come by
?”
he whispered. The lust melted off of his face and was replaced with
apprehension
. Before she could answer, Kate
heard the doorbell ring. Would she ever catch a break?

“We’ll just ignore it,” she said decidedly.
“It’s
probably one of the women from the church down the street. They are always trying to convert me. I think the whol
e psychic thing makes them think
I’m filled with sin.”

“Being half naked with your boyfriend in the middle of the afternoon would probably
confirm that for them,” he joked
with a wicked grin
.

Kate
squealed as he nuzzled her neck. The laughter quickly faded as loud knocking shook the whole house.
Jared groaned,
“
Whoever it is has the worst possible timing in the world.”

No kidding. With a growl, she untangled herself from Jared’s arms. As the knocking continued, she vowed that whoever it was better be in a life or death situation
or they were getting a major butt
kicking.
After tossing
on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, she gave Jared a
helpless look. “I better get it,” Kate sighed.
“
One day we may actually get more than ten minutes alone together.
”

He rolled onto his back on her bed and nodded. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

Trouncing down the stairs, she s
wung open the front door
.
Ideally
, she could get rid of whoever it was quickly enough to recapture the mood with Jared. Her
frown
deepened as she realized it was Declan. Jeez, she thought
bitterly
, he was turning into the human version of a chastity belt.

He appeared wound up
and stormed past her into the hallway. “What were you taking a nap? I’ve been at the door for ten minutes.”

“Su
re, come right in,” she murmured
while flattening herself against the wooden door
.

Declan opened his mouth to answer
her
, but shut it as he heard Jared’s heavy
footsteps
on the stairwell.
Once the psychic
turned back to face her, understanding darkened his features. “Oh…sorry…I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

When Kate glanced his way, she found
Jared
was leaning
against the doorway that led into the kitchen. By his uncomfortable stance, she knew he wasn’t happy with the interruption either. However, he took the high road and held out his hand. “Jared Corbett.”

“Declan Brayden,” he answered and heartily shook his hand. His normal swagger was gone as he spoke to Jared. “It’
s good to
meet yo
u—n
ice to
finally
meet a cop who actually
believes in psychics.”

Kate was pleased. She
would
much rath
er have the boys playing nice, instead of trying
to pummel each other. She pictured
working with both Jared and Declan. Maybe the three of them could launch their own psychic private detective agency. Jared could handle all of the legalities while the psychics focused on
using their visions to solve cases.

“Sorry to barge in here, but I’ve talked to Delaney Pirola this morning
. I’ve told her about the visions we’ve had about Melanie. I think she was shocked to realize we were real
psychics and not
scam artists trying to get the reward money.

“
Anyway, she wants us to meet with her
today
to look at a few photographs. She didn’t want to get into it over the phone, bu
t apparently she has suspects
in mind that she believes may know where Melanie could be,” he
described
in a rush
.

Silence descended on the room as Kate digested this information.
Chambersburg
was almost four hours away which meant she woul
d have to miss her night class
. With all of the classes and work she’d been missing lately, academic dismissal and unemployment seemed to be in her foreseeable future
.

“I’d li
ke to leave as soon as possible,” Declan declared. He looked at his watch before continuing.
“
We probably wouldn’t get there until early evening depending on how bad the traffic turns out to be. What do you think?”