Silence that Sizzles (4 page)

Kelly wasn’t sure what to make of Kyle’s abrupt change of heart. There was something about the idea of going back to his place that felt secretive and sexy. It made her willing to forgive him for locking her in his office.

She had to admit that she had always wondered what Kyle would be like as a lover. She had thought about that in those long nights that she had spent alone on her cot in Afghanistan. There was something about him being a shifter, though, that made it feel forbidden and dangerous. Kelly had never dated a shifter before, although lots of her friends had. They all spoke of sexual experiences that blew their minds. Kelly was inexperienced in that way. She had been focused on her schoolwork and then later on her research. She hadn’t really had a lot of time to date. And now, she was on the arm of the most virile, gorgeous man she’d ever met on her way to stay at his place for the foreseeable future.

At the same time, she felt incredibly grateful. She felt as if things were more under control now that she was with Kyle. She couldn’t explain it other than she knew it felt right. She allowed him to escort her into a cab, and they didn’t say anything all the way to his place. She wasn’t that surprised by that other than the fact that it was terribly late. Kyle wasn’t known for being a conversationalist. She had listened to the gossip around the camp about each one of the soldiers, although she had paid the most attention whenever someone started talking about Lieutenant Frost.

She couldn’t help but spend the silent time now scanning what she did know about him, at least at a high level. His father was a high-ranking general in the Army. She figured that was probably why Kyle had decided to enlist to begin with. In a way, she was surprised that he’d stayed in the Army as long as he had. Although he seemed to take his duty seriously, she wasn’t quite sure if he believed in his mission or not. He just did what was expected of him. That was another reason it was kind of surprising that he had been discharged. She didn’t know the full reason. It was classified, but she did know it had something to do with Kyle’s drug habits.

The Kyle that she had known back then had always kept a tight lid on his emotions. But she knew he had a temper. That was all over the therapist scrawl in the notes about his psychological evaluation coming into the Army. It was one of the reasons that Oak Tree had been so fascinated by Kyle. He had been in their ‘special projects’ program. Kelly had started to feel very uncomfortable towards the end as they started changing up the different medicines that they would give the soldiers that she was attending to.

She knew that the medicine the soldiers were being given was doing something to them. She had watched Kyle the closest. Over the course of that six months, she watched as he slowly started to fray at the edges. His tight reins of control started to unbuckle and let loose. There were times when she would hear him snap at a fellow soldier. That was unexpected and completely out of character for him. She thought it was probably just a matter of time before he snapped altogether. That thought terrified her as well as the idea that she had played some part in it. It was the reason she had raised concern with her superiors. She also knew that was why she had been abruptly reassigned after her initial six-month stint.

Returning to the present, Kelly reached over and took Kyle’s hand. The movement caused his gaze to shift to her. He had been so quiet that she wondered if he’d forgotten that she was even there. There was no way that she was going to forget that he was there. This was real. This time elapsing between them now was time that she knew she would never get a chance to experience again.

“Thank you,” she said. It was a simple sentiment that expressed so many things that she felt inside of her. Touching his skin made her feel alive.

Kyle took his hand away from hers, and she immediately felt the loss. “It’s what anyone would do,” he replied and looked away from her. The words weighed heavily on her, because she knew as well as he did that they weren’t true. There weren’t many people who would go out of their way to help people in need. That was why someone like Kyle was such a rarity.

Kelly had done some research before coming to Copper City. She did know that when people were in trouble, shifters, in particular, they tended to their way to Copper City and the Urban Dwellers. The trio of men were easy to find as they frequented their popular nightclub.

Kelly figured the night club was a facade for other business dealings, those of illegal kind, and if she dug deep enough she figured she’d be able to find proof that she was right. Eric Carmichael was the CEO of one of the largest software companies in the world. He was a bona fide billionaire in his own right even though he had come from a long line of very rich, well-established men. Anthony Atwood was the son of a popular politician. Even though he didn’t trade on his father’s name in the same way, Anthony had become the foremost expert in shifter psychological behavior. He was frequently called on to be an expert witness in cases where shifters were on trial. His testimony had saved more than a few shifters from death row.

That’s what made Kyle such an enigma. Next to Eric and Tony, Kyle’s more modest background paled in comparison. Not to her, but to the rest of the world. She figured that was because he was the strong silent type. He didn’t take up space the same way that his business partners did. When they would make press announcements for the Urban Dwellers, Kyle always stood in the background. He didn’t have anything to say, seemingly content to let Eric or Tony take center stage. That wasn’t the way that an alpha acted, which is why the popular theory and rumors centered on either Eric or Tony being the likely true alpha of the Urban Dwellers. Still, there was something about Kyle that had bonded him to the two other men.

Kelly knew from looking at Kyle’s files that the three men had been roommates in boarding school. St. Ignacious Preparatory school. It was an elite school for the richest, oldest families in the country. What was so unusual about it was that it had been an integrated school well before anyone even realized that shifters existed. Kelly wasn’t surprised that the old establishment had known about shifters before the general public. That’s kind of the way things seem to go in the world. But St. Ignacious had been a place where everyone, as long as they were rich, were welcome. Kyle’s family seemed to be a bit of an anomaly. Sure his father was a well-known general. But they didn’t seem to have the billions in their bank account like the Carmichaels or the Atwoods did. Maybe that’s what made Kyle so different. Maybe that’s why he was so okay with letting his counterparts take center stage.

These were just the surface of all the questions that she had about Kyle. It was part her researcher’s mind and part the mind of a woman who was completely invested emotionally in him. She knew that was stupid of her. Shifters tended to like other shifters that way. It was another nugget of information that she had gleaned from her girlfriends’ gossip. So even if she was the slightest bit romantically interested in Kyle, there was no way that he would be interested in the same way. She was just a boring, run-of-the-mill human. A doctor who had poked and prodded him and subjected him to experimental medicine besides. She was amazed he could trust her at all.

“We’re here,” Kyle finally spoke. The words brought Kelly out of her reverie. She peered out the taxi’s window. The drab brownstone building that they were in front of was unassuming at best. She knew that despite the fact that Kyle might not have started out with a lot of money, his net worth since joining the Urban Dwellers had gone up significantly. But she really wasn’t surprised to see him in such a simple building. It fit him. There was nothing about Kyle that was showy or over-the-top. That just wasn’t who he was.

He helped her out of the taxi, and she enjoyed being close to him long enough to smell his musky cologne. They climbed the steps in silence. Kelly resisted the urge to say something just to clear the awkward air.

Kyle unlocked the door and motioned for Kelly to move inside. She paused on the threshold. “You’re not gonna turn around and lock me in again are you?” The question was meant to be flippant, and she tried to put a teasing tone in her voice. The silence now had stretched to the point where it was uncomfortable. She wanted to know what he was thinking. She was surprised to hear Kyle chuckle. It was a sound that was unfamiliar coming from him.

“I promise to only lock you in if you ask me to.” The words sent a tingle down Kelly’s spine. Was it possible that he was flirting with her? She wouldn’t mind. She stepped into the doorway, and, when Kyle flipped on the lights, she gasped in surprise. She had expected to walk into the foyer of an apartment building. Instead, she was looking at a wide expanse of space in front of her with a modern looking circular staircase at the back.

“I’ve done a little of renovating to the building.” Kyle seemed to offer the simple explanation as if it wasn’t a big deal.

Kelly looked around, and she saw that, despite the expansiveness of the room, it was still sparsely furnished. There were a couple of low couches, some seating around a small dining room table, and a flat-screen TV on the wall that made up the living room. She could see an open kitchen with a massive kitchen island that had eight stools around it at the back of the large room. The rest of the room’s walls were covered with what appeared to be custom built bookcases that were filled with books. She looked at Kyle in surprise. “A reading hobby wasn’t noted anywhere in your profile.”

Kyle shrugged. “There are a lot of things about me that you won’t find in your files, Ms. Malone.”

The words made her immediately wonder what else there was about him that she could uncover. It was her researcher’s mind at work, but her body reacted differently to the words. She felt a tingle of warmth growing in her core. There was something about just being around Kyle that made every nerve in her body come alive. She smiled at him and was surprised when he smiled back.

“I know this is an odd question for how late it is, but are you hungry?” he asked.

Kelly’s stomach answered for her, and she couldn’t help but laugh. “I haven’t eaten anything since I went to the airport this morning,” she admitted.

“Let’s take care of that first,” Kyle said with a nod. “As long as you’re not ready to go to bed yet.”

In all of the rigmarole, Kelly had forgotten that it was just after 3 o’clock in the morning. Her internal sense of time was all off. But that wasn’t unexpected. Her work often required her to work late into the night. She wasn’t unaccustomed to working until all hours of the night and sleeping during the day. She found she got a lot more work done when she was in the lab by herself.

“I’ve always been a bit of a night owl,” she said. “Should we order something?”

Kyle shook his head. “Nah, I’m sure I’ve got something I can whip up. Is there anything you are allergic to or don’t like?”

This new side of Kyle was exciting to her. “Nope. If it’s food, I’ll eat it. Why don’t you surprise me?”

Kyle’s eyebrows rose, and a considering look crossed his face. He rolled his shoulders and moved his head from side to side before stretching out his hands in front of him and cracking his knuckles. “Okay then, I’m up for the challenge.”

Kelly felt the tingle in her core again. She wondered what other kinds of challenges she might present to him. Kyle walked past her brushing ever so gently against her arm. It sent shivers down her spine. Then he walked over to the corner and turned on some low music. It was jazz. Benny Goodman, one of her favorites. Then he made his way to the kitchen and started digging into the cabinets and pulling out pots and pans.

Kelly moved to the kitchen island and settled herself on one of the stools around on the other side to watch him. It became clear very soon that Kyle knew his way around the kitchen. A glass of wine appeared in front of her a few moments later. He winked at her, and she smiled back at him.

It would be so easy for her to forget that she had come into this place because her life had been torn apart. Just being around Kyle made her feel relaxed. Listening to the music and enjoying the wine, she almost didn’t notice that he barely spoke at all. It was late; she guessed she could understand. He had a job that demanded a lot of him. If she wanted to fill the empty air between them, she figured questions about his job were safe enough questions to ask.

That’s when she saw the flyer sitting on the island in front of her. She read it over with a slightly raised eyebrow. “A benefit gala?” When Kyle turned around, she pushed the slim piece of paper toward him and tapped his name on it. “This says you’re the keynote speaker.”

Kyle winced. “It was Eric’s idea. He said that we needed to start doing more things for the community. It’s good PR.”

“It says here that this is a veteran’s benefit.”

Kyle looked flustered. “That’s why I’m speaking instead of Eric or Tony. Like I said, Eric thinks it’s good PR. We bring in a lot of money with the club and our restaurants and other entertainment venues around town. This is a way for us to be able to give back.”

Kelly took a sip of her wine. “And I’m sure there’s nothing remotely relevant to you either that would also make you the logical choice?”

Kyle looked at her with a perplexing look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about this,” Kelly said. She pointed at the small language that was next to the asterisk at the bottom of the page. “It says that the proceeds from the benefit are going to go to a fund for veterans battling PTSD.” Kyle was clearly uncomfortable, and Kelly wanted to kick herself for even bringing it up. “I know that you think you have PTSD, Kyle. But I don’t think that’s what it is.”