Page 89 of Incipient

“So, what are you doing back in Hollow Hills anyway?” he asked as they ventured back into the living room together.

“What else? I’m here to—”

“To catch up,” I quickly jumped in, afraid she was going to inadvertently let something slip. “Tessa was just telling me about her last hunt. Super crazy. Right, Tess?”

Tessa stared at me, her mouth opening and then closing as she nodded. “That’s right.Supercrazy.”

“Really?” asked Trace as he took a seat beside me and then dropped a kiss on the top of my head. “I haven’t heard one of these in a while,” he said, sounding both nostalgic and genuinely interested as he waited for the ‘super crazy’ story to emerge.

“Oh, well, you know how it is,” she said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. “Once you heard one, you’ve pretty much heard them all, am I right?” Tessa widened her eyes at me, looking for a save.

“Exactly,” I said and then forced a laugh. “So, who’s hungry? Should we order some food?”

Tessa nodded spiritedly. “I could definitely eat.”

“Me too.”

Trace bounced a glance between the two of us and chuckled. If he thought we were nuts, he at least had the decency not to say it aloud. “I brought some wings and pizza from the bar,” he offered, eyebrows raised. “Or I can order something else?”

“Wings and pizza sounds perfect,” I said as I leaned over and stole a kiss from his lips.

As soon as Trace left the room to get the food, Tessa turned back to me and scowled. “Thanks for putting me on the spot like that. At least give me a heads-up next time.”

“Sorry,” I muttered, forgetting that she wasn’t familiar with my way of life, where lying to everyone about everything was pretty much my default setting. “He came home early,” I said, though I already knew that Tessa was going to need to stay sharp and on her toes if we had any hopes of surviving the next couple of hours with him.

36. SEX ON FIRE

After ingesting a disgusting amount of chicken wings and slices of pizza and then convincing Tessa to spend the night since the Blackburn Estate was out of commission, the three of us said our goodnights and then headed upstairs to bed. It had been one of the best nights I’d had in a really long time, which was strange considering we had done nothing but stuff our faces and catch up with each other.

Smiling contently to myself, I quickly changed into one of Trace’s oversized t-shirts and then sat on his bed and waited for him to come back from the bathroom.

He appeared at the door a few moments later and then faltered as he took me in. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that I was wearing one of his t-shirts again or if it was my bare legs that was doing something for him, but he seemed to enjoy whatever it was he was seeing.

“I borrowed your shirt again,” I said, trying to ignore the blush on my cheeks.

He locked the door behind himself and licked his lips. “It looks better on you.”

“Debatable,” I said as I watched him walk over to his iPod deck and turn on the power. “In case I forgot to say it, thank you for inviting my sister to stay here. It’s nice to have her close again.”

“You don’t have to thank me for being nice to your sister,” he said as he shuffled through his playlist. “She’s like a sister to me anyway.”

“Right. Well, you know what I mean,” I said, staring at his back as I picked at my cuticles. “I missed you at school today.”

He didn’t answer as he continued to shuffle through the songs looking for who knows what.

“It feels kind of empty when you’re not there,” I went on, though I had no idea why the hell I was talking about school in the first place. Mostly, I was just worried about him—about whether what Nikki had said last night was starting to wig him out or if I’d managed to calm him down, though I was too nervous to just come out and ask him.

If he wasn’t bringing it up, I didn’t want to either.

He hit the play button and then walked over to his desk and sat down on the chair, his eyes fully hooded and smoldering when he swiveled the chair around and faced me.

My body flushed with heat as I remembered the last time he’d been in that chair and the desire he’d elicited from me. “You can borrow my notes if you need them.”Oh, for the love of all that is holy, please shut my dang mouth.

He cracked a smile, setting off his right dimple. “I don’t want to talk about school.”

“Right. Good. Me neither.” I nodded nervously, still fidgeting with my fingernails. “So…what do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t want to talk about anything,” he said, spreading his thighs as he watched me.

---