Page 90 of Rise of the Melody
I reached out my hand. He looked from my hand to my eyes in question, then took my fingers in his warm ones. The past twenty-four hours had been too much. I didn’t want to think about any of the awful things that had happened. I just wanted to feel something good, even for a moment. My heart pounded in my chest as he let me lead him inside.
The door closed and I leaned back against it, looking up at Teague. He spoke the same silent language, moving closer, sliding his warm palm against the back of my neck. I hooked my thumbs into his jeans’ belt loops and pulled him against me, feeling his heart banging as hard as mine. We never stopped looking at each other until his face tilted and we closed our eyes.
The moment my lips felt the fullness and heat of his mouth, my brain shut down and my body took over. I moaned and pulled him closer, making him kiss me harder. His tongue touched mine and I felt myself going crazy, my leg lifting as if I could climb him, my hands digging into his hair.
Teague pulled back enough to whisper against my mouth, “I-I don’t have any…protection.”
“Uh.” I stilled and stared up at him. Apparently, he was used to a lot more happening than I was. “We’re not going to have sex.”
“Oh,” he said, panting a little. “Okay.”
And then we were kissing again. I tightened my hold around his shoulders and jumped up. He caught my hips as I wrapped my legs around his waist and he carried me into the kitchen, plopping my bottom on the counter. I lifted my chin, and he didn’t pause, kissing down my neck and making me shiver against him, letting out a moan.
“We’re just kissing?” he said against my neck.
“Do you have a problem with that?” I whispered into his ear.
“Nope.”
Our mouths crashed together again. I was so consumed in the sensations I almost didn’t hear the growling until it was right on us, and Teague cursed with a yelp, jumping away from me. I slid ungracefully off the counter. CooShee stood there snarling, his full teeth on display in a way I’d never seen before.
“Oh, my—Coosh! Stop that!”
Teague scooted farther away from me, holding out his hands, “Okay, good boy.” CooShee growled and followed Teague around the entire kitchen as I continued to yell at him to back off. What the actual heck was wrong with him?
He chased Teague all the way to the door.
“Call me!” I said as Teague ran to the truck. He gave me a quick wave before peeling out, CooShee standing on the porch watching with his hackles up.
He calmed immediately when the truck was out of sight and turned to me, sitting with his tongue lolling out. The stray cats seemed to appear out of nowhere to greet him. I put my hands on my hips, my lips still thumping with blood from the kisses.
“What the heck was that about? Freaking rude, Coosh! He wasn’t hurting me! We weren’t doing anything wrong!” All of the ugly anger and fear I’d been holding back all day unleashed. CooShee put his tongue back in his mouth and watched me with big eyes as I laid into him. “I have enough damn people telling me what to do and not do! I don’t need you interfering, too! Do you have any idea what I’ve been through today? Any idea how screwed up my life has been since the day you walked into it?”
His ears pinned back, and I fell onto my knees, burying my face in my hands as all the tears I’d been holding back came out in a torrent.
I felt CooShee move to my side, nudging me, and I immediately reached out and wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him.
“I’m sorry,” I told him as I cried. And cried. And cried a little more until I finally got my breath. “I know it’s not your fault. But it hurt my feelings when I saw you with Zar.” CooShee licked up the side of my face with his thick tongue, wiping my tears but leaving a trail of his own slobber. I backed away. “Okay, thanks.”
“Aw.” I felt his magic just as theawhit my ears. My teeth clamped together as I turned my head and stared down at Zar leaning against the rail at the bottom of my steps. I jumped to my feet, a mix of emotions pushing and shoving inside of me, anger and shame at the top of that list. One moment I’d been thirsting after Zar and the next second I was kissing Teague. I knew I shouldn’t take it out on Zar, but he was there….
“What do you want?” I snapped. “Oh, are you here to check on my aunt? That’s sweet of you but she’s still in the coma that you put her in.”
“Aye,” he said. “I figured as much.”
I crossed my arms as he slowly strolled up the steps. “Where are you staying?” I asked. “Seriously, are you camped in the forest?”
He didn’t answer, only watched me with a guarded expression like he knew a million things that I didn’t. Which he probably did.
“Rough day?” he asked.
I let out a huff of a laugh. “You could say that.”
He said in a low voice, “You should think twice before you use my cousin as a distraction.”
He saw that? Embarrassment burned through me. I started to uncross my arms and then crossed them again even tighter. Heat flamed my cheeks.
“I’m not using anyone.” I couldn’t look at him as I fumbled for an explanation. “It was just a spontaneous…” I let out an exasperated sound. “What do you care, anyway?”
