Effortless by S.C. Stephens Read Free Book Online Page B

myself from wanting to be all over him whenever he
was near.
     
    After a full day of helping me map out everything, right down to
which path I needed to walk through in the quad, it was finally
time for me to go to work.
     
    Smiling as we walked through the apartment’s parking lot, I
started to grab the keys from his hand. “Can I drive?” I asked
playfully, walking backwards in front of him as I tried to jiggle
the keys out of the death-grip he had around them.
     
    Scowling wonderfully, he shook his head and jerked his hand
away. “No, you cannot.”
     
    Stopping and putting my hands on my hips as he walked past me, I
stuck my lip out. “Why not?”
     
    He took two steps and then stopped and walked back to me. His
mouth was instantly sucking on my pouting lip. I was instantly no
longer pouting. Against my skin, he murmured, “Because…that is my
baby, and I don’t share her.” He growled that to me and my breath
quickened.
     
    “I thought I was your baby,” I managed to squeak out.
     
    Smiling, he grabbed my hips and pulled me into his. “You are.”
His lips returned to mine, his kiss deep, territorial almost. When
I felt that familiar fire starting to ignite, when I was ready to
yank off that bothersome t-shirt and glorify his body with my
tongue, he broke apart from me and breathed, “And I don’t share you
either.”
     
    As my body was a delightful, gooey warmth of sensuality, I could
have melted right there into the sidewalk. He laughed and finished
pulling me to the car. I—quite happily—scooted into the passenger’s
side.
     
    Still smiling over his declaration of possession, it wasn’t too
much later that we arrived at my second home here in Seattle. Well,
third truly. Kellan’s place will always feel like home to me. Even
with all of the bad memories that lingered there.
     
    Parking in the stall that his Chevelle frequented so often that
it was unofficially known as “Kellan’s Spot,” he shut off his
mechanical baby. If only he could turn me off so easily. I still
felt a little worked up. Not the best way to start my shift, and
that was probably the real reason why Kellan had done it. He may
call me a tease, but that boy enjoyed making me squirm.
     
    I stepped out of his car right as he walked around to open my
door. He frowned that I hadn’t waited, then he held his hand out
for me. I took it, like I always did, and we walked hand-in-hand to
the large, rectangular building where Kellan found peace.
     
    While Pete’s was comforting and familiar to me, it was sort of
solace for Kellan. He came here to play, to get away, to socialize,
to, at one time, pick up girls, and I think to shut off his mind
for a while. I’d disrupted that peace for him when I was working
here while we’d been suffering through figuring out our
relationship, but the serenity was back now and the lazy smile that
curled around his lips as we stepped through the door clearly
showed that.
     
    Holding one set of the double doors open for me, he gallantly
led me in, kissing my hand as it extended away from him. He
generally did something physical when we walked through the door.
Sometimes it was a peck on the cheek, sometimes his hand snuck
around my waist, but there was always something. Some sort of
announcement to the room—
I was his
.
     
    He’d wanted that when our relationship was secret, and now that
it wasn’t, he let everybody know it. Including the sulking
bartender who was watching us.
     
    Rita had been here since Kellan first arrived, when he’d come
back from L.A. She’d had her sights set on him immediately and,
husband-be-damned, sometime in the past few years, she’d
successfully had him. It made me a little nauseous. She was at
least twice his age, over-tanned leathery skin, over-bleached
blonde hair, and a sense of fashion that left nothing to the
imagination. I’d never asked Kellan about their hookup. Honestly, I
didn’t want to know…ever.
     
    Her lips twisted up when Kellan