Natural Instincts by M. Raiya Read Free Book Online Page B

hair at the back of my neck, steadying me.
    Fear brushed me, memory of the last time I’d been kissed and what had befallen me. It had been a tremendous betrayal of trust. As though he sensed my fear, he pulled back. I looked into his eyes as his fingers slid down my cheek, leaving a trace like a tear. But I had made my decision—I had become his, and what I saw in his steady, deep gaze assured me it was all right.
    Jon , I remembered. His brother had called him Jon. The name fit him.
    With one hand still on the gunwale, Jon began to swim, pulling the canoe up to the island. The bow fit into his little path. He stood in waist-deep water and steadied me as I stiffly climbed onto land. My knees were killing me as I straightened. Before I could even take a step, he swept me into his arms—I only had time for a confused second to appreciate that he was taller than I was, and much stronger, and very nude—and then he was carrying me to a little clearing between two of the pine trees, carpeted with a bed of fallen needles and screened from all angles by tall, bending grass. He’d brought my towel and somehow spread it before he laid me on it and sat down next to me.
    He groaned. “Damn, Kyle, you have no idea how hard I fought this!”
    I knew then that this relationship would be different in every possible way. And yet I understood perfectly what he meant, and I would not have had him feel any other way. I’d had my fill of people who went after what they wanted without a thought for the consequences.
    “And you have no idea how badly I wanted to hold you yesterday while you were alone and hurting,” he added.
    I could feel myself trembling a little. Jon took my breath away. How wonderful it would have been yesterday to have spent the spell safe in his arms. It even would have been wonderful to have had help pitching the tent when the rainbow was flashing. I’d been taking care of myself for so long…. I refused to acknowledge the little tendril of logic asking what a relationship with a man who was also a loon was going to look like. We’d figure that out as we went.
    Had I ever been willing to do that before? I, who always needed everything organized well ahead of time?
    Jon spoke again. “I had a feeling you heard my brother and me talking. You came back for your ice, didn’t you?”
    I nodded.
    He touched a strand of my hair, played with it between his fingers as though he couldn’t quite help himself. He was very tactile. Despite how I usually didn’t like to be touched, I felt myself relaxing more and more as I gazed up at him, lying where he’d put me.
    “I’m sorry you had to learn about things that way. I didn’t realize you were there until you ran away. I felt a terrible loss.” Jon drew a breath, his fingers still in my hair. “I meant to leave the state, I really did. But I’d just lost something I’d never known I wanted. It was a horrible feeling. Besides, how could I leave when you were in pain? Kyle, does that happen to you often?”
    I was having trouble keeping up with him and my own emotions at the same time. His gaze never wavered from me. He sat very still. Even his hair didn’t move. It was very long, down to his shoulders. Like mine. I expected his would be full and thick when it was dry. Despite the sense of age I was getting from him, I also got the feeling he was very young. Experience and innocence at once? When I first saw him, he’d been so angry and I’d been afraid. But now he was different. In a good way.
    I shrugged in response to his question. When I was stressed, spells came often. Which I was, most of the time.
    Jon nodded as though he’d understood and kept talking.
    “I’m sorry this happened without your consent. But you’re taking it incredibly well. You must have a thousand questions, and I’ll try not to drive you insane, all right?”
    I hadn’t expected him to be so—outgoing? It was endearing and reinforced how young he seemed. Since I hadn’t