Out of This World

Chapter 6

Hi, my name is Rachel, and I’m officially freaked out, thank you very much. The clouds had all but vanished from the sky, which still seemed a very strange color, and when I looked at it for more than a second and focused, that odd sense of seeing right through everything hit me again. You’d think there’d be nothing up there in the wild blue yonder but clouds. Wrong. There was plenty: birds, satellites, planes filled with people watching movies, sleeping, talking.

God.

I couldn’t look down either, because the ground was no better. It was filled with things like slugs and worms and other bugs the likes of which might make one go crazy if one thought about it for too long.

So I purposely drew a deep breath and didn’t focus on anything but the intangible. Axel, still missing. Kel and I, still standing here all alone. And, at least in my case, frightened half to death.

Kel squeezed my fingers. “No worries, Rach. We’ll be okay.”

I was trying not to panic, but I wasn’t having much luck. “No worries,” I repeated like a mantra. “No worries…”

“This way,” Kellan said, pointing. Then he pulled off his T-shirt, and even though I’d already peeked, the sight of him left me utterly speechless.

“Um,” I said ever so intelligently, my tongue hanging out at the sight of all his well-toned flesh and hard sinew, “what are you doing?”

“Just as you suggested.” He ripped the hemline off the T-shirt with shocking ease, the muscles in his arms rippling, causing me to drool more. I swallowed hard and tried not to stare at his bared chest or abs, but as I’ve already established, I have no willpower at all.

He tied a strip of cloth around a branch, then touched my jaw, oblivious to my lusting. “No worries, right?”

Let’s face it, the men in my life-both the bad boys I tend to collect and my brothers-spend little time coddling me, much less soothing or reassuring me.

Having Kellan do all three felt both foreign and utterly, shockingly…lovely.

Kel took a moment to look all around us carefully, as if memorizing landmarks.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t tear my gaze off him. “Kel?”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you need your glasses?”

He went still, then lifted his head, those piercing baby blues meeting mine. “I don’t know.”

There was a moment of silence, which I characteristically broke first. “That’s a little freaky, don’t you think?”

He actually went to push his glasses farther up his nose, and remembered they weren’t there. “A little, yeah.”

“Just so you know, the Twilight Zone theme song is running through my head.”

“As long as it’s not the sound track from Psycho.” Taking charge and my hand at the same time, he pulled me onward.

I stared at his sleek, smooth back, damp from either the rain or sweat. Which one didn’t matter, because both appealed. I was dizzy, wet and confused.

And desperately hungry for cookies.

Kel stopped to tear off a second strip of his shirt and tie it around yet a different branch. “Come on.”

“Right.” This take-charge Kellan was new. And incredibly appealing. “You think this is the right way?”

“Yep.”

Confident, too. Double whammy. We made more stops, tying a handful of strips to branches. Kel did the tying, muscles tight, brow furrowed. His jaw was scruffy, his hair its usual riotous mess. His eyes were fierce with concentration, and just looking into them made me shiver. The good kind of shiver, the kind that started at the toes, made pit stops at every erogenous zone and ended at the roots.

He lifted his gaze to mine, catching me staring, and some of his intensity cleared, but none of the heat.

And just like that, I knew.

I wanted to kiss him.

Shocked by the unexpected need, I shifted closer. Since he was so damn tall, I had to tip my head back to see into his face, which I did just in time to catch him taking a hard swallow.

“Rach,” he said, suddenly, endearingly, looking uncertain and off-balance again. “What are you-”

“Shh.” I wanted to just look at him forever, but that was weird. In any case, I’d definitely been staring for a beat too long now, and we were verging on awkward.

He swallowed again, and I slid my hands up his bare chest, giving myself another shiver, because his skin was warm and tough. I could feel his heart leap.

I could see it, too, but I didn’t want to accept that, not right now. Right now, I wanted oblivion, I wanted comfort, and I wanted his kiss more than I wanted my next breath. “Kellan?”

He gave one unsure shake of his head, and touched mine. “You’re hurt.”

“Not so much.” I lifted my hand to cover his on my jaw.

He pulled free and took a step back. “You’re off your axis, then.”

But I’d seen it, the hint of something restless and hungry behind the mellowness.

He wanted me, too.

I closed the gap again, just one step, bringing us back within each other’s breathing space. His was such a nice space, I thought.

How was it I’d never seen that?

He had that stubborn lock of wet hair falling into his eyes, dripping onto his nose, and unable to help myself, I pushed it over his forehead. And then there I was, my fingers in his hair, wanting more, so much more.

And given the way his hands went to my hips and squeezed, he felt the same way.

Unbelievably, everything around us seemed to sort of fade away, and I found myself lost in something new: his heated eyes.

“Rach, you’re sending off a weird vibe here, and-”

I nudged my body up against his, and in response, he let out a rough, ragged breath.

Not so Zen-like now, was he?

The knowledge made me smile; the power made me feel drunk. One look at my face, and Kellan groaned. “I don’t know what’s up with you, but-”

“Shut up, Kel.” And to make sure of it, I kissed him.

He went utterly still, like a wall of stone, like a man who’d just entered either heaven or hell but wasn’t sure which.

Then I touched the corner of his mouth with my tongue, and with another ragged groan, he hauled me up off the ground and dove in like a man starved for a feast.

And in perhaps the best surprise of the day, I learned something new about Kellan McInty.

The guy could kiss.

I mean, seriously kiss. Unlike anyone in my past, which had always been a little like the story of the Three Bears-either too much or not enough-Kel had it down: a hungry pressure, an uncivilized connection and just the right amount of tongue.

And then my mild-mannered, easygoing Kel did something a little shocking. He bumped it up to the next level, sinking his fingers into my hair, gripping my head so that the angle suited him better, and took it deeper, pressing me back against the closest tree. Now I had the hard tree trunk against my spine and Kellan’s hard body against my front.

I’d been kissed plenty, but I had to admit, not as if nothing else mattered-not the lightning, not being lost in the woods, not a single thing…

Finally he lifted his head, his blue eyes so dark, they were nearly black. He stroked my lower lip with his thumb as he looked at me. “That was different for us.”

Before I could say a word in response, he kissed me again. And when I say kiss, I mean more like devour. As in no-holds-barred, destroy-any-lingering-thoughts, melt-all-the-bones-in-my-body devour. Seriously, I couldn’t have whispered my own name if my life had depended on it.

Then he upped the heat even more by pressing a thigh hard between mine, while still taking my mouth with a possessiveness I’d never ever have guessed he carried. He kissed me long and deep, and so thoroughly, I’d completely forgotten where we were by the time he lifted his head.

His mouth, wet from mine, curved wryly. “Yeah. Definitely different.”

I couldn’t tear my gaze from his lips, which I desperately wanted back on mine. “Very.”

From somewhere behind us came a thrashing sound, familiar now, so I didn’t leap out of my skin this time. And then two seconds later, Axel appeared, sticking his head through a bush. “Dudes, you gotta keep up.”

“Yeah,” Kellan said, holding my gaze, not to mention still having me pinned against the tree so that I could feel what the kiss had done to him. Yowza. “We’ll try to keep up.”

I might have spoken, but my body kept humming with an undeniable sexual tension. Plus there was that underlying headache from whatever had happened to me out here.

Oh, and let’s not forget my new superpowers.

Yeah, lots on my mind today, and I was quiet on the walk back. With Axel’s dubious tracking skills, it definitely took longer than it should have, but with my thoughts racing faster than the speed of light, it didn’t matter.

Unfortunately, out here in the Twilight Zone, day faded faster than a blink of an eye. No twilight, no dusk, just a disconcerting blink, and poof, daylight to nightfall with no warning at all.

Eeriest thing ever.

Well, except maybe for waking up on the ground with the ability to see through everything.

Luckily we had been within easy reach of the B &B when everything had happened. Unlike earlier though, the house wasn’t lit, but was dark as can be. Without meaning to, I focused, and saw right into the house, into the darkness, and saw nothing.

So why did the hairs rise on the back of my neck?

“Lost power,” Axel declared with a shrug that said it was no big deal. “Shit happens, right?”

I gulped. I hated the dark, had ever since I had gotten hooked on reading Stephen King novels in eighth grade. “Does it happen a lot?”

“Enough. No biggee.”

No biggee, the stoner said. Okay, then, I’d just relax.

Not.

Kellan pulled me aside and lifted my face, studying me for a long moment the best he could in the dark, letting me study him back, which wasn’t such a good idea, as I drowned myself in his eyes. “It’s going to be okay,” he said.

Again, I felt that melting sensation, as if he really could make it so.

“I have the flashlight, remember.” He flicked it on and handed it to me.

I silently blessed his mother and sisters for drilling the sweet, sensitive gene into him, because he knew I hated the dark.

“Thanks,” I whispered, my throat unexpectedly thick.

“You’re back to being very quiet,” he said. “Making me a little nervous.”

He should be more nervous about the fact that I now knew the answer to the age-old question, Shorts or briefs? But as he didn’t yet know my secret, he might not appreciate the fact that I found his plaid boxers both sexy and amusing. I did manage a little smile, but he didn’t catch it, his eyes holding mine captive.

“Everything’s not okay, is it?” he murmured.

And much as I wanted to pretend it was, or at least to make fun of his plaid boxers, I slowly shook my head.

“Let’s get inside,” he said. Then, so briefly I might have imagined it, he stroked my jaw. “Get you dry, hopefully fed with something other than that pasta sauce Marilee’s working on, because trust me, yeesh.” He paused, waiting for another smile, but I couldn’t muster one, not even for him.

“We’ll figure it all out from there,” he said very quietly, still holding onto me. “Okay?”

I’d always prided myself on my independence. Having him comfort me still felt foreign. So I have no idea why suddenly I wanted to put my head on his shoulder and cry.

Silly. I’d never lacked for much in my life-well, except money-but maybe, as I was discovering, having a bit more warm-and-fuzzy in my life wasn’t a bad thing.

“A few cookies, and I’ll be fine. Good as new,” I said.

“Atta girl.”

We entered the back door of the inn, clomping into the kitchen with our wet clothes. The room glowed from candles and the lit woodstove, each causing flickering shadows to dance in the dark corners.

I purposely didn’t look in the corners.

Marilee stood at the woodstove in black leggings, sheepskin boots and a long white sweater. Beneath she wore some damn expensive-looking lingerie, which I tried like hell not to notice.

She was stirring her large pot, frowning into it so fiercely, I wondered if she’d just taken a taste and discovered how bad it was.

She glanced up when we came in, her eyes widening at the sight of us drenched, probably still looking a little wigged out and, in some of our cases, still smoking. But her gaze kept returning to Kel-specifically, to his bare chest. “My God,” she murmured. “What happened?”

“Lightning,” I said.

In the dimly lit room, she exchanged a long look with Axel. “We don’t have lightning here,” she said.

“Yeah, so I’ve heard.” I’d just made up that incredible strobe of electricity. “You saw it, right?” I asked Kellan.

He nodded. “Saw it. Heard it.”

Axel opened a long, narrow closet and pulled out two sweatshirts. He handed one to me and one to Kellan.

“They got lost,” Axel told Marilee, and mimed the motion of smoking.

“We have not been smoking!” I said, exasperated, pulling on the borrowed gear, both relieved because Kel was now covered and Marilee could stop staring at him, and disappointed because that meant I had to stop staring, too. “And we did get lost.”

“The woods around here are tricky,” Marilee said. “They close in on you if you don’t know where you’re going. Next time, take a two-way radio with you. I can talk you in. I know this whole area like the back of my hand.”

“It was no problem,” Axel said. “Our faithful guide brought ’em back.”

Marilee looked confused. “Who?”

Axel frowned. “Me, of course. I’m the guide around here, not you.”

“Ah.” Marilee’s lips twitched. “Right.”

Axel scowled. “I am.”

Marilee swatted lightly at one of the tassels on his hat, sending it swaying. “Okay.”

Still scowling, Axel leaned over her shoulder and peered into the pot. “What the hell is that?”

“Dinner.”

Axel grabbed a spoon and took a tentative taste. With a shudder, he made a horrendous face. “Jesus, woman!” He tossed the spoon into the sink. “What did I ever do to you?”

I peeked at Kellan, who was struggling to bite back a sympathetic smile.

“It’s fine,” Marilee said defensively, hunching her shoulders as she stirred with much more aggression than necessary, making a few splatters, while Axel choked dramatically.

“Fine? Fine for what?” he asked, grabbing a towel and swiping his tongue on it. “Poison?”

Marilee huffed. “Kellan liked it just fine, didn’t you, Kellan?”

Axel swiveled toward Kellan in disbelief. “Dude?”

Kellan winced, and Axel sighed. “Yeah, I know.” He turned to Marilee again. “Look, you know you’re off-the-charts hot, right?”

Marilee lifted a shoulder, looking slightly mollified at the compliment.

“Yeah, well, you should also know it makes men stupid,” Axel said. “They say things they don’t mean.”

Marilee glanced speculatively at Kel, then back at Axel. “Do you?”

Axel scratched his head.

“Axel Leon Hanson, do you say things you don’t mean?”

When he didn’t answer, she pointed at him with her wooden spoon, then poked him with it in the chest, leaving a red sauce stain right in the middle of his Grateful Dead T-shirt that even in the barely lit room we could all plainly see. “Talking to you, dude.”

Axel sighed again. “Now why did you have to go and ruin my shirt?” He pulled at the material, which came away from his chest with a wet suction sound. “And I don’t say things I don’t mean. You know that.”

She stared at him. “So when you said I can’t cook worth a damn…”

“Yeah, I meant it.”

At her shocked, hurt expression, he grimaced, then put his hands on her arms. “But I think you’re amazing outdoors. Does that count? I love the way you can name all the trees and flowers and shit. And then there’s how you always know where you’re going. You never get lost.”

“You’re just jealous.”

“Maybe.” Axel headed toward the, table and without a care, began to empty his pockets. Penknife, loose change, fish hook, nail, gum…

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“Unloading.”

“Whoa. Stop right there, bud.”

He arched a brow, smiling at her-that contagious smile-but Marilee resisted like a champ.

Instead, she pointed at him with the wooden spoon again, her expression fierce, like a den mother, like a housekeeper at the end of her rope. “When we have guests, you’re not supposed to treat this place like it’s your house.”

“Oh. Yeah. Forgot, sorry.” Reversing his progress with a bit of a sheepish smile, he scooped everything back into his pockets. “See? All cleaned up now.”

“Yeah, I see. I see that you forgot to wipe your boots again.”

He looked at the floor and winced.

So had I, because we’d all tracked in some mud.

“We have guests?” I asked.

“Oh.” Marilee shot Axel one of her long looks, which made me very curious and very uneasy at the same time. “I meant you two, of course.”

Axel moved to the refrigerator, and my gaze followed. I realized I could see right through it, to all the food on the inside, which made my mouth water.

No, I was not going to get distracted by food, no matter how much I was starving.

“Don’t open that,” Marilee said to Axel. “We don’t know how long the power’ll be out.”

“They’re hungry.” Ignoring her command, he began filling his arms with bread, butter, apples, oranges, cheese and crackers.

My stomach growled loudly.

“Food first, and then a change?” Kellan asked me.

“What are you going to change?” Axel asked, craning his neck toward us.

Marilee shoved him, and he pulled his lower lip into his mouth.

“I meant her clothes,” Kellan said, watching the exchange with as much curiosity as I was. “She needs to change her clothes.”

“Right. Her clothes.” Axel smacked his forehead. “That’s what I meant, too, dude.”

Marilee glanced at him with some sort of warning in her gaze, and he just lifted a shoulder. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Slow sometimes, is all.”

Marilee began to slice up the cheese and apples, using choppy gestures that had me seriously concerned for her fingers, at least until Axel pushed her aside and took over, utilizing the knife like a culinary chef, his movements so fast that his hands blurred.

His talent was clear, and a bit startling, given that I’d pegged him as slow and inept, but apparently there were some things he could do, and do well.

That one of those things was wield a knife somehow didn’t make me feel much better.

He and Marilee had gone oddly silent. I knew there was something really weird going on, but I was so fried, I couldn’t seem to summon the energy to get to the bottom of it.

Kellan pressed me into a chair, Marilee handed me a plate and, before I knew it, I was stuffing my face. Unable to help myself, I glanced at the freezer, concentrated and saw right through the door to the boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.

I think I had a miniorgasm.

“Do you have any dessert?” I asked as casually as I could.

“No, not yet, sorry,” Marilee said with apology. “But I’m going to bake brownies tonight.”

Axel choked out a cough that sounded like “God help us,” and Marilee glared at him until he went back to being silent.

“So you have nothing?” I said. “Not anything like, say, cookies?”

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

Damn it. I wanted to go to the freezer and whip it open, but I controlled myself-barely-promising myself a midnight sleepwalk to the freezer, and when I did, this time I wouldn’t hold back.

I was going to eat them all.

Every.

Single.

Last.

One.

“I was thinking of calling Dot,” I said to Kellan, “just to check in.” And to see if she could help us make some plans to get out of Crazy Town.

Marilee shook her head. “Phones are down, too.”

I pulled my cell out of my pocket. No reception. “I don’t suppose you have wireless Internet?”

Both Marilee and Axel burst into laughter.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “What about radio? We could call Jack and get him back here.”

Marilee looked startled. “You want to leave early?”

Axel shook his head. “Not going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Jack never returns early.”

“Oh,” I said, and suddenly felt extremely powerless. Hated that.

Kellan put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “So there’s no way to communicate with the rest of the world?”

“We’re self-contained,” Axel said. “That’s what Gert loved about this place.”

Of course she had. Oh God, this felt bad. Very bad.

“There must be some sort of evacuation plan in case of emergency,” Kel said with quiet calm.

No sparks of temper, no kicking ass, not Kel. Just a cool, easy way that somehow soothed me.

Odd, since I’d always been attracted to the wildly passionate, temperamental sort. But I was extremely grateful that it was Kel at my side, because he gave me something few others ever had.

Security.

How he did it under such pressure was a big mystery, but I wished whatever it was would rub off on me.

“Oh, I can radio Jack,” Axel said. “But it has to be life-and-death for him to respond.”

“So other than one of us dying, there’s really no way out?” I asked in a very small voice. “Because I thought this was the twenty-first century. How can we actually be stuck here?”

Axel smiled. “Now see, that’s why they call this God’s country, boss. No one gets in and out of here but God.”

Marilee and Axel exchanged another long look.

And suddenly I wished I had gotten a lot closer to God over the years.