Night Whispers - Leslie Kelly [27]
“You didn’t see the way he looked at you when you stormed up the stairs,” Celia said with a gentle smile. “I thought for a second he was going to grab you and throw you over his shoulder and carry you off or something…it was terribly romantic.”
Kelsey gave her a sour look and stirred her tea. “If Mitch wanted to throw me anywhere, it wouldn’t be over his shoulder…it would be off a bridge.”
Celia sipped her tea silently. She looked like a Cheshire cat, full of secrets, sure of what she knew, and Kelsey couldn’t resist asking, “You really mean it? About carrying me off, I mean?”
“He looked like a man in pain, Kelsey.”
Kelsey couldn’t stop the little stab of malicious pleasure that thought gave her. There had been plenty of girlish nights when she’d cried into her pillow because Mitch had called her “little brat” or given her noogies on her head.
“I think the problem is that Mitch is too decent a guy,” Celia continued. “He’s protective of you, wants to keep you safe from the big bad boys who might take advantage of you. And what he’s feeling for you now, well, suddenly he’s found out maybe he’s still one of the big bad boys.”
Kelsey nodded ruefully. Celia wasn’t saying anything she didn’t already know. Mitch was never going to willingly get involved with her. He was too honorable, too loyal to her parents. He’d accepted the “big brother” mantle her family had thrust on him and would likely never let himself touch her again. Unless…
“Celia, I’ve always meant to ask you. How did you ever get Fred to ask you out? The man is so shy.”
“Simple,” Celia answered with a smirk. “Every time I saw him, I flirted, teased and seduced him without ever letting him know I was doing it.”
“Seduction, hmm? Gee, seems to me I’ve heard a few things about seduction.”
Celia’s eyes lit up as she caught Kelsey’s drift. She nodded, a speculative look in her eye.
Kelsey propped her feet up on the coffee table, patting the vacant seat next to her on the sofa so Celia would sit next to her. “Tell me more.”
And Celia did.
5
SOMEONE WAS POUNDING.
Kelsey buried her head under her pillow, but it did not block out the noise. She rolled over, groaning in frustration. Opening one bleary eye, she glanced at the clock. It was nearly nine.
The pounding continued. As she came more fully awake, Kelsey realized the noise wasn’t coming from next door, or the street. It was coming from her front door. It had to be Mitch. Kelsey rolled out of bed, grabbed her robe and staggered out of her bedroom.
“Do you know what time it is?” she snarled as she yanked the door open.
“Good morning to you, too,” Mitch said as he breezed past her into her apartment. “Like bagels?”
He looked bright and chipper and Kelsey really wanted to sock him one. “You know I hate bagels.”
“I know. That’s why I brought doughnuts,” he said as he made himself at home at her small café-style kitchen table and tore open the bag. Her efficiency kitchen was really not much larger than a closet, and flowed right into the living area. Kelsey had placed the table and chairs as a sort of divider, and his large form dominated the small space.
“What do you want?” she grumbled.
“Coffee would be nice. Or even milk.”
She knew full well he was stalling. “I mean, why are you here?”
“I think we need to talk,” he replied. “I did a lot of thinking last night.”
“Then how come you’re up so early?” she asked, shooting him a glare from behind lowered lids. Kelsey plopped onto the sofa, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
“I never need more than six or seven hours of sleep. Don’t you remember?”
Of course she remembered. When they were kids, Mitch had always been the first one awake in the house, which had driven her right up the wall on many Saturday mornings when she’d come downstairs to watch Land of the Lost and he’d already been engrossed in Johnny Quest.
“Right.