Night Whispers - Leslie Kelly [30]
“Please, don’t get the wrong idea,” she said, “I really didn’t mean to offend you earlier. I care what you think, I really do.”
Mitch shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. As far as I’m concerned, it’s finished.”
Kelsey watched him turn to leave. Mitch was in such a strange mood, so somber and unemotional. In all the years she’d known him, she had never seen him so…remote.
“I’ve gotta go,” he said as he walked away.
Mitch managed to reach the house without turning back to look at Kelsey one more time. He refused to let her see that their conversation bothered him in the least. She’d looked so lovely, with a few loose tendrils of hair blowing free, and her angelic face turned toward the sun. But he had to stop thinking of her in that way. There were plenty of beautiful women in Baltimore. As far as he was concerned, Kelsey barely even existed anymore.
Mitch had spent a good bit of the morning racking his brain over their fight and hadn’t been any closer to a solution when he’d received a call an hour ago. Kelsey’s mother wanted to welcome Mitch home, and to sincerely thank him for “taking care” of Kelsey. She assured him again that she and Ralph were so happy Kelsey had a “member of the family” to look after her in Baltimore.
Fifteen minutes later, Nathan called and he heard the entire speech over again. Mitch was tempted to tell her brother that while Kelsey might seem a fairly inexperienced young woman, her alternate persona, Lady Love, seemed an expert. Instead, he’d kept Kelsey’s secret and assured Nathan that she would be as safe in his house as she’d been at home. That meant safe from everyone. Including himself. So it was time to draw the line and stay well behind it.
Mitch still believed this solution was for the best. He’d already allowed Kelsey to creep into his life and it was time to put a stop to it. If she wanted to go on the radio and titillate the entire city, she was welcome to do it. He didn’t have to think about it, absolutely was not going to listen, and they certainly didn’t have to socialize. There should be no reason why they should have more than minimal contact. And that was fine with him.
“NOT ON YOUR LIFE, Mitch Wymore,” Kelsey whispered as she watched Mitch enter the house. “You are not going to shut me out.”
Mitch wanted to pretend they meant nothing to each other. Well, he could pretend all he wanted to. But he wouldn’t get away with it. They lived in the same house, parked their cars two feet away from one another, bumped into each other at the mailbox, or while getting the newspaper. No way was he going to be able to avoid her.
She would make sure of that.
“LET’S TALK ABOUT DESIRE.”
Kelsey sat in her studio, opening her show even before the last notes of her introduction were finished. She was more than prepared for tonight’s topic.
“Now I don’t mean the natural urge we have to be close to someone we love, to further our deep emotions for that person through physical expression. That’s wonderful, too, of course. But tonight, I want to talk about the kind of desire that’s almost painful in its intensity. You know what I mean…the sweaty palms, the pounding heart, the tense, coiled feeling in the pit of your stomach when you think of someone you want so badly but haven’t been with. Think about it. You know what I’m talking about. Stick around. It should be an interesting night.”
Kelsey sat back during her first set of commercials, winking at Brian while she sipped a glass of water. Usually