Night Whispers - Leslie Kelly [34]
“I think that if I answer that question honestly you’re going to go back down to your apartment, lock your door and never come near me again,” she said softly.
Mitch backed away and studied Kelsey’s face. She was not flirting, she was not trying to seduce or cajole. Her honest desire was plain to see, and her bright green eyes held absolutely nothing back. All she wanted was him.
God help him, all he wanted was her, too. His blood coursed through his veins and excitement threatened to overwhelm him. For the first time in years, he felt totally in tune with his senses, remembering every soft inch of her flesh, the sweet scent of her aroused body. He wanted to take her, right there on the stairs, to hell with Fred and Celia and anybody else. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t say to hell with her family.
Finally, when he trusted himself to speak without telling her how much his body was screaming for her, he muttered, “Then maybe we’d better forget I asked.”
6
THE ICE CUBES CLINKED against his glass as Mitch swirled his drink. He stared pensively out his front window at the night sky, wondering what kind of fool he’d been to walk away from Kelsey.
Mitch had never wanted a woman as much as he’d wanted her at that moment. He’d never been as aroused, or as totally unaware of where he was and who was present. He’d felt like a kid again, conscious of nothing but feeling, not caring about anything but physical pleasure.
He didn’t know how he managed to turn his back on her and begin gathering Fred’s spilled belongings. Kelsey had moved past him with quiet dignity and entered her apartment. After dumping the box unceremoniously in Fred’s apartment, Mitch had gone back downstairs, resisting the strong temptation to stop at Kelsey’s door, knock, and see what happened when she answered.
He did the right thing. Things had gotten a little carried away again, but there was no sense in making a difficult situation worse. Maybe he’d been a little crazy to think he and Kelsey could be nothing but neighbors; too many years of history made a mockery of that idea. But they could not become lovers. For about the hundredth time that evening, he found himself wishing she’d never moved in. And for about the hundredth time that evening, he called himself a liar as he remembered the feel of her pressed against him.
Mitch heard the doorbell ring. Glancing at the clock, he saw it was after nine, and knew exactly who was showing up. Kelsey’s date. Celia had mentioned earlier that she’d invited Kelsey to stay for dinner but that she had other plans, with a man, for that evening.
Good. That was exactly what she should be doing. Getting out, meeting people, forgetting all about him.
“You’re such a liar,” Mitch said aloud, knowing he’d rather have both his legs broken than have her forget all about him. He started pouring himself another drink as he heard Kelsey come down the stairs and greet her guest. When he heard them go back upstairs to her apartment, he made it a double.
“I REALLY APPRECIATE you coming by and going over these show ideas with me, Brian. And thanks for dinner.”
Kelsey sat on the floor of her apartment, leaning on her coffee table to write on a yellow legal tablet. She absently picked up her cold-cuts sub and took a bite.
“No problem,” he replied. “I wasn’t doing anything tonight, anyway. Chuck’s working a double so I would have been sitting around at home.”
“So, what’s my excuse for having nothing to do and nowhere to go on a Saturday night?”
“Oh, make me laugh. Half the guys at the station would ask you out in a second if you gave the slightest indication you were interested,” Brian argued as he glanced at his notebook.
“But would it be me they were asking out, or Lady Love?”
“If Lady Love were interested, you’d have half the guys in Baltimore at your door. But from that moony look you get on your face whenever you start talking about this guy who lives downstairs, I guess Lady Love’s not available.”
Kelsey grimaced and wiped her