Lycan Contempt

Chapter Six

Georgia was sitting in the living room floor putting a new bandage on Lucy’s paw when her visitor came back. She had to ask him his name so she could stop referring to him as her visitor in her mind.

“I pushed the snow off the roof after I started the generator. You should be good to go now.”

“Thank you. How long do you think the power wil be out?” How the hell long do you think I’ll be stranded here? was what she realy wanted to ask, but he wouldn’t know that so why bother?

“Power is unpredictable in a storm like this. Could be a few hours, could be days.”

“I thought it was supposed to be sunny and clear this week.”

“It was.”

She jumped when the man’s voice came from close beside her. How did he get so close without her hearing him? “Can I ask your name?”

“Yes. I should have introduced myself. I’m Kish.

Kish Frahm.”

Her stomach knotted. That was the name of the man from her dreams. Not only did he smel like her dream man, now he had the same name. Only a coincidence, Georgia. A strange, eerie one, but nevertheless, a coincidence.

She swalowed past the lump in her throat. “That’s a nice name.”

“Who’s this little lady?” Kish’s hand brushed hers when he patted Lucy.

“This is Lucy. She stepped on a piece of broken glass earlier. That’s why I didn’t end up going to town with Henry and Joey.”

Kish went silent for a few minutes before asking, “Can I help?”

“I would appreciate that.”

She pet Lucy while Kish worked on her paw.

“Henry and Joey your boyfriends?” His voice was low.

If she wasn’t mistaken, he sounded a bit agitated.

He couldn’t be upset with Lucy because she was being a perfect angel. Maybe he didn’t like animals.

Or maybe . . .

“Did Henry or Joey do something that upset you?”

“No. Why would you ask that?”

She shrugged. “I pick up things in people’s voices that aren’t as easily recognizable to others.”

“Ah. Yes. I’ve heard that when one of your senses is gone, the others compensate for the loss.”

She smiled. “Something like that. Yes.”

“There. Lucy is al bandaged. The cut isn’t al that deep, by the way. I think she’l be fine by morning.”

“Great. I hate to think she’s in too much pain because of my clumsiness.”

“Your clumsiness?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m the one who knocked Joey’s cup off the counter and broke it. Then almost tripped over Lucy.

She was scrambling to keep from causing me to fal when she cut herself.”

“Hmm. I don’t picture you as being clumsy. Could it be that Joey put his cup where it didn’t belong?”

Kish was astute. She liked that in a man. She shrugged then started to stand when a big hand caught her by the wrist and gently tugged her upward.

Her skin tingled. He was warm and she had the sudden urge to touch him. She eased her hands toward him, but stopped before she touched his chest.

“May I touch you?” she asked.

“Yes,” he finaly answered after a few silent moments.

Her fingers traveled over the smooth fabric covering his chest, and just like in her dream, he was big. His shoulders were wide, and every muscle was defined as if chiseled from stone. She let her fingers glide over the tops of his shoulders and to the thick column of his throat, but before she could reach his face, he stiffened under her touch. Déjà vu tickled her brain again when he circled her wrists with his hands, effectively stopping her progress.

The déjà vu continued when she felt the rougher skin of his right hand, and she sucked in a smal gasp.

“Did I hurt you?”

The concern in his voice was evident to her ears.

“No. I-I think I might have had some weird psychic vision or something is al.”

Oh. Was that al? A psychic vision? Good Lord.

He must think she was a freak show or something for that statement.

“What makes you say that?”

He said it in a way that made her feel as if he knew exactly what made her say that, which added more strangeness to the situation.

“I think I dreamed of you last night.”

“I think I’m flattered.”

“You are?” she said.

She couldn’t imagine a man such as he would be flattered that she’d dreamed about him. After al, her little sneak peek of him with her fingers told her that he was one hel of a yummy man, and she, after al, was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, she probably was a bit too curvy for a man like him. If the rest of his body matched his chest and shoulders—and she’d bet it did—she doubted he had trouble getting whatever woman he wanted. That included the tal, thin, model types who ate a grape for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

She was not that type of girl. She liked her sweets and a juicy steak now and then. She didn’t go crazy with food, but she didn’t deprive herself. When she was depressed or sad—which wasn’t often—she wasn’t opposed to putting a candy bar or two down to soothe her nerves. She had nothing against tal, thin women. She simply would never be one.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be flattered by a beautiful woman dreaming of me?”

Heat rushed to her cheeks. She was blushing like a schoolgirl talking to her crush. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d blushed, and he made her do so with ease. She had to fight back a nervous giggle. Jeez. Cool the hormones already.

“Thank you. You aren’t bad yourself.”

He snorted.

“What?”

“I don’t think you can make that type of judgment with the information you have.”

“I have enough.” She grinned at his playful banter.

Yet her stomach knotted and a whip of flame shot low and settled in her bely. Something in his voice drew her to him, something she couldn’t quite place.

“How is it that your boyfriends left you stranded up here al alone?”

His finger slid under her chin and tilted it up as if she could look into his face. This was one of those instances when she yearned for her vision.

“They aren’t my boyfriends. They are my best friends. In fact, they are boyfriends.”

This was the second time he’d referred to Henry and Joey as her boyfriends. If she was naive, she’d swear he sounded jealous. But why would he be? He had only just met her. He wouldn’t care if she had a boyfriend or not.

“Then there won’t be a problem if I do this.”

Or would he?

He cupped her neck and started puling her slowly to him. He was going to kiss her. She was going to let him. Hel, she wanted him to, but before his lips could touch hers, a loud crash ripped a screech from her throat.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Not sure. I’l go check.”

She paced until he returned a few moments later.

“Wel?”

“A tree fel from the weight of the snow, which by itself wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”

“But?”

“It fel on your generator. It’s toast. Worse. Part of it fel on your roof and ripped a hole in it.”

She’d been so frightened by the commotion, she hadn’t noticed the fridge had gone silent again.

Seemed a lot of things were going unnoticed by her since she’d met Kish.

“Oh no. What am I going to do now?”

“The only thing you can do. Get your things together and I’l take you to my place.”

“I can’t. If Henry and Joey show up and I’m not here, they’l be sick with worry.”

“They aren’t showing up anytime soon. If this snow doesn’t let up, I’d be wiling to bet it wil be at least three days before you see your friends again.”

“They must be going nuts. I haven’t been able to get a signal on my cel to cal them.”

“Look, you can leave them a note. I have a landline at my house. Unless the phone lines are down, you can cal them from there. If they don’t answer, we can try the grocery store where I saw them.”

The thought of making sure Henry and Joey were okay was appealing. Being in a warm, dry house with someone who was wiling to help her instead of being alone was also appealing.

“Do you have food?”

He chuckled. “Lots of it.”

“How can I turn an offer like that down?”

“You can’t. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Um. No.” She shook her head. “I can get my things packed, but would you mind carrying them out for me?”

“Not at al.”

She bent and patted Lucy, who was trembling. She had been shaken up from the faling tree as wel. “I’m sorry, Lucy. You’re going to have to get your foot wet again.”

“No, she won’t. I’l carry her to Baby.”

“Baby?”

“My truck.”

“Oh. I see,” she said, tamping down the sudden urge to giggle.

“Don’t judge a man by his fondness for his truck.

She’s special.”

“I’d never do such a thing.” She fought the smile back that tugged at the corner of her lips. “I’l be back in a couple minutes.”

“Take your time.”

Lucy folowed her to her room and waited while she packed. She barely got into the living room when Kish took her bag from her. She jumped, startled by his closeness. “How do you keep sneaking up on me like that? No one has ever been able to do that.”

“I’m talented that way,” he said.

“Mm hm.” She suspected he was talented in other ways too.

For crying out loud. She was lusting after him again. What was wrong with her? What’s wrong with me? How about I haven’t been with a man for ages, and suddenly, I’m stuck in the woods, alone with a freaking GQ model. Can you say horny? Yep. That was playing it smart. Getting hot under the colar for a strange man in the middle of nowhere instead of being on guard like most normal women would be under the same circumstances.

Other than the first initial reservations she’d had about trusting him when he’d first shown up—of which reservations had quickly melted away—she found that she was comfortable with Kish. It felt as if she’d known him for years. But again, maybe her attraction to him was causing her to turn a blind eye to the situation. Heh. Blind eye. Nice one, Georgia.

“Wait here while I take your bag out.”

“Lucy’s bag of food is by the door too.”

“Got it.”

She found a piece of paper and pencil in the coffee table drawer and scribbled a note to Henry and Joey.

Just as she placed the note on the kitchen counter, an engine roared to life. Must be Kish firing up Baby.

She smiled again. Baby. Men and their vehicles.

Within moments, Kish was back.

“Wil Lucy be okay with me carrying her to the truck?” Kish asked.

“Yes.”

Georgia bent down to pat Lucy. “Lucy, let Kish help you out to the truck. I’l be right behind you.”

“I’ve got you, girl.”

Georgia got on her coat and zipped it up then fished a glove from each pocket and put them on.

She folowed Kish outside and puled the door shut behind her.

“Wait on the porch.”

“But—”

“I’l take Lucy to the truck and I’l be back to help you. The snow is over three feet deep. It wil be hard for someone of your size to maneuver around in it.”

“Someone of my size?”

“Yes. Petite.”

Petite? She’d never had a man cal her that before.

Actualy, if she thought about it, not many men had paid her compliments at al because most men avoided dating a blind girl like the plague. And petite was a compliment to her. She liked it, and she liked the way Kish made her feel. Good grief, Georgia.

He’s only being nice. It isn’t as if he’s trying to hop into the sack with you.

She nearly groaned at that image. She could only imagine how wonderful it would be to run her fingers over his hard muscles without anything between them.

Skin to skin. Suddenly, she didn’t think it was so cold outside. In fact, she was about to start fanning herself when Kish made it back to her.

She squeaked when he scooped her up. “I can walk.”

“If I let you down, I might never find you again in al this snow.”

Was it realy worth complaining about? No.

Instead, she linked her fingers behind his neck and enjoyed the rock hard warmth of his body pressed against her. He carried her as if she weighed nothing.

He wasn’t even winded. Dayam. He must be in serious shape. Yeah. And wouldn’t you love to feel that shape for yourself? Why, yes. Yes, I would.

That’s when she noticed he didn’t have a coat on.

“Where in the world is your coat?”

He cleared his throat. “It got wet when I was working on the generator and shoveling the snow off the roof.”

“Oh. Aren’t you cold?”

“Do I feel cold?”

“No. I guess not.” She frowned.

“Don’t worry about me. I promise you, I’m fine.”

Oh he definitely was fine, al right. She inwardly roled her eyes. She thought only men needed cold showers, but she was thinking she’d need one soon.

He helped her into the truck and fastened her seatbelt for her before getting in on the driver’s side.

“It’s going to be a bit of a bumpy ride, but don’t worry, Baby can handle it,” he said.

“O-okay.”

He chuckled. “Just warning you so you don’t get caught off guard.”

“Thanks for the warning, Kish. I think,” she muttered.

He put Baby in gear and began the drive back to his place.