Out of This World

Chapter 13

Still Kellan’s view…

When we entered the kitchen, Rach right behind me, Axel whipped around from where he’d been standing in front of the open fridge.

“I’m just checking the temperature-” he began, and when he saw it was just us, he sagged. “Whew. Close one. She hates it when I dip into the food in between meals.”

“Where are you taking Serena and William?” Rachel asked.

“Told ya. On a hike.”

“Where to?” I asked.

Axel scratched his head and shifted his big feet. “Oh, here and there.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Winging it, to tell you the truth.”

Marilee poked her head in the kitchen doorway right behind us, took in the scene with one glance-including Axel in the refrigerator-and sighed. “You hated breakfast.”

“No,” Axel promised. “I just…”

“Truth. You hated it.”

Axel glanced at Rachel, then back at Marilee. “You look really beautiful today.”

She raised one brow and crossed her arms.

And he folded like a cheap suitcase. “Ah hell, Mari, don’t make me tell you how bad it sucked.”

In a rare unguarded gesture, Marilee’s mouth fell open. “Sucked? It was that bad that it…sucked?”

“Damn.” Axel shot another glance at Rachel. “Have I mentioned I’m, uh, crazy about you?”

Marilee looked at him as if he’d grown horns. “You been smoking again?”

“Not once all year, since you asked me to stop.”

“We were talking about my cooking,” she said. “I followed your directions for that casserole to the last letter.”

Axel shook his head. “The eggs tasted like you drowned them in salt and pepper. No way did you use half a pinch of each.”

“Half a pinch?”

“I wrote it out for you.”

“I thought it said half a pint. Which is a cup. I looked it up.”

“Who in their right mind would use a cup of salt or pepper in one casserole dish?” he asked.

Marilee’s face froze. “Apparently only an idiot.”

Axel scrubbed a hand down over his face. “I didn’t mean-”

“Go ahead and say it,” she said stiffly. “I am an idiot. Might as well let it all hang out, and also mention that I don’t belong in the kitchen.”

“I like you in the kitchen.”

“I noticed you didn’t say I wasn’t an idiot.”

Axel slid yet another desperate glance at Rachel, who waved him closer to Marilee.

“This is one of those no-win situations for me,” Axel said, touching Marilee’s shoulder, “so I’m going to do one last thing.”

Marilee looked wary. “What’s that?”

“This. Hold on tight, Mari.” And he hauled her up to her toes and kissed her.

She let out a squeak, her hands straight out at her sides, but Axel didn’t let go, and after a few seconds, Marilee let out another sound, not a squeak this time, but more of a…moan. Then she wrapped her arms weakly around Axel’s neck.

Rach looked at me and arched a brow.

Finally Axel stepped back and cleared his throat. “Yeah. Um…” He tripped over his own two feet. “So. It’s time to take Serena and William out.”

Marilee nodded faintly. “Right.”

He nodded, and turned away.

“Take the map I left for you on the foyer table,” Marilee said, her voice softer than it’d been since we’d met her.

“Thanks.” Axel glanced back at her. “And for what it’s worth, you are a pretty idiot. You’re the prettiest idiot I’ve ever known.”

Marilee startled all of us by laughing. It was a nice sound, actually, I thought, as she threw her oven mitt at Axel.

“A pint,” Marilee said on a sigh when he’d left. “Can you imagine?” She tapped her own forehead. “I’m so doing the wrong job.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, then blinked when both women glared at me.

What had I done but agree with them? Weren’t you supposed to agree with them?

“So why don’t you want us to spend any time with Serena and William?” Rachel asked Marilee without preamble. She put her hands on her hips for emphasis, looking extremely serious. And gorgeous.

And sexy…

How could she ever have thought I wanted Marilee after I’d had her? I was fairly certain I’d never want another woman again.

Marilee opened her mouth, but Rachel narrowed her eyes and focused on a spot right between the other woman’s breasts.

“What are you doing?” Marilee asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Watching your heart. If you lie, your heart is going to speed up.”

“You can’t see my heart.”

“Wanna bet?” Rachel asked, her eyes glittering with what I knew to be bad temper. Whenever she looked at me like that, I tended to duck for cover, but Marilee didn’t know better, and she took a stand.

“You’re just going to have to trust me,” Marilee said. “There are some things you’re better off not knowing, and what’s going on here is one of those things.”

“I’m the owner of this place,” Rach reminded her. “I have a right to know.”

Marilee looked at her for a long moment. “Gertrude always said that out of all her relatives, you were the one most likely to just keep things status quo. We knew you’d come visit, and then we counted on you going away and not coming back.”

“Why wouldn’t I come back?”

But Marilee had busied herself with the dishes.

“Marilee?”

“Because maybe you wouldn’t have such a good time.”

“Maybe?” I interjected. “Or certainly, because you’d make damn sure I wouldn’t.”

“That,” Marilee admitted. “The second one.”

Rachel looked at me and shook her head in shocked amazement. “Okay, so your job as hostess was to make us so miserable that we’d leave. And then what? The place would just run itself?”

“Yes.”

“Well, no one’s leaving, at least not until Jack gets back,” Rach said. “Your own words, right?”

“Right.”

“So you might as well talk to us.”

To this, Marilee said nothing.

“Look, Serena told us some things,” I broke in, trying a new angle. “About the swap, for instance.”

Marilee’s lips tightened. “Sounds kinky.”

“Whoa.” Rachel pointed to Marilee’s chest. “Your heart just sped up.”

“Yeah? Well, washing dishes is hard work.”

“She knew about our ‘abilities,’ Marilee.”

“Poor Serena,” Marilee said. “She desperately needed this vacation. It’s a good thing for her mental health that William got her away.”

“Okay, you know what?” Rachel stepped to my side and took my hand. “I’ve just decided I don’t want you to tell us anything, because I wouldn’t trust it anyway. We’ll figure this out on our own. Where’s the office?”

“What?”

“The office for the inn, where all the paperwork is kept.”

Marilee lifted her shoulder. “Hey, I’m just the cook.”

“And the maid.”

“Only when strictly necessary.”

“I know Gertrude had an office,” Rach insisted. “She was as anal as they came.”

“Did you see an office when you walked through the house?”

Rachel bit her lip, thinking back. And it occurred to me, I hadn’t seen an office either. Strange for a business. There had to be files, a computer…

“Never mind. We’ll find it ourselves,” Rach said, and led me out the back door, with Marilee standing there pensive in front of the oven.

We walked away from the house to avoid being overheard and ended up on the edge of the cleared property, staring at the trees.

“I wanted to talk to you in private,” she said, looking at the woods, “but I’m finding myself a little unnerved by the thought of going in there again.”

“We did okay fishing.”

“But we had Axel, at least at first.” She tipped her head up further, eyeing the blue sky. “No clouds at least.”

“Maybe clouds would actually solve our problem.”

“You mean, if we were hit again, then everything would go back to normal?”

“Something like that. Normal being relative, of course.”

“Turns out I’m awfully fond of normal.” She laughed a little, then startled me by setting her head on my shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re here with me, Kel.”

I looked down into her soft eyes and sweet smile, and promptly forgot about the office. She dropped her gaze to my mouth, and I nearly forgot my own name.

Not good.

“The answers are down that trail,” she said, still looking at my mouth, “in that clearing where we were hit. I say we go there now and just look around, then tonight, when everyone is asleep, we get the cookies and then search for the office.”

“The cookies being necessary for the search, of course.”

“Of course.”

We took the trail, in silence at first, if one could call it silent when wind whistled through trees, insects buzzed, and birds chirped. Several times we had to push branches out of our way or brush off our clothes after a pinecone-and accompanying dirt-fell on us from the trees above.

“What if we get lost again?” Rach asked after a few minutes, pushing yet another branch out of her face.

She had a streak of dirt over her jaw, and I traced it with a finger, tucking a wayward strand of her hair behind her ear, just for an excuse to touch her. Yeah, way to keep your distance there, champ.

“This was your idea,” I reminded her.

“I really need to stop that.”

“Tell you what. You take your shirt off this time,” I said, my brain apparently disconnected from my mouth again. “We’ll tear off strips and tie them around the tree like yesterday.”

Without hesitation, she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head.

Ah hell. Don’t look, I ordered myself, but I might as well have just tried to stop breathing. No luck. My gaze lowered and took in her bright pink bra, the way it pushed her perfect breasts up, barely covering her nipples, which were hardening into two tight pebbles as I watched.

I made a low, rough noise and squeezed my eyes shut. “Jesus, Rach-”

“Just in case,” she said, and tried to tear her shirt but couldn’t. She let out a sigh of frustration and tried again, the motion making her arms tighten and her breasts plump up even more, so that her nipples-God. Another fraction of an inch, and they were going to pop right out. “Rach-”

“Almost got it.”

She jerked hard, and it happened.

Nipplegate.

Oblivious, she kept yanking at her shirt, one rose-colored nipple bouncing and swaying with the motion, just this small, delectable treat in an otherwise shitty day, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it. “Rach-”

“Yeah?”

She kept tugging, and I put a hand over hers, noting that mine was shaking. “You, uh…” I waggled a finger at her chest.

Her gaze followed the motion, and she let out a little laugh before tugging her bra back into place. “Oops.”

I stood there wishing I hadn’t said a thing. But I had, and my poor overtaxed brain, not to mention other parts, parts way south of my brain, couldn’t seem to recover, especially with her standing there in that pink bra, breathing a little harder than her exertion dictated, each little pant threatening another exposure, which my body wanted with every fiber of its being. I grabbed her shirt, turned it right side out again and handed it back to her. “Here.”

“But-”

“Rach, I’m begging you.”

She slipped the shirt on over her head, then straightened it out.

Her nipples were like two gumdrops waiting-no, begging-to be tasted.

And I was a man suddenly starving. I think I even let out a sort of growl, which sounded more like a whimper than anything else. I stepped back a few feet because I suddenly remembered: distance, control.

I started walking, and she had to practically run to keep up. In no time, we stood in the clearing, me as far away from her as possible. Both of us looked skyward.

Still no clouds.

“Whew,” she said, and smiled at me. “Hey, you can come closer if you want. I won’t take my shirt off again. Even though you’ve already seen everything.”

Yeah, that didn’t seem to matter.

“I don’t bite, Kel.”

No, but I might.

“Kel?”

“I’m fine right here, thanks.”

She nodded, then looked around, trying to be cool but not quite managing to hide her apprehension. “So. This is it.” She pointed to the spot where she’d been hit. “Doesn’t even have a mark.”

There were no answers here, no hint of what had happened. Nothing.

“Looks almost…pretty out here, huh?” she asked softly.

She was scared, damn it. I gritted my teeth and reminded myself: distance. That was key here. If I wanted her in my life, which I did, I wanted her to want me, the Kellan who was usually a little too thin, the Kellan who was a lot more laid back than I’d been here. The Kellan who was definitely not a badass. The real me.

Only I wasn’t even sure who that was.

My eyes locked on the tree to which I’d pinned Rach when I’d kissed her for the first time. I got hard just looking at it.

Her gaze followed mine. “Hey, isn’t that where we first kissed?”

“It was the swap,” I said. “The abilities. Not us.” I shook my head. “Jesus. I sound like I almost believe this, don’t I?” I rubbed my suddenly aching temples. “Look, my point is, whatever’s happened to us here, it’s all temporary. Soon as this is over, we’ll be back to normal. Back to friends only.” I paused at this, giving her a chance to jump in and say that she’d realized she was madly in love with me and couldn’t live without me or my body, and that I had to promise to do her every day for the rest of her life.

But she didn’t say anything.

Okay. Nice one for the ego. Still, it’s what I’d expected.

“I don’t see any answers here. Let’s go back.” Turning away, I began walking.

“Kel?”

My heart leaped. “Yeah?”

“Best friends. You forgot that part. Right?”

“Rach-”

“Say it.”

“Best friends,” I repeated softly, and meant it.

She reached out a hand for mine.

I sighed, and took her fingers in mine, leading the way back to the inn.

We decided to split up. I was to try to get Marilee by herself and flirt my way to some serious answers. Rach was going to keep Axel occupied.

Which is how I ended up in the kitchen, up to my elbows in flour and chocolate, making cookies with Marilee.

Or, I made cookies while Marilee did her nails.

“Look,” she said, delicately blowing on a newly painted purple nail while I pounded butter into mush with my new and improved muscles. “Pretty, huh?”

High from the scent of the lacquer, I agreed. “Very nice.” I pounded more butter. “I think I have some of this figured out, by the way.”

“What’s that?”

“The whole ability-swapping thing.” I watched her stiffen. “Are you the one in charge?”

“You know what? I find that music is instrumental in making good cookies.” Careful of her nails, she cranked up the radio.

I waited until Kanye West stopped rapping before turning the radio off again. “It’s just that I don’t see Axel being in charge.”

“Axel is a good man,” she said, surprising me by responding. “He’s just not into…”

“Subterfuge? Lying?” I set aside the bowl of dough. “Manipulating?”

“Hey, there’s no manipulating going on here. We just…didn’t expect you, that’s all.”

“Yeah, I get that part. What goes in here next?”

She blew on another nail. “Whatever you think is best.”

“What would you have put in next?”

She blew on another nail. “Oh, this and that.”

I’d bet my next breath she’d never made a successful batch of cookies in her life. “Chocolate…or pepper?”

“Either.”

“There is no pepper in chocolate chip cookies, Marilee.”

Suddenly she got very busy applying daisy decals on her thumbs.

“You’re not a chef,” I said.

“You know what? Thanks for your help, but fun time’s over.” Careful with her nails, she guided me to the door, then gave me a little push, nearly shutting my nose in it. “Appreciate it,” she said through the hole I’d caused earlier, “but I’ll take it from here.”

Ten bucks said she’d screw up those cookies. “No pepper,” I said.

“I know.”

Uh-huh, right. Hoping Rach had fared better than I had in the getting-answers department, I went looking for her.

Only she was nowhere to be found, and I know this because I searched the entire inn, up and down and up again, a very bad feeling growing in my chest.

Axel was in the foyer with Serena and William, the three of them talking about their hike. “Have any of you seen Rach?” I asked.

“Dude, hopefully she’s taken a chill pill,” Axel said.

Yeah. A chill pill. I went out the back door and stared into the woods, my concern growing by leaps and bounds.

She wouldn’t have gone out there again, not alone, would she?

Then I heard it, a low humming noise, of a compressor or pump or something mechanical. I followed the sound around the corner of the house, to a side deck.

Rach stood next to a hot tub. The water bubbled enticingly from the jets, the steam rising into the air behind her like a halo.

“Look what I found,” she said. “Inviting, don’t you think?”

What was inviting was her. Too bad she wasn’t in the tub, all wet and flushed and…wet. But my mind could plug in the picture, no problem. Her bare skin would be gleaming and slick, her breasts just above the water, nipples hard and wet-

“Kel?”

I shook it off, barely. Extremely relieved to see her, naked and gleaming or otherwise, I nearly yanked her into my arms and kissed us both stupid, but luckily, some sort of common sense prevailed.

“Later,” she whispered, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she smelled like chocolate mint.

It took me a minute to realize she probably didn’t mean that later I could kiss us both stupid and maybe get to that naked-and-gleaming part of the program, but that later she’d show me whatever she’d found on her search.

“Why do you smell like chocolate?”

She tightened her lips and looked guilty, but she didn’t say a word.

She didn’t have to. I’d have bet every last penny that her search had yielded a cookie stash.

I leaned back against the edge of the tub, but I didn’t realize she’d put all her weight against me. Strong as I was, I hadn’t received any grace in the swap, so when I lost my balance, tumbling back into the water, Rachel came with me, clothes and all.

The hot water closed in over my head, engulfing me in its cocoonlike warmth, and when I broke the surface, so did an equally drenched Rach.

She tossed her hair out of her face and looked at me blandly as she swiped beneath her eyes to clean away streaked mascara. “You know, there are easier ways to get me wet.”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to-”

“No?” She sighed. “Well, that’s just a shame.”

With that she rose out of the water, just like in my fantasy, except in clothes, her pale shirt clinging to her like the hottest wet T-shirt I’d ever seen, her jeans also clinging to her every single curve and dip.

“Nice water temp,” she said. “Maybe we can come back here tonight, and stargaze.”

I couldn’t respond because my tongue had become stuck to the roof of my mouth.

She pulled her shirt away from her skin. The material broke free with a suction noise that tugged at my groin and made me want to drop to my knees and worship her body. Then she merely walked away.

Pretty much the story of my life when it came to her.