She didn't want to add something else to her list of things to figure out. But the air in her lungs didn't help.
The ground still sizzled and popped as tiny sparks danced around the trunk that had taken the direct hit. The smell of burnt wood and oncoming rain flavored the air. Kylie wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, but she felt a few currents of energy sting the heels of her feet.
"That was creepy," Della said.
"Yeah."
"Damn, it almost hit you!"
"But it didn't." Kylie stared at the phone in her hand and remembered Derek.
"Damn," Della repeated. "If the deer hadn't shown up..."
"Doesn't matter." And Kylie wanted it to be so. She heard the sound of driving rain pelting down on the leaves above her before she felt it sting her skin. The day had almost turned to night. The storm had arrived, and it matched her mood. She curled her hand around Della's phone, protecting it from the rain, and took off again at a dead run.
In a few minutes, barely winded but wet, Kylie jogged up onto Derek's porch while Della hung back. Kylie's second step brought back a memory. She'd come here looking for Derek once before and had seen blood on his porch. She'd thought he'd been attacked and had barged in only to find him ... in the shower.
She'd gotten an eyeful that day, and after he'd gotten dressed, they'd sat here, leaning against the cabin, and talked.
Shared.
Laughed.
She couldn't ever remember feeling closer to anyone. How could things have changed between them so quickly?
She moved to the door and knocked. The door swung open, and Chris-Derek's vampire cabin mate-stood there. "Hey." His eyes widened and lowered. "Wet T-shirt contest?" he teased.
Kylie looked down, sending heavy strands of wet hair dancing around her shoulders. Her white tank and thin bra were almost invisible. She frowned and pulled her hair in front of her breasts.
"Is Derek here?"
"Yup," he said. "If he'll come to the door is another thing. He's been brooding in his room since he got back." He looked over his shoulder and called out, "Derek, you got company."
Not wanting to stand there to be ogled by Chris, Kylie stepped back from the door and waited at the edge of the porch. Still trying to control her heartbeat, she peeled her soaked shirt from her chest and flapped the fabric back and forth, hoping it would dry.
In a few minutes, familiar footsteps moved to the door. She turned around and faced Derek and had to will herself not to run and throw herself into his arms.
She took one step toward him, then stopped herself. If he rejected her, it would hurt so damn much.
Chapter Seven
Derek ran a nervous hand through his hair. Hair that looked longer than when he left. And softer. She could remember brushing it back from his brow then, and she longed to do it again. She wanted to hit the rewind button and go back to the way things were before. When things between them had been so good. But life didn't have a rewind button.
"Hey." He tucked his hands into his jeans pockets.
"Hey." Her heart raced a little faster and hurt more at the sight of him. She tried not to notice things like the muscles in his arms or how tightly his T-shirt hugged his chest. She inhaled.
While it had stopped raining, the scent of rain still clung to her clothes and hair. It still flavored the air. But it didn't hide the scent that she recognized as Derek.
She felt the phone in her hand and looked down at it.
"Sorry about not calling you back earlier," he said, as if he thought that was why she was here. "I had cut my phone off when I was in the hospital with Brit."
She nodded, not completely sure if she believed him, and felt the rise of emotion in her throat. Her sinuses stung. But she'd be damned if she would cry. At least not now. At least not here.
"Where did you go when you left Shadow Falls?" she asked.
"Just on a job assignment for Burnett." He hesitated. "I'm not really supposed to talk about it."