Strong, Sleek and Sinful - By Lorie O'Clare Page 0,168
and a breathless girl answered with a cheery hello.
“Hi,” Kylie said, licking her dry lips. “Is Megan there?”
“Who is this?”
“This is Kylie.”
Silence. Kylie waited it out.
“Kylie who?” the girl asked.
Kylie sucked in a breath. “Kylie Donovan.”
“I knew you weren’t a college student and you insisted you were. You lied to me.” Dani hung up on her.
“Crap,” Kylie said, hanging up on her end and dropping her head into her hands. Her towel fell forward, twisted around her hair, and weighed heavy as it hung to the floor.
Her cell phone rang and she struggled to untangle the towel, then tossed it on the bed as she grabbed her cell and stared at the name on her phone. She’d never deleted Dani’s cell phone number and it was calling her now. Apparently the teenager felt she had a right to chew Kylie out more.
“Hello,” Kylie said, and headed to the bathroom for her brush before her hair dried in a tangled mess.
“Why did you lie? And you left without even saying goodbye? Do you have any idea how badly you hurt my uncle?”
“Dani, I came back here for him. But he won’t come see me. Do you have any idea—”
“You came back here for him?” Dani interrupted.
Kylie swallowed, realizing she was dumping everything she had held in the last few days on the teenager, or at least was ready to until she’d been interrupted. “Yes,” she admitted.
“Then why are you calling here?”
“Dani, he knows I’m here. He knows what hotel I’m at and what room I’m in, and since the night I arrived he hasn’t sought me out. He talked to me the night I arrived and he was so cold to me. I thought I could talk to all of you. If it is true that he isn’t interested, I’ll leave.”
“You need to tell my uncle that. He’s stubborn but not stupid. I have to go. The bus is here. Bye-bye.” Dani hung up without waiting for Kylie to tell her good-bye.
It took a teenager telling her what she knew all along. Kylie dressed quickly, keeping it simple with a pair of jeans and a sleeveless blouse, and left her hotel before she lost her nerve.
It was already hot outside but she wasn’t ready to show off her scar yet by wearing shorts. Hiding in her room wouldn’t resolve anything. She had an appointment at four o’clock this afternoon. Time was running out on determining her future.
A calm came over her as she pulled into Perry’s driveway. One way or another, very soon she would be able to lay out plans for her future, maybe even the rest of her life. No more riding in limbo. No more hiding and trembling. Her resolve returned to her as if a dam had broken inside her, returning her confidence and determination. She’d gotten this far in life reaching out and taking what she wanted. There was something else she wanted, and now was the time to take it.
Kylie parked her car, turned off the engine, and got out. His Jeep wasn’t in the driveway. She looked at her watch: eight AM. He either had left for the day or wasn’t home yet. She hoped it was the latter. It would suck if she had to break and enter and wait for him for eight hours. Kylie smiled, imagining a concerned neighbor calling Dispatch to inform them that the good cop Lieutenant Perry’s home was being broken into.
Testing the doorknob on the back door where he’d entered with Kylie before, she wasn’t surprised that it was locked. The garage was locked, too, as was the front door. Kylie would have been surprised to learn otherwise, but checking helped her kill time. She walked around to her car again, glancing at her cell phone to see the time. Fifteen minutes had passed. If he worked the night shift, he would be here in less than half an hour.
Unless he had someone else in his life now and possibly would go to her house.
Kylie kicked the thought out of her head. The connection they had was too strong. From the moment they’d met up until her leaving, the feelings between them were so intense they created charged currents in the air. It was more than a sexual attraction. At least she knew it was for her. More than once while she was in the hospital, the last thing she could have done was made love, yet she still craved being with him. Too many times she