Inspire (The Muse #1)(22)
Author: Cora Carmack

“I’m sure you are.”

“I’m also a good kisser.”

“And how do you know that?”

I step closer, closing the distance between us, until she has to tilt her head up to meet my eyes.

“I’ve been told once or twice,” I say. “Would you disagree?”

My eyes drop to her lips, and her tongue peeks out for just half a second, wetting her bottom lip.

“Wilder.”

I close my eyes. It’s surreal hearing her say my name again. I’d never thought it would happen.

“Kalli,” I return.

Our eyes meet again, and that vulnerability is back tenfold. She looks scared. Of me? And before I know what I’m doing, I’ve reached up and skimmed my fingers along her cheek. I want to comfort her, take away whatever it is that has her worried. For a moment, she turns into my touch. Soft, warm skin against my calloused fingertips. I keep my touch light even though I’m dying to tunnel my fingers into her hair and taste that full mouth again.

Then she pulls away, and practically dives into the dressing room before shutting the curtain between us. I groan and press my forehead into the wall between the two rooms. This is all going so wrong, and I don’t know how to make it right. What the hell is wrong with me?

I don’t hear Lennox return until she says from just over my shoulder. “Hate shopping that much, do you?”

“No, it’s not … it’s nothing.”

She surveys me for a moment; then her eyes flick to the curtain separating me from Kalli. She presses her lips together in contemplation. Then Gwen comes running out with her chosen dress in her hand.

“That’s the one?” Lennox asks.

Gwen’s nod is vigorous.

“You don’t want to try on any of the rest?”

She shakes her head. “Kalli says this one is special.”

Lennox’s eyes shoot back to me.

“Okay then. Let’s get you two checked out.”

I don’t want to go to the front register, but I don’t have much of a choice. Lennox is walking away with Gwen’s dress, and I’d look a little crazy waiting outside Kalli’s dressing room just so I could talk to her again. So with one final glance at the closed curtain, I head toward the front.

While Lennox rings us up, she asks, “So. Do you know Kalli?”

“We’ve met before. But I don’t think I’d say I know her.”

Unless knowing the way she tastes counts. And the way her back arches when she comes. The little panting breaths she makes when she’s almost there. I know those things. Fat lot of good it has done me today.

“Tell me about it. Girl has more secrets than Lost. She’s hard to pin down.”

So it isn’t just me then.

Lennox moves to slip a plastic garment bag over Gwen’s dress and says casually, “You should come to Christmas at my place.”

“Uh. I’m sorry. What?”

“Not like … alone or anything. Jesus, I’m not crazy. I’m having an Orphan Christmas for all the people who can’t afford or don’t want to visit family. Kalli will be there.”

“Really?”

She nods with a knowing smile. “Took me days of prodding to get her to agree to come.”

I’m tempted. So damn tempted.

“I can’t. I’ve got family stuff.”

“So come after. We’re doing a big pot luck dinner, and then we’ll probably stay up late drinking and playing games and watching terrible holiday-themed movies.”

“Yeah?”

In answer, she prints out some extra receipt paper from the register, grabs a pen a writes down her address. We exchange numbers, too. “In case you have any issues,” she says.

She holds the paper out to me, and I take it. “Are you going to tell Kalli I’m coming?”

She scoffs. “Yeah, right. I do know one thing about that girl, and it’s that she goes out of her way not to let anyone too close. And I’m just about ready to strangle her for it. But I think you’re probably a more preferable option.”

“So, you’re helping me? You don’t even know me.”

She shrugs. “I don’t see a lot of dudes come here with little kids. And of the ones that do, there are two kinds. The ones who would give anything to be somewhere else. And the ones who are here because they would give anything for their little girl.”

“She’s not mine,” I remind her.

“Still applies. Even more so considering you’re her brother. I have a brother. A good brother, but I guarantee he would never take me shopping.”

I want to tell her that I’m not nearly as good as she’s making me out to be. I might be here with Gwen now, but I was pretty damn absent for the first few years of her life. But I’m selfish enough to want her to like me, so that maybe I’ll have an ally in whatever this thing with Kalli is.

Realizing I still haven’t introduced myself to her, I hold out my hand over the counter and say, “Wilder Bell.”

She takes it, giving my hand a surprisingly firm shake before adding, “Lennox Hastings. Does this mean I’ll be seeing you for Christmas?”

“Yeah. I think you will.”

Chapter Eleven

Mom’s eyes meet mine from her perch on the couch. It’s the first time I’ve seen her out of scrubs in weeks. Mom had been a nurse for nearly a decade, but she quit a few years back when Dad’s business started flourishing. Or when we thought it had anyway. She went from staying at home to working as many hours as she could pack in practically overnight. Out of scrubs, she wears a red holiday sweater, and it makes the paleness of her cheeks stand out even more. Gwen is on the floor in Dora the Explorer pajamas, tearing through the wrapping paper on her present.

We’re doing something new this Christmas. Instead of opening all the presents in the morning, we’ve been spreading them out throughout the day. Mom and I thought it might make up for the fact that there aren’t as many presents under the tree as there used to be.

Last year’s Christmas had been even more extravagant than usual. Dad had gone on a crazy buying spree, which had included my SUV that was parked outside in the drive. He bought it outright. We probably should have known then that something was up, but Dad had just convinced us that business was good. We should have questioned how his investment business was flourishing at a time when everyone else in the market seemed to be struggling, but when things are good like that, you don’t want to go searching for problems.

Me, especially. Dad wasn’t on my back to go to college or get a real job or any of that kind of thing. Then it all went away in the blink of an eye. If the SUV hadn’t been in my name, they would have taken that too. I’d tried to give it to Mom after news about Dad had come to light, and the bank had repossessed both their vehicles. But she wouldn’t have it. She bought a beat up old Camry from a friend at the hospital, and refused to even think about taking the SUV.