Page 200 of Positively Pricked

I swallowed. Icouldshower with him. Even now, I could imagine his body all slick and lathered – and his hands –oh, boy– he had nice hands. And the places they could go…

Already, sweet, warming sensations were creeping upward from my toes, and downward from my face. If I kept on thinking, I knew exactly where all that warmth would settle – right in the middle.

I murmured, "That soundsreallynice."

A sudden pounding on the door made me jump. A split second later, Kayla's voice carried from the other side. "Hey! You didn't forget I'm here, did you?"

On the phone, Zane said, "Who's that?"

Stupidly, I said, "Who's who?"

"Was that your sister?"

"Uh, nope." And then, in a rush, I said, "But I've gotta go, so I'll catch you in a bit, okay? Alrighty then. Bye." I disconnected the call before he could say a single word in response.

I wasn't going to lie to him, but the way I saw it, a little delay would be a very good thing – if nothing else, to give me some time to clean up my mess – and I didn't mean the normal kind.

No.Mymess was still pounding on the door. "Hey!" she called. "You didn't fall in, did you?"

Into where? The toilet?I stifled a shudder and called out, "I'll be out in a second!" I turned off the faucet and yanked open the door to see Kayla standing like two inches away.

She said, "Youdoremember that I'm in a hurry, right?"

Through gritted teeth, I said, "Oh, I remember, all right."

"And do youalwaystalk on the phone when you've got company?"

Company?She wasn't company. I wasn't surewhatshe was, but I intended to find out. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Gee, I'm ever so sorry."

"Whatever. I’m just saying, it's pretty rude."

I stared at her.Speaking of rude…

"And anyway," she continued, "I need your help."

"For what?" I asked.

She glanced around. "As long as I’m here, I figure I might as well grab a few things."

"You mean from the boxes?"

She gave a breezy wave of her hand. "Nah, I'll worry about that stuff later. But I wouldn’t mind snagging a few paintings."

I blinked. "What?"

"The paintings," she repeated. "They'd go great in our new place."

I didn't even know what particular paintings she meant, but Ididknow that if she started ripping stuff off the walls, we were going to have a serious problem.

I said, "I can't let you do that."

"Why not?"

Did I really need to explain?"Because I don't have the authority. I mean, I'm just a house-guest."

Her mouth tightened. "Yeah. Inmyhouse."

"Look," I said, "I've gotta be honest here. I'm not understanding any of this."