Page 162 of Untouchable

Jack was pretty far gone, and he didn’t react immediately. Just kind of grunted as if he didn’t understand what she was saying.

Pulling back and pushing against him gently, Kelly repeated hoarsely, “Jack, no. I don’t want to.”

His whole body froze for an agonizingly long moment.

Then he jerked back a few steps and stared at her, dazed and hot and strangely aching.

Kelly choked on a few random sobs, scrambling off the table and trying to pull her skirt back down over her legs. She felt horrible. Cheap and dirty and guilty and incredibly embarrassed.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, barely able to even look at his bewildered face. “I’m so sorry, Jack. I should never have… I was just… I wasn’t being fair to you.”

Jack rubbed his hands over his face as if he was trying to clear his muddled mind. “What just happened?”

Too horrified and shell-shocked even to cry, Kelly finished straightening her clothing and picked her hair clip up from the table, mostly for something to do. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t do this. It’s totally my fault. I’m so sorry, Jack. I don’t know what else to say.”

Jack turned away from her, his back tense and unnaturally stiff. “I should have known it was too good to be true.”

The icy block that had hardened in her chest when she’d learned the truth about Caleb suddenly started to crack. “Jack,” she choked out, “I told you before I’m not worth the trouble. It’s like I said, I destroy everything in my path.” When he didn’t do anything but shake his head, she continued, “I’ll understand if you don’t want to have anything more to do with me. I want to work on a way to make this public, and we need to let my mom know what we found out. But I can do that on my own. You don’t have to?—”

“Kelly,” Jack said, “I’m not sure I’m in a fit condition to be discussing all of this right now. You should probably head out before the bodyguard catches up to you. I’ll finish this job. Go on. I’ll be in touch.”

Kelly wondered if he really would. Or if this was just an easy way to get rid of her for good.

She wouldn’t blame Jack if he cut her out of his life after this. But on that thought she realized that it would be a real loss to her if he did.

A loss she more than deserved.

“Okay,” she mumbled, pushing her hair out of her face. “I’m sorry, Jack.” Shaking her head, she added, “I never should have involved you in the disaster of my life.”

She was leaving, she actually had her hand on the doorknob, when Jack stopped her.

He was looking at her over his shoulder with an expression she couldn’t begin to comprehend. “Like the sun,” he said in a low, rough voice.

She had no idea what he was talking about. “What?”

“Blazing. Like the sun.” His mouth turned up just a little at the corner. “It will burn you if you let it. But it can also just keep you warm.”

34

She leftthe library and headed back to her apartment. There she just huddled on her couch, too battered to do anything, to make any plans or decide exactly what she should do about this situation.

She lay like that for a long time.

Caleb had killed her father, and she had fallen in love with him anyway.

There was no getting over that truth.

Then, unexpectedly, she heard a loud knock on the door.

She ignored it. She didn’t want to talk to anyone.

But the knocking continued, growing louder, until it was finally too much to ignore.

“Kelly!” The voice was slightly muffled by the door and accompanied by more pounding.

Caleb.

She was so numb and dazed that she didn’t even wonder what he was doing here when they hadn’t arranged to meet up again tonight. She still didn’t move.