Free Night Whispers by Leslie Kelly

movie star.”
    She gasped. “That’s out of line, Mitch Wymore. Way out of line, even for you.”
    “Is it? That’s what you sounded like. Some kind of self-appointed love goddess bestowing her sexual wisdom on us mortals.”
    Kelsey gritted her teeth, determined not to have this argument, even though she’d actually been expecting it. “You know what? I’m not going to have this discussion with you. It’s the middle of the night, and I’m tired,” Kelsey said as she tried to push by him and go up the stairs.
    He reached out to grab her arm as she passed. “You’renot going to gloss over this, Kelsey. Does your family have any idea what you’re doing? What do you think they’d say about you becoming some publicity-seeking sex goddess?”
    Kelsey stopped with her hand on the banister, turned and, as her eyes were becoming accustomed to the dark, leaned until she was scant inches away from Mitch’s face. “Just who do you think you are? When were you appointed to the Baltimore morality police?”
    “Look, Kelsey, you’re attracting the worst kind of attention. There are a lot of wackos out there who would just love to get Lady Love alone and force her to put her body where her mouth is.”
    She gritted her teeth, determined to remain calm and not throw a hissy fit on the stairs in the middle of the night. “Back off, Mitch. Your college professor past is showing. God, is there anyone more sanctimonious than a reformed tough guy?”
    He didn’t so much as grin. He obviously was not going to be teased out of his anger. “Kelsey, this just is not you.”
    “How would you know? You don’t know me. You know nothing about the Kelsey Logan standing here with you right now. You see me as some pigtailed little kid who needs looking after, but you know what? I’m all grown-up, Mitch. And what I do is none of your business.”
    Kelsey tried to squeeze past Mitch and move up the stairs, to no avail. He was right in her way, and he wasn’t budging. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to stand where she was.
    “I know enough about you to know that you’ve got a hell of a lot of talent. You could do a lot better than just titillating the public with some sordid little talk show.”
    Kelsey drew up a fist and punched against Mitch’s chest. A cinder block might have felt softer against her fist, and she winced as pain shot up her arm. He didn’t flinch.
    “You’re wrong. I’m an entertainer, Mitch, a performer. My audience responds to me because they like me.” Kelsey suddenly wanted him to understand in spite of the fact that she really shouldn’t have to explain herself to him. “And I do make them laugh. It’s not always like it was tonight. Sometimes it’s all lighthearted and fun, and I do wacky voices, and it’s very innocent.”
    Mitch didn’t release his grip on her shoulders, and she could see through the shadows that his stiff jaw had not relaxed one bit. He would never understand this. She could waste her breath from now until the end of the new millennium, and he’d still disapprove.
    “Look, Mitch, you are not my brother, nor my father. You are nothing to me….” Kelsey stammered. “Nothing except my landlord, and the subject of some amusing childhood memories. So mind your own business and let me go!”
    Kelsey ended on a shout, and Mitch gritted his teeth to avoid shouting right back. Nothing? He’d watched this stubborn, willful female grow up, had put up with years of abuse, longer years of her schoolgirl crush, and yet he was nothing to her? Her body shook beneath his fingers, her anger as obvious as his own.
    Her husky voice echoed in his ears, and the smell of her filled his senses. Her chest heaved with her deep breaths. Her full lips were parted and she looked as if she was about to say something else. Mitch really didn’t want to hear it. He just wanted her to shut up.
    He had to kiss her.
    Bending swiftly, he captured her open mouth with hisown. She moaned, a wild sound