Free A Kiss For a Cure by Sidney Bristol Page B

by the iris. Her heart stuttered to a stop and her vision hazed. She pushed back the fear.
    “Cai?” She circled the table and put her hand to his forehead. “Are you feeling okay?” His skin felt cool and clammy. A lump rose in her throat, making it hard to breathe. This wasn’t right. He should be laughing at her, telling her to eat something. Instead, his eyes fluttered close and the color leeched from his face.
    “Yeah.” He leaned into her touch, his eyes half closed. His breath came out in short pants. “Just tired.”
    “Listen to me.” He didn’t react to her fear. Cai always responded to even the slightest change in her emotions, and now he didn’t even bat an eyelash. She knelt by his side and guided his chin to face her. “I want you to follow my fingers with your eyes, okay?”
    “I’m fine.” He slowly tracked the back and forth motion of her fingers.
    She jumped up and retrieved the scanner. “No, you’re not okay. When did you start feeling different? Think about it.” She hated how long it took the scanner to read him when she finally got it running. Was her foolishness going to kill him? She’d wanted to help him, give him everything she never would have.
    Why did she push Cai to try something experimental, when she didn’t know enough about him? A few hours spent examining his DNA didn’t mean she understood the inner workings of his body. He’d put his life in her hands, twice, and she was gambling with it.
    “My fingers feel numb,” he mumbled.
    The scanner beeped at her. The numbers were all wrong. Before they’d begun, she’d rigged the scanner to rate the activity of his pur . The initial scan read at least sixty percent of the system was actively involved. Now the number was down to a measly fifteen percent. Sweat broke out along her hairline and down her spine.
    “Cai. Cai. Listen to me.” She patted his face. “I need you to tell me how to jumpstart your systems.”
    “Jor, something’s wrong.” His hand rose slowly and grasped her arm; his voice was a pained wheeze.
    “I know,” she said as calmly as she could, and still her voice sounded strained. “Your heart rate is low, but your pur numbers are what I’m worried about.”
    “Kiss me.”
    She would do anything to keep him alive.
    Jordan dug her fingers into his hair and kissed him. His mouth was lax against hers–no teasing lick of his tongue or press of his lips. She willed it to work, pressing their faces harder together than was necessary. Cai didn’t hold her; his hands didn’t even touch her.
    Breaking the kiss, she shoved him back from the table. She straddled his lap, grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it off. She removed her own shirt and wrapped her arms around his shoulders so their skin touched.
    She kissed him again.
    His arms rested lightly against her back. He didn’t kiss her in return, but his mouth tilted toward her. She imitated his touch, the way he thrust his tongue into her mouth and held her face exactly where he wanted it. She willed him to take control, to live, to anything.
    His palms pressed against her ribs and lower back. His tongue flicked the underside of hers. A small sign of life. A little bit of hope.
    “Cai, stay with me,” she pleaded against his mouth.
    He brushed a kiss across her lips and she clenched him closer. Each touch sent miniature bolts of lightning ricocheting from her lips to her toes. She’d never kissed someone who made her feel anything but distracted or mildly aroused. Cai involved her entire body in kisses.
    “Yes,” he whispered.
    Jordan shuddered.
    “I need you to keep kissing me.” Cai’s soft skin brushed hers as he spoke, his breath fanning her face. One of his hands burrowed into her hair and tugged her face to his.
    She needed to take readings, to see if his levels were rising. But after one more kiss. She wanted to be closer to him. He made her feel, when she hadn’t felt in a long time. The desire to crawl into his body, to be with