Free Evan Elemental (The Evan Elemental Series) by Crystal Groszek Page B

for Lex only to find
him standing just a few feet away. I blush slightly, but not because I'm
embarrassed, but because I am so incredibly turned on. Lex might be repulsed by me ,
he might think I'm a freak, but I don't really give a fuck.
    I tilt
my jaw up and look deeply into his eyes. What I find there is not repulsion or
even fear; there is only desire. He closes the gap between us in an inhuman
instant and grabs hold of my hips, pulling them hard against his own. His mouth
seeks and finds mine, and he kisses me with a desperate hunger that I match
eagerly. I feel his hands inch up under my t-shirt, searing my skin with
delicious white heat as he glides them over my bare skin. Too soon, Lex pulls back from our kiss and presses his face to the
curve of my neck, inhaling deeply. A soft, animalistic moan, muffled by my
skin, escapes his lips.
    "What
is it?" I breathe. "What's wrong?"
    Lex raises his head slightly so he
can speak. "You smell amazing." I feel his lips curl against my skin,
his breath icy hot as he inhales deeply and exhales making me shiver.
    "Yeah?"
I whisper, a foreign huskiness in my voice. "What do I smell like?"
    "Cedar.
And lilac. And chocolate." I shiver again, something that will probably embarrass
me when I remember this later. Right now, it's all I can do not to melt into a
puddle on the bank of this lake.
    "You
can smell all that on my skin?" my voice trembling slightly when I speak.
    "No,"
he answers, raising his head until his mouth is close to my ear. "In your
blood."
    I
should be afraid, I should be damn near terrified, but I lean in closer,
diminishing the already miniscule space between us. Lex's grip on me tightens
and he presses his face into my neck again. I feel his tongue, hot and rough,
run along the vein that throbs there. He pauses, his breath still.
    "Evan," Lex whispers after a tense second, "I'm afraid
I..."
    "Going
for a stroll?" The deep, gruff voice cuts through the air like fire
consuming oxygen. Lex's body stiffens against mine. Slowly, he straightens up,
pausing to look deeply in my eyes before stepping away. When his hands fall
from my sides I feel weak with ache and longing. The feeling quickly gives way
to an intense fury that I am prepared to unleash on the unwelcome stranger. As
if sensing my emotions, Lex's hand shoots out and grabs mine, his touch
instantly calming me. Even so, I'm still pissed.
    I
clench my jaw and turn to see a tall, breathtakingly beautiful man, with sandy
brown hair and eyes the color of nickel, standing
cockily just a few feet away. A white thermal t-shirt clings snugly to his
broad shoulders and tapers to a narrow waist. He's wearing tight jeans and
brown leather boots and can't be older than twenty-five. Maybe twenty-six. He
flashes me a golden smile, but his eyes are hard and unyielding.
    "Anders.
Good to see you," Lex says through his own
clenched jaw.
    The
guy, Anders I guess, loses the fake smile and slides his cold gaze from me
until it lands on Lex . "I wish I could say the
same."
    Lex's jaw
somehow manages to tighten further, but he remains still. "What are you
doing in town?"
    "Relieving
you of your..." Anders pauses and glances at me with a smirk,
"duties."
    "Bullshit," Lex growls, but his eyes betray his uncertainty.
    "Relax,
Alexander," Anders replies with a humorless chuckle. "I'm sure Mags is clueless about what you two have been up to, seeing
as she thinks you're God's gift to this green earth, but I guess she has a job
for you. Elsewhere."
    "Come
on, Evan," Lex says, ignoring Anders. "Let's
go back to the house."
    "But..."
I start to protest.
    "Please." Lex looks at me then, his eyes anxious and pleading.
I bite my lip to keep it from trembling, that weak achy feeling back full
force. His hand clings to mine as we both turn and leave without looking back
at Anders. I let the fingers of my free hand trail along the rough bark of the
trees that we pass as we walk along the path toward the house. I count each
tree that I touch in my