Free Kiss the Stars (Devon Slaughter Book 1) by Alice Bell Page B

heard her intake of breath and felt her fear.
    I put my eye to
the opening.
    She was in the
bath, sitting up, erect and staring, waiting. Her breasts glistened. I pushed
open the door.
    “Ruby, it’s me…”
    She reached for
a towel, and tried to wrap it around her body. The ends floated out. She got up
and almost fell, losing the towel when she grabbed the sides of the tub with
both hands. Water swept out.
    Little kids
cried and hid under the seats. Zadie vomited over the side of the boat.
    I had to lean
against the wall so I wouldn’t collapse. I slid down and sat on the cold tiled
floor. My heart beat like it was going to jump out of my chest.
    She sat down in
the tub, drawing up her knees and hugging them. I wondered if I had changed
somehow, turned into Quasimodo, the way she looked at me with her big eyes.
    Had my
extraordinary powers of attraction evaporated? And now I was a regular guy
slumped on her bathroom floor?
    Yeah, not
that sexy .
    When she finally
spoke, her voice was tender. “Are you sick?”
    “I needed to see
you, that’s all.”
    “You’re a wreck,”
she said.
    “I don’t think
it’s contagious.” I lowered my head.
    “You don’t?” she
sounded doubtful.
    I could envision
her pout, like the night we met, though I couldn’t look at her because I was
holding back another wave of nausea by keeping my eyes on a spot on the floor.
For all I knew, I could turn her into what I had become just by kissing her,
though she seemed to have come through the first kiss intact.
    The rush of
water going down the drain reminded me of something.
    Her bare wet
feet came into my line of vision. My gaze came up to her slender calves, the
backs of her silky thighs. She wriggled into a white nightgown with a high lacy
neck. I reached out to grip her ankle.
    She turned to
me. Her gown, clinging to her damp skin, showed me the outline of her nipples.
    “Want me to call
an ambulance?” She knelt on the hard floor and put her hand on my face. “Did
you take something dangerous? Like heroin, or…I don’t know. You’re burning with
fever.”
    “I didn’t take
anything,” I said. “I’m not on drugs.”
    I managed to
stand up. The nausea had eased and it was from her being next to me in that
see-through gown. But when I caught sight of the drenched towel lying at the
bottom of the tub, my gut wrenched.
    Zadie’s pink
dress washed up on the shore.
    * * *
    She smoothed the
sheets on her unmade bed. “Don’t you want to sleep?” she said.
    “With you.” I
took her hand and pulled her toward me.
    She held back
but I felt her hunger, like mine. I wrapped my arms around her waist and held
her. Her heart fluttered, like the wings of a trapped bird. My lips grazed the
crook of her neck. “Get in bed,” I whispered.
    The sheets were
cool. We lay facing each other.
    I pushed up her
gown and she shivered. Her breath came fast. With every frantic beat of her
heart, I felt my strength coming back.
    I guided her
hand to my jeans. She undid the buttons, like I wanted. I put her hand inside.
I liked the way she seemed to be waiting for me to show her what to do next.
When I paused, thinking of what would give me the most pleasure, pain sliced
through my ribcage.
    I cried out.
    “Oh, God, did I
hurt you?” she sounded panicked.
    Another blow hit
me in the stomach.

14. Ruby
    “DEVON?” I was
still reeling from the feel of him in my hand. I longed to have him in my
mouth, inside me.
    But he moaned.
His skin gleamed with sweat. Drugs seemed the most likely cause of his sudden
illness. Not that I knew much about drugs, beyond the ones prescribed by my
shrink. I’d always been scared of anything harder than alcohol.
    Of course, it
could be the flu, or worse, sexually transmitted. Part of me knew he was a
player and I should be careful. A bigger part of me loved the way his touch was
so sure. And demanding. I’d been about to throw caution to the wind. Maybe fate
had intervened, giving me a moment to rethink the