Free Out of This World by Jill Shalvis Page B

spooked. “Just me, Rach.”
    Her gaze ran over my face, my body, and then she went beet red, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. “Yeah. It’s just that, well, it’s a lot more of you than you think.”
    Huh? “Come on. We’ll go back.”
    Her laugh sounded more than half-hysterical. “Yeah. How exactly?”
    I reached out my hand for hers, tugging her close. “We’ll get back.”
    â€œSo you’re not lost?”
    â€œWell…” I looked around. “Maybe just a little.”
    â€œOh God.”
    â€œBut I can get us unlost. Okay?”
    â€œHow about to L.A.? Can you get us back to L.A.?” she joked weakly, then stopped my heart when she snuggled against me, pressing her face to my throat.
    God, I loved when she did that.
    Unable to help myself, I banded my arms tightly around her. I might have buried my face in her hair and inhaled deeply, too, but no one had to know that part, because it was the story of my life: lusting and yearning after this woman who usually thought of me as something she might absently pat on the head and feed a cookie.
    So instead, I just held her for as long as she wanted.
    â€œSomething’s really—” She broke off.
    â€œReally what, Rach?”
    â€œWrong. Really, really wrong.”
    Pulling back, I looked her in the face, feeling an underlying sense of anxiety brought on by her tone.
    â€œYou mean something more than all this?”
    She resisted looking into my eyes. Instead, she tried to burrow in again, tighter this time, nearly strangling me in the process.
    But that was fine with me, because there were better things than breathing. Like holding her. Her lips brushed my neck, her hair stabbing into my eyes, but I didn’t mind, because the silky strands smelled like honey and vanilla, and I could have smelled her all damn day long. Jeez, I was pretty far gone if I was noticing the scent of her hair over the thought of any injuries she might have sustained….
    â€œI want to go back,” she whispered. “We can talk there.”
    â€œOkay.” Besides, I wasn’t any happier than she was, out here, in the middle of nowhere, with killer lightning bolts. “Let’s go.”
    And holding her hand, I started to lead the way.
    If only I knew exactly which way that was.

Chapter 6
    H i, my name is Rachel, and I’m officially freaked out, thank you very much. The clouds had all but vanished from the sky, which still seemed a very strange color, and when I looked at it for more than a second and focused, that odd sense of seeing right through everything hit me again. You’d think there’d be nothing up there in the wild blue yonder but clouds. Wrong. There was plenty: birds, satellites, planes filled with people watching movies, sleeping, talking.
    God.
    I couldn’t look down either, because the ground was no better. It was filled with things like slugs and worms and other bugs the likes of which might make one go crazy if one thought about it for too long.
    So I purposely drew a deep breath and didn’t focus on anything but the intangible. Axel, still missing. Kel and I, still standing here all alone. And, at least in my case, frightened half to death.
    Kel squeezed my fingers. “No worries, Rach. We’ll be okay.”
    I was trying not to panic, but I wasn’t having much luck. “No worries,” I repeated like a mantra. “No worries…”
    â€œThis way,” Kellan said, pointing. Then he pulled off his T-shirt, and even though I’d already peeked, the sight of him left me utterly speechless.
    â€œUm,” I said ever so intelligently, my tongue hanging out at the sight of all his well-toned flesh and hard sinew, “what are you doing?”
    â€œJust as you suggested.” He ripped the hemline off the T-shirt with shocking ease, the muscles in his arms rippling, causing me to drool more. I swallowed hard and tried not