Chapter 5
Jasper leapt to his feet, the chair making a godawful screech on the hardwood floor before it toppled over and landed with a clatter. “I knew it!” he shouted.
“Shit,” I said. “I don’t believe this. I don’t fucking believe it.”
Kevin, dust-streaked arms wrapped around the medium-sized cardboard box he was holding to his chest, looked from Jasper to me and back again. “What?”
Jasper whipped his phone out, quivering with excitement. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got this. Everyone stay calm.” He lifted the phone to his ear. “I’m calling Liam.”
Kevin stood there looking bewildered.
If the ‘something’ he’d found had been corpse related, he wouldn’t be standing there at all. He’d be running out of the house at full speed, and so would I, because he’d have grabbed me as he passed and dragged me after him.
Then he’d have come back for Phil.
“Jasper,” I said. “Hang up.”
Jasper flapped a hand at me. “He’ll pick up any minute, don’t worry.
He’s not working today—hah. He will be! But he’s not working today.
It’s his weekend off. He’s probably napping.
” Jasper bounced a little on his toes. “This is exciting. I’m scared.
But also excited. I’ve never been in on it right from the start like this. ”
“What’s he on about?” Kevin asked me.
“Nothing important.” I crossed the kitchen and attempted to take Jasper’s phone off him. “Give me that.”
He spun away from me. “No. Stop it.”
“Jasper,” I said. “Give it to me.” After a short scuffle, I won.
“Jasper?” came from the phone. “Hello?” It was Liam.
“Misdial,” I said, and hung up.
I held onto the phone, ignoring it when it rang.
Jasper and I got into another scuffle. Kevin dropped his cardboard box on the table and waded in. He took the phone off me.
Now Jasper and Kevin were in a scuffle.
I watched them as the phone continued to ring and they continued to grapple with each other.
In a fight, Jasper should win. No contest. They were both disgustingly fit, but only Jasper had martial arts training.
The problem was, while Jasper might have the training to win a fight, he was an absolute sweetheart. He didn’t have a ruthless bone in his body. He didn’t have the killer instinct.
Kevin, however…
“Kevin, be careful with him,” I said from where I’d hopped up to perch on the countertop. It kept me out of the way as they wrestled and grunted around my kitchen, knocking into the table and sending another chair to the floor, and it also gave me a great view of the action.
Kevin stuffed the phone into his back pocket and Jasper immediately went for his arse, making Kevin bellow.
Phil snorted awake in the corner, took a moment to work out what was going on—playtime!—and heaved up to his paws. He gambolled slowly over to join in.
“No one hurt Phil!” I called as he pranced around, getting in the way.
“Watch it,” Kevin said and snatched Jasper flat against him before Jasper trod on Phil.
“You watch it,” Jasper said, throwing his arms around Kevin to stay upright.
“Are you boys done?” I asked.
“Nearly.” Jasper made another grab for his phone and got another handful of Kevin instead.
Kevin smacked him away.
“Oh my god, Kevin! I need to call Liam! Give me my phone! Charlie, tell him to give me my phone.”
Kevin looked over at me.
“Kevin, you can give Jasper his phone,” I said. “Jasper, you don’t need to call Liam. Kevin didn’t find a body.”
“You didn’t?” Jasper demanded. He and Kevin were still clutching each other.
“Uh…no?” Kevin extracted himself.
“Then what was that dramatic Charlie, I found something business all about?”
Kevin blinked. “I found something to show Charlie,” he said, and gestured at the cardboard box. “How d’you go from that to a dead body?” It dawned on him, and he glared at Jasper. “I am not Kevin the Corpse Finder.”
“I didn’t say it.”
“You thought it.”
Jasper looked at me for help.
“You did say it, actually,” I reminded him. “About five seconds before Kevin came in.”
Kevin glowered.
Jasper eased back a step. “Would you look at the time?” he said. “I must be off. Things to do, places to be. Can I have my phone, please?”
Kevin slapped it onto his outstretched palm.
“Ouch. Okay. Thanks. Rain check on the gym, Kevin? Cool. See you on Monday, Charlie. Be good, Phil. Bye!” He rushed out of the kitchen.
Phil watched him go with a sad sigh and leaned against Kevin, who bent down and gave him a quick hug before straightening, speculative gaze on mine.
“Enjoyed that, did you?” he asked me. He picked up Phil’s front end, pivoted him around to face the back door, and patted his rump. “Go and check on your balls,” he said.
Phil obediently wandered out.
I swung my legs lightly. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Mm-hmm.” Kevin came over and inserted himself between my parted knees before gripping my thighs and dragging me to the very edge of the counter until we were plastered together.
Bracing his fists either side of my hips, he leaned in, pressing his chest to mine and making me arch back.
“What got you hot, huh? Me and Jasper having a tussle? Or me backing you up?”
Him and Jasper having a tussle. Definitely. “Six of one, half a dozen of the other.”
Kevin’s eyes gleamed. “Jasper doesn’t do it for me, you know.”
“That’s a relief.” I couldn’t exactly compete, if Jasper was his type. I lacked the height, the muscle, and the sweet nature.
Fortunately, Kevin was into shorter, grumpier, reluctant gym-goers such as myself.
“Worth clearing up.” He ducked closer and said in a whisper, as if it was a secret, “You’re the only one who does it for me, Charlie.”
I tipped my chin and caught his lips with mine. “Same,” I said.
He sank his tongue into my mouth and got bossy with it for a few moments before pulling back.
“Excuse me?” I said. “Where do you think you’re going?” I wrapped my legs around his hips and hooked my ankles.
He smirked and stepped away from the counter, taking me with him.
I lurched and threw my arms around his neck. “Don’t drop me!”
“Don’t choke me out and I won’t drop you.”
That seemed fair. I reluctantly eased my grip and shifted to hold his shoulders.
His big hands went to my arse and he squeezed as he took me over to the kitchen table and sat me on that instead.
“Oh?” It was my turn to smirk. We’d been here before. Quite a few times.
He grinned at me, held my jaw, and sucked a noisy kiss on my lips that left them buzzing. “I’ll fuck you later,” he promised. “In bed, not on the table. Thought you might like to see what I found first.”
I unhooked my ankles and this time when he moved back, I let him go without protest.
He dragged the box he’d carried in earlier over the table and opened the flap.
I stiffened. “There had better not be any mice in there, Kevin Wallis?—”
“Don’t be daft. I checked it.”
“Did you double-check it? They are wily creatures.” I eyed the box suspiciously.
“Tell you what. If one leaps out and ambushes us, I’ll catch it and pop it down the bottom of the garden. How’s that?”
“Thank you,” I said, and earned myself another, sweeter, kiss. Kevin smiled into it. “All right. What exciting treasure did you find?”
Still smiling, he pulled out a large photo album.
“Oh no,” I said, and attempted to snatch it off him.
I’d have preferred the mouse. A rat, even.
He fended me away with ease, twisting his body at the waist and blocking me with a broad shoulder.
I went for it again, and was as successful as Jasper had been in trying to get his phone.
When Kevin wanted something, he kept it.
“Argh,” I said. “Don’t look at it. Take it away. Take it back to the garage. No, put it in the bin!”
“Nope.”
This time when I lunged for it, it took him a bit longer to subdue me. Still not long, though.
I ended up lying back on my elbows, both hands held in one of his, breathing hard.
My breathing wasn’t the only hard thing.
I defy anyone to tussle with Kevin and not get hard about it.
To have his solid body contain theirs. To push and shove against him and not get anywhere with it but to try anyway. To have his fingers lock tight around their wrists and?—
Kevin raised a brow at me, then aimed a pointed, smug look down at my groin.
I glared at him. “Did you get Jasper hard, too?” I asked sweetly.
“Probably,” he said. “You’d have to ask him. I didn’t look.”
I attempted to heave myself upright, but as Kevin still had my wrists and I still had substandard core muscles, I didn’t get anywhere with it.
Kevin, I couldn’t help but notice, was enjoying my feeble efforts to get free as much as I was.
If I played up the writhing a bit, I was pretty sure I could redirect his attention from photos of my miserable past to my infinitely preferable present.
I twisted another couple of times with a breathy gasp, and bit my lip while I did it, sending him a sultry look.
He laughed. It wasn’t quite the reaction I’d been shooting for. “All right,” he said. “You don’t want me to look, I won’t. I did have a quick peek already, I’m not gonna lie. I thought you’d be interested, not upset.”
I stopped my apparently shit attempts at being seductive and slumped. “I’m not upset.” I was a little upset. “I just…I like where I am now.”
“Yeah?” He let go of my wrists and put the photo album down with a thump on the table beside me, then slid me closer to the edge.
“I’m sure there are nostalgia-loving people out there who love nothing more than to go through old albums and notebooks and journals and—oh no.”
“What?”
I sat up, fisted Kevin’s t-shirt, and hauled him in until we were nose to nose. “Tell me you didn’t read my journals.”
He angled his head and said against my lips, “I didn’t read your journals.”
I shifted my grip to his cheeks.
“Um, ow,” he said, reaching up to hold my wrists again. Lightly, this time. His thumbs stroked soothingly up and down. “I said I didn’t. No need to claw my face off.”
“Sorry.” I eased my desperate clutch and stared up into his dark eyes.