Disclaimer- The 'ardeur' belongs to L.K Hamilton; I'm just messing around with it. Pendergast belongs to Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child; I'm just messing with him too. Kel & Brett belong to me.
PART 7
There was no guarantee that Kel would get to sleep with Pendergast that night. But she shaved her legs in the shower anyway, one of those just-in-case things. When she got out of the shower, she rubbed baby oil on her skin to keep it from getting itchy like it often did in the winter. She stood in front of the mirror and combed her blue hair straight back, mimicking the way Pendergast wore his hair and brushed her teeth for the second time that day.
Kel wrapped the towel around her body and quickly dashed into her room in an attempt to avoid the cold air. Once there she found her favorite pair of boxers, she had given up on panties her sophomore year. They always tried to pretend they were thongs; she had eventually grown annoyed and had begun wearing boxers because 'going commando' was just too cold for Maine winters.
For a moment she stood in front of her closet, trying to decide between pajamas or just a long T-shirt. What would Pendergast find more alluring? Would he have more fun removing the pajamas or the T-shirt? Kel reached in and grabbed something at random. When she opened her eyes, she held a black Harry Potter shirt. Well actually, it was a Voldemort shirt. It had the snake climbing out of the mouth of the skull and Death Eaters was embossed at the bottom. She slipped it on and the hem ended just above the red and grey boxers.
Dressed now, Kel slipped her feet into her green Converse and went out on her porch where Pendergast sat on the steps. She knelt behind him.
….
I felt arms encircle my waist from behind, then a careful pressure against the collar of my coat and I knew that was where she had chosen to kiss me. I let my weight rest against her and she held me easily, something I hadn't expected from someone so much smaller than me. Kel was just full of surprises. I breathed in and caught the scent of baby oil, strawberries (always strawberries) and vanilla.
"Did you enjoy your shower?" I asked.
"Yes, it's freezing out here." She murmured into my coat.
"It's not so bad," A thought struck me. "You are wearing clothes, correct?"
Kel laughed, kissed the back of my neck again. "Why don't you find out for yourself?"
I turned, she only had on a shirt and- "You wear boxers?"
Kel rolled her eyes at me. "Is that so hard to believe?"
"No, it's very believable." I said and opened one side of my coat for her, she hastily moved into the heat trapped there. I kissed the top of her head; found that her hair was still wet.
"Are you ready to go inside now?" She asked and I could hear her teeth chattering.
"Do you get cold easily?" I asked.
Kel had to lean back to glare at me. "Yes."
"Very well, I'm ready to go inside then." I stood, still holding her in my arms, prepared to carry her inside and she yelped in surprise. "Did I scare you?"
Again she glared at me, but it was in a playful manner. "No, I just like to be warned when someone decides they're going to pick me up." She seemed to consider. "I've hit people for less."
I arched my brows at her, her playful mood affecting me. "And are you going to hit me?"
She lifted herself enough to speak with her lips touching mine. "Not unless you ask me to." She set her teeth to me and I moved my head back.
"I'll drop you." I warned.
"No you won't."
"And why is that?"
She smiled. "Because I'll sic Thing One on you."
I smiled back. "Kel… that is a very persuasive argument."
"You bet your very sexy ass it is." She said and then we both laughed while I carried her inside.
….
She hated to be carried around like an infant or sick child, but she knew Pendergast's intentions were not just to tuck her in to bed and read her a story. No his intentions were more adult, not that Kel didn't like the occasional bedtime story, maybe she'd even read him one.
…
Kel had painted her room a neutral shade of brown that matched her bedspread and bookshelves. There were more posters in her bedroom too, my favorite pictured a cat and it read at the bottom- "Devotion, nothing says 'I love you' like a dead rodent delivered to your pillow at 2a.m."
Speaking of felines… Have you ever noticed that when you're about to put down that cat you've been petting for the last hour, when they're three feet from the ground they suddenly decide you're not moving fast enough? They jump out of your arms and usually land with a thud. Kel did that now, suddenly springing out of my arms to fall on her bed, and the movement shook my balance a little. But it was enough to make me fall on my face beside her, the next thing I knew, she was sitting in the middle of my back, holding me down with her slight weight.
"Were you a cat in your previous life?" I demanded.
"What?" She asked, laughing a little. "Take the pillow out of your mouth so I can hear you."
I lifted my head and found my face level with a miniature cheetah. "Good lord woman," I exclaimed. "How many stuffed animals do you own?"
"Hundreds," She said against my ear, then kissed it.
Kel started to push her fingers into my shirt collar and I pulled a cat move of my own; spinning out from under her and ending up on my back on the bed.
"Maybe we were both cats in our former lives." She said thoughtfully. Then her hand moved up my shirt front and clasped the tail of my tie. "Can I take this off now?"
"Don't you want to take my coat of first?" I asked.
Kel kissed me softly. "I'll get to that later." Her hands moved to the knot of the tie and slipped it down, pulled it off and laid it between us. She sat up, sitting cross-legged by my hip. I let my hand rest on her knee and she smiled.
"Where do you like to be touched?" She asked, settling her hand over mine.
I honestly didn't know how to answer that and I wasn't sure what she was asking. Did she mean how I liked to be touched sexually or how I liked to be touched in general? I did the only thing I could think of, I turned the question back on her. "How do you like to be touched?"
She gave me a smile I'd never seen from her before; it was sly and somehow straightforward at the same time. Her hand squeezed mine. "What you're doing now is perfect." She said. "I like to be caressed; the palms of my hands are sensitive. Right now, I like how you kiss… But you didn't answer my question Aloysius."
….
It was another of those instances where he seemed wholly out of place, his pale hair and even paler skin in stark contrast to her deep blue pillow case, to the black and gold comforter. It was odd, but he somehow seemed to belong among all her things. The stuffed animals, the posters of vampires and angels and avatars, it all seemed to compliment his personality at the same time it differed from everything she had come to think of as him.
"But you didn't answer my question Aloysius."
Pendergast lifted himself slowly to sit in front of her, took her hands and placed them on the back of his neck, directing her fingers into his hair. He looked into her eyes, and then moved her fingers to the buttons of his shirt.
"Like this," He murmured. "I like this…"
Kel let her hands be guided along the buttons of his starchy white shirt and together they pulled the garment open, there was another white T-shirt beneath it. She pushed both the shirt and coat off Pendergast's shoulders, moved both of them along with his tie to the floor at the foot of her bed. She kissed him, pushing her tongue slowly past his lips while her hands went to the edge of his shirt; suddenly, he stayed her hands with his own.
"Wait," He said. "I have to tell you something."
Her eyes widened. "Please don't tell me you're married."
"No, not any more, not for years." He said and laid a hand on the side of her face. "It's about… what's under my shirt…"
"Other than your skin?" She teased, tried to push the shirt up and again he stayed her hands.
"I'm disfigured Kellie," He said, letting go of her hands and she pushed the shirt up his pale chest. "You see? I'm damaged goods…. I'll keep the shirt on like I always do, so you don't have to touch-"
Kel kissed him fiercely, holding his jaw between both hands. Then she pulled the shirt the rest of the way off, leaving him bare from the waist up. The paleness of his skin was beautiful, but when Kel saw the 'disfigurement' she only sighed. His pale, muscled chest was covered with scars, over his heart, side and abdomen; they were ashier than the rest of his chest. They reminded her of cracks in a marble statue, and she slowly took her fingers over every centimeter of the raised flesh. Then she sat back on her heels and studied his reaction, like he was studying hers.
