Chapter six
Lenny spent the rest of the day and that evening sitting in her room staring blankly at the television. Kevin had kissed her, she kept thinking, stunned by what had happened. Why had he done that? He hadn't looked too pleased about it, either. She put her hands on her flushed cheeks and groaned, closing her eyes. If anything, she was just as guilty as he was, because she had responded without even thinking about it. What must he think of her? And Page, she thought with another groan, he had seen it. Oh God, she would never be able to look any of them in the eye again. She would bet good money that they went back and told everyone, too. Well, if she ever needed a good reason to stay out of Kevin's way, this was it. If he kissed her again she wouldn't be able to resist, because it had been that good. She knew his reputation with women, and it seemed it was well earned, because she had never felt like that before in her life, and if she was honest she wouldn't mind feeling like it again. But did it have to be with him? She groaned even louder and then jumped when someone knocked on her door.
"Charlene?" Sam's voice floated through the door to her and she grimaced. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said quietly, not bothering to open the door.
"Are you sure? Someone said something about Kevin chasing you," Sam continued, and she could hear the concern in his voice. Reluctantly she got up and pulled the door open.
"I'm okay," she told him, staring up at him.
Sam frowned as he looked down at his little sister, his eyes taking in her high colour and the fact her mouth looked odd. His eyes narrowed. "Did he get hold of you?"
"Yes."
"What did he do, Charlene?" he asked, his tone a dangerous one, and she knew that he would go and punch Kevin if he had hurt her, regardless of the fact that he was enormous and would probably hurt her brother.
"Nothing, I'm fine," she repeated, trying to smile.
"What did he do?" he asked again and she knew he wasn't going to leave it alone until he got an answer out of her. But she couldn't bring herself to tell her brother what had happened, it was too embarrassing. "Tell me, or I'll go and ask him."
She stared at him and tried to tell him, but the words wouldn't come and she lowered her eyes and shook her head. To her brother, it looked as if she had something serious to hide, and he could only imagine what that might be. Before she could stop him, he turned on his heel and stormed off, making his way out of the house and along the road to where the party was still being packed up now everyone had left. He found Kevin sitting on the back steps, sipping a beer and staring morosely into the distance.
"What the hell did you do to my baby sister?" he snapped when he got close enough, and Kevin's head shot up, his eyes refocusing as he stared at Sam.
"What?"
"You heard me! What did you do to Charlene?"
"Nothing," he said, frowning and looking faintly guilty, which made Sam even angrier.
"Try again! She looked embarrassed and you look guilty. I know you chased after her, now I want to know what happened!"
"Oh for Christ's sake! There's no need to get bent out of shape, I just kissed her, that's all," Kevin said impatiently, standing up to his full height and glaring.
"That's all?" Sam asked, shocked that Kevin had laid a finger on Charlene. "What the hell did you think you were doing?"
Kevin relaxed his stance and gave a small smile. "If you want the truth, I wasn't thinking at all," he admitted, shaking his head. "I didn't mean to do that, especially not with her."
Sam stared at him for a few seconds and then nodded. "Tell me it won't happen again."
"It won't, don't worry," Kevin said straight away, almost shuddering at the thought.
Sam smiled. "Was it that bad?"
"No, that's the problem. Just...don't worry, I won't touch her again. But you'd better make sure she stays out of my way," he warned.
Sam chuckled. "From the look on her face just now, I don't think you'll have to worry about that."
"What look?"
"Mortification," Sam said dryly.
"Hell, I didn't mean to embarrass her," Kevin said, sitting back down and sipping at his beer.
"Yeah, well you did. I think Charlene will be keeping her distance from now on," Sam said, shaking his head. "Which will be interesting considering Rachel asked me to invite you to dinner tomorrow."
"She did?"
"Mmm. I wonder what Charlene will do when she finds out you're coming round," he mused.
"I haven't said yes, yet," Kevin pointed out, raising one eyebrow.
Sam looked at him narrowly. "So you're not coming?"
"I didn't say that."
"So I say again, I wonder what Charlene will do when she finds you're coming round?"
"Probably hide, like a coward," Kevin said darkly, scowling. "You're the one telling me to keep away from her and here you are inviting me to dinner!"
"Yeah well, maybe it's time you two started acting civilised around each other," he said, shrugging nonchalantly.
"I've known you for years, and I still can't work you out. You're constantly contradicting yourself where Lenny's concerned," Kevin said, pursing his lips.
"I know," Sam said, grabbing himself a beer and sitting next to the big man. "It isn't easy looking after a baby sister. Maybe I get a bit overprotective, but sometimes she confuses the hell out of me."
"At least I'm not the only one," Kevin muttered, staring at the ground in front of his big feet with a contemplative expression. He made a disgusted snort. "I got jealous."
"Jealous? Of what?" Sam asked him, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
"Of Lenny," Kevin admitted, scowling. "She was dancing with people."
Sam hid a smile. "It was a party, she was allowed to dance," he pointed out. "Who did she dance with?"
"Show, Jeff, Adam...and Page," he said, trying to stop himself from gritting his teeth.
"Hmm. And you got jealous? Why?"
"Damned if I know," he muttered, still frowning as he thought of his unstable emotions. It wasn't like him to act this way about anything or anybody. "I just didn't like it."
Sam studied him from the corner of his eye, sipping his beer and nodding. "And then you kissed her?"
"I danced with her first," he said, his shoulders slumping as he sighed. "God, I think I'm going crazy...she's young enough to be my daughter!"
"From what I can see your feelings towards her are anything but fatherly. What I would like to know," Sam said, sending Kevin an arch look, "is what you plan on doing next time you see her?"
Kevin snorted. "You just told me to stay away from her, so I guess you have your answer."
Sam stood up and put his empty beer bottle on a table. "Dinner will be at seven tomorrow, don't be late. And one more thing," he said, smiling in an odd way, "I didn't tell you to stay away from her." He gave a smug grin when Kevin looked up at him and then he walked away, laughing to himself. Okay, so he was overly protective towards his sister, and he had thought that having Kevin interested in her might be a bad thing, but now he wasn't so sure. He would let things play out for a while, and be there if she needed him. It was all he could do.
*****
The next evening Lenny was standing in the kitchen with her sister in law, chopping vegetables for that evening's dinner. She was totally oblivious to the fact that they had an extra person coming over, as Sam had thought it best to keep her in the dark about Kevin's visit. If he knew his sister, she would find some way of not being at home if she found out.
Sam sat at the breakfast bar watching them work and glancing at his watch. It was nearly seven now and dinner was running late, which meant Kevin would be there soon and he would have to keep him out of this room. A smile touched his mouth as he stared at Lenny. She had been incredibly quiet since the previous day, and he could tell she was brooding over what had happened, because every now and then she blushed for no reason. It was actually quite nice to see her look flustered and alive for a change, because her life was pretty dull otherwise. Maybe he wouldn't keep Kevin out of here, he mused, his smile widening when he heard a faint knock on the front door.
"I'll get that," he said, winking at his wife and giving Lenny an innocent smile when she stared at him in confusion.
"Is he expecting someone?" she asked Rachel, and the older woman smiled.
"You could say that," she murmured, glancing up when she heard male voices approaching the kitchen.
Lenny stood frozen when she heard Kevin's voice, then when she realised they were coming into that room, she looked around trying to decide where to go to get out of his way. But it was too late and he walked into the room, ducking his head automatically under the lintel. His eyes sought hers and he stared at her strangely, a smile tilting his lips when he saw the colour flooding her face and the way she immediately turned her back.
Oh God, she thought, what was he doing here? She wasn't ready to face him after what had happened yesterday, after that kiss....she gave a small groan and then caught herself, going back to trying to chop the vegetables, finishing the task with exceptionally shaky hands.
"I'm sorry dinner won't be on time," Sam told the bigger man, going to the refrigerator and pulling out a couple of beers. "We're running a bit late today." He held out a beer to Kevin and almost laughed at the way he was staring fixedly at the back of Lenny's head, almost willing her to turn around.
Kevin absently took the beer and then looked down at it, shaking his head. "Er, you don't have a soft drink do you?"
"Sure," Sam said easily, putting the beer back and getting a coke instead.
"Hi Rachel, how are you?" Kevin asked her, regaining his manners finally and smiling at Sam's wife, holding out one big hand which had been clutching a bottle of wine. "Hope this will be okay?"
"It's lovely, thank you, but I can't have any. And I'm fine thank you, getting bigger by the minute," she said, laughing as she patted her stomach.
"Well, it looks good on you," he said, grinning at her before he turned to look at Lenny, who was still resolutely turned away from him. "Lenny? Are you okay?"
She made a small noise and gave a slight nod, studying her fingers now she had finished her chore and wondering what to do to keep herself busy now. She really didn't want to be in the same room as him, not now. She cleared her throat. "I...er...have to..er..s-sort something out," she mumbled, moving to the door and escaping the room as fast as she could. Kevin frowned as he watched her go, knowing he was the reason she had run off but not feeling comfortable with it.
"She had something to sort out?" her brother asked his wife, raising his eyebrows and then laughing. "Bit of a flimsy excuse wasn't it?"
"Well, anything to get away from Kev here. That wasn't very nice you know, not telling her," she admonished, trying not to smile.
Sam smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. "I didn't notice you telling her either."
"She didn't know I was coming over?" Kevin asked, now knowing why she had looked so odd when he had first walked in.
"No, I thought it best to keep it a secret," Sam said, raising one eyebrow.
Kevin gave a slight smile and then narrowed his eyes. "Maybe I should go see if she's okay?"
"Maybe you should," Sam agreed, earning himself a slap from his wife and a glare. "What?"
"You can't send him off after her, we'll probably find her hanging from the rafters by his belt if we do. No, if anyone should go check on her it should be you," she said firmly, raising her eyebrows.
"And leave you all alone in the kitchen, I can't do that baby," Sam drawled, making Rachel melt against him as he pulled her close. "Don't you think it would be better if Kev went and made his peace with her?"
"Make my peace? Who the hell said anything about that?" Kevin burst out, frowning.
"See? bad idea," Rachel said, smiling as she glanced at the bigger man. "Now, why don't you two take your drinks into the living room and watch TV, I'm sure there's some sports programme on you can watch. Let me get on with this. Lenny will be back when she realises you're not in here," she said, pushing them both in the direction of the doorway and getting on with her preparations.
Sure enough, Lenny snuck back downstairs and gave a relieved sigh when she heard the two men in the living room, and she darted past the doorway into the kitchen. "You knew he was coming over didn't you?" she asked Rachel, and got a smile in return.
"Yeah, I just didn't know how to tell you. Hey, it won't be so bad," she said gently, wiping her hands on a towel.
"Bad? It's going to be terrible. I can't serve him anything," Lenny said, her eyes widening as she thought about it. "What if I drop things on him, he'll go mad....oh God, and yesterday he...he.....how am I going to face him?"
"Just keep your chin up and ignore him, you've managed it before," Rachel pointed out.
"But that was before...he....oh," she groaned helplessly, shaking her head.
Rachel gave a sympathetic smile and patted her on the shoulder. "It's okay, I know all about it. Listen, you can stay in here and make something for dessert if you like, I'll go and sit with them. Unless you want to come with me...?"
"No, I can do dessert...it's easier."
"Okay, see you in a little while, huh?" Rachel said, her smile getting wider as she left the kitchen.
Lenny stood silently for a few seconds, debating running away, but then she pulled herself together and started getting ingredients out to make an apple pie. At least she could do that properly, she thought, dragging a chair over to the cupboards so she could reach the flour and sugar. The monotony of the task, peeling apples and making pastry, made her forget briefly just who she had in the house, and she gave a pleased smile at her handiwork as she set the pie aside, ready to be baked while they ate dinner.
She started clearing up the mess she had made and set the flour and sugar aside, ready to put in the cupboard when she had wiped the mess of the counter. Dragging the chair back over, she climbed up on it and put the sugar in the cupboard, then reached down for the flour.
"Need a hand?" A deep voice asked and the hands that suddenly clasped her around the waist shocked the life out of her, never having heard anyone come in the room, making her jump violently. Lenny squealed loudly and jerked backwards at the touch of his hands and sent Kevin toppling over, both of them falling the long distance to the floor, his big body cushioning the impact of the fall. Kevin watched in bemusement as the bag of flour sailed up in the air, and then he resigned himself to his fate as it crashed back down, exploding on his head like a bomb and coating both of them in the white powder. He sneezed as everything came to rest, and a little puff of white shot up from his face.
Before either of them could move, Sam and Rachel came crashing into the room, Rachel having to back out again almost immediately as she burst out laughing. "Damn, you two really can't be left alone for even a second, can you?" Sam said, shaking his head and grinning at the two ghostly figures on the floor.
Kevin sent him a glare and then lifted Lenny slowly off his body, sitting up with his hands still holding her. "Are you okay? You're not hurt?" he asked, his eyes raking her body to make sure she hadn't been injured.
Lenny stared at him wide-eyed. "I-I'm fine," she stammered, dropping her eyes and groaning at the mess she had made of him. She looked briefly at her brother and was stunned to see him walk out of the room, his shoulders shaking with mirth. Yet another disaster that could be placed at her door, she thought morosely. And now Sam was abandoning her here with Kevin so he could kill her in private. She was surprised when her breath hitched in her throat and she bit her bottom lip to stop it from trembling.
The small sound and the movement caught the big man's attention, and his eyes narrowed on her face, studying it through the fine coating it now wore. "Well," Kevin said, forcing a light-hearted tone and looking down at himself and grinning, "I hadn't intended to do an impersonation of Casper tonight, but I bet I'd win a prize wouldn't I?" He laughed as he tried to dust himself off, and Lenny shot a startled look at him.
"I didn't mean...to..." she began, but he held his hand up, shaking his head and dislodging more powder as he did so.
"It's okay, I shouldn't have scared you like that," he said, getting gracefully to his feet and then grabbing her hand and pulling her up just as easily. "We'd better get cleaned up, don't you think?"
She nodded dumbly and wondered why he wasn't trying to beat the life out of her. She knew he wanted to, he had always made it perfectly clear that he'd get her back if it was the last thing he did, and here was a perfect opportunity.
When she didn't move he studied her carefully and frowned at the way she was shaking, her eyes holding more than a trace of anxiety, and he reached towards her to soothe her in some way. The instant he grabbed her shoulders she went as stiff as a board, thinking that this was it, he was going to pay her back now, and she squeezed her eyes shut and waited.
Kevin had only intended to reassure her that he wasn't mad, but when he touched her he felt her warmth seep into his fingers and make his hands start tingling, the feeling spreading like wildfire through his body and making him gasp. The next thing he knew he had dragged her up against him and taken her lips, not even thinking about his actions at all. His tongue stabbed deeply into her mouth and urged hers into movement, kissing her with a pent-up passion he hadn't even realised he had in him. Within the space of a heartbeat his arms went around her, one pinning her against him whilst the other tangled in her long hair, playing with the silky mass. Her lips were soft and velvety underneath his and he sucked in air through his nose as he savoured the feel of her, all soft curves and eager participation. She was kissing him back now, following his movements blindly and drawing pleasure from him as he ravaged her mouth hungrily, his arms tightening around her and almost crushing her as he tried desperately to get her closer to his rapidly hardening body.
Lenny melted against him, absolutely no thought of refusal beyond the first shock of his touch, almost as if she was intimately familiar with his hands and mouth. His arms felt like steel bands and she loved the strength of them, relishing the way he was devouring her, her body seeking it's mate even though her mind would have protested had it not shut down. Even the feel of his hand moving from her hair and sweeping around to cup one firm breast didn't shock her, though it did make her start to shake helplessly under the onslaught of passion.
"Ahem," Sam coughed loudly behind them, trying to break them up. He had been quite content to leave them alone, but Rachel had made him go back in the kitchen to protect his sister, and he was now shocked to find them trying to eat each other. When neither of them stopped he coughed a bit louder, finally getting Kevin's attention and watching as he dazedly lifted his head, his lips still moist from the kiss and showing up brightly in the white powdery visage.
Lenny hung limply in his arms, her eyes slowly opening and attempting to focus on the world around her. She finally looked at Sam and frowned, blinking slowly and then her eyes widening as she looked up at Kevin. She made a small distressed sound and tried to stand up properly, but her legs were too shaky and she had to cling to him for support.
Kevin looked at her and a fierce scowl darkened his face. He led her to a kitchen chair and sat her down, feeling how shaky she was because of what he had done. That just made him furious and he ran a hand through his hair, his frown getting worse. "Goddamn it!" he growled and turned abruptly, walking out of the kitchen and out of the house before anyone could say anything to him. Sam gave a worried look at his sister and then turned and chased Kevin down.
"Hey, wait," he said as he caught him up halfway back to Mark's house. "Where are you going?"
"To get changed," Kevin said, not slowing down one bit.
"Are you coming back?"
"No. I don't know. Maybe....God," he growled again, wiping one big hand over his face.
"What were you doing?" Sam asked him, watching his expression carefully. Kevin looked just as shocked as Lenny did, and he found it vaguely amusing. "What were you doing, Kev?" he repeated.
"I don't know. I just touched her arms for Christ's sake, and the next thing I knew....oh God, what's the matter with me?" he said and stopped walking all of a sudden, turning to look at Sam.
Sam studied him quietly. "Seems to me you've got the hots for my baby sister."
"I do not...she's....I'm too old for her, I've never even thought of her in that way...."
"Until now," Sam finished for him, cocking his head to one side and grinning.
"No, she's too young," Kevin said adamantly, starting to walk again.
"Maybe. So, are you coming back again?" Sam asked, letting the Lenny matter drop for now.
"I guess I should, Rachel did invite me over and Lenny....Lenny seemed to be working pretty hard," he murmured, drawing his bottom lip between his teeth.
"Great," Sam said, clapping him on the back. "Come back when you're ready then." He went to walk away and Kevin grabbed his arm.
"Won't Lenny mind?"
Sam raised his eyebrows and smiled. "I don't think so, although she may spend the evening with a red face. Just do me a favour," he said, his face getting serious again. "Whatever you do, don't hurt her. Beyond that it's up to you two. She's an adult and she obviously doesn't mind you kissing her, so I'm not going to interfere anymore, okay?"
"I'm not going to touch her again," Kevin said vehemently, looking guilty.
"Whatever," Sam said, dismissing what he was saying with a wave of his hand. "I better get back, I'll see you in a few."
Kevin watched him walk off and made his way slowly back to Mark's house, wondering how he had managed to end up kissing Lenny again when he hadn't even been thinking about it. He shook his head as he tried to puzzle it out, swearing to himself it would never happen again.
