The kiss is brutal, tongue raking over teeth, his mouth biting her, assaulting her, his hands fisting the back of her hair to pull her tightly against him. At first it's frightening, and too much. Their first kiss was tender, surprisingly gentle considering the horrific circumstances they met in, but now there's a ruthlessness in his touch that she's never experienced before and doesn't know how to react to. Oh, but her body does. Excitement courses through her veins like a drug. She's tripping on acid and it's the highest of the high, an absolute madness.
Her body responds instinctively, hips grinding against his, hands clawing his back as she returns his kiss with equal ferocity. A volatile bundle of nerves, that's all there's left of her, heightened senses, intensifying every second.
They move in unison, or maybe he carries her, and soon her back is pressed against a wall, her front facing him, and his mouth licks, and nips, and teases a spot on her neck that seems to be directly connected to the throbbing between her legs. It's heaven, oh god it's heaven, the way he touches her. She's never felt like this, not with Kyle, or Andrew. Only Richie.
"Tell me to stop, " he groans against her chest, the muffled sound caught between a moan and a plea.
She doesn't.
"Kate?" His voice is breathless, hoarse, and impossible since he doesn't even breathe.
Her heart's pounding in her chest; she can't speak. Closing her eyes, she lolls her head back. Her body's on fire, and the hot, sweltering night isn't helping.
"Say something," he urges, tracing a tender kiss above her right breast. Through the cotton fabric of her top, his lips sear her skin. Or maybe it just feels that way.
"Something," she whispers, opening her eyes.
He wears a small smile, and reaches out to cup her face. His thumb caresses her skin, and it feels so good, his cold hand against her burning skin. There's affection in his eyes but it quickly transitions to something more when she starts unbuttoning his shirt.
"What are you doing?"
It's madness, this fever within her, and almost too painful to bear but there's hope, salvation, as long as she can touch him. Quickly she pulls out the bottom of his shirt from the waistband of his dress pants and unbuttons the rest of it, spreading it apart to reveal his naked chest.
He's muscular, more lean than bulky, and a part of her is dying to explore every inch of him, feel him pulsate under her touch, but right now, more than anything else, she's desperate for the cold sensation of his touch.
She latches onto him, her cheek on his chest, hugging him tightly. He's hard, she can feel him against her, and maybe she should be embarrassed, truthfully she is a bit, but she doesn't want to let go when he feels so good, so cold. She wants to swallow him up, drink him in.
"I'm starting to feel like a piece of meat, Kate."
She doesn't move. "I know. I'm sorry."
They stay locked in that position for a long time. He plays with her hair, draws circles on her back, and she just clings to him.
"You feel so good," she murmurs after a while.
"You're just saying that to seduce me."
"Maybe."
" I'm wise to your tricks, Sunshine."
"That's a new one. I've never been called that before."
"The light in you, that's what it reminds me of."
"Who's trying to get into whose pants now?" she teases, sensing his smile as bends down to drop a kiss on top of her head.
Her phone rings a few feet away, still in her bag from where she dropped it when he kissed her earlier.
"You should get that," he says softly.
"It's Seth calling."
"I know."
She finally pulls away to take a closer look at him. There's pain in his eyes, no matter how much he tries to hide it. It's heart-wrenching to see how similar the brothers are in their stubbornness. "Come upstairs with me. Talk to him."
"What makes you think he'll speak to me?"
"He will. Eventually. After he curses and yells for a bit."
A sad smile shapes his lips. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"You're too young to understand."
"Fuck you!" She shoves him hard, pissed at his patronising tone. "I wasn't too young a minute ago when you were groping me!"
"I seem to remember you doing the groping."
"Go to hell!" She tries to walk past him but he blocks her path, angering her more. "I would do anything to have Scott back in my life. I don't care that he's a vampire, a monster, whatever. I hate that I pushed him away before, I regret that so much. And now I don't even know where he is, how he is. if he's even alive!" Her voice cracks with tears. "Your brother is upstairs, right there!" she says, pointing to the motel. "All you have to do is go to him and make amends, but you're not even willing to do that! You have a chance to get back your family and you don't even care!"
"Why do you? This has nothing to do with you," Richie points out coldly.
"Excuse me? Seth is the only family I have left. I see how much pain he's in, how much not having you in his life hurts him. He'll never say it, but he's empty without you!"
"Maybe you should try and fill that void."
"Don't be an idiot, Richie." He's distant once again, locked away in a place she can't get to, but she doesn't want to give up on him. She can't. "Last time you said you made a mistake."
He shakes his head. "No, that was just nostalgia talking. Santanico is who I belong with. She's my fate. My destiny."
The pain is swift, intense. It makes her sick to her stomach to hear him admit those words. "Then why are you here now? Why do you keep bothering me?"
"I wish I knew!" he snarls, trapping her against the wall. "With her I have everything I've ever wanted. I finally belong somewhere, I'm not lost anymore. I should be happy." Tears brim in his eyes, he can't hold his emotions in any longer, and it breaks her heart to see him in so much anguish. "But I'm not."
"Because you miss Seth."
"Yeah. I do. A lot." He peers at her closely. "And you. It's ridiculous, isn't it? How do you miss someone you barely even know?"
She's asked herself the same thing many times and has yet to come up with an answer.
"But that's not really true, is it? I do know you, Kate. I see the light in you, I've seen it from the very beginning. It's like a beacon calling out to me." His index finger lingers over her bottom lip, taunting her. "All my life I've had trouble connecting with people, but not with you."
She's transfixed under his gaze, unable to move.
"I didn't have to die, I didn't even have to give up my soul. That day by the pool, it was instantaneous. Easy. How's that possible?"
She can't think, or speak.
"Maybe it was never about Santanico."
Her heart skips a beat.
"Everything I've been through, maybe it's all been leading up to you."
Her breath catches in her throat. The pull between them is magnetic, something beyond her that she can never comprehend. As his other hand slowly starts to undo her shorts, and slide the zipper down, she reaches out to lay her hands on his cold chest. The mad rush of feverish heat is starting again, and she needs the cold comfort of his skin to anchor her to safety.
"I want to taste you," he murmurs, his fingers stroking over the most intimate parts of her, through the cotton fabric of her plain pink panties. "I lay awake at morning, thinking about what you'd taste like."
There's an ache in her soul, a need that runs so deep it's palpable, but the more Richie teases her, the closer she gets to satisfaction.
"Honey, maybe," he whispers in her ear. "Sunshine. Or both."
She's wet, so wet, as his fingers delve beneath the panties, touching her right there and she practically jumps up in response but he's there to hold her down, his raspy voice her one connection to reality in this maddening rush of ecstasy.
"What the fuck is going on here?"
Her eyes open. She pushes Richie away, pulling up her shorts. Guilt floods through her, even more so when she spots Seth rushing towards them.
