Revealing Kia by Airicka Phoenix

It’s something selfish and unnecessary. But I need you, Kia. It’s a physical ache like losing a limb.”
    I felt nothing but numbness in my fingers, in my toes, and in my mind. I had no idea how words were formulated so I stood there like an idiot as he washed dishes and made me fall in love with him.
    “There’s something you need to know about me, Kia.” His eyes, blue and bottomless finally moved to me, gleaming bright with intensity. “I was never taught how to lose.”
    With nothing to say, I accepted the plate he passed me and the next. We worked in silence, washing and drying while his words played in a loop through my mind. He helped me locate the cupboards and drawers most of the items went into without either of us saying a word.
    “Top shelf,” he said when I finished wiping down the porcelain bowl Mrs. Chaves had used for the eggs.
    I followed his pointing finger to the cupboard next to the fridge. I went over and yanked it open. My head tipped back so I could see the gap between a vase and another dish at the very top. I reached for it with the bowl, hoping to slide it into place without nudging the other two. But I couldn’t reach it. I was six feet tall and if I was having trouble, I couldn’t imagine how Nessie got about with her tiny height.
    I briefly wondered if there was a stool I could use and was about to ask when I felt him come up behind me. His chest brushed my back once before settling into place, fitting perfectly against me. He rested one hand on the counter and placed the other lightly on my waist. My t-shirt had ridden up over the waistband of my jeans and his fingers slid into the gap, skimming exposed skin. I gasped. Every nerve ending in my body screamed as though they’d been set on fire. The bowl slipped. Adam caught it, but not with the hand whose fingers were burning small circles onto my skin.
    “Careful .” Warm and rich, the single word was a husky purr in my ear.
    Something sharp and heady spiked in the pit of my stomach. My knees dissolved and I just managed to grab the second shelf on the cupboard to steady myself.
    “Adam…” His name slipped from my lips before I could even think to stop it. It pulsed around us, a pleading whisper for something I knew was a bad idea.
    The bowl was set aside as his fingers tightened on me. I felt the heat of him sizzle between us as he molded himself into my back. His breathing was heavy in my ear. His heart cracked with erratic excitement against my shoulder blade. My own heart galloped wildly, matching his. I felt him lean closer. His lips brushed the curve of my jawline and, like a magnet, my face turned to him, my lips parted and seeking his. His breath knotted with mine.
    “ Kia…” Desperation colored my name. The fingers curled around my waist trembled. “I want—”
    “Hey, come look at this!” Kenny’s excited exclamation shattered the moment like a hammer through glass.
    I quickly jerked away from Adam, mentally kicking myself for being so weak. What if Nessie had come back? What if she’d seen? I slumped against the fridge door, letting the coolness of it seep through my clothes and ease the burn he’d left behind. I didn’t look at him, but I could feel him watching me.
    “That can’t happen again . Promise me.”
    He started away from me . “I won’t make that promise.”

Chapter IV
    Adam
    The violent hurl of Vanessa’s fashion magazine was like the explosion of bird wings taking flight … then striking a concrete wall. The thing slammed into the coffee table and skid across it to disappear over the lip. It landed with a pathetic thump on the other side.
    “I’m so bored!” she wailed dramatically, flopped back against the sofa and folded her arms like a petulant child. “I want to do something.”
    Carefully, I shut my own magazine and set it aside on the end table by my elbow. I hadn’t been reading it anyway. My attention had kept wandering over to the quiet figure perched on the sofa next to