Read Effortless for Free Online Page B

surprised. Kellan was almost always up before
me. I wasn’t sure why, but the boy was an early riser; he got up at
the crack of dawn nearly every day. He also was a night owl,
usually staying up just as late as I did, even on nights I closed
at the bar.  The man was sort of miraculous when it came to
sleep. It did eventually catch up with him, but he could go for
days on very little of it. Then it would hit him like a brick wall
and he’d sleep for twelve hours straight.
     
    Shaking my head at him, I inhaled deep, my smile widening. My
favorite smell in the world, aside from Kellan’s natural scent, was
wafting through the house—coffee. Kellan was brewing a pot in the
kitchen. That was definitely one of the perks of waking up with
him.
     
    Peeking an eye open, I saw that he’d left my bedroom door
cracked a bit. From the other room I could hear the pot peculating
and the sound of Kellan getting cups ready. He was also humming a
song. Relaxing back on my pillow, I just enjoyed the sound for a
minute. I pictured him out there, singing away in just his boxers.
It was a delightful image.
     
    The sound of a key entering a lock broke the stillness of the
morning. It was immediately followed by the front door cracking
open. Sitting up on my elbows, I frowned. Was Anna just now getting
home? I knew she’d worked late last night and then mentioned she
was going out with some of the girls from work, but this was late,
even for her. Unless, of course, she’d already been
asleep…somewhere.
     
    Maybe she’d met up with Griffin, to congratulate him on his big
event. But, it just as easily could have been somebody else that
she’d hooked up with. Anna and Griffin had a weird relationship.
When they were together, they were inseparable—all hands and
tongues and, ugh, grinding. But when they were apart from each
other…well, you’d never even suspect that they were involved. They
were very open to being with other people. It was odd to me, but it
seemed to work for them so I didn’t say much about it.
     
    When Anna’s bright voice sounded a greeting, I immediately hoped
Kellan wasn’t in his boxers. I even looked around the ground to see
if his clothes were still on my floor. Luckily, they weren’t. While
he and Anna only ever acted friendly around each other, I didn’t
need my sister ogling him anymore than she already did. Physically,
she’d kept her distance once she found out that we were involved,
but like any fine piece of art, her eyes lingered on Kellan,
appreciating the masterpiece before them. I understood. I
appreciated him daily.
     
    “Hey, Kellan, good morning.”
     
    “Mornin’, Anna. You’re out late…or early.”
     
    Kellan laughed as Anna sighed, a heavy bag clunking to the
floor. “Yeah, went to Pete’s. Ran into the guys.”
     
     Kellan chuckled lightly, probably surmising what I had
earlier, that she’d been entertained by Griffin until the wee hours
of the morning. It hurt my stomach a little to think about what
they’d probably been doing, and as I forcefully made my sluggish
body stand up, I tried not to.
     
    Anna laughed huskily while I grabbed some lounge pants out of my
dresser, quickly throwing them on my naked body. “I heard you guys
did great at your big show.” Anna sighed forlornly. “I’m sorry I
had to miss it.”
     
    Seeming like it made no difference to him, Kellan replied with,
“It was just a show, nothing you haven’t seen before. Don’t worry
about it.”
     
    I shook my head as I threw on a thin, comfortable shirt. Just
another show? He was so casual about the whole thing. I knew that
it had meant something to him, though. It had excited him,
invigorated him. I’d seen it when he’d shoved me against the door
last night. I bit my lip at that thought and quickly ran my fingers
through my thick hair a few times, eager to see the passionate man
again.
     
    Stealthily walking out of my room, I immediately saw Anna and
Kellan in the kitchen. He was leaning