Read Imdalind 01 - Kiss of Fire for Free Online Page B

eyes once more.
    “He referred me to a cult.” I dropped my head into my hands as the desperation over everything that had happened since Thursday night came crashing down on me. I needed to pull it together.
    “Oh, Jos, I am so sorry.” I heard his chair scrape against the linoleum as he rushed over to me and gathered me in his arms, moving into my chair and sitting me on his lap. His strong arms wrapped around me, pressing me into his chest. I buried my face in his shirt, the smell of a million bonfires, a million rugby practices consuming me. I could hear the steady thrumming of his heart as it echoed through my head, the rhythm calm and soothing. But it did more than mend my frayed emotions; it told me it was okay to feel them. His arms held me tightly, his rough hands moving over my back. He moved his head down to rest on mine, surrounding me with a blanket of warmth, love and comfort. Only, that blanket was Ryland.
    My heart rate didn’t increase; instead it steadied as my emotions evened out. Ryland’s touch was some sort of perfect drug that took all my pains and worries away. We stayed like that until my Fruit Loops had become rainbow mush. Even though my frayed emotions had calmed, I didn’t want to move; I felt so comfortable in his arms. I could tell he didn’t want to move either; his arms held me against him, his tense muscles making a comfortable pillow. I sighed into him and he rotated his head to kiss the top of mine.
    His lips brushed against my hair, his hot breath sending a warm tickle of joy down my spine, and I shivered. His chest heaved as he laughed, the sound echoing through my ears. My stomach tensed into a tightly wound basket as his lips began trailing across my head toward my temple. He breathed against the skin there, and the basket inside of me snapped. I jumped up out of his arms, leaving him looking lost, sitting alone in the chair. Necklace or no, he had just made it clear that our relationship had to be purely plutonic and I didn’t like the summersault my stomach was now doing.
    “I have to get dressed,” I sputtered as I fled from the room, my head spinning.
    I moved the few steps to my room and shut the door behind me. I stood there, my back to the door as my heart rate steadied. I wasn’t sure what had just happened. Okay that was a lie; I knew exactly what had happened. Had I not jumped up, Ry would have kissed me. My stomach did a joyful swoop at the thought. Did I want him, Ryland LaRue, my best friend, to kiss me? I pictured myself kissing him, his hands against my face, his soft lips pressed against mine. I slid to the floor as my legs forgot how to support me. Obviously, I did; I really, really did. This was bad.
    “Are you okay in there?” I jumped to my feet at Ryland’s voice, right outside my door.
    “Yeah, I’ll be just a minute.”
    “Can I watch Demo TV?” Ryland asked, his reference to my lack of cable making me smile.
    “Yeah.”
    “Cool.”
    I grabbed one of my few pairs of jeans, some ballet flats, and a different cami before rushing across the hall to the bathroom. After taming my bed-head, and brushing and scrubbing my teeth and face, I stood still, looking in the mirror. I needed to make sure I didn’t let this get out of control.
    I stared at myself in the mirror, once again caught with that fantasy of us wrapped in an embrace, arms and legs tangled together from head to toe. I shook my head, wiping the image from my mind. He was leaving in a few months - best to keep him as my best friend.
    I dressed and left the bathroom to find Ryland perched at the end of the couch, his legs bouncing up and down.
    “You’re wired,” I said.
    “State Rugby finals tonight. My nerves are displaying themselves in some sort of super-charged state.” I couldn’t help but smile at him; his legs didn’t seem to stop moving, even though he was sitting.
    “Save it for the field, ’kay?”
    “That’s the plan, but it doesn’t seem to be working.”
    I walked