Supernova (10 page)

She was just about to ask him when the sizzling sound of the cooking bacon was dwarfed by a louder pop.

Hot grease splattered onto Dominic’s bare stomach, causing him to jump back. “Dammit!”

“Oh, God, come here.” Kerrigan went to him and grabbed his arm to pull him over to the sink.

She snatched a bottle of mustard from the refrigerator and squirted a generous amount in her hand. His sun-kissed skin was already showing red welts across his abdomen where the grease had splattered, so it was easy for Kerrigan to determine where to apply the home remedy. Dominic flinched a little from the coldness, but then his muscles relaxed a bit under her touch.

“Mustard?”

Kerrigan shrugged. “It’s what Grammy used on me,” she said, focusing on the warm skin beneath her fingertips. “Although really, a kiss to the boo-boo always worked just as well,” she laughed.

“You miss her,” Dominic said, noting the contradictory slump of her shoulders and the slight frown on her face.

“Yeah, I do. We were pretty close.” Kerrigan’s fingers slowed as she continued to gently rub the mustard onto the burn.

“So I gathered.”

The taunting little trail to the Promised Land was distracting, but she managed to pull her fingers away before they decided on a pilgrimage to find the forbidden fruit. At least she wasn’t drooling like a complete imbecile. She hoped.

“There, all done. Just let that sit there for a bit.” She turned the faucet on to rinse the mustard off her hands. “Did she talk about me much?”

“Only constantly. She loved you more than anything.”

The thought made Kerrigan’s heart feel all warm and fuzzy. If it were possible, she would have said it was even smiling. She had to reach around him to get the hand towel, to which he only offered a slight change in his position to accommodate her. In an attempt to avoid getting mustard all over her, she came face to face with his shoulder – and the mark that had eluded her the day before.

She gasped when she realized where she had seen it before. It was nearly an exact replica of the circular birthmark on her right hip. It had always reminded Kerrigan of a starburst. As a child, her grandmother had told her it was from a shooting star that fell from the sky and marked her the day she was born. She stepped back and stared intently at Dominic’s mark with a look of bewilderment on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Dominic asked with concern when he noticed she was holding her breath. After all, oxygen was pretty much a requirement for breathing, and breathing was a requirement for living.

“Why…What…How did you get that scar?” Kerrigan reached her hand up to touch it.

When her fingers made contact with his skin, Dominic sucked in a deep breath of air and held it. It was like a bolt of lightning had just struck him where he stood. His body was vibrating, humming. It was almost as if he had been suspended in air and then had free-fallen back to the earth. The feeling was so intense that he had to grab the edge of the counter to regain his balance. His knees buckled beneath him, but he fought to maintain control, confused by his unexpected reaction to her touch.

Kerrigan was just as shocked, and a bit embarrassed, thinking he was repulsed by her. She yanked her hand away and took a step back to put some distance between them.

“No,” Dominic growled, his eyes glowing with their intense color. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the elbow to pull her back to him, craving the euphoric high of her touch.

He leaned in and placed her arm around his neck as he encircled her waist with his own. Dominic stared into her eyes and swallowed hard before his lips parted to slowly exhale. A steady stream of cold air washed over her face, and she shivered in his embrace.

Kerrigan’s eyes closed, her head falling back to expose more of her creamy flesh as she craned her neck. She felt his nose graze against the sensitive flesh there, traveling up the length of her neck until he reached her jaw and continued to move excruciatingly slower toward her mouth. His cold breath came in waves, cooling her emblazoned skin. All the signs were there. He was going to kiss her. His lips barely brushed against hers, and she sucked in a stuttering breath in anticipation of the contact she desired.

Just as he was about to give it to her, a knock sounded on the screen door at the front of the house. “Hello? Anybody home?”

“Kerrigan?” a different voice called out.

Kerrigan’s eyes shot open in surprise. Dominic groaned in aggravation because the moment was lost. His hold around her waist loosened, and he straightened to his full height, mentally kicking himself for what he had almost done. Kerrigan reluctantly let her arm fall from around his neck and took a step back. Her eyes ghosted over his collarbone until they landed on the scar once more.

When Dominic’s shoulders rose and fell with a sigh, her attention was diverted back to his eyes. His gaze captured and held her attention, and she momentarily forgot about the voices and the knocks still sounding relentlessly from the front door.

“You have visitors, guardián de mi alma.” Dominic’s voice was low and husky. A seductive smile crept up on his face.

She gasped and her eyes widened in surprise as she backed into the counter. It was the same voice from her dreams, the same words. It was him.

Everything her grandmother had told her the night before came rushing back like the floodgates to her memories had been opened to allow them to flow unabated. She was drowning in a sea of realization, and found it increasingly harder to stay afloat.

“What did you just say?”

“I said, ‘you have visitors.’ Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She closed and opened her mouth like a fish out of water, trying to think of what to say.

“Who’s burning bacon?” Gabe asked as he sashayed into the kitchen with his nose crinkled. “And, why are ya’ll being rude, not answering the door and shit?”

“Dammit!” Dominic rushed over to the stove to remove the skillet from the flame.

“Ahem.” A throat cleared from behind Gabe.

Gabe moved to the side, revealing a girl. She was small in stature and had short, black hair with chunks of navy blue woven throughout. Her eyes were wide and brown, lined in coal black makeup that made them stand out from her pale skin and deep red lips.

Just behind her stood a taller girl with thick, strawberry-blonde hair. It was pulled back into a high ponytail and her face was free of makeup, but her nose was speckled with a few freckles across the bridge. A familiar smile graced her lips as she looked at Kerrigan.

“Syd!? Livi!?” Kerrigan screamed in surprise.

She ran into the waiting arms of her two oldest and dearest friends. All three of the girls squealed and started bouncing up and down, excited to be reunited. Not wanting to feel left out, Gabe joined in on the celebration as well, even though he didn’t know either one of them.

“What are you doing here?” Kerrigan asked as she pulled back from them.

“We heard the neighborhood was going to Hell in a hand basket, so we knew that meant you were back,” Sydney joked.

Sydney was super model gorgeous, but she had no clue. Really, she just didn’t care. She had always been the tomboy of the trio: climbing trees, catching toads and bugs. She never backed down from a dare, but she never missed a chance to issue one either.

“So, Livi…this look is different. What gives?” Kerrigan fingered a navy blue strand of hair.

“She’s trying out the Goth look,” Sydney answered for her. “Seriously, I don’t care what persona she adopts, I just wish she’d pick one and stick with it already. Cybil’s been on this one for about two months now, but before that she was on a valley girl kick.
Like ohmigod. Gag me with a rusted credit card
,” Sydney mocked the accent and then rolled her eyes. “I almost did just that.”

“Shut it, Syd.” Olivia’s eyes narrowed playfully at her friend. Then she turned back to Kerrigan, her scowl replaced by a somber frown. “Oh, Kerr, we’re so sorry to hear about Grams.”

“Thanks, but you know Grammy. She would say that everything happens for a reason.” A coy smile tugged at Kerrigan’s lips before she looked in Dominic’s direction, an action that wasn’t at all as inconspicuous as she thought it was.

Gabe, Olivia, and Sydney followed her line of sight toward Dominic, noticing the look he was exchanging with Kerrigan. He suddenly felt very naked, which was apt since all four of them were definitely undressing him with their eyes. Olivia may have even audibly hummed in appreciation.

“Um, I’m just going to go upstairs and get dressed,” he said uncomfortably, wanting to put as many layers as he could on.

“Nah, baby, you ain’t gotta’ cover up all that sexiness on our account,” Gabe said, taking a seat at the kitchen table and crossing his waxed legs elegantly. That’s right, waxed. He picked up a banana and peeled the skin back before shoving the end in his mouth suggestively and taking an exaggerated bite.

“Kerrigan, you’re being rude. Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friends?” Olivia asked.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sydney Rayburn, Olivia Cochran…meet Gabriel Baxter.”

“It’s just Gabe. And before you ask, yes, I am this damn pretty,” he said with an air of boredom as he waved a limp hand in the air.

“And this is Dominic Grayson,” Kerrigan said, motioning to him as well. “Sydney and Olivia have been friends of mine for as long as I can remember. In fact, Livi used to live across the street, and Syd lived right next door.”

“Still do,” Sydney said, joining Gabe at the table. “Livi lives with me now. Her parents sold their house and moved to Hawaii with my parents to enjoy their retirement, which is the reason we weren’t at Availia’s funeral. We were helping them get settled in, and we only just got back. You know we would have been there if we had known.”

“I know. Don’t think twice about it,” Kerrigan said. “Hawaii, huh? I always thought Florida was the retirement capital of the world.”

Olivia laughed. “Yeah, well I guess when you already live here the retirement capital of the world becomes Waikiki.”

“It was nice to meet you ladies, but I really should go get a shower and get this mustard cleaned off,” Dominic said, before making a hasty retreat.

“Mmhmm, and maybe Kerr should join you. I mean, since she looks like she got into a fight with a ham sandwich,” Sydney called after him. She shot Kerrigan a questioning look. “You’ve got mustard all over the front of your shirt, you little slut.”

“Shut up, bitch. I’ll be right back,” she said, and then hurried after Dominic.

The man was fast. By the time she caught up to him, he was already on the second floor, about to take the first step on the staircase to his room.

“Hey,” she said, stopping him. “Guardián de mi alma…what does that mean?” she asked, out of breath from taking two steps at a time.

“You’re of Spanish descent, and you can’t even speak the language?”

“My ancestors came from Spain like a gazillion years ago. My lineage has been watered down a lot. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m just as white as you. Tell me what it means.”

Dominic sighed in frustration. “It’s nothing, just a common term of endearment. You were being nice to me with the burn and all, so I tried to return the sentiment.”

“
What
does it mean?” she persisted.

“Loosely translated, it means guardian of my soul,” he answered and then started back up the stairs. He hadn’t wanted to tell her what it meant, but it was his fault for letting it slip in the first place.

“Wait! About that back there…”

Dominic turned around to face her. “About what?”

“You were going to…kiss me.” All of a sudden she felt really stupid because maybe he wasn’t and she had just made a total fool of herself for making the assumption.

He stepped down off the stairs and walked over to her with purpose. One strong arm gathered her body into his as he leaned down to whisper into her ear. “I wasn’t going to kiss you, silly girl. I was going to
ravish
you.”

His cold breath blew across her flushed skin and made her tingle all over, the moment from the kitchen revived once again.

“Would you have let me?” His lips grazed the shell of her ear just before he flicked his tongue out and ran the tip under her earlobe to taste her. He smiled to himself when he felt her shiver in response.

He was toying with her like she was some kind of play thing. Kerrigan had no idea how he was able to make her melt with just a simple touch, but she certainly had no intention of letting him know the effect he had on her. She needed to maintain some sort of control. And so she managed to gather enough strength to shake her head back and forth.

“No?” Dominic’s raspy voice asked her with an amused chuckle.

“No,” Kerrigan answered more confidently, even though she didn’t even believe herself. He probably saw right through the lie, but he wouldn’t get an admission of the truth from her.

“Hmm, that’s interesting.” He moved his head until his lips were hovering just over hers. She closed her eyes and breathed him in. Her heart rate accelerated from his closeness, but she stood her ground. “The beat of your heart seems to indicate something entirely different.”