Awake at Dawn (18 page)

She let him lead her out into the living room. He eyed the couch and then looked back at her. His eyes looked heavy, sleepy, and hot. “Almost as bad as the bed.”

She grinned and he pulled her out onto the front porch. He slipped on his shirt, then dropped down and leaned against the cabin on the blood-free end of the porch. Once settled, he looked up and patted the spot on the porch beside him. She lowered herself beside him, and scooted over so her arm was against his. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she said,

“Thanks.”

He shifted and lifted his hand around her shoulder and pulled her a tad closer. “You’re welcome.”

Neither of them said anything for several minutes. She just sat there, close and absorbing the feel of him beside her. Questions tumbled around her head like a pair of tennis shoes in the dryer. But embarrassment kept her from voicing them.

“Go ahead and ask it,” he said, almost as though he was reading her thoughts.

She raised her head off his shoulder. “Ask what?”

“Whatever it is that’s making you feel embarrassed and curious. I can read your emotions, remember?”

She frowned. “And I hate that, too. I don’t want you reading me.”

“But I can’t help it. I don’t know how to not read you.” He chuckled and looked down at her. And just like all the other times they were together, the night had a fairy-tale feel about it. The stars twinkled like diamonds in the sky. The trees looked too full. The moon, less than a week 148/375

from being full, gave off enough light that she could see his face. “I think you’re going to have a bruise.” She touched the side of his nose.

He caught her hand in his and kissed the inside of her hand. “So, what is it that’s making you embarrassed and curious?”

“I’m just…” If she didn’t tell him now, he’d probably envision the worst. Then again, what she was curious about might be the worst.

“Just ask me.” He nudged her with his shoulder.

She hesitated and then just blurted it out. “I’m curious about how many girls you’ve been with. I know you’re almost eighteen and…” Her words faltered. Kylie knew he wasn’t a virgin, and not just because he’d said something that led her to believe it, but just how … he kissed.

His brow crinkled and she could tell he wished he hadn’t pushed her to ask.

“Oh,” he said.

“Oh?” she repeated. And now more than ever she wanted an answer.

“You made me ask, now you have to answer.” He hesitated. “A few.”

“That’s vague.” She pulled her fingers from his.

He breathed in and then out. “Okay, four.”

“That’s more than a few.”

“Sorry.” He didn’t deny that he’d been lying. “It just feels awkward talking about it with you.”

“Yeah, it does,” she said, realizing she didn’t like knowing. Didn’t like thinking about him being with someone else. “Sorry I asked.”

“Don’t be.” He leaned back against the cabin wall and went back to listening to the night. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” A nervous flutter tickled her stomach. But considering how personal her own question had been, she couldn’t tell him no.

“If Lucas were still here, would you still be sitting next to me?” Chapter Fifteen

His question ran across all sorts of nerves and not the good ones, either.

“What kind of question is that?”

“Obviously a hard one.” He pulled his knee up to his chest and stared down at his toes.

Something told her he was reading her right now—trying to understand her emotions. But how could he when she didn’t understand them herself? “He’s not here,” Kylie said.

He looked over at her. “Rumor has it that he’s coming back.” She felt her breath catch in her throat. “Doesn’t matter,” she forced herself to say. “He’s with Fredericka.”

“He’d drop her for you like this.” Derek snapped his fingers. “He’s not blind or stupid.”

She shook her head. “Well, maybe I don’t want anyone who’d run off with someone else.”

He arched an eyebrow. “It’s the ‘maybe’ in your answer that worries me more than the confusion you’re feeling right now.” He leaned his forehead down to hers. “Please don’t break my heart, Kylie.” Her own heart almost broke right then. “It’s the last thing I want to do.”

He kissed her softly, then pulled back. “I should get you back to your cabin before everyone gets back here.”

She nodded and accepted his hand to help pull her up. They started to walk off the porch when he stopped. “Oh, I forgot. I got something to give 150/375

you.” He ran back inside and returned after a few short seconds holding a piece of paper.

“What’s this?” she asked when he put it in her hands.

“It’s a telephone number of a private investigator.” When he didn’t continue, she asked, “And I need it for…?”

“You said you were trying to find your real grandparents. This guy is good at finding people. If anyone can find them, he can.” Kylie looked up from the paper. “Do you really think he could find them after all this time? I mean, I’ve been trying to just find Daniel’s adoptive parents, but I can’t even find them.”

“He’s that good,” Derek said.

Her heart started to sink. “And probably that expensive. I can’t afford him.” She started to give him back the paper.

He caught her hand. “He’s not charging you, Kylie. Call him.”

“Why wouldn’t he charge me? You said he was a PI.”

“Because he’s a friend of mine. And I used to do some work for him on the side.”

“You worked for a PI?”

“Yeah. I went to him to see if … if he could help me locate my dad.” That piece of news also surprised her. She didn’t think Derek wanted anything to do with his dad. “Did he find him?”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “You missed a great pizza tonight,” he added, making it clear he didn’t really want to talk about his dad.

But Kylie couldn’t stop herself from asking. “And did you see him?”

“No. I just wanted to know where the bastard was.” Kylie sensed Derek’s pain. “So how did you end up working for the PI?”

“He found my skill of reading emotions very helpful.” Still wanting to soothe away the look of hurt from Derek’s eyes, she reached up and planted another kiss on his lips. A good one. She pulled him close, so close that her one-cup-size-larger breasts were pressed 151/375

against his chest. Derek’s hands came down to hold her around her waist.

One of his palms slid up under her shirt and slowly shifted upward. He caressed her upper back, stopping right below her bra strap as if not wanting to cross a line. A line she almost wanted him to cross.

When she pulled away, her breathing came faster. “Thank you, for this.” She held up the paper.

“Wow,” he said, smiling, and touched her lips. “If he actually finds them, what do I get?”

She elbowed him in the ribs. He laughed and then wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they started back to her cabin.

* * *

Kylie finally poked her head out the door to ask, “What are you doing?”

“I told you earlier, I’m just trying to protect our cabin.” Kylie remembered her roommate claiming that an unwelcome presence lurked nearby, although Kylie hadn’t really felt anything. Other than when she’d been alone in the woods or paths.

“Protect it from what … exactly?”

Miranda tossed up some kind of herbs in the air. They crackled and popped on their downward descent, telling Kylie they weren’t just regular herbs. “I don’t know … exactly.”

“Didn’t you already do something to get rid of it?”

“Yup, but the bad boy is still here. Just won’t go away.” Kylie didn’t want to ask, but she figured she had to. “Could it be a ghost?” Because if it was, Kylie wasn’t so sure Miranda should attempt to keep it away. Like it or not, dealing with ghosts was sort of Kylie’s job.

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Not that so far Miranda’s rituals had prevented the ghosts from visiting.

However, if Miranda’s herbs were in any way keeping Daniel away, well, Kylie couldn’t have that. She really needed to talk to Daniel.

“No, it’s not like one of your spirits,” Miranda said.

“Then what is it like?” Kylie felt a tad apprehensive and remembering the unwelcomed vampire visitor from the other night. “I mean, wouldn’t Della know if it was like something rogue?”

“Yeah, but this isn’t … normal. It’s involving magic. I can’t put my finger on it yet, but I’m working on it,” she said.

Working on it like she was working on changing Socks back to feline
form?
Kylie didn’t say it, because that would have hurt Miranda, but Kylie couldn’t help thinking it.

“Have you mentioned it to Holiday?” Kylie asked.

“Not yet. Let me try to deal with it first.” Kylie nodded, but she wasn’t too sure.

“You ready to go yet?” Miranda asked after tossing up one more sprinkling of herbs.

“No.” Kylie brushed a few of the tiny crackling herbs from her hair.

“I … got a few phone calls to make.”

“Okay, but don’t be too late. After Campmate Hour, we’ve got cooking together, and today we’re supposed to bake brownies, and you’re supposed to decorate them. And they won’t let us eat them until after you’ve done your thing. And I love, love brownies. And don’t want to have to wait.”

“I won’t be that late.” Kylie was actually enjoying the food art lessons she’d signed up for last week. Who knew she’d get off on decorating cupcakes and such? Drawing with pen and paper had never been her thing, but working with icing was kind of cool. Then again, she’d always kind of enjoyed watching those cake-decorating shows on cable.

Miranda started to walk away and then turned back. “Who are you calling?”

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Holding the phone number of the private detective in her hand, she almost told Miranda the truth, but decided she wasn’t ready to share. “I’ll explain later.”

“Trey?” Miranda asked.

“No way,” Kylie answered.

“Sara?” Miranda asked.

“I’ll explain later.” Kylie frowned, remembering Sara still hadn’t tried to call her back.

“A secret admirer,” Miranda continued as if were a game. “A hot stud muffin who kisses like no tomorrow that you haven’t told us about? Oh, I want to meet him.”

Kylie groaned. “I don’t have a stud muffin.”

“Really? The way you blushed when you talked about Derek naked, I thought he was your stud muffin.”

“Go to breakfast.” Kylie waved her off.

“Oookay,” Miranda said, and started off.

Kylie shut the door and looked at the scrap of paper she held in her hand. She finally felt as if she might be closer to finding answers. She hadn’t had any luck finding Daniel’s adoptive parents, or even knew if they were still alive, and she didn’t have a clue how to go about looking for his real ones. But if Derek was right … if this guy was that good, then maybe he could find them. And because they were supernaturals, or at least one of them had to be, and considering they had a longer life expect-ancy, then there was a good chance they could be alive.

And if she found them, she would find her answers. She would finally know what she was. God, she really, really hoped this guy was as good as Derek believed.

Just thinking Derek’s name, or maybe it was Miranda’s whole stud muffin talk, either way, Kylie got flashbacks to last night. To the whole shower scene and to the hot kisses they’d shared.

“
Wow. If he actually finds them, what do I get?”
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Derek’s question played in her head. She knew he was joking, he didn’t expect payment of any kind for helping her. And perhaps that was part of the reason she wanted to reward him. Or not exactly reward him.

She just wanted …

Don’t go there, she told herself. It was way too early to start thinking about those kinds of things. Think about decorating cupcakes. Or think about making the call.

Grabbing her phone off the kitchen counter, she sat down at the computer desk. Taking a deep breath, she dialed the PI’s number.

“Brit Smith Agency,” he answered.

“Hi.” She didn’t exactly know where to start. “Uh, my name is Kylie Galen.”

“Derek’s girl?” the man said.

Kylie felt her stomach wiggle at being called “Derek’s girl.” It sounded really nice, even though Kylie wasn’t officially his girl. Then again, seeing him naked …
Don’t go there.

“Derek said that you might be able to help me find someone.”

“Yeah, something about your dad being adopted. Let me get to my computer and I’ll take notes.”

“Sure.” While Kylie waited, she looked up at her computer and decided to check her e-mail. She moved the mouse to wake up the computer.

Seconds later, a
Springville Times
newspaper article appeared on the screen. When Kylie started reading, she realized it wasn’t just any article.

It was the
Springville Times
obituaries. Springville? Wasn’t Della from Springville, Texas? But why was she …

“Ready,” Mr. Smith said. “What’s your father’s name?” Kylie looked away from the computer. “Daniel Brighten.”

“Parents’ names?”

“I don’t have their first names,” Kylie said.

“Okay,” he said. “What county was he born in?” 155/375

“I … don’t know.”

“But it was Texas, right?”

Kylie started feeling less and less hopeful that this would lead her anywhere. “I’m not really sure.”

“Okay,” he said, and this time his okay sounded less enthusiastic.

“Maybe we should start by you telling me what you do know.” Her mind started gathering information. “His parents lived in Dallas when my mom met him. I’ve been … calling all the Brightens in the Dallas area. So far I haven’t found anyone who claims they knew my father.” She went on and told him about how Daniel had died in the Gulf War. And even told him a little about how her mom and Daniel had first met. It wasn’t a lot to go on and she knew it.

“That’s not a lot to go on,” Mr. Smith said, just proving her point and making her even less enthusiastic. “But I’ll see what I can dig up. I’m working a big case right now, and it might take a while before I start on this, but when I have something I’ll let you know. Meanwhile you keep on asking questions.”