Absolute Zero (12 page)

But Zach dumped me. I was free to do what I wanted. And right then, I wanted Nate. “Yes.”

I met his mouth half way, and we both drew in a sharp breath. His lips were as amazing as I’d imagined. Firm yet soft. I curled my arms around his neck and drew him closer. He tilted, and his tongue brushed my bottom lip. It sent a zip of electricity straight to my stomach, but I opened for him.

His hands moved from my face to my neck, then down the front of my body to my waist and pulled me tight against him.

My mind whirled at his scent. His taste. It was a unique twist of cinnamon and mint. His kisses were gentle, but urgent. His hands were tender against my lower back, but firm, holding me flush to his hard body.

I worked my fingers into his soft, chestnut hair and melted against his steel-forged chest. He seemed to like that, because he moaned into my mouth. I pulled back and took in a gasp of air.

His chest heaved against mine. “Wow,” he said, as he looked at my lips.

“Not so bad yourself,” I said with a little gasp. I was having trouble catching my breath.

“I’d say I’m sorry for you and your boyfriend breaking up, but it’d be a lie.” He drew in a deep breath as if taking in my scent and offered a slight grin. “I mean, I’m sorry you were sad, if you were, but not sorry that you’re suddenly single.”

My heart pinged. Zach’s face flashed through my mind. So not the moment for that to happen. I zeroed in on Nate’s mouth. Besides Zach, I’d never kissed anyone so intensely. And for sure not someone who waited for me to be single, then even
asked
if he could kiss me. Now that’s class.

There was something about barely knowing the guy, about someone new. I didn’t know anything about him, and that felt… dangerous. My body kind of liked it.

Nate’s fingers combed through my hair, starting near my temple. As he pushed my hair back, I tilted my head, savoring the feeling. He still had me tight against him with his other arm around my waist.

“I like the blue. And your nails match.” His lips brush my cheek, behind my ear, then my neck. “Interesting.”

“I’m a fashionista that way.”

A growl-like laugh rattled his throat. “You don’t come across as one who cares much about what people think.”

“What makes you think that?” I faced him. “You don’t even know me.”

“Not yet, anyway.” He rested his hand on my heaving chest, the bottom of his palm just touching the tip of my tank top and his fingers brushing my throat. “I do know something I really like about you, though.”

I drew in a sharp breath at his intense stare and my heart did that hammering thing again. “Yeah?”

He captured my mouth with his, then drew in a long, deep breath through his nose as his tongue explored. I thought my legs might melt beneath me so I held on to him tight, thankful I’d gained so much control over my strength this summer.

It was so different not having to constantly worry about it. For some reason I felt comfortable and relaxed around Nate right now. His lips didn’t feel foreign to me. Neither did his touch. Almost like we were made for each other.

All too soon, he pried his lips from mine and smiled. “We might want to leave this room now.”

My brain screamed,
Yes, leave now. Leave now
. But my body parts screamed,
No, tackle him onto the bed.
“We should, huh?”

His brown eyes scanned my face like an x-ray. A light shade of red dusted his flushed cheeks, and his lips were shiny from our kiss.

He nodded. “I might not be able to stay in control if we don’t.”

“Me neither,” I said, with a whisper, surprising even myself.

His eyebrow shot up, and he came in for one last kiss.

We made it a good one.

Chapter 16

“O
h my gosh, I wish one of our powers was mental telepathy or something.” Georgia leaned against the patio railing and faced me. “I’ve been dying to know what happened with you and Nate.”

I grinned, heat steaming my cheeks.

“Okay, rephrase. What were you doing in the bedroom?” She ran her fingers through my hair. “You were looking a bit disheveled when you came out of there.”

“I love the words you come up with, little Miss Writer.” I sipped my soda and leaned my elbows against the railing. It was cool to my bare skin, but that was okay. I glanced behind me. No one even noticed we were out here so I stepped to the corner, and turned on the cold. “Ahhh, much better.”

“Let me in on some of that. It’s freaking boiling in there.”

I opened my arms to her, and she came in for a hug. “Thought
Blaze
wouldn’t get hot anywhere.

“I wish. Hey, can you cool this down for me?” She pulled out of my arms and handed me her Coke.

Another quick glance, then I grabbed it and chilled it enough to have ice chips floating. She loved that. “Here you go.”

She snatched the soda. “Thanks. Now, spill.”

I glanced up at the dark night. I was glad this college-town was up higher in the mountains. It meant it was a little cooler, but what I liked most was that we were closer to the stars. They shone brighter. Georgia and I would have to find a place here, like the meadow back in Trifle, so we could steal away and goof around with our powers.

“Mandy. You’re killin’ me here.”

I faced my sister and spilled the whole, heart-warming story.

“He
asked
if he could kiss you?”

“But he wouldn’t even ask until I told him I was single.”

“That is so romantic.” Her smile split her face. “Is he really only eighteen? Man, that’s stuff I read about in my little romance novels, and all those guys are, like, old. You know, in their twenties and stuff. They have jobs, crap like that.”

“You’ve always come across to me as older, too.” I chuckled. “I think you two have old souls. But then what’s that mean for me? I’m the young one, right?”

She hip-checked me, then draped an arm around my shoulders. “Nice way to forget about Zach. You went out and snagged an equally hot guy who is totally into you.”

“How ‘bout you? You hooking up with the redhead. Seth? Is that his name?”

“That’s his name. He’s sweet. We’ll see.” She sipped her soda. “It’s just nice to have someone flirting with me. I’m glad your whole scowl thing is gone now, sis. I’m digging this beautiful, confident—well mostly confident—sister of mine.”

I grabbed my phone from my pocket. “I think Dr. Phil is calling. Wants you to consult for his show.”

Georgia smacked me on the shoulder. She was mostly right, though. Sure. Zach totally ripped my guts out by dumping me for stupid Samantha Jones, but at least I got something from him.

Confidence.

“Strange, though. I almost felt like I was cheating on him. Less than five hours ago, we were
technically
still dating.”

Georgia leaned forward again. “Don’t think about it now. Just have fun—but not too much fun, you hear?”

“Yes, mother.”

My phone rang, and I saw it was Scott, but then I noticed it was nearly midnight. “Wow, didn’t know it was so late.”

“Hey, Scott.” Georgia stepped close, and I put the call on speaker. “What’s up?”

“There’s another Center.”

“Shit,” I said. “Where?”

“Last time the guys you iced knew, it was California.”

“The one we burned down?” Georgia asked.

“No. Another mobile.”

I glanced at Georgia, then back to the phone. “Do those losers know what’s up with Mom’s book?”

“He knows Mom had something that could harm them, but doesn’t know where it is. They were on a recon mission to try and retrieve it.”

Georgia gasped. “Do they know Gary and Lois had it? Are they in trouble?”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Andrey?”

“That’s the kicker, guys. They’ve never heard of him.”

The sliding glass door slid open behind us. I whirled. It was Nate.

I clicked it off speaker and pressed the phone to my ear. “Oh, okay, yeah. Thanks Scott. Um. Glad to help out.”

“What are you doing?”

“Sure. That sounds good. See you tomorrow.”

“Oh. Okay. I get it. Someone’s there. All right. Be on your toes, Mandy. Jas will be there early tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Nate asked, winking at me.

“Just some chick-time,” Georgia said. She looked out over the parking lot below us. “Plus, it’s hotter than Hades in there.”

Nate stepped beside me. His shoulder touching mine, he leaned into me. It was amazing how electric he felt. Okay, now Zach curled my toes, big time, but Nate felt different.

Maybe it was just the fact that I was more comfortable with my powers now. That I wasn’t so worried I was going to freeze off a body part like I was with Zach.

“Nice out, huh?” Nate asked.

“Yep.” I looked at Georgia.

Her eyes scanned the darkness below. Her eyebrows furrowed. The balcony overlooked the side lot, like ours, considering it was just above us. The parking lot was full, and the two lights that lit the lot barely made a dent in the darkness.

Georgia’s eyes narrowed, and I followed her line of sight. Two girls wove through the mass of cars toward the entrance. Their laughter trickled up to where we stood. “You okay, Georgia?”

She glanced at me, eyes moist. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine.”

The sliding door opened again. Jeez, grand central station again. I couldn’t catch a break. That massive hulk of a man who’d knocked me over earlier filled the door.

I put my hands up. “Dude. You can’t come out here.”

He tilted his head back, exposing more of his belly flesh than I wanted to see. Ever. In my life. It just kinda flopped out over his jeans. Seriously, this guy had to be six-foot-seven and had to have played pro football somewhere. “Well, isn’t the girl with a blue streak of hair just freaking hilarious.”

He stepped out and the metal groaned beneath his weight. The hairs went up on the back of my neck. “Nate, we’re running low on beer. Want me to go try and rustle up some more?”

More metal groaned. He was seriously freaking me out. The balcony was tiny, attached to a brick apartment building. Sure, me and Georgia don’t weigh much, but Nate… He was a big boy, tipping the scale at nearly six-foot-three and a buck-eighty to two-hundred-pounds if I had to guess.

Gigantor stepped out further, as if to taunt me. I nudged Georgia toward the now clear window. “Let’s get out of here.”

She nodded. Didn’t need any special twin connection to see her relief. She hopped through the window, but before I could jump through, Gigantor stepped toward me. “So, who are you, anyway?”

I looked up and actually got a neck cramp he was so freaking tall. Nate came by my side. “I’m Amanda. I was just joking around with ya, you know that right?”

“It’s fine. I was just curious who was all up on the funnies like you were.” His double chin jiggled as he chuckled. “I’m Martin.”

“Cool. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m down on the first floor. For obvious reasons.” He gestured to his bulging belly. “A-2 if you need anything. I kinda look out for the young ladies of this complex.”

“Cool.” And so not necessary, but he didn’t know that.

Ping!

I ducked at the sound of metal bouncing off metal. Sounded like a dart bouncing off the brick or something.

Nate ducked, too, his arm over my shoulder. “What the heck?”

Ping! Ping! Ping!

“Ah, shit!” Martin dove back toward the sliding glass window. Half of him hit the window part. I might have heard something crack, but my world tilted and not because I was fainting or anything like that. I was used to that feeling after being stabbed by tranq darts or needles.

No, I was
literally
tilting.

The metal railing detached from the brick. The pings we’d heard were the bolts giving way to the stress of the weight.

“Come on!” Martin yelled.

Despite his size, he was quite agile. Nate pushed me toward him, but gravity began to take hold. I grabbed the window frame. Martin yanked my hand and hoisted me up to the window. Unfortunately, my arm grazed against the frame and gouged it pretty good.

I looked back. The balcony tilted so much that Nate was knocked further away from the window. The railing, which was now the floor, stopped his free fall.

“Nate!”

Ping!

Ping!

Ping!

The metal creaked and groaned again, then shifted further back. Nate climbed toward the window. I curled my fingers around the frame and leaned forward, hand outstretched.

“Grab my hand.”

He jumped for it but missed. The effect of his weight landing pushed the balcony further down.

Ping!

Ping!

I wasn’t an engineer-type, but I couldn’t imagine there were many more of those bolts left to fling out.

I leaned further. I felt two hands weave around my waist.

“I gotcha, Mandy.” Martin stood behind me.

“Wait. Hold on. Nate doesn’t have my hand yet.”

“Let me get him,” Martin said.

“Nate. Jump.”

“You can’t hold me,” Nate said, shaking his head.

“Yes I can. Do it. You’re going to f—”

The metal groaned again and fell away. Nate jumped, I lurched forward, squeezing the window frame enough to probably bend it, but I had to. I had to reach my Nate.

His fingers met mine. They started to slip. I squeezed, then with a quick jerk I pulled him up a fraction and got a better grip around his wrist.

His eyes shot wide, then his fingers curled around my wrist and we were connected.

Man he was strong.

Good thing I was, too.

“Got him.”

Martin’s grip around my hips tightened as he tried to pull me back in. Nate was a big boy, though, so it was slow going. I hung on the window, my left arm squeezing the middle frame and my right hand way down, holding Nate.

Now, I could have just given a quick jerk, then Nate and I would be back in the apartment. But yeah, that probably wouldn’t look right.

So, instead, I used the arm that held the window frame and pushed with that slightly. Martin would think it was his efforts pulling me back up through the window. Man his hands dug into my stomach, though.