Read Discovery Online

Authors: Lisa White

Tags: #romance, #paranormal

Discovery (7 page)

BOOK: Discovery
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“Now look what you made me do!” he roared pointing to a melted pile of paper clips on the corner of his desk. He looked around the room and then carelessly waved his hand. Instantly, the melted metal objects and pieces around the study transformed back into their original state.

But the burnt metal smell lingered on. There was nothing Mr. Reich could do about that.

Without looking up, Gregory finally spoke, “Father, I made the mistake with the tennis racquet, not Andrew. It will not happen again. I promise.”

Jamison Reich eyed his sons sternly and stood up from behind his desk. “It better not. I told you both just like I've told every other soldier. We cannot tip off the Council before our troops are ready so there can be no public display of your powers until the girl's birthday party. Then you will have your chance to show the Council and the world your greatness.”

“Yes sir,” both boys replied in unison, finally looking up at their father.

“Good.” Mr. Reich was now pacing behind his desk to calm himself down. “I don't have to tell you what's at stake here. Our years of hiding will be over soon. We have eliminated everyone else in the girl's family line, albeit sometimes a little messier than I liked, but as soon as we have her under our control, our rise to power will be complete. I knew when she survived her parent's car crash, she was the key to regaining our place in the world. By doing away with every other member of her family, we have left the Council with no one else to harvest. The girl and whatever enabled her to survive the crash belongs to us alone and those goody-two-shoes on the Council will finally disappear forever. Once she is ripe, I will at last have the authority that is rightfully mine.” He stopped pacing and turned to look at his sons. “Is everything set for the girl's party?”

“Yes sir,” said Andrew. “We have been able to place Anti-Power troops both inside the party and also at strategic locations surrounding the Cavern Café.”

“And of course, I'll have Grace with me the entire time,” asserted Gregory. “We will take her the minute you give the signal.”

“Don't wait for my signal. Just take her after she dances her first dance. We should let her enjoy her party a little before we ruin her life,” said Mr. Reich.

“Yes, sir.” Gregory smiled, his green eyes tinged with red anticipation.

“Good. Good.” Mr. Reich nodded. “Everything appears to be finally coming together. Your grandfather's dream will soon be our reality and those do-gooders on the Council won't even know what hit them.”

Chapter Five: An Unexpected Kiss

Grace stood in her bedroom, examining this evening's shoe choice in her full-length mirror, and had to pinch herself to make sure she was not dreaming. With tonight being the fourth night in a row that she was seeing Gregory, she believed she could honestly now say she and Gregory Reich were dating. Exclusively. The gorgeous, blonde-haired, emerald-eyed, muscular guy who made all the ladies at the club swoon was actually, totally, fully and without question
hers
. At least that's what Annie had told her and Annie was usually right when it came to guys.

Grace had not believed it in the beginning when they had their official first date. How could she? He was so beautiful and totally out of her league. She had not really considered their tennis match a date at all. But, when Gregory actually called and asked her to go to dinner a few days later, she was so stunned she just about dropped the phone. Of course, it had been a double date with Annie and Andrew, but the brothers had actually come to their front door to pick them up and had paid for everything, so, according to Grace's standards, that was an official first date.

And to top it off, Gregory had actually picked her over Annie. What were the odds of that?

But tonight was going to be different. Tonight was
the
night. She and Gregory were actually going out by themselves. They had been spending so much time with Annie and Andrew, they had not been alone once. Not that she minded that. She loved Annie. But not having any alone time with Gregory meant there had not been any kissing time either.

However, tonight would change that.

Tonight Grace was getting her first kiss from Gregory. She just knew, deep down in her heart she knew, she was going to be kissed tonight.

“Hey.” Annie bounded into the room and sprawled across Grace's bed, leaving black combat boot prints all over the flowered lavender comforter. “Is that what you're wearing tonight?”

Grace's eyebrows knitted together as she continued to study herself in her full-length mirror. Just today, she had purchased a new blue sundress and ballet flats for tonight and she thought she looked pretty good. At least she thought she did until Annie came into her room. “Yeah. I just got this dress. What's wrong with it?”

“Nothing. If you're going to church. You are going on a date. With Gregory. The man of your dreams, remember? Maybe we should be going for sexy. Not saintly.”

“Annie, you know I'm not a ‘sexy' kind of girl. I'd rather be … comfortable.” Grace tilted her head and continued to look at herself in the mirror.

“Well, comfortable isn't going to cut it tonight,” Annie asserted. “Come on to my room.”

Grace followed her down their small apartment's hallway and plopped down on Annie's bed. Looking around her roommate's bedroom, Grace was reminded how different the two girls were in style and taste. Annie's painted black ceiling and red walls contrasted against the lavender and mint green motif in Grace's room down the hall and the red dragons painted on the black ceiling above Annie's bed looked more disturbing than mythical.

“How do you sleep with those things staring at you each night?” Grace asked, pointing to the ceiling.

“You don't like my dragons?” Annie did not sound interested in Grace's response. “I love them. Their voyeuristic qualities make it a little more exciting when I entertain in here if you know what I mean.”

“You're gross,” smirked Grace.

“Oh, you love me and you know it.” Annie rummaged through her messy closet and eventually pulled out a short, red halter dress. “Here. Try this.”

“I don't know,” said Grace, feeling the smooth, silky material. “This may be a little much.”

“A little much?” Annie scoffed. “This dress shows more skin than a spa wrap.”

“No. I meant it may be a little over the top. A little too dressy.”

“Try it on. Now,” Annie playfully demanded as she threw the dress at Grace.

Grace reluctantly changed out of her new blue sundress and pulled Annie's silky red dress over her head. It fell over her shoulders effortlessly, hugging her body in all the right places. Grace looked in the full-length mirror on the back of Annie's bedroom door. “Wow,” she said, almost to herself. Now this was a kissing dress.

“I knew it would be perfect,” Annie said. She then dug down further into the bottom of her closet. “Here, try these.” She held up a pair of red, strappy, high-heeled sandals.

“You know I can't wear heels very well and these are at least three inches tall,” said Grace.

“You also said you're not a ‘sexy' kind of girl and now look at you. Put these on. You need them,” said Annie, shoving the shoes in Grace's face.

Grace slipped on the sandals and looked at herself in the mirror. Annie was right. Grace
needed
these shoes.

At that very moment, the doorbell rang.

“He is always right on time,” said Annie. “I'll get it while you go in the bathroom and grab my red lipstick. It should be right next to my contact solution. You really need a little more lip color with that dress.” Annie paused at the doorway and looked back at Grace. “Hey, roomie. You really do look good.”

Annie then bounded out of the room leaving Grace staring at herself in the mirror. “I hope Gregory thinks so,” she said to herself. “Maybe even good enough for a kiss … ”

After taking Annie's lipstick advice, Grace found her roommate and Gregory talking in the living room.

“You look fantastic.” Gregory smiled at Grace. “Red is my favorite color.”

“Thanks,” she blushed.
Note to self. Wear more red
.

Gregory put his arm around Grace's waist and guided her to the front door of the apartment. “Don't wait up, Annie,” he called back to her roommate.

“Of course not.” Annie winked at Grace.

Grace silently blushed.

Just like the three previous nights, Gregory opened Grace's car door for her but tonight they were not riding in Gregory's Chevy Tahoe as they had before. No, tonight Gregory had brought out the big guns and had his father's silver Mercedes SL63 AMG convertible.

“I love your car,” Grace gushed after Gregory slid into the driver's seat beside her.

“Thanks.” Gregory smiled. “I love your dress.” He reached over and held her hand all the way to the restaurant. At first, his touch felt like tiny electric shocks bouncing between his palm and her palm. Remarkably, despite the electricity, his touch made her stomach's butterflies disappear and Grace relaxed down deep into the Mercedes' soft leather seat.

They ate by candlelight at a local downtown restaurant that Grace had never heard of before. But her ignorance of the restaurant stemmed more from the menu's prices than anything else. Her budget would never have allowed her to eat here and she was almost uncomfortable ordering something that was nearly equivalent to a day's salary for her.

But Gregory had no problem with the menu's prices and must have been a regular because everyone in the place knew him. The whole night it was “Mr. Reich this” and “Mr. Reich that” and at one point she even thought she heard their waiter call Gregory “Prince.”

But that was ridiculous so she must have heard him wrong.

“Do you want dessert?” Gregory asked after the waiter had cleared their dinner plates.

“No. I'm fine.” Grace sat with her elbows on the table and chin in hand, staring at Gregory's face. She could not take her eyes off him in the candlelight.

“Something else to drink?”

“No,” sighed Grace dreamily. With her stares and sighs, Grace knew she looked and sounded like a lovesick teenager but she could not help the way she felt when she was around Gregory. She was drugged and woozy as if Gregory was her personal anti-depressant prescription and she liked feeling that way.

“Then I guess it's time for me to get you home,” Gregory said.

Home?
thought Grace.
Where there's a front door and possibly a kiss?

Gregory paid the check and again opened her car door for her. Before she knew it, they were pulling into her apartment's parking lot and walking to her front door holding hands. The electric pulses started up again with his touch.

“Thanks for tonight,” Grace said when they reached her door. Her heart was pounding and her chest moved with deep nervous breaths.

“No. Thank you. It was nice to finally spend some time alone with you.” Gregory's voice glided through the night air as he turned to take her other hand. He stepped toward her, inches away from her heaving chest.

“Yeah. Alone.” Grace nervously sighed as Gregory leaned down and placed his lips millimeters from hers.

“Do you mind?” he whispered.

“No.” She held her breath, afraid to move.

And so, with her consent, he took her lips and made them his own. His kisses were soft at first, massaging her lips with his. Small dainty kisses, but each one becoming slightly more intense than the previous until his lips fully engulfed hers, and his hands gripped her shoulders so tightly she had to hold on to his arms in order to remain standing upright. Grace had not been kissed this forcefully in so long she was not exactly sure what to do. So when he pushed his tongue into her mouth, she took it, allowing her own tongue to explore Gregory's taste.

They stood at her front door, arms wrapped tightly, tongues flitting, and lips eating each other apart, for what seemed like forever. Grace was totally lost in Gregory's kiss and even with her eyes closed, psychedelic colors ran through her brain and she was unable to think. Her mind went blank and the only parts of her body that felt alive were her lips and the parts of her back and shoulders that Gregory's hands and arms had taken over. Each place his skin touched hers felt like an electric shock. Her lips, hands, arms, shoulders. Every inch he touched was energized.

Without warning, in the midst of awakening her passion that had hibernated for so very long, two things happened.

The first was the fact that Grace suddenly felt like she was being watched. Despite the relaxed feeling she had in Gregory's arms, with his lips and tongue discovering parts of her mouth she did not even know existed, she suddenly felt as if she were the target of some CIA investigation. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she knew, without a doubt, that she and Gregory were not alone.

The second thing that happened was more within the realm of plausibility but was much more upsetting to a girl of Grace's moral values. Without notice, Gregory's right hand released its grip on Grace's shoulder and abruptly moved down the nape of her neck and under the front of her halter dress to grab her breast. At first she did not realize what had happened, her mind clouded by Gregory touching her in a place that had been sheltered for so long. But then, as if waking from a trance, feeling Gregory's hand roughly groping her breast's delicate skin caused her to stiffen and she tried to push him away. Her immediate thought was to escape. Escape his lips, his arms, his everything.

But he was too strong.

She opened her eyes and turned her head, trying to hide her lips from his mouth's grasp and in that instant she felt fear. Not because Gregory was roughly grabbing her and would not stop. But because Gregory's eyes were wide open in the middle of his kisses, wide open and wickedly red.

BOOK: Discovery
9.23Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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