Night Whispers (5 page)

She looked too innocent. That sweet “who me?” gaze looked as familiar to Mitch as the back of his own hand. She’d had the same look on her face years ago when she’d sabotaged one of Mitch’s teenage make-out sessions. The little brat had strolled out onto the darkened back porch and nonchalantly asked him, right in front of his girlfriend, if he was sure he should be kissing, considering the problems he’d had with “those little sores.” The girl in question had found an excuse to break up with him a few days later.

Tonight’s intrusion was completely intentional, just as that long-ago one had been. And Mitch knew exactly how to beat her at her own game. “No, Kelsey, don’t rush off. Stay. Have a drink with us. I’ll find you some candles,
honey
, I know how much you relish your bath rituals.”

Kelsey was confused by his reaction. Mitch should have been squirming by now, attempting to push her out the door, to explain a half-clothed female to his girlfriend. Most men would be in the midst of a panic attack.

But he wasn’t. He spoke in a low, sexy voice of his own, sending shivers down her spine. Staring with unabashed appreciation at her legs, he didn’t look uncomfortable or embarrassed in the least. He actually moved closer to her until she had to tilt her head back to return his stare. The intensity she saw in those deep blue eyes shocked her. The heat was palpable.

“Mitch,” an intrusive voice demanded, “I think an introduction would be appropriate.”

Mitch didn’t reply right away. Still gazing intently at Kelsey, he gave her a slow, seductive smile. Kelsey could
barely draw breath as her eyes followed the movement of his sensuous mouth.

Finally he turned his attention to the other woman, who Kelsey had practically forgotten was even in the room. “Amanda, meet Kelsey. She lives upstairs. You could call her my semisibling. The sister I’ll never have.”

Amanda seemed a little relieved at the description, but Kelsey was not. Semisibling? Sister? She’d make him eat those words!

“Really, Mitch, you shouldn’t encourage the girl to run around your home half-clothed,” Amanda said with a forced smile.

Mitch laughed out loud. “That’s true. Young ladies shouldn’t run around in their nighties, Kelsey.”

Kelsey glared at him. She could practically hear her mother’s voice saying the same words to her when she was eight.

Mitch had obviously seen right through her ploy to destroy his evening. She was determined to wipe that grin off his face if it was the last thing she ever did. Thinking quickly, she forced a serene smile to her lips and moved a step closer to him. “I’m so sorry I burst in on you like this.” Her every word dripped with sweetness. “The candles really aren’t necessary.”

She smoothed the palms of her hands over her satiny robe as if straightening it, drawing his stare down her body. When she knew she had his undivided attention, she said, “That window in my bathroom is right over the tub, and it should be a full moon tonight. The light shines in at the perfect angle and makes the bubbles absolutely iridescent.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper, the sultry, sexy voice she used on her radio show, daring him to resist her. “Some
times on moonlit nights I lie there in the dark, with my eyes closed, letting the water caress every inch of my body. I use a fragrant bath oil and it feels so silky and delicious.”

She was getting to him. Mitch was clenching his fists, and his breath came a little faster. She could see the pulse at his temple beating and knew he was gritting his teeth. She had to bite her bottom lip for a moment to avoid displaying a smile of triumph.

Finally, when she was able to go on, she said, “Then I slowly pour cupfuls of water on my skin. It’s so amazingly erotic when you can feel the warmth cascading over your flesh, nearly kissing you, yet you can’t see it. You have to give in to the feeling.”

Kelsey closed her eyes as she whispered to Mitch. She knew Amanda was straining to hear what was said, and dropped her voice even lower. “There are nights when I want to cry at the beauty of the sensation. It seems a shame to have such an erotic experience when I’m totally…alone.”

Mitch had been leaning closer and closer as Kelsey spoke, wanting to catch every word. The images she evoked mesmerized him. He couldn’t have moved if someone told him his pants were on fire. All he could do was stand, helpless, woven in the seductive spell of her whisper.

“Well, have a wonderful evening, you two,” Kelsey said loudly. “It was lovely meeting you, Amanda.”

Mitch watched the bounce of her shining hair, and the swish of her robe as Kelsey moved to the door for her grand exit. Suddenly he realized her every word had been calculated to drive him wild.
Little brat!

Even as he tried to push the seductive images from his
mind, Mitch acknowledged what a great performance she’d delivered. Kelsey Logan had always been a heck of a performer. Unable to resist, Mitch brought his hands up and slowly began to applaud.

Kelsey had her hand on the knob when she heard Mitch clap. Glancing over her shoulder uncertainly, she caught Amanda’s gaze. The blonde laughed nervously. Kelsey wished the floor could open up and swallow her whole.

Rushing out the door, she hurried upstairs to her apartment, cursing Mitch and his
friend
every step of the way. They were laughing at her. Well, she figured, she probably deserved it. What a fool she’d been! Slamming her door behind her, she leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

It had been all she could do to present a careless facade and walk away from Mitch, when what she’d really wanted to do was touch him with her hands the way she touched him with her words. Intimately. Seductively. Erotically.

“This is crazy,” she said aloud.

And it
was
crazy. Her joke had backfired. Even if her seductive words had affected Mitch, it couldn’t compare with what uttering them had cost her. All she could picture were Mitch’s strong hands, his beautiful mouth and his firm, lean body. She felt achy and hot, and parts of her body tingled with anticipation she knew was not going to be fulfilled.

“Cool it, Kelsey,” she muttered, shrugging off her robe as she started running her bath. She’d stopped fantasizing about Mitch years ago. It had been bad enough when she was fifteen and he was off at college and she’d imagined him putting his arm around her, or, heavens above, actually kissing her! Now that she was an adult, she knew
exactly why her body tingled and ached and why she felt warm in her most feminine places. She couldn’t allow herself to have those types of dreams about Mitch. Because if she did, she might never be able to stop.

As she lay in the huge bubble-filled tub, Kelsey tried hard to shake off the erotic images dancing around her brain. When she closed her eyes, she could practically see Mitch’s hands reaching to stroke her beneath the silky water. She could nearly feel his lips trailing kisses on her throat. She could imagine her fingers dancing over his supple chest, curling in the dark crisp hairs, teasing him and urging him on.

She tried naming the fifty states, tried reciting the Gettysburg Address, but nothing would drive Mitch out of her head.

Finally, she just stopped trying and gave in to an absolutely delicious fantasy. By the time she got out of the tub it was very late, her body was all pruney and the water was chilled. But when she caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror, Kelsey wasn’t a bit surprised to see the smile lingering on her lips.

“T
O
M
ITCH
W
YMORE
, who’s successfully escaped a nine-to-five job. It’s good to have you back, buddy.”

Mitch smiled at his old college friend, Paul, who’d just made the toast, and raised his own glass. “Thanks, man,” he said, then sipped his beer.

They sat in a crowded, trendy little bar near the harbor. It was a yuppie place, with lots of ferns, round unscarred tables and varnished floors. Jazz from the radio provided a little background noise, but mostly he heard laughter, clinking glasses and buoyant conversation. Spending an evening shooting darts, ogling women, eating pretzels and drinking beer seemed just the cure for what ailed him…

Kelsey.

Mitch hadn’t seen her since her grand entrance into his apartment over the weekend. He’d had a hard time kicking the image of those long legs and sultry comments.

“Have you seen Amanda since you got back?” Paul asked.

Mitch grabbed a handful of pretzels. “She came by the other night.”

“And? Details, details…come on, buddy.”

“And nothing. We talked. She left. Period.”

“You’re kidding,” Paul said in disbelief. “I ran into her a few weeks ago, and she started pumping me for informa
tion about when you were getting back. I got the impression she was going to give you a tremendous welcome home.”

She probably had been planning exactly that when she came by the other night. But since Mitch hadn’t even been able to pretend interest, especially after Kelsey’s visit, a highly offended Amanda had stormed out.

“It’s not that I’d tell you anything, anyway,” Mitch said, “but in this case, let me assure you, there’s nothing to tell.”

His friend didn’t look as though he believed him, but Mitch didn’t bother to elaborate.

“Quiet down,” someone yelled. “It’s time for
Night Whispers!
”

Mitch glanced around and saw the bartender reach up to the sound system to crank up the volume on the stereo.

“Oh, buddy, you’ve got to check this out,” Paul said.

“What?”

“This new radio show. Everybody’s talking about it.”

Around the room, conversations quieted. Mitch saw people shushing others, demanding they listen. He’d never heard of
Night Whispers
, and couldn’t believe there was this much of a stir over some radio show.

“What’s it all about?” he asked Paul.

“It’s a sex show,” Paul said with a grin. “Well, not really sex, I guess women call it romance, or passion, but let me tell you, I hear Lady Love’s voice and I just ache.”

Ache? Paul ached? Mitch nearly laughed aloud at his friend’s exaggeration until he noticed the man was dead serious.

“Laugh if you want, but I’m telling you this show is great. A lot of people have
Night Whispers
parties. Everybody I know is into it. This woman, she just…I don’t know how to describe it, she speaks, and it’s not just how sexy
her voice is, it’s that you almost feel she’s speaking from her soul.”

Mitch raised a skeptical eyebrow at Paul’s eloquent words as he lifted his drink to his mouth. A few slow, mellow notes of a saxophone underscored the prerecorded introduction, setting a lazy, relaxed mood. Then a smooth voice spoke.

“Hello, Baltimore. This is Lady Love and tonight I want to talk about sensuous pleasures.”

“Oh, my God,” Mitch sputtered as he nearly choked on his beer.

It was Kelsey.

“We all know about the five senses, learned of them in grade school. To taste, touch, hear, see and smell are all such gifts. Gifts that many of us take for granted and don’t stop to consider.”

Kelsey leaned closer to the microphone, closing her eyes as she spoke. The bright lights in the studio, and the equalizers, stereo and sound equipment, weren’t exactly conducive to romance or, tonight, sensuality. She had worked herself into her mood, as usual, with her bath. That always helped. She hadn’t been exaggerating to Mitch when she talked about the importance of a long, languorous bath, and found that her evening ritual helped prepare her to come in and talk frankly about the subjects she covered in her show.

“Tonight,” she continued, “I want to consider them. Sensuous pleasures are derived from everything that surrounds us. The soft petals of a rose brushed against the cheek, then its scent deeply inhaled, gives such delight. The sweet, slightly bitter taste of dark chocolate lingers on the tongue long after it’s gone. The calm solitude and
silence of a beach under a night sky interrupted only by the sound of churning waves, washing forward then receding, brings peace and tranquillity. And who can look at a masterful piece of art and not be moved by its power and the skill of the artist?”

Kelsey bowed her head as she formed her thoughts. She always planned her topics in advance, but often her words were spontaneous.

“All are sensuous. Anything that invades our senses, anything we see or smell, touch, hear or taste, that brings us pleasure, that invigorates our soul, is sensuous.”

Kelsey paused for a moment, a purposeful hesitation. Her audience was half-hooked already. She just had to bring them home.

“Now let’s talk about sexuality,” she continued. There, that was the rest of the lure. They were listening now. She could feel it. Brian gave her a thumbs-up from his side of the glass-enclosed booth, and she continued with a soft smile.

“Some people think they mean the same thing. But they don’t. Tonight we’re going to discuss how they differ.”

Kelsey cued the music that led into a cluster of commercials.

“Stick with me. We’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll start taking your calls later in the hour. Until then, please come back and spend some time alone with me, Lady Love, on WAJO. I’ll be waiting for you,” she said in a breathy voice.

Kelsey leaned back in her chair. Brian was mimicking applause, and she grinned back. It was going to be an interesting night.

M
ITCH COULDN’T SPEAK
. He sat, in shock, knowing but not caring that he probably looked like an utter fool, with his
mouth hanging open. Had that really been Kelsey? Of course it had. He’d recognize that voice anywhere. And she had come right out and told him she was working the ten-to-two shift. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to talk more about her job.

“She got to you, didn’t she?” Paul said with a knowing grin. “Did I tell you, or what?”

Mitch just nodded.

Around the bar, voices picked back up, and he caught snatches of conversation from other tables, most of it about Kelsey…Lady Love. There seemed to be universal approval and interest.

“Is she always like this?” Mitch finally asked.

“Uh-hmm, but it gets better. That was just her introduction.”

Mitch frowned. Glancing around at the grins of most of the male patrons, he knew Kelsey had already all but seduced half the men in the place. Exactly how far would she go on this show?

“Is this X-rated, or what?” he asked, not really knowing if he wanted the answer.

“No, man, it’s not like that. She never gets raunchy, and I guess she’s got her callers on a time delay, because none of them do, either. Sometimes people try to steer the conversation, but she never goes for that. She’s classy, but, oh, so sexy.”

Mitch should have been relieved, but he wasn’t. So what if she wasn’t exactly pornographic? She was on the radio broadcasting to thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, about intimacy and sex as if she were an expert on the subject. He hadn’t figured she was a virgin, but he’d never considered her a sex expert, either. Hell,
as far as he knew, Kelsey had never even had a serious relationship.

“I’d love to see what she looks like,” Paul said, “but she could be a sixty-year-old grandmother.”

A man staggering by must have heard Paul’s comment, because he paused at their table, saying, “No, I heard she’s a babe. A friend of mine parked outside the radio station one night and watched her come out. He says she’s as hot as she sounds.”

Oh, great. As Mitch had feared, Kelsey’s show attracted psychos who were lying in wait for her outside the station in the middle of the night. What on earth was she thinking? Kelsey had always been free spirited, but she’d never been stupid.

The obviously drunk man leaned toward Paul and Mitch and leered. “I’m goin’ down there myself one o’ these nights. Gonna give Lady Love some real interestin’ topics…give that lady lots to talk about.”

Standing immediately, Mitch kicked his chair back and grabbed the drunk by the front of his shirt. He yanked the other man’s face toward his, smelling the reek of too many beers. “You better watch your filthy mouth.”

The man took a few steps back, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste. “What is she, your sister or somethin’?”

Mitch shook his head, then looked around at the stares he was receiving. Paul gaped at him, as well, but Mitch couldn’t begin to explain. How did he possibly explain about Kelsey?
Hey, folks, Lady Love’s living in my house, sleeping right above my head, as a matter of fact, and you know the funny thing? She likes to eat peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches with sliced bananas. And hey, get this, she once put my underwear in the freezer!

Mitch shook his head quickly, not quite believing he’d had the urge to punch out a loudmouthed drunk in a bar. He hadn’t thrown a punch at anyone since he was in high school. When he thought about it, he remembered that Kelsey had been responsible for that fight, too! She’d told Mitch that she was secretly sneaking out to meet an eighteen-year-old, and Mitch had pounded the guy after gym class one day. The little brat had admitted she’d lied only after he’d been suspended from school for a week.

Shaking his head, Mitch grabbed a ten out of his pocket and tossed it onto the table. “I’ve gotta go. Beer’s on me. Thanks for the invite. I’ll see you soon.”

Outside, Mitch hurried to his car and jumped in. He cursed as he slammed the steering wheel with his palm, then took a few deep breaths. Before starting the engine, he thought about how close he’d come to violence. Kelsey pushed all his buttons, even when she wasn’t in the damned room! His hands were shaking, and since he hadn’t finished half of his first drink, he knew it wasn’t the beer. It was anger.

“H
ELLO AGAIN
, B
ALTIMORE
. Thanks for sticking with me. This is Lady Love on WAJO, and you’re listening to
Night Whispers
. Tonight, we’re talking about sensuality versus sexuality.”

Kelsey paused, giving her listeners a chance to turn up the volume or curl up together on a sofa or pour a glass of wine. Or, perhaps, just roll up the car window to cut down on outside noise.

“Something can be amazingly sensuous, can give you immense pleasure, and have absolutely nothing to do with sex. And, unfortunately, many people go through their life
times having sex, feeling moments of physical pleasure, but never really experiencing the truly sensuous,” she purred, drawing out each word to lend an intimate atmosphere.

Kelsey saw Brian waving and gesturing to the phone lines, and noticed that the switchboard was already lit up like Las Vegas. She wouldn’t start airing calls for a while yet, but people were amazingly patient, sometimes waiting a half hour for a chance to get on the air. Brian busily screened them, getting names and a few words about what they’d like to say.

“The first step in understanding how sensuality can enhance sexuality,” Kelsey continued, “is to understand and appreciate what is truly sensuous. To me, the most sensuous texture is human skin.”

Brian gave her a quick grin.

“Rubbing lotion on my legs, letting it be absorbed, feeling my flesh grow more pliant, is incredibly sensuous. Not sexual. Now, let someone else rub lotion and knead and stroke my limbs…well, I’m getting a little ahead of myself,” she said with a throaty chuckle.

Intentionally, of course. She tried all the time to jump ahead of the audience, get their minds working overtime wondering where she was going, then she’d go right back to where she’d been, teasing them, building up the momentum. It wasn’t what she said that was so provocative, it was what she hinted at, and what the audience filled in with their own minds.

“Let’s talk about scents. Smells are incredibly evocative. A certain perfume can take you back to another time, and another place, and bring memories flooding into your mind. For me, the smell of lavender always brings with it sweet, warm memories of my grandmother. Closing my
eyes and deeply inhaling the scent of gardenias makes me think of lying in a garden, with the sun beating down on me. It gives me a great deal of pleasure.”

Kelsey smiled, remembering for a moment the afternoon when Mitch had found her lying in the backyard. She’d been feeling just such pleasures at that point, enjoying the warmth, and the sounds of the birds, and the smell of the earth she’d been digging.

“And speaking of lying in a garden,” she continued, “imagine, if you would, how soft grass can feel against your skin on a warm spring day. It tickles a little, it cushions your body, and, if you concentrate, you’d swear you can feel each blade pressing into you. The smell of flowers inundates you, and the sun warms you. You open your eyes to the bright blue, cloudless sky, and you hear cicadas singing in the distance. That is sensuous.

“Now,” Kelsey continued, “add your lover lying there next to you, and sensuous becomes sensual…and, perhaps, sexual.”

M
ITCH TRIED NOT TO TURN ON
the radio as he drove home. He resisted for about ninety seconds, then flicked it on and punched the dial to Kelsey’s station. She spoke of sensuous things, and with every word, all he could think was that her voice and her words were the most sensuous things he’d ever experienced. Picturing Kelsey, knowing she was saying those words, having those thoughts and those desires, was incredibly erotic.

And incredibly frustrating.

Mitch listened the whole way home. She didn’t speak all the time, breaking to play a very melodic love song, speak to one or two callers and air some commercials.
But in between she continued weaving the spell of seduction that reached out through his car speakers and held him enthralled. Her entire topic tonight was on the sensuous. But she never even touched on the sensuality of a beautiful woman talking about pleasures and fulfillment, and what words and subtle nuances in a voice could do to a man.