Forgotten Read online

  “I suppose so,” Rone murmured. Despite his promise to himself to leave her alone and keep his distance from her, he couldn’t help stepping forward to take her by the shoulders.

  “What?” Kate asked, a bit defensively when he looked her up and down.

  “Nothing.” Rone sighed. “It’s just…this little outfit reminds me a lot of what you wore on our Joining night.”

  “It does?” Kate bit her lip. “I’m sorry—does it bother you? I guess I could change only…I’m not exactly sure what I could wear…”

  “No, it’s fine. It’s lovely and you look gorgeous in it, baby,” he assured her. Letting her go, he took a step back. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  “It’s okay.” Kate smiled, obviously trying to keep things light. “You know what? I’m starving. I think I’ll see what’s in the fridge. You want something?”

  “I’m not hungry.” Except for the taste of her. But he couldn’t say that out loud. Instead, he went to the small couch and sat down, intending to watch something on the viewscreen.

  Or he tried to sit down, anyway. Instead, he fell right through the solid-seeming piece of furniture.

  “What the—?” He landed with a thump on his ass on the carpeted floor in front of the couch. “Ow! What in the Seven Hells?” He swore loudly and Kate came rushing over.

  “What happened? Did you hurt yourself?”

  “No. I tried to sit down and I couldn’t,” Rone growled.

  “You couldn’t? What do you mean you couldn’t?”

  “I mean I fell right through it somehow. Like it was a hologram.”

  “You fell through it?” Kate patted the back of the couch. “It seems solid enough to me.”

  “You try sitting on it then,” Rone challenged her. “I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with the damn thing.”

  “Okay.” Kate came to stand in front of the couch with the backs of her legs pressed against the edge of one broad, blue cushion. She lowered herself gingerly until her bottom was just touching the top of the cushion. For a moment Rone thought it would hold her with no problem. But then, just as he had done, Kate sank right through the couch and landed with a thump on the floor in front of it.

  “Be careful!” He tried to grab her but couldn’t reach her in time.

  “Ouch!” Kate glared mistrustfully at the innocent looking couch. “What the hell is wrong with that thing? It feels fine until you try to put your weight on it and then it dumps you!”

  “Wait a minute…” Rone ran a hand through his hair. “I think we’re forgetting what Madam Shadow said again.”

  “Oh, right.” Kate’s eyes widened. “She said we wouldn’t be able to sit unless we were touching.”

  “Want to try it again?” Rone held out a hand to her.

  “Sure, I guess.” Shyly, she took his hand and Rone interlaced their fingers. They went to stand in front of the couch again and looked at each other.

  “On three,” Rone told her. “One…two…”

  “Three,” Kate said with him.

  This time, Rone sat down with much more confidence, certain they had solved their problematic seating arrangements.

  But once more, he fell through the couch and Kate fell with him, uttering a little scream as she did so.

  “Here!” Rone grabbed for her and managed to catch her in his lap at the last minute, keeping her from hitting the ground a second time. “Are you okay, baby?” he asked anxiously, looking at her flushed face and tousled hair.

  “I think so,” she said cautiously. “I think…oh! Oh, Rone, I’m stuck—look!”

  Once again they had landed in front of the couch only this time Kate was in his lap instead of on the ground. But when he looked to where she was pointing, Rone saw that her left leg was caught in the couch. Not just wedged between the cushions though—actually, physically caught in the frame of the couch as though she was growing out of the dark blue fabric of the small piece of furniture.

  “Gods!” he exclaimed. “What…how…?”

  “I don’t know but I’m completely stuck—I can’t move an inch. Quick—put me off your lap!”

  Rone did as she asked. As soon as they stopped touching, Kate was able to pull her leg free.

  “Whew!” She breathed a sigh of relief. “That is so weird.”

  “It’s one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen and I’ve been all over the universe,” Rone admitted.

  “Well…” She shifted uncomfortably. “I, uh, guess we know what we’ll have to do if we want to sit here and watch anything.”

  “We do?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Uh-huh. Clearly holding hands isn’t enough. I guess I have to be literally sitting on your lap for this stupid thing to support us.”

  Rone frowned. “You could be right. Do you want to try one more time?”

  Kate shrugged. “Why not? We’ve already landed on our asses twice. Might as well go for three.”

  “No, you only landed on your ass once—the other time you landed on me,” Rone pointed out, smiling at her.

  She giggled. “Sorry if I crushed you.”

  “As tiny as you are? You couldn’t crush me with your sweet, curvy body if you tried.” Grinning he stood and swung her up into his arms. He loved holding her like this, cradling her close to his chest.

  “Oh—Rone!” she gasped. “Put me down!”

  “Not until we figure this out,” he said firmly. “Just relax, Lalli. You know even if we fall, I’ll catch you.”

  “You…you will?” Suddenly they were looking into each other’s eyes and Rone realized that she was close enough to kiss. Gods, how he wanted to taste her lush, sweet mouth again! He couldn’t help remembering the long, slow, passionate kisses they’d shared while they were joined together in the Breeding Chair. When his cock slid slowly in and out of her wet, willing pussy and her sweet little tongue explored his mouth at the same time. Penetrating and being penetrated…joined together as one…

  “You know I will. I’ll always catch you,” he murmured. Kate’s mouth came even closer and for a moment he was certain they were going to kiss. He could almost taste her sweet lips when she suddenly turned her face away.

  “Come on—let’s see if we can figure this out,” she said with a forced sounding laugh. “And then I want to check out the fridge again—I really am starving, you know.”

  “Okay.” With an inward sigh, Rone sank down to the couch.

  He was waiting to fall through at any minute but, to his surprise, as long as he was holding Kate, the blue cushions supported him firmly. In fact, he thought he’d never felt a more sturdy piece of furniture—it barely even creaked when he lowered his full weight onto it. Which was saying something considering he was even bigger than most Kindred were.

  “Oh…” Kate looked down in surprise. “It worked!”

  “It worked,” Rone echoed but he had eyes only for her. He loved having her on his lap but it was a kind of sweet torture. He could feel her little panty-clad bottom resting right against his aching shaft through the thin material of his sleep trousers and it felt so damn good. Her sweet, fresh scent filled his senses and his mouth watered to taste her. Though his erection had gone down after the pratfalls they’d taken while trying to get seated on the couch, he could feel it swelling now in response to her nearness. Gods, how he wanted her back—all the way back the way they used to be…

  “Um…” Clearly Kate could feel his shaft swelling as well because she shifted uncomfortably in his lap, which only made the situation worse.

  “Yeah, baby?” Rone’s voice was a soft growl and he couldn’t help the need in it.

  “Well, I guess now we know what works,” she said weakly. “Maybe…maybe I should go check the fridge now and see if I can make us some supper.”

  “Maybe.” Rone said, but he didn’t release his hold on her. She felt too good in his arms—he wanted to keep her close just a little while longer.

  “I…um…” Kate’s h