One AM came and went, and Rowena was still awake.  A gentle
summer breeze floated in from her window as she kicked the blankets off of
her bed.  It was no use -- she was too wired to sleep.

 Finally, she gave up.  Throwing on a pair of shorts under her T-shirt,
she headed down the stairs.  Maybe a walk out back would clear her head.
This was insane ... it had literally been years since she’d allowed a man to
get inside her head like this.  More insane was the fact that she’d only
known Kevin a couple of days, and didn’t even know him very well.  All
she knew was that he was sexier than hell, and that she wanted him.  And
that was making her crazy.

 The grove of trees just behind the house was her favorite place to
walk.  It was usually very quiet and peaceful ... but, as she walked, Rowena
heard noises coming from her left.  As she walked over to investigate, she
realized that someone else apparently had the same idea she did.
 

 There was a party going on in the guesthouse, but Kevin had lost his
appetite for it fairly quickly.  He just couldn’t get Rowena off of his mind ...
a part of his mind imagined her going to bed in the arms of Carlos
Montenegro, an image that was hard to stomach.  Maybe it would have
been better if she *had* left for Raleigh that night -- then he wouldn’t be
wondering where she was sleeping.

 The small woods had seemed the perfect place to clear his mind, so
Kevin had slipped out before anyone could notice he was gone.  As he
walked, he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realize he wasn’t alone
until the quiet voice jolted him out of his reverie.

 
 “Kevin?”  He was the last person Rowena wanted to see at the
moment.  Or, perhaps the only person.  She couldn’t get her body and her
mind to agree on anything, it seemed.

 “Rowena?  Oh, you scared me.”  He stopped walking and leaned
against a tree.  There wasn’t enough light for Rowena to see him fully -- all
she saw was his silhouette.  Nevertheless, her heart started pounding.

 She took a deep breath and willed it to slow down.  “What are you
doing out here?”

 “Escaping a party.  You?”

 “Couldn’t sleep.”  She frowned slightly.  “Is Catrina at the party?”

 Kevin shrugged.  “Yeah, I think so.  At least, I haven’t seen Nick in
a while.”

 “I was afraid of that.”  Rowena sighed.  “I hope she knows what
Carlos will do to her -- and Nick -- if he finds out she’s not in her own bed
right now.”

 “How old is she, anyway?”

 “Seventeen.  She thinks she’s twenty-five, though, and Carlos thinks
she’s twelve.  Neither one of them is the kind of person that’s willing to
find a happy medium, either.”

 “Stubborn?”

 “They define the word.”  In spite of herself, Rowena chuckled.
“You know, that’s probably why I fit in so well in this family.”

 Rowena could finally see Kevin’s face as he grinned.  “Don’t tell
me you’re stubborn, too.”

 “You tell me.  You sat in on one of my business meetings.”

 “Honestly, I tuned most of it out,” he admitted.

 “Oh, great,” she teased.  “That makes me feel special.”

 “Well, I was ... ah ... distracted.”

 “By what?”

 Rowena regretted the question as soon as she asked it.  One look in
his eyes, and she saw her own frustrations reflected back at her.  Even
though he was standing a full six feet away from her, she could still feel his
body sliding against hers in a ghostly memory of the dance they’d shared at
the Indigo ... never, in her entire life, had someone had this power to make
her entire body come alive without saying a word.

 Pure instinct propelled her to close the distance between them.  Her
mind had no say in the matter -- the coldly logical part of her had shut down
somewhere along the way.  Reaching over, she gently touched his cheek,
rough and unshaven.

 The touch was all Kevin needed.  Before Rowena could react, he’d
placed his hands on her hips, pulled her against his body, and covered her
mouth with his.  She let out a small sound of surprise before giving up her
control entirely, weaving her hands in his hair and returning the kiss with
more passion than she thought she possessed.  His tongue explored her
mouth roughly as she pressed closer to him, almost willing herself to crawl
inside his body, to get as close as possible to the source of pleasure.  His
hands hadn’t even moved -- they remained firmly attached to her hips.  It
was just a kiss ... just a kiss that was making her body scream.  The
remaining coherent portion of her brain decided that, while she’d been
kissed plenty of times, she’d *never* been kissed like this.

 That same portion of her brain noted that he was as hard as a rock,
pressed against her pelvis, and that fact lifted some of the lustful haze from
her perception.  She wanted the sex -- god knows she did.  She was
moments away from pulling him to the ground and letting him take her
right there, under the stars.

 It was all too reminiscent of Marc.

 Using every bit of willpower she had, Rowena pulled away.  It was
more difficult once the kiss had ended -- every nerve in her body was
screaming for him.  She heard him murmur her name, quietly, amid jagged
breaths.  She had to leave, now, before she lost her self-control completely.
Without a word, she turned and slowly, with as much dignity as she could
muster, walked back towards the house.

 Once inside, her traitorous legs gave out and she slumped to the
floor, cursing her own name, Kevin’s, and Marc’s.  But especially Marc’s.
 


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