Liminal - Excerpt Only

Liminal - Excerpt Only (Chapter Three)

LIMINAL 

By Maree Anderson

CHAPTER THREE

I might have been able to convince myself the whole encounter with LPD had been a dream but for the fact I woke curled across his lap. His jacket was unzipped. My cheek nestled against his chest and I could hear the steady ka-thud of his heartbeat through the soft cotton of his t-shirt. When he brushed a tangle of hair back from my face and his fingertips lingered on my cheek I shivered, and forced open my eyelids.

The grin he greeted me with did nothing for my peace of mind. It was knowing—too knowing. I quickly lowered my gaze. There's nothing worse than being at the mercy of a guy who's fully aware of his devastating effect on your rampant teenage hormones. It leaves you scrambling to tip the balance of power back in your favor.

"Hello there. Figured you'd be waking soon." He crooned the words, drawing out each syllable.

My stomach did a little "OMG, he's sooo hot!" somersault and I swear even my earlobes blushed. I refused to look at him. The rows of perfectly spaced trees whizzing past the window were safer.

Hang on, where—?

Oookay. We were in the rear of a moving vehicle—a taxi. I noticed the driver shooting glances at me in his rearview mirror. Obviously I was visible again. And if I had to guess, I'd say the driver was the tiniest bit concerned about me and my current circumstances. The man had good instincts. I was worried about me, too.

My pulse tripped. Unease churned my stomach. Didn't matter how freaking good-looking LPD happened to be, this wasn't my idea of getting to know each other better.

Calm down, Wren. Being in a taxi is a good thing. A whack-job wouldn't abduct a girl via taxi. Right?

Right. So if I felt threatened I'd ask the driver for help. Simple. I held the power here, not this guy who'd been messing with my head, and who'd somehow gotten me off the school grounds and poured me into a taxi while I was out cold. I made a concerted effort to relax the tension from my muscles.

"Poor thing," LPD said, his tone dripping fake concern. "These migraines knock my little cousin 'round something wicked. Hope she doesn't upchuck her lunch." He directed these comments at the nosy driver... who promptly planted his foot.

The sudden acceleration plastered me against LPD's chest and I got even more up close and personal with the heat radiating from his body, his clean male scent mingling with warmed cotton and old leather and something astringent and spicy. Too close. Too intimate. Too much. But when I tried to squirm from his lap his arms caged me.

He bent forward to whisper in my ear. "Better sit still, luv. I'm not a saint, you know."

As the meaning of his words registered I stilled. Something I didn't dare analyze flowered in the pit of my stomach and on cue, my face flamed.

"Relax," he murmured, his lips tickling my ear making me all shivery again for reasons I didn't want to think about too closely. "If you're all uptight I might not be able to keep you in phase—it's hard enough already. And if you vanish into thin air, what'll I tell our friendly cabbie?"

"How about you tell him I jumped out of the car rather than put up with a bunch of BSfrom my so-called cousin?" I hissed the words low so the driver wouldn't overhear.

The warm huff of LPD's laughter tickled my ear. "You'd rather jump from a moving vehicle than cuddle with me? Gutted."

I squashed a little-girl-out-of-her-depth-and-needing-comfort thought that cuddling with him was nice. Okay, a lot more than nice. I told myself it meant nothing. A girl needs hugs. And when she doesn't get them from her family any longer, is it any surprise she feels a little needy? It was merely lack of hugs overall making me feel this way, not him.