Channeler's Choice by Heather McCorkle Page B

Aiden, Eren turned her attention back to him. Even with no shirt on, stretched out on his back with his hands behind his head, he seemed oblivious of the cold, wet grass. Eyes traveling across his hard abs, the cool grass no longer felt cool enough.
    “ So we’re a Society are we?” she asked.
    “ It feels that way,” he said.
    Eren hadn’t realized she’d been tracing lines along the muscles of Aiden’s chest until he made a slightly strangled sound. Her finger halted atop his abdominals. His thin t-shirt couldn’t keep their energy from mingling.
    “ It’s so hard to be good when you do that, E,” he whispered.
    “ Well, we can be a little bad, can’t we?”
    Aiden answered by pulling her down for a kiss. His mouth tasted like river water and his tongue had the most wonderful, familiar texture to it. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her against his chest. One of his hands worked its way into her hair while the other slid beneath her shirt to touch the bare skin on the small of her back.
    Caught up in the feel of his body beneath her hands and the taste of him upon her tongue, she let things go farther than she ever had before. It didn’t matter that the rain was falling steadily upon them and dripping down from her bangs onto his forehead. The part of her that wanted him to stop seemed to be getting smaller all the time.
    Finally, she decided where to draw the new line and breathlessly pushed back. It wasn’t easy. He put his hands under his head and smiled as he closed his eyes. He was always like this, never pushing her farther than she was willing to go, and never upset about it. She was pretty sure he may be the last guy on earth who was so patient and understanding.
    After a few deep breaths, Aiden stood, and shook the water from his hair. Laughing and holding her hands up to block what she could of it, Eren jumped to her feet. Not that it did much good considering how hard it was raining now. Had she really not noticed that before?
    “ If we don’t get back by the time Fane does, your uncle might kill me,” he said.
    Knowing Alin would do no such thing, Eren laughed. Her uncle trusted Aiden and treated him like a second son. And as long as they got their power back under control, no one would know they’d gotten carried away. It hadn’t taken Eren long to figure that out after kissing him her energy was harder to suppress. The basic concept had been taught by a Tibetan monk in health class, one of the many strange things about Spruce Knoll High.
    Aiden bent and reached for his jacket, but Eren shot forward and grabbed it first. Laughing, she held it behind her back and dodged him as he tried to grab it. He soon gave up and took her face in his hands, planting a very long, distracting kiss on her. The game forgotten, she melted against him. His hands worked their way around her waist. When he took the jacket from her, she didn’t resist.
    Eren sighed as he pulled away and slipped it on. Her own blouse now clung to her like a second skin. She looked up to see that Aiden hadn’t missed that detail. His eyes were fixated on her as he chewed on his bottom lip.
    “ Maybe it would help if we ran back,” he suggested.
    “ Let’s, but not with our energy raised.”
    “ Of course,” Aiden said with that mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
    Eren took off at a pace that would soon have her eyes watering. She had to. That’s what it was going to take to get her mind off Aiden.
    The forest flew by in a green and white blur, the scents of spruce and earth clearing her head as they flowed down her throat. By the time they reached her aunt and uncle’s backyard, she was able to think about things other than putting her hands on Aiden, which was good because Fane was leaning against a tree waiting for them. There was a grin on his face so huge that the corners of it seemed to disappear into his black curls.
    “ You kissed her didn’t you?” Eren asked.
    Fane’s smile got bigger.
    “ Way to go,