Read Online License to Shift by Kathy Lyons - Free Book Online Page A

stuff?”
    “Stuff,” he said as he pressed his lips against her forehead. He didn’t even seem to know he was doing it. He just rolled his head lightly and pressed his lips against her. “I’ve known for years. Fought it for years. Eventually, it just wins and all I’m left with is regrets.” He swallowed. “I’m sorry I hurt you back then.”
    She leaned her head back. She didn’t want to. The situation was too weird. But his shoulder was so broad it just worked for her to settle against the shelf of his collarbone. And she felt safe . Insane to feel that way, but she did. “You’re forgiven already. Geez, let it rest.”
    At least the pieces now fell into place. The mood swings between Neanderthal and über-logical. The casual disregard of the normal rhythms of life. If she thought she was going to die in a few months, she sure as hell would sleep whenever she felt like it, day or night. She’d drink whatever coffee she wanted and answer the door naked. Who the hell cared?
    God, he was dying? The very idea made her tear up. He couldn’t be. He was too alive.
    “Don’t cry,” he whispered. “Not for me.”
    “Why not for you?” she asked.
    She met his gaze in the mirror and tried to blink away the blurred vision. His eyes looked sad and hungry all at once. His hands tightened on her hips.
    “Please don’t cry,” he said. “You’re too beautiful to cry.”
    The way he said it made her heart ache. He really thought her big bones and huge boobs were beautiful, not to mention her belly. She took a deep breath and tried to gain control. Not only of her emotions, but of where they stood in the bathroom and what he was doing. He was holding her pressed against the sink, stopping her from touching him while he all but laid himself along her back.
    “Mark,” she said as she straightened up. “Mark, step back.”
    He didn’t want to. She saw it in his eyes. But he pulled himself back from her, and she used the space to turn around. To face him. To look into his eyes and feel everything she’d been fighting.
    “Mark…” she whispered, wishing she knew the right words to say. His gaze caught and held on her mouth, but he kept his body away. And then she knew it wasn’t words he needed. And though her mind screamed warning alarms, the rest of her just went with the emotions churning within her.
    “This disease you have. Is it…contagious?”
    He shook his head. “You can’t catch it. I wouldn’t endanger you that way.”
    “Is there any way at all for me to catch it? Like, is it AIDS or something like that?”
    His lips twisted into a wry smile. “I’d never endanger you that way,” he repeated. “There is nothing we could do that would make you sick.”
    She nodded, smiling slowly. “I’m still making you use a condom.”
    He nodded, clearly not processing what she’d just said. Then a second later, his eyes abruptly widened. His body jolted then stilled into wariness. “I—Julie—”
    “You weren’t the only one thinking about that time when we were teens. I spent the last night dreaming about making love with you.” She cast her voice light as a way to hide the intensity of the emotions she felt. “I figure if you’re horny and I’m horny, we might as well—”
    “Pity fuck?”
    Her chin jerked up. “Not on my end. Is that what it would take for you to want me?”
    Again the blink, but this time he pulled back. “What? Jesus, no! God, I’ve wanted you since I was sixteen.”
    Well, that couldn’t possibly be true. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have disappeared back then. He must have read the doubt on her face because his hands tightened into fists.
    “I told you I was an idiot. I ran off because I freaked out. You were too much. I wanted so much. I was afraid for us both, and so I ran. And I kept running for six weeks.”
    She frowned. “What?”
    “I stayed in the woods for six weeks starting from that night on. By the time I calmed down…by the time I got back to me,