Read Online The Torn, Book One of the Holding Kate Series by LaDonna Cole - Free Book Online Page B

my legs into my arm and rested my ear on my knees and studied his profile. “Making Trip jealous was just a pleasant side effect.” I bit my lip in chagrin.
    He threw his head back and laughed. “I love it that you are so honest.” His eyes sobered and fastened onto mine. “So, are you two—a couple?”
    I sighed. Were we a couple? It felt like it was trying to happen, and I couldn’t deny there was intense physical attraction between us, but something was holding me back, and I had a feeling it had everything to do with the unbelievably sweet and warm boy sitting beside me. I wanted to answer Corey honestly. He deserved the truth.
    “Corey, I don’t know the answer to that question. If I did, I promise I would tell you.” I put my forehead in the dip between my boney kneecaps. “I think he would like to believe that we are a couple. From his perspective, he has waited to be reunited with me for three years. From my perspective, I have only known him for a few hours. I mean, it isn’t like I spent an eternity with him. You on the other hand…”
    “I know, Kate. I have loved you for a thousand years and yet only had a few moments with you.”
    “Exactly.” I turned to him and saw a tear trickling down his face. I reached up and wiped the tear with my thumb and cupped his cheek. He kissed my palm and tenderness flooded me. I found myself leaning toward him, needing him, wanting to wrap myself around him and resume our endless kissing.
    He put his forehead to mine and closed his eyes. I could feel his breath on my face and I breathed it into myself needing any part of him. Just when I thought his lips would find mine, he spoke in a ragged whispered.
    “Not until you know for sure, Kate. I won’t tear you apart, like this.” He took my face in his hands, kissed my forehead, then stood and pulled me up beside him. “We go find cave or big stick weapon! Ug!” He pounded his chest.
    I snorted. “You big caveman. Drag me by my hair to cook you dino ribs.”
    “If only I could be so lucky.” Corey gathered my hair and twisted it over his hands, gently, smiling into my eyes.
    “Corey,” I crimped my brows. “What exactly did we learn in the Scriptorium?”
    He raised his eyebrows, took my hand and we started up the hill. “Well, I’m not sure.”
    “Trip and Tara learned some mad fighting skills. What exactly did we take out of our experience…I mean except for this…” I waved my hand back and forth between our chests. “…this connection.” My face flushed at the understatement.
    “It’s just that I know someone is going to ask sooner or later. We were chosen first, as team leaders, so it is going to occur to them at some point that our experience should have been extremely enlightening.”
    He stopped walking and turned to face me. “It was definitely enlightening.” He touched my cheek.
    I smiled. “Yeah, but I don’t think I want to share those parts with everyone. I want to keep those enlightening moments between the two of us.”
    “Right.” Corey pierced me with a confused expression. I realized that he might have taken that to mean that I didn’t want to tell Trip about our connection, but I really just meant I wanted to keep the precious moments with Corey private, our own sweet secret. I didn’t know how to say that without it sounding like I was making excuses. We resumed our climb.
    “There was the Voice.”
    “Yeah, the Voice. Was that God?” I asked hesitantly.
    “I think so. It felt divine.” He touched his heart.
    “But also extremely personal, almost like…”
    He looked steadily at me. “Like?”
    “This is going to sound weird, but it was like our love for each other was…”
    “..created by him.”
    “…encouraged.”
    “Like it was him.” Corey nodded.
    “It is weird, huh?”
    “Radically weird.”
    The hill jutted up steeply and we had to press our full attention on scrambling up the incline. We reached a ledge and stopped to rest. At this height we