And of course, being free again with Kellan made me smile delightfully as I watched his aching perfection turn to greet me in the kitchen. His hair loose and easy seemed to exactly match his smile.

"Mornin'...coffee?" He pointed at the finished pot.

Smiling widely, I went over to him and put my arms around his waist. He startled for a second and then slipped his arms around mine. He was warm and smelled amazing. Relief washed through me; it was easy to touch him like this, especially knowing that it would go no farther.

"Good morning. Yes, please." I nodded over to the coffee pot. This would be the first cup of coffee I'd had since our tryst. I finally felt well enough to drink it again...and I had really missed it.

He smiled as he gazed down at me, his perfect blue eyes calm and peaceful. "You aren't going to fight me on this?" he asked, pulling me closer.

I returned his warm smile. "No...I missed this." He leaned in like he was going to kiss my neck and I pushed him back, frowning. "We do need ground rules though..."

He chuckled. "Okay...fire away."

"Well, besides the obvious one, that you and I aren't ever..." I blushed deeply at the thought I couldn't even say and he laughed.

"Having...hot...sweaty...sex?" he finished for me, raising a perfect eyebrow and saying each word slowly. "Are you sure you don't want to rethink that? We're pretty amazin-"

I looked at him sharply and cut him off, smacking him in the chest for his question. "Besides that obvious one, no more kissing...ever."

He frowned. "What if I just stay away from your lips? Friends kiss."

I frowned too, a sudden memory of his tongue running up my throat making me shiver. "Not like you do."

He sighed. "Fine...anything else?"

I smiled and stepped away from his embrace, miming a bikini top and bottom. "Off limits...don't touch."

He frowned again. "God, you're sucking all the fun out of our friendship." He quickly smiled after he said that. "Okay...any other rules I should know about?"

I stepped back into his embrace as he held his arms out to me. "This stays innocent, Kellan. If you can't do that, we end this." I searched his eyes, but he brought my head to his shoulder and hugged me.

"Okay, Kiera." He sighed then pushing back, he laughed. "That goes for you too, you know." He pointed to his lips then down to his pants. "Don't touch," he mocked. I lightly smacked his chest. "Unless you really, really want to..." he added with a chuckle. I smacked his chest even harder and he laughed again and pulled me tight.

Sighing, I relaxed into his embrace, thinking I could stay all morning in his comforting arms, but then I started at the sound of the telephone ringing. It was still awfully early. I glanced up to where Denny was still sleeping and then hurried over to the phone, not wanting the sound to wake him up yet. A small river of guilt flooded through me that the reason I didn't want him awake, was because I wanted to be alone with Kellan longer.

"Hello?" I answered as I bent over the counter. An amused chuckle behind me spun me around. Kellan was grinning most inappropriately at the sight of me bending over the counter. I stood up straight and put a hand on my hip, frowning at him.

"Hey, sis!" Anna's perky voice came through the phone, but I continued to frown at Kellan. He made a swift halo motion above his head - I'll be good - and I finally smiled.

"Hi, Anna." I leaned back on the counter, watching Kellan pour his coffee and then prepare some for me. "Isn't it a little early for phone calls?" My sister was kind of a night owl and she usually didn't rise before noon.

"Oh, I'm just getting home and thought I'd give you a jingle before school. Did I wake you?" I frowned and looked up at the clock - 7:05 here, so Ohio would be 10:05. She just got home?

"No, I'm up." I stared at the clock, wondering what my sister had been up to.

"Good...did I wake up hot-bod?" I could hear the amusement in her voice at her nickname for Kellan.

I laughed once. "No, hot-bod is awake too." I cringed when I remembered that "hot-bod" was listening to the conversation and I looked over at his highly amused face. He raised an eyebrow and mouthed the word 'hot-bod', pointing to himself. I nodded and rolled my eyes as he laughed softly.

"Oooooohhh...and what were you two doing so early this morning?" she teased.

Curious what Kellan's reaction would be, I decided to play with him and my sister a little bit. "We were screwing on the table, waiting for the coffee to brew." His facial reaction matched my sister's verbal reaction so perfectly, that I laughed.

"Oh my god, Kiera!" she exclaimed, while Kellan spat back up his coffee and coughing a bit, looked at me incredulously. I laughed again and had to turn away from Kellan's face when he started to grin indecently.

"Geeze, Anna, I'm just joking. I would never touch him like that. You should hear about all the girls he's been with. Ugh, he's disgusting...and Denny is asleep upstairs, you know." I glanced up to where Denny was sleeping, hoping my laughing hadn't awoken him, and then I brought my gaze back down to Kellan. He was holding his coffee cup and staring oddly at the floor.

"Really? I like disgusting. Wait...he's back?" Anna was asking about Denny, but my focus was on Kellan and his strange expression.

"You know, a phone call to Mom or Dad here and there really won't kill you." I frowned as Kellan set down his full coffee mug and started to move towards me, towards the entryway, like he was leaving. Instantly, I realized what I, in my haste to cover with Anna, had snottily said - 'he's disgusting'.

Anna sighed. "Yeah, yeah it might. So you and Denny are okay after your extended absence from each other?"

I caught Kellan's arm as he walked by me. I had offended him with my words; surely he knew I was covering? "Everything is fine." I was speaking to both him and Anna. He looked back at me sadly, as I pulled his arm around my waist. Slowly his smile returned and he held me tight, leaning us both back against the counter.

"Good...if it were me, I probably would have jumped in the sack with hot-bod while he was gone. Good thing you're not me, huh?"

I blushed at how accurate her flippant comment actually was and Kellan eyed me curiously. "Yeah, it's a good thing you and I are nothing alike, Anna." I gazed up at his amazing blue eyes while he held me close.

"So...how about I come up this weekend?"

Startled, I stiffened and stared straight ahead of me. "No!" Kellan tried to catch my eye, whispering, "what"?

"Oh, come on, Kiera. I'm dying to meet hot-bod." I avoided meeting Kellan's gaze. Things were finally comfortable between us, I didn't need my sister messing that up...or trying to get in his pants. I wasn't all that sure he wouldn't let her.

"He has a name, Anna," I snapped, more irritated at my last thought than my sister's pet-name.

"Fine, Kellan. God, even his name is hot." She exhaled loudly. "You can't keep him all to yourself, you know."

"I'm not!" I was really getting steamed. I finally met Kellan's worried eyes and forced myself to calm down, to relax in his embrace. I smiled and shook my head at him, trying to ease him and myself.

"Winter break, Anna...remember? You can come up then. I'm just too busy right now." I gazed at his calm eyes as he smiled at me. I couldn't bear the thought of them together.

"Winter break...but it's October?" She still sounded miffed.

"I'm busy, Anna..." I said it softly, trying to pacify her.

"Ppfftt...one weekend won't kill you, Kiera."

I sighed, knowing that if I fought this any longer, she would get suspicious. "Fine." I frantically racked my brain, trying to think of a way to at least postpone the trip a little. Searching Kellan's achingly perfect face, the answer struck me so fast I actually said, "Oh."

"What?" my sister and Kellan asked at the same time.

I grinned and Kellan grinned with me, raising his eyebrows curiously. "Well, Anna...Kellan has gigs every Friday and Saturday night. He's not free until..." I raised my eyebrow at him and he thought for a split-second then mouthed 'seventh', "...until the seventh. So, if you want him to come with us, you should wait to come out then."

She sighed. "Of November? That's three weeks away, Kiera..."

I grinned, wanting to giggle. "I know. You're welcome to come out earlier. Kellan won't really be around, but you can hang out with Denny and me. We can go to a movie or some-"

"No, no...fine, I'll come out on the seventh." Then she brightened. "We'll have so much fun, Kiera!" She giggled and I wasn't sure who she was excited to see more, me or my roommate. "Can I sleep in Kellan's room?" she asked and then giggled again.

Okay...roommate then. I sighed loudly. "I have to get ready for school. I'll talk to you later, Anna. Get some sleep! And take a cold shower."

She giggled again. "Bye, Kiera. See you soon!"

"Bye." I hung up the phone. "Shit."

Kellan chuckled at me and I glanced up at him. "Don't tell Griffin about that...please."

He shrugged and laughed some more. "What's wrong?" He smiled softly at me, still containing chuckles.

"My sister, she wants to visit." My tone was not happy.

He looked at me, confused. "Okay...and, you don't like her?"

I shook my head and lightly rubbed his arm. "No, no I do. I love her, dearly, but..." I blushed deeply and looked away.

"But what?" He tried to meet my eyes.

I looked back at him and sighed. "You're kind of man-flavored candy to my sister," I said glumly.

He laughed. "Ahhh...so I'm pretty much going to be attacked, right?" He seemed really amused by that prospect. I was not.

"It's not funny, Kellan." I pouted.

He stopped laughing and smiled warmly at me. "It kind of is, Kiera."

I looked away, feeling tears start to form and not wanting him to see. He wouldn't understand. I didn't understand. I just knew how Anna would be with him, and how he would probably be with her...it made me feel ill. I didn't want him touching her, but I knew I didn't have the right to ask him not to. He wasn't mine.

He hooked some hair behind my ear. "Hey..." He gently moved my chin to make me look at him. "What do you want me to do?" he asked softly.

I wasn't going to ask him, but it slipped out anyway. "I want you to not 'do' her. I don't want you to even touch her." I said it rather harshly and threw him a glare.

"Okay, Kiera," he said after a minute, lightly rubbing my cheek.

"Promise me, Kellan." I stopped glaring, but gazed at him intently, my eyes brimming.

"I promise, Kiera. I won't sleep with her, okay?" He smiled at me reassuringly and I finally nodded and let him pull me in for a tight hug.

Kellan and I said our goodbyes to Denny when he left for work. Kellan was in a surprisingly good mood and clapped Denny on the back, wishing him luck with his dick of a boss. Denny said thanks back and gave me a swift kiss on the cheek before heading out. He seemed in a better mood too, and I was momentarily thrilled that everything between the three of us was just a bit easier. After Denny left, Kellan grabbed my hand and we cuddled on the couch to watch TV. I nearly sighed with relief, it was so wonderful to sit next to him on the couch and rest my head on his shoulder, just like I used to before things got intense between us. He put his arm around me and we enjoyed the warmth of each other for most of the morning.

I only had one class today and then I was going to study a bit before work. Kellan drove me to school, which gave me a small thrill - my old addiction was coming back full force. I thanked him, but made him stay in the car and not walk me to class. I didn't need another fifty question session if someone else saw me with the rock star. He frowned, but stayed where I asked, and I smiled as I watched him drive away.

I never saw Tina and Genevieve in my Psych class after their grilling session that one afternoon (apparently they were not in that class), so I figured they had ruled me out as a potential rival for Candy. That made me smile a little, when I thought about how much of Kellan's attention I actually did have. Then I immediately frowned. Why was he so interested in plain little me? Anyway, not wanting to run into any of the three again, I tried to avoid the Harry Potter library after that. Not too long ago, I'd found a cute little park nearby that was perfect for stretching out with some books. After class, I decided today was just enough of a beautiful day to study there.