Fated in Stone, page 25
A beat, and then she started to laugh. The sound made him smile. She had a great laugh. Bold and full and unrestrained.
They drove and talked for the next few hours. Her telling him more about her childhood, and how difficult it had been returning to her mother’s house after everything. How she’d doubted her mother really wanted her, because of what her father had spent three years telling her. The therapy and time it had taken to unlearn some of those destructive lessons.
He told her about some of his past. His time in the military during the two world wars—the monsters came out in higher numbers during big conflicts so Families found ways to put themselves into the middle of combat zones when necessary. He told her about his brother Nick who specialized in hunting in warzones around the world. They talked about his other brothers and sisters. About the time since his father’s murder.
They talked so much, he was surprised when he heard her stomach growl and realized they hadn’t eaten in a while. He pulled off the highway at the first offramp that led to food.
“You heard my stomach?” she asked.
“You should have mentioned being hungry.”
She stared at the side of his head for a moment. “You are always trying to feed me.”
“I warned you after the ritual, you’d need more food.” He shrugged, not so much as glancing at her while he navigated the side roads to the series of quick restaurants and a few decent sit-down places.
“You were doing that before the ritual.” He caught her wince from the corner of his eye. “Or, well, before we finished the ritual.”
He did glance at her then, but only briefly. “I like making sure you’re taken care of. Does that bother you?”
“No. I’m not used to it. But…no. I’m not bothered. It’s nice. I just find it funny that the same man who dives into killing monsters is also so sweet when he’s not.”
He felt his cheeks heating and scowled at the road. He was more than three hundred years old and he was blushing. Because his Nam-tar called him sweet. He was almost as embarrassed by his embarrassment as he was by her compliment.
She chuckled. “Let’s go in somewhere. I need to stretch my legs.”
They picked a diner with a range of food options. She ate steak and eggs. He had a burger and a pasta dinner. The waiter made no comment over the amount of food they finished, and Ben left him a good tip.
Back in the car, Elle took over the driving. “We’d planned to drive straight through yesterday. We should still do that.”
He glanced at her as she made a show of adjusting mirrors and resetting the seat to suit her shorter legs.
“Since they’ve stopped moving, we can catch up to them faster.” She still didn’t look at him.
What she was saying out loud made lots of sense and was actually their original plan. But there was something in her voice, her scent, that made him think their plan wasn’t really why she didn’t want to stop for the night.
“You don’t want to be in another motel room with me,” he said.
Her turn to blush. The color swept up her neck and across her sharp cheekbones. Charming him.
“That’s not precisely the problem,” she said, her chin high as she navigated back to the highway. “We need to get to Professor Arron sooner rather than later. He’s in danger.”
“He is. And we do. But that’s not why you don’t want to stop.”
“Actually,” she said, with a groan, “the problem is I do want to be in another motel room with you. Desperately. And I’m afraid if we do stop, we’ll miss our chance to rescue Professor Arron and prevent whatever it is the monsters are doing.” She flicked him a brief glance before focusing on the traffic again. “I’m afraid, once I have you in bed, I won’t want to leave that bed for days.”
He held very still and breathed slowly, deeply, for a long moment, while he absorbed what she’d just admitted. While he let the waves of desire wash over him and his body tightened and his imagination filled with exactly what he would do with her the instant he got her into bed.
She was right. Once he got her there, he had no intention of leaving that bed for as long as he could keep her there. He wanted to lose himself in her. And if he did that, he would forget his duty. At least for a few days.
“I hate that you’re right about this,” he said quietly. “Because after that admission, all I want to do is get you somewhere quiet and alone and with a bed.”
Her hands tightened on the steering wheel and her scent spiked with her lust. “Which is why we need to keep driving.”
They should. They really should. But he found himself hunting for alternatives. Ways he could get her somewhere private. Ways he could indulge in her, fuck her until they both screamed, and not get so carried away they’d miss their chance to rescue Professor Arron. He had a job, a duty, and losing himself in his Nam-tar would derail all that. But that didn’t stop him considering the quiet rest stops they passed, and the tree cover flashing by along parts of the highway with a depth that could definitely hide two people from view.
He was glad he wasn’t the one driving just then. His imagination was filled with everything he wanted to do to her, with her, all the ways he intended on exploring her body. The way he’d drag his lips over her shoulder, down her arm, across her breasts. Stopping to suck first one nipple, until she was panting, then move to the next. The feel of her hands in his hair as he kissed his way lower, moving across her stomach. Would she be more sensitive around her waist or her across her hip bone? Would she suck in a breath when he kissed the inside of her thigh? How would she react when he grazed his teeth over her ass?
Shifting in his seat, he tried to rein in his imagination. Definitely good he wasn’t driving because he was now so hard and hungry for her, he couldn’t see straight. And gods, her scent was filling the car, filling his head, surrounding him in the dark heated velvet of her desire.
He was going to lose his mind this way.
And he couldn’t even regret it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Elle drove for hours in discomfort and so outrageously aware of Ben next to her, her skin constantly tingled. They tried to return to distracting conversation, but as the sun set and the interior of the car grew dark, the intimacy of their positions heightened. Her awareness of him grew. The sound of his jeans rasping against the seat as he changed positions. The sound of his breathing. The scent of him all hot male under the nice soap from their last motel.
If his hands moved, she was hyper aware of their movement. When he glanced at her, she felt his gaze like a touch. Every cell in her body seemed attuned to him, to his every movement. And the tension of wanting him and not allowing herself to indulge was going to kill her.
She kept trying to think of monster goo and a client’s husband in danger. Those things helped for short periods of time. Kept her distracted enough she didn’t crash the car.
But then Ben would drop his hand to his thigh and her attention would drop with the gesture. And then all she could think about was his thighs. And how they’d feel bracketed by her legs. What it might feel like to ride one of those thick thighs, rubbing his rough leg hair against her clit until she came. Then she’d get distracted by his hands. His large, roughened, competent hands. The fantasies then involved those hands on her, on her breasts, her ass, his blunt, rough fingers pushing into her wet pussy. Sucking one of his fingers as he fucked her.
She couldn’t believe how desperate she was. She’d always found sex a bit hit or miss. Sometimes it was fun and she got off and enjoyed herself. Sometimes…not so much. She enjoyed sex well enough. But she’d never been so desperate to get a man inside her she thought she might scream.
Was this part of the Nam-tar thing? Would it always be like this? They could technically be apart now, and that was a relief, but would she spend the rest of her life desperate to get Ben naked and get him inside her?
There were worse ways to spend her life, she supposed.
He said she still—probably—had a choice to stay or go. A choice that determined if he remained cursed or not. Would her choice matter anymore, though? Would he still remain cursed even if she stayed because of the premature ritual? And if so…what exactly did that mean? What did the curse do to him?
She opened her mouth to ask again before she remembered why he’d specifically declined to give her details. He didn’t want her manipulated by the truth. He was afraid she’d stay out of sympathy and not because she chose to.
With a glance at him from the corner of her eye, she realized that argument was moot. Because she was already leaning toward staying with him. She was already in deep enough she wasn’t sure she could leave. She knew, with an instinct that surprised her, that she didn’t want to leave him. Ever. She wanted him in her life from this point forward. In fact, she couldn’t even imagine life without him now.
It was like, when he’d opened her eyes to the world of monsters, her life had changed so radically that there was no going back to the person or life she’d had before. No matter what. And if she had to live in this version of reality, she absolutely wanted that reality to contain Ben. In her life. With her as much as possible.
She’d told him things she hadn’t discussed with anyone but her therapist. She’d laid bare her years with her father and even more upsetting, the years after, with her mother, when she’d had such a hard time readjusting the “real life” and that her mother actually loved her. She didn’t discuss those things with strangers. She’d never discussed them with past lovers. She hadn’t even talked about these things in a therapy session for years now because the feelings had been dealt with and worked through. Revisiting all those things with Ben…meant something.
Meant she wanted him to know her. The real her. Maybe to see if he’d run away once he learned the truth. But he hadn’t. Not even close. And that had changed the equation between them again.
Feelings. She had feelings for him that went beyond this being an intense situation, beyond the lust and the whole Nam-tar thing. She wasn’t prepared to label those feelings yet. Not quite ready for that part yet. But she could acknowledge the feelings were there.
And wasn’t that just the oddest surprise.
The call of nature required a stop, so she pulled off at the first rest stop they came across. They parked a short walk away from the toilets in a parking lot surrounded by pines. There were two other cars in the lot when they got out. The area was really dark now, and the other cars had stopped under the lights illuminating the lot, but she’d parked in the shadows near the trees. She wasn’t even sure why. The lights just looked too harsh to her.
By the time she came out, Ben was already waiting by the car. She scanned the lot on her way back to him. Empty now, with only the sounds of traffic from the highway just the other side of a copse of trees. It was actually surprisingly quietly given how close they were to the highway.
Given they were tracking monsters, she’d have thought she’d be worried about walking around in the dark at an empty rest stop. Even without the monsters, she’d probably have skipped the rest stop and gone to a twenty-four hour fast food place if she were traveling alone. But having Ben waiting for her, all big and strong and deadly dangerous, left her feeling surprisingly secure.
As she neared him, his gaze never wavered from her, and in the shadows where she’d parked, his eyes seemed to glimmer. He had his arms crossed over his big chest and was leaning against the side of the car. Looking large and intimidating and a little scary.
She shivered. But not from fear.
Stalking toward him, she watched his gaze scan down her body, rising slowly back up as she neared. She felt that look along her skin, leaving sparks in its wake. And despite the cold air biting her cheeks, heat coiled in her, through her, sending her pulse thumping rapidly.
He stared down at her without comment for a long moment, that reflected light in his eyes all focus and intent on her. The delicious smell of hot male and soap mixed with the pines surrounding them, made her breath in deeper to pull more of that scent in.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low and rough. “Ready?”
Was she?
Yeah. Yeah, she was.
She stepped into him, ran her hands up his chest to his big broad shoulders. He didn’t uncross his arms but his nostrils flared and a muscle in his jaw flexed. She pressed up against his folded arms, going up on her toes so her breasts rested just above his arms, then she brought her hands up around his neck, threading her fingers into his hair. She felt his breathing speed and deepen.
Her gaze on his, she pulled his head down to her. He didn’t resist, didn’t take his gaze off hers, but he didn’t move to hold her either.
Curious what he’d do next, and needing to taste him more than she needed her next meal, she brushed her lips over his, once, twice, gently. Then she sank in, angling her head to deepen the kiss.
And he came undone.
His arms coiled around her, hard and fast, flattening her against his chest. He swept his tongue into her mouth, tasting her, so desperate he was almost harsh. She loved it. Answered in kind. She couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t feel enough of him pressed against her, but she tried, rubbing against him to ease the need for more contact. His hands spread along her back, then started to explore. One dropped to her ass, squeezing with a restrained intensity that left her breathless. His other slid over her hip, dragged up her spine, cupped the back of her head. His fingers burrowed through her hair, his fist flexing in a grip that made her moan.
She was so desperate for him after the day, after this morning, she was near mindless with the want. It occurred to her, in some dim part of her brain, that they’d be warmer in the car, but she couldn’t get the words out. And anyway, the heat that pumped off his big body was doing a remarkably good job of warming her up. That and the desperate need racing through her blood. She nearly crawled up him in an attempt to get closer, hooking one leg around his thigh.
With a suddenness that made her gasp, he grabbed her thighs and lifted her off the ground. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he turned so her back was to the car and leaned her gently against it. He slid one hand under her ass to hold her up and set his other hand against the car roof so he wasn’t actually pressing her hard into the rough metal. And she sank deeper into the kiss. She buried both hands in his hair again, holding him in place. His groan and her moan mingled in the chilled air, until those sounds were her whole world.
The hard ridge of his erection nestled between her thighs, rubbing against her through her cargo pants, driving her more and more crazy with every grind and thrust of his hips. She wanted him. Desperately. She’d never wanted anyone like this before in her life.
Car in a rest stop would have to do, because there was no way she’d be able to go the rest of the night without fucking him. Her brain was chanting now, now, now in a steady litany as she ground down against his hard cock and nearly came just from the rub of her clit against the seam in her pants.
But she wanted his hands on her naked skin. His mouth on her. And she wanted to explore him without the barrier of clothes getting in her way.
She reached down and fumbled at the car’s back door, nowhere near close enough to reach the handle. But he understood without her having to pull her mouth from his long enough to speak. His hold on her secure, he stepped away from the car, taking all her weight easily, and opened the back door. He crawled in, still with her clinging to him, her legs and arms tight around him, as if she could melt into him by sheer force of her lust.
Once they were sprawled on the back seat, he lifted away from her enough to close the door, and then he sank into their kiss again. The car wasn’t nearly large enough or long enough to accommodate his size. The backseat not exactly huge. But he didn’t seem to pay any attention. He settled one leg on the ground and the other folded on the seat and he devoured her mouth even as they pushed and pulled at each other’s clothes.
The interior of the car heated rapidly, warming enough that by the time Elle got her flannel and t-shirt off, she was comfortable, no chill or cold to interfere with her pleasure. She grabbed fistfuls of his shirt along his back and dragged the material up until they had to stop kissing so she could get it over his head. Once off, her hands went right to his chest, exploring. She dragged her near non-existent nails over his skin along his ribs, and he shuddered, grinding his hips down harder into hers. And wow, the feel of his cock, hard and thick and so ready for her. She didn’t think she could wait to get their pants off, but she wanted him inside her so badly, she forced herself to slow down, just a little.
Before she could demand he get his jeans off, though, his moved his mouth from hers to her neck, nuzzling the area between her shoulder and throat. She moaned and everything in her melted. Then his mouth moved across her chest, to her breasts. He tugged her bra down under her breast, not actually taking it off, and then sucked her nipple into his mouth. The heat and suction had her arching up under him, her whole body a livewire of sensation and need.
Without even thinking about it, she ground up against the ridge of his cock, grinding, sure she couldn’t wait to get the rest of their clothes off anymore. He buried his face against her neck again, groaning deeply as he pressed down into her. Then he lifted off her, just enough for his glittering gaze to sweep over her in the dark.
“Too many clothes still,” he muttered.
“Yes. Too many. Off.” She barely recognized her own voice. Had she ever sounded that breathless and desperate? Not that she remembered.
She untangled her legs from around his waist as he sat up, her hands going to the button of her cargo pants. He watched her as she wiggled her pants and underwear off at the same time, pushing them down as far as she was able in the confined space, with him kneeling on the far side of the seat. Fortunately, he helped and dragged her clothes down the rest of her legs, where they got caught on her boots. His hungry gaze still raking her body, he removed her boots with quick movements and then got the rest of her clothing off in a rush. Then he just knelt there, staring at her. His hands fisted against his thighs.
