“Same here,” she murmured.
I shifted closer, stopping when my legs brushed against hers. The skin-on-skin contact was hard to ignore, but this needed to be said. “I really didn’t mean to make you cry earlier.”
She moved onto her back and stared up at me as I rose up on one elbow. “I know,” she said. “The whole thing you did, it was sort of amazing.”
“I just didn’t like the idea of you being alone,” I admitted quietly.
Kat sucked in a sharp breath, and her gaze met mine. I couldn’t look away. Only she had that kind of power over me. How in the hell could she not see that?
I reached out, catching a strand of her hair and brushing it back. An electric charge traveled up my hand. Her gaze dropped to my mouth, and I knew—dammit, I knew she was feeling exactly what I was feeling.
“We should go to sleep,” she said, voice lower, thicker.
“We should.” I palmed her cheek.
She didn’t look away as she lifted her hand, brushing her fingers over my lips. The touch sent a jolt of lust straight through me. I shifted my hand closer, giving her more room to play as I slid my hand down to her neck. Her heart sped up, beating in tandem with mine. I dipped my head, pressing a quick kiss atop her nose.
And then I kissed her.
I took my time. It was slow and deep. It burned right through me, and I wanted more, so much more. I wanted her. I wanted her in any and every way I could have her.
But she wasn’t mine.
Reining it all in, calling on all the self-control I had, I lifted my head and shifted onto my back. I kept my arm around her. “Good night, Kitten.”
She sighed loudly. “That’s all?”
Damn. I laughed. “That’s all…for now.”
Her heart hadn’t slowed. Neither had mine. After a couple of moments, she sighed again and then squirmed closer, quietly nudging me until I snaked my arm under her head, and rested her cheek there. I turned my head to her. Our eyes met. Her scent enveloped me, and even though I closed my eyes, I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping for a long, long time.
And I also know that although she wasn’t mine now, she would be one day.
Chapter 17
I was slow to wake up, and it had everything to do with the girl in my arms, curled against me. The warmth of Kat’s body seeped into mine, and as I blinked my eyes open, I didn’t want to leave this bed.
I knew I had to. Soon. Faint light from the window cut across the bed. Her mom would be home soon, and I seriously doubted she would be thrilled to find me in her daughter’s bedroom despite the fact that nothing, other than a kiss, had gone down between us.
My chin dipped and I swallowed a groan.
Damn, I wanted more than a kiss right now. A lot more.
My hips were cradling her body. She was tucked into me, and man, if she woke up right now, things would get real awkward.
It didn’t help that in her sleep, she had kicked off most of the covers, and the curve of her thighs looked incredibly soft. Her shirt had ridden up, and my forearm was resting against the bare skin of her stomach.
Seriously, it didn’t take much to turn me on when it came to Kat. She could just look at me. Talk to me. Insult me. I was pretty much in a constant state of being turned on, but this was pure torture. To have her this close, to be holding her, and not do a damn thing about it.
I lifted my head slightly and stared down at her. Her lips were parted, and thick lashes fanned the rise of her cheeks. Her hair was half on me, half on the pillow. It was everywhere.
Kat had definitely wanted more last night, but I wasn’t going there, not then and not now, until Douche Bag was completely out of the picture. I had a feeling he would be. He had to be. I saw it—everything—shift in Kat’s eyes last night.
She’d seen only me, and there was no room for anyone else.
I needed to get up.
I didn’t move for another five minutes, sort of caught up in staring at her, but the light slicing over the bed was growing stronger by the minute.
It was time for me to go.
Kissing her cheek, I gently slid my arm out from underneath her and rolled out of bed. Quietly pulling on my clothes, I moved soundlessly through her bedroom, noting the stacks of books everywhere. I grinned. Stopping at the door, I glanced back at her. She hadn’t moved one inch. Closing the door, I left the bedroom and ghosted down the steps. I was out the front door and in mine just as I saw her mom’s Prius come up the driveway.
I turned around.
Dee stood in the stairwell, her brows arched and arms crossed. “Well. Well. Well…”
“What?” I scratched my fingers through my hair and realized the strands were sticking up everywhere.
She blinked out and appeared at the bottom of the steps. “I don’t have time to question you on why you’re now just getting home from my best friend’s house, because the Walmart in Cumberland is having a huge early bird sale and I need to get there, but you better believe I want answers.”
I shot her a bland look. “There’s nothing going on.”
Dee snatched her purse and keys off the recliner. “Just like there’s nothing happening when Adam spends the ni—”
“Oh, come on,” I groaned. “I don’t want to hear that.”
“Whatever.” She walked to the door, pointing at me. “You and I will be talking later.”
I was going to be avoiding “later” like nobody’s business.
Lucky for me, Dee was out most of the day and into the early evening. It was my turn to patrol, and I decided to get an early start before dinner. I could always grab something from Smoke Hole on my way back. Grabbing my baseball hat over the back of the sofa, I tugged it on and headed out.
Kat’s car was gone when I stepped outside. Wondering if she met up with Carissa or Lesa, I cut across the driveways and moved among the bare trees. I knew Kat wasn’t with Dee. If she wasn’t with them, she— I cut my thoughts off. There was no way she would be with Douche Bag, not after last night.
Faint light clung to the thick limbs as I picked up my pace, staying in my human form as I scouted the area. From the wooded areas, we could move around the whole damn county virtually undetected, but it was hunting season, and the last thing I wanted was to be shot. Going full Luxen would noticeably draw attention, but wearing a dark thermal and jeans, I blended in as the waning sun gave way to night.
As I neared the outskirts of the county, a few steps from Pendleton, I skidded to a stop, kicking up dried, dead leaves and loose soil. Ice snaked down my spine. I whipped around, scanning the trees. I didn’t see anything, but there was definitely an Arum nearby.
Shit.
I moved toward the west, farther away from home, and didn’t pick up a damn thing. Backtracking, I picked up speed, coasting over the ground and uprooted trees, barely touching the exposed roots and boulders. Several miles later, I felt the oily thickness gliding over my skin. It was brief, gone before it could taint the air.
The Arum was a fast son of a bitch, staying several minutes ahead of me despite the fact that there was no way it sensed me, not with the looming Seneca Rocks.
My breath puffed out misty clouds in the cold air as I neared the highway. I traveled north a mile before I felt the Arum again.
Slowing down as the trees thinned, I tracked the Arum right up to the Smoke Hole diner. Holy shit, was it going for the meat loaf or something? The darkness of it, the thickness in the air, had heightened as I waited until bright headlights of oncoming traffic cleared. I crossed the road, hitting the parking lot at a sedate pace.
Through the lit windows of the diner, a dark shadow exploded within the building, blackening out the windows and rapidly disappearing. The presence of the Arum vanished.
“What the hell…” The back of my neck warmed and tingled. Kat was here?
The door to Smoke Hole flew open and out came Kat. She wasn’t alone. Douche Bag was with her, his hand wrapped around hers. I stared at them, torn between focusing on the fact that an Arum had just been inside the diner and the fact that even after last night, she was with Blake today.