“Yes.”
However, her clipped tone and determination not to look at him said she was the exact opposite of okay. “I didn’t harm her.”
“I know.”
Instead, the sound the woman released made it clear she’d enjoyed what he did to her. Just like Callie, that woman enjoyed being in his arms, and Callie wished it was her that he’d held so close.
What is wrong with you? All you got from his bite was pain—no, not pain, excruciating agony.
When she was younger, a pissed-off mare kicked her in the knee. She recalled the stabbing pain of that blow and the unnatural way her leg bent back. She’d walked away from the incident with a knee sprain, but that pain couldn’t compare to what Lucien did to her. Yet, she would have changed places with that woman in a heartbeat.
Yes, she definitely had to get away from him.
“Come on, let’s go to our room,” he said.
Lucien studied her bent head as they walked. She refused to look at him as they made their way to their room near the end of the motel. His thoughts tumbled over each other as he tried to figure out what he’d done to cause this change.
Was it because he fed in front of her again? Was the constant reminder of what he was pushing her away?
But he didn’t have any other choice. If he was going to keep her safe, he had to be strong, and she’d seen him feed before without withdrawing like this. Lucien was so busy trying to figure out what was wrong, he walked right by their room.
When he touched her arm to get her attention, she stiffened beneath his fingers. It was a far different reaction from the one she had earlier when she hugged him as he held her supple body close.
Lucien longed for that moment back. How did he fix this? Was she gone for good?
He had little experience in how to deal with women in his life. Plenty had flitted in and out of his life over the years, but he usually only spent a couple of hours with them. With no experience on how to talk with them, he was scared that if he said or did the wrong thing here, it would drive her away for good.
Apprehension churned inside him as he stopped outside room fifteen and slid the card into the little slot beside the door. The light went from red to green, and he twisted the knob before pushing it open. He held the door while she slipped inside.
Chapter Twenty
“I’m goingto get the supplies from the Jeep,” he said.
Callie didn’t look at him as she kicked off her sneakers and headed for the bathroom. Lucien watched as she closed the bathroom door before he stepped outside, shut the door, and jogged across the parking lot to the Jeep.
He kept his senses honed to the night as he scented the air and searched for any hint of a threat. The only thing he detected was the feral scent of wild animals and the crisp, mountain air.
He removed the cooler from the Jeep before checking the one strapped to the rack on the back. Inside were a couple of six-packs of beers. He pulled out one of the six-packs and shoved them into Callie’s cooler before returning to the room.
He opened the door again and slipped inside. The sound of the shower greeted him as the door clicked shut behind him, and he froze. His heart raced, and though he just fed, his fangs elongated as saliva filled his mouth.
She was in that shower, she was naked, and he ached to watch the water sliding down her body, between the valley of her breasts, along her stomach, and between her legs. He’d never drank water before, but he longed to lick the stream from her in leisurely, tantalizing strokes. He became so hard, so fast, he almost groaned when his dick strained against his jeans.
A bang from the shower pulled him from his imaginings of fucking her. He hurried to the door as fast as he could in his current condition.
“Everything okay?” he called through the door.
“Yes!” she shouted back and bent to retrieve the soap she’d dropped.
He contemplated going in there to check on her, but he could only imagine how she’d react if he walked in on her. No, despite his concern, he couldn’t invade her privacy in such a way.
Lucien retreated to sit on the edge of the bed. He fell back to stare at the ceiling while listening to the shower and attempting to not imagine her naked form as she ran the soap over her lush body. He tried to will his erection away, but he was still as hard as a rock when the shower shut off fifteen minutes later.
Lucien sat up and listened to her moving about in the room. Another ten minutes passed before she emerged. A cloud of steam billowed out the door behind her. She was fully dressed again, and her wet hair spilled around her shoulders.
She briefly met his gaze before she walked over to the cooler, opened it, and pulled out some of the supplies they took earlier. Retreating to the bathroom, she closed the door and spent the next five minutes scrubbing her teeth before turning her attention to working out the knots in her hair.
She left the toiletries next to the sink, along with his unopened toothbrush, and returned to the room. She didn’t say a word as she walked past him, sat on the edge of the bed as far from him as she could get, lifted the remote, and turned on the TV.
