Page 122 of A Wild Darkness

“Look, Stevie.” His expression slowly turns from confusion to confidence. “What I…we are doing right now is all I want. Sure, I’m known to be impulsive and act on instinct, but my gut has never steered me wrong before.” His eyes dart to me, then back to the darkness of the highway. “I am utterly infatuated with you, Stevie Levinson, and I have no plans on slowing us down anytime soon.”

He pulls into the underground driveway and then puts the car into park. His body turns toward me, and he brings two fingers to my chin, lifting it up to get me to look at him.

“Now I’m going to put you in the shower so you can get warm. Do you understand?”

“Okay,” I say softly.

Sebastian leans over the center console, his lips meeting mine with a soft but deep kiss. My eyes close, enjoying the way he tastes.

He pulls away. “Let’s go.”

We both exit the car, and a few minutes later we walk into his bedroom, his heady scent everywhere. But my mind is still stuck on the X carved into Mr. Hoover’s leg.

“Sebastian?” I say his name before he walks into the bathroom.

He turns around to face me. “Yeah?”

“When I was at the mortuary earlier, Noah, my other mortician, showed me an X carved into a new victim.”

His jaw flexes. “A new victim?”

“Yeah, and he died of an apparent heart attack.”

He runs a hand through his hair, then steps closer to me. “Did the markings look the same as the others?”

“Yes.” I pace for a moment, thinking about which one could have been connected to something that would have been associated with a heart attack, and my mind only goes to the murderous surgeon.

Then Sebastian says exactly what I was thinking. “Could it have been Silas?”

“It had to have happened before wine country because we just got back,” I add.

“Yeah,” he agrees, his voice is distant. Then he collapses his hands behind his neck. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. We’re already working on taking them out.”

He’s right.

“I know,” I say with a heavy heart.

Sebastian senses my sadness and steps into me, gripping my chin with his two fingers. Tilting my face to his, my eyes meet his dark brown retinas. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. So, let’s focus on moving forward and keeping our heads focused on the goal—which is to rid the world of these monsters.”

I nod slowly. “You’re right. It’s just frustrating.”

“I know.” His empathetic tone is welcoming. “Now, let’s get you into the shower and cleaned off.”

Sebastian releases me gently and walks directly into the bathroom. I immediately hear the shower turn on.

A couple of minutes later, he emerges wearing nothing. “The shower is ready.”

I choke on my own spit. “Thanks.” The sight of his enormous length, semi-hard, and ripped chest full of black ink makes my mouth water.

He smiles when he catches me taking in the sight of him, then saunters toward me with a devilish grin on his face. He takes both his hands and slips his leather jacket from my shoulders. His palms drift along the curves of my sides, pulling my sweater up with them. I shake my hair out while he tosses my top off to the side.

Sebastian’s fingertips move to my collarbone, gliding over the sore bite marks on my neck, then onto my back where they meet at the hooks of my bra. His touch feels safe. With a single snap, my bra pops off, hitting the floor at our feet. My breasts hang free. His lips part as his eyes trace both my breasts in wonder before meeting my gaze.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he says reverently.

I fight the emotions building in my throat because I’ve never been looked at like this before.

I pull my lower lip between my teeth, flushed under his adoring gaze.