Page 73 of New Blood

“Get in the car, before you both get hypothermia,” Violet said firmly.

As they got into the car and drove back to the house, Danielle was surprised by how resolute Violet sounded. In the face of an unexpected situation, she turned out to be very practical and decisive. She’d never really seen the youngest Gallagher family member in this light.

The moment they reached the house, several people came running. She was glad to see Priscilla with two large blankets in her arms.

“I can run you a hot bath,” Priscilla offered, after wrapping her in the blanket.

She handed the second one to Jude.

“Thank you, Priscilla.”

Austin nodded at Jude. “I’ll take care of everything. You two, go get warm. I’ll let you know when we’ve towed the car.”

“Appreciate it,” Jude replied.

Jude put his arm around her. “Come, we both need a hot shower.”

She nodded, agreeing, though she needed more than just a hot shower. She needed something to wipe away this scary memory and make her feel alive.

40

With his hand on Danielle’s lower back, Jude walked upstairs, leading her to the master suite. They entered, and he closed the door behind them and locked it. He didn’t want any interruptions.

“Did your car ever give you any trouble?” he asked.

“Not really. It’s old, but it runs well enough.”

“And the brakes? Did they feel non-responsive before today?”

She shook her head. “I had the brake pads replaced only a year ago. I guess I should have had the whole mechanism replaced, but it hardly felt worth it to spend that much money on an old car like that.”

Jude contemplated her words. The brakes just failing from one day to another didn’t make sense. Danielle would have felt that she had to hit the brakes harder in the past few weeks if it was attributed to wear and tear. He had to look into it, but he didn’t want to worry her that this accident might not have been an accident at all. Once Austin and the others had pulled the car from the pond, he’d have Heath and one of his own guys look at the brakes and investigate why they failed.

“I’ll buy you a new car,” he promised with a smile.

“You don’t have to. I can just borrow one of the other cars when I—”

He put a finger over her lips. “I want to. Now, how about that shower? You’re shivering.”

As a werewolf, she wasn’t as susceptible to extreme temperatures as humans; therefore, he guessed that the shivering was a fear reaction. He wanted to rid her of all reminders of what had happened.

In the bathroom, they both shed their clothes quickly. Jude reached into the shower and switched on the water, then adjusted it to a comfortable temperature.

He stepped into the spray of the water, and Danielle joined him as they rinsed the dirty pond water off their bodies.

He felt warmth return to his limbs and reached for the soap.

“Let me take care of you,” he murmured and began to lather her with soap, gently massaging her body.

He felt her relax under his touch and turned her in his arms, so she could lean against his chest. As he continued lathering her breasts, he felt her nipples harden. Her body was responding to him, just like his own body was responding to her. He felt his cock fill with blood and his balls tighten. He kneaded her breasts and noticed how they seemed to overflow in his palms as if they’d grown heavier since the previous night. She moaned softly, her breaths attesting to the pleasure his tender touch elicited. He squeezed them harder now, pressing them together to a beautiful cleavage, before he released one of them and slid his hand south. When his fingers grazed the curly hair guarding her sex, she pressed her ass to his groin, trapping his cock between their bodies.

“Fuck!” he hissed at the intense pleasure, but didn’t stop her. Instead, he imprisoned her pussy with his hand while rubbing his cock against her ass.

“I need you,” she murmured, her voice hoarse.

“You’ve got me.”

He shifted under the spray of the shower, making sure to rinse all the soap from their bodies before he directed her to face the tile wall, while he remained behind her.