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She’d also been up front about everything she wanted physically from him, which had been more wolf than witch. He’d given her what she’d asked for and then some. It had been some of the best sex he’d ever known.
Seeing her in front of him, he wanted her with the same force of that first night. Having sex with Lauren, however, wasn’t something he ever intended to do again despite the runaway nature of this thoughts.
He reined in his lust and forced himself to focus on the situation at hand. He needed to make a decision about the kidnapped girl and helping out.
He shook his head and growled. There wasn’t a real decision to be made. He was a Border Patrol officer and his duty was to serve and to protect. Besides, it was in his nature to do what he could. Once they’d gotten the girl to safety, he could leave Lauren in Elegance and return to his home with no harm done.
He met Lauren’s gaze and though he knew he was scowling, he gave his answer. “Ralph, we’re heading over to the Strip now.”
A look of relief and gratitude swept over Lauren’s pretty face. She mouthed the words ‘thank you’, which dropped his gaze to her full lips. A powerful rush of desire hit him hard all over again. He wanted to kiss her. Bad.
“Wait.” Ralph spoke abruptly. “You’d do better to go to the club no more than an hour before dawn. I know the security over there. When the club starts to thin out, Julio’s men get lazy. Half of them take off before they’re supposed to.”
“Got it. We’ll do what we can in an hour. But I’m making no promises.”
“It’s only important you try.”
Lauren spoke into the phone. “Talk to you later, and thanks, Ralph.”
“Thank you for doing this, witch.”
Lauren’s smile was lop-sided. “Any time and I mean it.”
She ended the call and returned her phone to her jean’s pocket.
Cole didn’t want to take Lauren back to his burrow. He didn’t want the witch anywhere near his home again. “What do you suggest we do? We can meet back here in, say, forty minutes if you want.” The less time he spent with her the better.
She gave her head a quick shake and huffed a sigh. He realized she was nervous. “Listen, Cole, the only way this works is if you can enter that club with me in an invisible state. But it’s not a simple thing to do. What I suggest is that you come back to my house and we work on the spell together. Since your shift just ended, you’re probably hungry. I can make some sandwiches.”
Yeah, he was starved. “Fine.” His voice sounded too clipped and harsh. He eased up on his tone. “A sandwich sounds good. Thank you.”
~ ~ ~
By the time Lauren had pulled bread, ham, cheese, lettuce and a couple of tomatoes from her refrigerator, she’d accepted that her heartrate wouldn’t return to normal until she was rid of Cole. From the time she’d emerged from her invisibility shield out by Broken Bridge, the poor organ had been doing double-time.
She wished Cole would leave the doorway. He’d taken
possession of the space and rested a shoulder against the frame, no doubt to take pressure off his left knee. She’d seen him limping when he entered the house, though he tried to disguise it with levitation.
She wished he’d stop being stubborn and let her repair the damage she’d done two months ago. She’d offered more than once, but he’d refused just as often.
He had his arms crossed over his chest, but what he probably wasn’t aware was how much the self-protective posture caused his biceps to bunch. She remembered biting him all over his muscular arms, shoulders and back, even his thighs. She’d been a hungry witch when they’d made love. He’d kept saying, ‘You surprise me.’
God, she’d missed him.
She had little hope of renewing anything between them, however. His rage still poured off him in waves.
“So, you’re still going to stick to your story,” he said, “that when we were walking by those oleanders, there was a dark witch streaking through the night skies.”
“I saw her aura, Cole. Monique was there. She’s one of the vilest witches in Elegance. I think she’d been hunting me again. She’d wanted me to join her crew from the time I got here. That night, I had a strong sense she was looking for me with nothing good in mind. I just wish you’d believed me when I said we were in danger. She would have killed you if you’d stepped from behind those bushes.”
“So you’ve said.”
She slathered mustard on a slice of sour dough more roughly than normal. When she glanced at him, she saw that his eyes had narrowed yet again in disbelief and his lips had thinned to a tight line.
Now she was mad. “Why the hell won’t you believe that I’m telling the truth?”
He grimaced. “It’s not just that I question what you saw that night. It’s the whole thing. What you do in Elegance, the deceit, hiding behind shields of invisibility, everything’s hidden. It goes against who I am.”
