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Her intoxicating vanilla fragrance lingered on the sheets, overtaking me, urging my hand toward my tumescent hard-on. In my mind’s eye, I saw Abby writhing beneath me, her moans of pleasure filling my ears. My fingers tightened over the girth of my cock, envisioning the enclave of her center, the slickness of her orgasm entrenching me.
Harder I stroked at the memory of the night our mate bond snapped into place, the pulse of our arches fueling the depth of our mutual climaxes until I, too, couldn’t hold on and released all over the tousled sheets.
Sated and relaxed, I rose to shower, washing away the last few days of weariness. By the time I stepped out of the glass enclosure, I’d exhausted the supply of hot water entirely. I was remiss in putting on my same dirty outfit, but my bag was still in the shed, and I didn’t want to sprint naked into the yard.
I settled for the outfit at the moment, at least until I was finished fixing the window.
On the main floor, I got to work as quietly as possible, pulling the shattered glass from the pane and making a wood cut-out for the area. Unsurprisingly, my resourceful mate had everything for tools in her small crawlspace underneath the house, making the task easy to do, and it was easy to stay out of view, given the angle of the kitchen.
I was starving by the time I’d finished, and I pored through Abby’s kitchen, depressed by the meager fixings she had in her fridge. She truly had lived like a ghost, and it was all because of me. Now that I was back, I was only complicating matters for her.
I have to get out of here and let her breathe. This isn’t fair to her.
Vowing to head out under the cloak of darkness, I shut the fridge and leaned against the counter, wracking my brain. I would need to reach out to Seven Rock and find a way to access more funds. Whatever I’d brought with me was not going to be enough to cover me, and I couldn’t take from Abby, not any more than I already had.
There was money at my cottage, a safe filled with cash, but that would require me driving back to the region for it.
Maybe that’s what I need to do. Go back to Seven Rock, gather the funds and the stow I have on hand, and rebuild right under Orson’s nose.
It was a flimsy plan, but it was something, a baseline.
My sharp ears caught the screech of wheels on the street, and my alert rose. Pushing myself off the counter, I moved toward the door, instinctively sensing a problem.
A black Range Rover with tinted windows sat at the curb in front of the house, a liveried driver emerging from the driver’s side.
Shit. Is that Orson?
I didn’t endeavor to find out this way, not at Abby’s house. When I finally did confront Orson, I wasn’t about to put my mate in the middle of it.
Backing away from the front door, I whipped around to head out the back door and into the shed, where I should have gone in the first place, but before I could retreat to the far door, a loud pounding met my ears.
“Open up!” a booming voice called out. “Now.”
I stood in place, my joints freezing.
“Elijah! Open the goddamn door!”
As if possessed, my feet shuffled forward, eyes bugging at the authoritative voice. I stopped by the front door, inhaling deeply.
“OPEN UP! I know you’re in there!”
His tone grew louder and more commanding. He was going to alert the neighbors if he continued to bang on the door as he was, but I could not deny that I wanted to see his face with my own eyes, too.
Inhaling a deep breath, I unlocked Abby’s door and pulled back the knob. His jaw slacked as our eyes met, the crystalline blue translucent with shock.
“Hell’s bells,” he choked. “It’s true!”
“Hello, Ash,” I chuckled. “It’s been a while, old friend.”
Chapter19
Abby
Although I finished my deliveries in record time that afternoon, I took the long way home. Paranoia had me looking over my shoulder to ensure I wasn’t being followed back to my place, doubling through alleyways I wouldn’t normally take to circle around and linger in storefronts.
After a half hour of counterintelligence, I finally rushed back toward my modest house—only to slow my gait again.
The unfamiliar black SUV parked in front was my first clue that something was amiss. It wasn’t like any other vehicle in Pario City, the MacShire plates sending fissions of alarm through my entire body.
