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I perk up as I make the next turn. “What is?”
“Seeing this side of Dr. Taylor.”
“Oh.” There’s an odd prickling in my chest, but that could just be her scent, which is still threatening to suffocate me. “Well. I’ve been practicing how not to be so, um...”
“Tense? Scary?”
“Sure,” I concur with a roll of my eyes. “For your grandmother.”
Mackenzie sits up in her seat, peering out the window as she gestures to the next house. “Well, let’s hope it paid off. That’s the place.”
I slow the car so I don’t miss the driveway, taking in theperfectly normal-looking ranch-style house in red brick. It probably shouldn’t be as formidable as it feels.
“Oh shit,” Mackenzie says.
Her mouth turns down into a frown, and there’s an uneasiness to her now as she regards me carefully. I catch her pressing her nose to her shoulder, and then her eyes meet mine with concern. “It’s faded.”
I can’t even pretend not to immediately catch her meaning. I noticed when she first climbed into the car, after all. I swallow heavily. “I know.”
I can tell she’s remembering the last time I scented her; her lips roll together and her lashes flutter, and even this is enough to make breathing a little harder.
“You should probably do the thing,” she says airily.
“The thing,” I parrot.
“You know...” Her nose wrinkles as she reaches to unbuckle her seat belt. “Thething.”
Something flushes under my collar, some prickling heat creeping into my chest as my throat tightens. It’s becoming a familiar sensation, this odd warmth that plagues me whenever I scent her—becoming more and more of a problem the longer I’m off suppressants. I can’t remember a single time in my life when it was this uncomfortable to be around a woman of my species.
“Right,” I manage tightly. “The thing.” I swallow, eyes glancing to the driveway. “Should I just...?”
“I can—” She moves awkwardly in the passenger seat, bringing her legs up and under her so she can lean over the console. “Like this?”
Like thisonly brings her closer, my tongue feeling too thick withthe way the sweet fragrance of her invades my senses. “Right. That should—” I reach to unbuckle myself. “Just... be still.”
I’m not sure if I’m telling her this for her benefit or mine, honestly.
I cup my hand around the back of her neck, noting again how soft her hair is. It slides over my knuckles silkily as my palm settles just below her hairline, pulling her closer. I have to close my eyes for this part, silently chanting a mantra about how this is just a means to an end—none of it actually helping the way my skin tingles when I tuck my face against her neck.
It’s a necessary thing—my cheek pressing against the soft skin of her throat—but her answering shudder has me squeezing my eyes tighter, clenching my jaw a little more. I turn my face to graze her throat with mine, mingling our scents into a burgeoning aroma that clouds the small space of the car. I can hear her breath quicken and feel her body stiffen everywhere she’s touching me, and for the briefest of moments there is a bizarre urge to pull her to me as tightly as I can and bury myself in the smell and taste of her.
Which is utterly insane, and it is this realization that has me hastily pulling away from her.
“That should—” Can she hear how loud my heart is beating? “That should do it, I think.”
Her cheeks are flushed as she nods slowly, turning away from me to breathe in against her shoulder again. There is a part of me that protests when she pulls away to settle back into her side of the car, and I shove it down as she nods more confidently.
“That will definitely work,” she says, her voice huskier than it was a moment ago.
“Remind me...” Honestly, I just need to get my mind somewhere else. “Remind me what the parameters are.”
Her eyes are heavy-lidded, almost like she’s sated. It shouldn’t be enticing. “Parameters?”
“What does your grandmother know about us?”
“Oh.” She nods dazedly. “Right. Yeah. Our star-crossed romance?”
“Yes,” I answer. “That.”
