“Well, I am funny,” she muttered.
“To say I think you’re beautiful shouldn’t need to be said.” His eyes trailed down her body and his look burned her. She suddenly had the urge to crack the window and let in a cool breeze. “Every time I see you...I feel strange. It’s almost uncontrollable. No, it is uncontrollable and for some reason it feels like a rush when I finally let go with you. I’m not about to lose that.” He glared at her as if daring her to contradict him or make an argument.
She couldn’t even if she wanted to. Her tongue felt too big for her mouth and she had trouble making a coherent thought. All of his thoughts were way beyond, and a little bit stranger, deeper, than anything she’d have guessed.
“Does that answer your question?”
“Umm...” She had to think about it, had to remember what her initial question had been. Oh, right. What ‘were’ they? “I don't know.”
With a frustrated growl, he swerved over to the shoulder and threw the car into park. He turned to her, his big body shadowing her as he rested an arm behind her seat. She started panting at the wild look in his eyes. He looked dangerous, as if he might attack her at any second. He was so out of her league, it wasn’t even funny and now she suddenly felt very small and inadequate compared to him and all that stuff he’d just said.
He cupped her face with his free hand, forcing her to look at him. “That means that you’re mine now. It means that only I touch you. I will take care of Joseph, and I will take care of you.”
She was pretty sure she was panting and she tried to close her mouth, but she couldn’t. “Why?” she whispered.
He looked up as if seeking guidance, then glared at her. “I already explained that.” He looked annoyed.
“But, why?” she insisted. She had to know. Not some long explanation that would take her a day to rewind and think about, but something short that her baffled mind could wrap around right now.
“Because, I want you. Because, you came back into my life for a reason, and because...” he paused to swipe his warm thumb across her bottom lip. “When I’m with you, I feel good.”
Her chest rose and fell in hard, fast waves. With his words hanging in the air, she realized just how close he was to her, how good his hand felt on her face, how much she liked the masculine scent of him, the stubble on his chin...everything. His eyes flicked down to her mouth and stayed there. Her gut tightened in reflex, something hot and wet gushing between her legs. All with that one look. His eyes shuttered to a hooded position, then he was moving closer. His lips caught the corner of her mouth and her breath stilled, her chest squeezing so impossibly tight from the lack of air.
Then she felt it. His harsh breaths blowing across her lips and she nearly burst apart. He felt it, too. He was right there with her, wrapped up in a tight bubble where only they existed in this moment of time.
His lips slid over and covered hers. A needy sound escaped her at the firm press of his lips. Sense and reason flew right out the window. Hands threaded in hair, lips meshed hard and tongues glided against each other. They were like animals eating at each other, trying to get as close together as possible by the mouth. She folded her body against him, a needy moan rumbling from her as his arms swept across her back and crushed her to him. The seatbelt, the stupid seatbelt held her back, kept her from climbing into his lap and rubbing her core against him. She needed him, here and now.
She pulled back, breathing hard and then they both dove at each other. His hand wound up under her skirt, bare skin meeting bare skin. Only his touch made her hotter; she spread her legs and when he pushed her panties to the side and touched her, she worked faster. She tugged at his pants, cursing very loud how much she hated his fucking belt, then released the zipper just as his finger plunged inside her.
She melted into the seat as pleasure engulfed her like a blast of sunshine. He started pumping, breathing hard, and apparently, unable to wait for her, buried his face in her neck to lavish wet sucking kisses there. Oh God, she was going to come, just from that.
“Mmm,” she moaned just as a piercing screech slammed her so fast and hard back into reality that she only had one second to look in the rearview mirror to the car coming.
The crash came hard, fast. Everything exploded. The loud grinding sound of metal crushing metal pierced her ears. Time slowed. She couldn’t hear anything after that, only a slight high-pitched ringing as she was jerked forward in her seat. Her face nearly slammed into the airbag just as it exploded, blowing hard against her face and shooting her head back into the seat. Her head bounced, her brain swishing around hard form the jolt. It didn’t stop. She felt the momentum. The big SUV surging forward. Somehow, she managed to loll her head to the left to see the window gone, bits of glass covering the console and hood. The sharp shards flew back inside at her as the car’s momentum pushed faster. Then it stopped.
She blinked at the empty seat next to her. Brayden was gone. She couldn’t think much more than that. She knew she should move, unbuckle her seatbelt and go help Brayden, but everything felt sluggish.
She blinked and it seemed to take forever for her eyes to open back up again. Black and gray spots dotted her vision. She thought she whispered his name. Thought she reached for her seatbelt but felt a sharp stab and stopped, then the squeal of peeling tires registered, but it sounded soft and faraway. A hard jolt smashed into the car again and she was flung forward again in her seat, even harder than before.
Her ribs screamed in pain as the seatbelt jerked on her hard to keep her in place. Her face bounced off the already deployed airbag and her head slammed back so hard into the seat everything went black. She didn’t even have to time to call out his name again.
Chapter 13
Vanessa’s eyes shot open and confusion quickly dawned. She was in a room that put Brayden’s house to shame. She was on a canopied sleigh bed with white gauzy curtains hanging in beautiful arches from each corner. The walls held works of art that looked old in their aged wooden frames.
A massive wooden hutch sat against the far wall with an assortment of the matching furniture along the walls. It looked expensive; it looked rich. Where the hell was she?
“Brayden?” she called out, only to find her voice a mere croak of sound.
Then, the pain registered in a flash. Her hand flew to her throat and found the skin rough and scratchy like sandpaper. She winced as she prodded it then tossed back the covers and slowly stood. A rush of blood flowed through her straight to her legs. She stood wobbling at first, then with growing strength. She walked across the room on a plush middle-eastern looking rug to the door. Some parts of it, especially near the corners, were thread-barren and worn out in color, but the overall pattern and vivid red, blues, and tans, still looked beautiful. She had to stop halfway across the room and lean heavily against a rocking chair for support. Breathing was hard and each breath pinched her ribs where the seatbelt had been. She didn’t want to look, but she’d bet she had a nasty bruise covering her waist where the belt had been.
Footsteps came, closing in on the door, then it opened and confusion set in. “What are you doing here?”
The older pack healer from her Kategan cousins’ pack smiled big. Her blonde hair hung loose and curling around her shoulders. She looked so vibrant and happy. “I live here, honey.”
Vanessa scrubbed a hand across her forehead trying to make her brain work. She remembered the car accident, then that was it. “What happened? Where’s Brayden?”
“Here, sit down first, then we’ll talk. You really shouldn’t be out of bed yet.”