“There’s something I need to clarify,” he said.
Dana shot him a new frown, but her lips were curved in amusement.
“And what is that?” she responded.
“You’re a teacher, aren’t you?”
“I am,” she nodded with anticipation.
“I thought teachers were generally well-behaved,” Rux said, bringing a single finger to his mouth. “For some reason, I can’t see you getting in trouble that often.”
Dana’s smile grew wide, nearly touching the corners of her eyes. She was stifling a laugh, and Rux was doing his best to pry it out of her.
“Oh, Rux,” she said playfully. “Don’t you know that you can still be a well-behaved woman during the day but a little naughty at night?”
Rux felt his body weaken as her bottom lip creased beneath her teeth, and that slither of a tongue shot out with an adorable mocking gesture.
“Hmm,” Rux said, tapping his finger against his cheek. “Interesting hypothesis, Ms. Wilson.”
Dana lifted a hand and lightly smacked his forearm. It jolted him most wonderfully.
“You’ve got a lot to learn, Mr. Billionaire, CEO,” Dana replied.
Rux smiled uncontrollably as he set off toward the museum. He had no space in his mind or his body to feel any pity for himself as they spoke and joked with one another like they had known each other for years.
The wordgorgeouswasn’t enough to describe her. She was complex and interesting but not something he needed to study or solve. He simply wanted to wander inside of her for the rest of his life.
That’s the feeling then, isn’t it?
When a shifter met their mate, there was that cosmic knowing that drove them to constantly be on the edge of sanity.
It’s finding a matching heart and soul outside of you, who helps you reflect the best of yourself, not the worst of yourself … that enduring insecurity playing in your head constantly like a dark opera in your mind.
They drove through the evening flicker of light, and Rux watched the way the wind blew through her hair as she looked forward. Her bare thighs begged for his touch, and somewhere in his heart, he knew that one day they would be doing the same thing, riding in one of his cars and cruising down the road, with his hand on her leg and her hand on his.
Hope was a dangerous thing. Rux knew that. He had barely allowed himself a sip of it for the past few decades since his father had passed. Existence gave him a few fluttery sensations of contentment, even joy on occasion.
But he had never felt satisfied, nor that longing for more time with anyone else.
Riding in the Cobra with Dana gave him an overdose of hope. Just the way she gazed out the window, relaxing to the hums and rumbles of the car that took her back to the days in the garage with her father, made him want to reach for something more.
This entire situation scares the shit out of me, but damn, I’m willing to try.
Even if it was just for his sister, his mother, his lost father, and the woman who had kicked down the door of his heart, he was hell-bent on fucking giving it a try.