A low buzzing began to fill the car. Dom clenched his fingers on the wheel as what little blood was left in his brain rushed below his belt. Not wanting to crash the truck, he forced himself to keep his eyes firmly on the road.
The sound of a plastic bottle being placed in a cup holder was his only warning before a soft, familiar hand skimmed the length of his tense thigh. “Dom.” Charlotte’s voice was husky, but held a distinct note of exasperation that was so endearingly her, it made his chest ache. “You sweet, ridiculously thoughtful demon. I’m your mate, remember? I’m supposed to be here for you, not let you suffer.”
The prick of her claws through the tough denim of his jeans made his heart slam against his ribs. Her voice dropped into a rough whisper when she added, “Besides, there is not one thing about what you described that I don’t want.”
Dom groaned. Unable to stop himself from touching her, he dropped his right hand to grasp her thigh. His much bigger palm swallowed it up, allowing him to curl his fingers around the supple muscle of her inner thigh, tantalizingly close to the blazing heat radiating from between her legs.
Gods, when she spread her legs like that, he could smell how much she wanted him, how badly his mate needed him. It was enough to make his hormone-saturated head spin.
He grated her name out from between clenched teeth, half warning and half moan. “Charlotte…”
Charlotte covered his hand with her own and guided it up to brush the seam that ran down her center. “Yes, Dom?”
He turned his head to hold her gaze. “We’re not going to make it to the cabin.”
* * *
Charlotte held her breath as Dom pressed down on the accelerator, his left hand fisted around the wheel and his right cupping her between the legs with a possessiveness that made everything in her melt and tense up at the same time.
The forest outside was lush and green, with fir and pine trees standing tall enough to block out the sun. The air wasn’t quite as cool, the trees not as majestic as the redwoods she was used to seeing in the EVP, but the scenery had a certain roughness to it that reminded her of Dom. Not that she was paying much attention to the flora just then, though.
No, all of her attention was on her mate, who looked about ready to come out of his skin.
Charlotte wasn’t blind. Of course she noticed that he seemed to get a little more tense every day, but she had attributed it to the fact that he seemed dead-set on getting her to his home. Dom explained to her that he felt on edge when they were outside of his territory. It wasn’t just because he was a solitary sort of man, but because instinct made her safety his top priority. Getting her back to where he knew she’d be safe was his sole focus.
That made her feel good in ways she couldn’t really describe. A part of her had agonized over whether she would begin to feel trapped under the intensity of his focus, his concern, but as the days passed, Charlotte settled.
No, she didn’t feel trapped. She felt loved. Cared for. Secure in the knowledge that nothing would ever take away her right to choose, her right to live, again. Dom would never let that happen.
So when he suggested she leave him to suffer through the demon mating season alone, of course she balked. He’d done everything in his power to take care of her since he freed her from her prison. She wasn’t about to abandon him the moment he needed something in return. Plenty of beings went through mating seasons, anyway. It wasn’t a big deal.
Besides, she wasn’t lying when she said nothing about what he told her sounded bad. It actually sounded really, really good.
Of course, she loved it when Dom touched her. Charlotte had never felt more special than when he spent hours stroking her skin with his fingertips, as if he couldn’t believe he was allowed to touch her. But a girl had certain needs, and when he kept forgoing his turn to be petted and tasted and loved, she grew increasingly exasperated.
So it was well past time for her to do a little taking care of her mate. Charlotte had a feeling she’d enjoy it, too.
Dom pushed the truck well past what she assumed the speeding limit was, but there was no m-grid this deep into the wilderness to stop him. Not that she cared. The feeling of speed, the way he flexed his fingers against the seam of her jeans, all of it had her heart pounding. Excitement and desire mingled to bubble in her veins.
She barely noticed when he made a sharp right onto a dirt road, the tires of his truck squealing as they left the pavement. Charlotte only caught a glimpse of a quaint, golden cabin nestled amongst the trees at the end of a long driveway before he slammed the truck to a stop by what looked like an old woodshed.
They were still some ways from the cabin, but Dom didn’t seem to care. Unbuckling his seatbelt with one hand, he curled the fingers of his free hand into her hair to pull her into a brutal, hungry kiss.
It was all Charlotte could do to hold on. She reached up to cup his jaw, her fingertips skating over skin roughened with stubble, and let out a surprised squeak when he slid his tongue into her mouth. Dom was normally a coaxer, a long, gentle kisser. This frenzy was new.
Or maybe he’s just been holding back, Charlotte realized with a jolt. She’d gotten so used to the way Dom lavished her with attention that she never thought to question whether he was actually toning his intensity down for her.
Glory save me.
Charlotte squeezed her thighs together to alleviate a little bit of the pounding ache between her legs. Of course he noticed the movement immediately.
Dom pulled back with a low rumble. His expression was frenzied, his lips glossy and his cheekbones stained with dark color. Charlotte could feel his hungry gaze raking across her skin in time with the possessive pulsing of the shadow coiled so lovingly around her ankle.
“Out of the truck, glowbug.”
Charlotte swallowed hard. For a second, she sat frozen, her wings buzzing so loud she couldn’t hear her own thoughts. When she didn’t immediately follow his command, Dom pressed another bruising kiss to her lips. “Out,” he rasped against her mouth.
A zing of pure arousal snapped down her spine, as sharp and hot as a lightning strike. Charlotte didn’t waste any more time. Unbuckling herself with shaking fingers, she hurried out of the truck.