Chapter Twenty–Four

CHAPTER TWENTY–FOUR

A fter Mayhem piloted the Suburban through the gates of the estate, he glanced up into the rear view to catch the two halves closing, resealing . . . becoming once again a barrier to entry.

He kept their speed low, because of the snow.

His light foot had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that as awkward as this silence was, he didn’t want to get out of the damn vehicle. His stupid mind had decided that the second he pulled up to that big old Victorian house, Mahrci was going to fly away.

And he was never going to see her again—

“Can you slow down a little?”

He snapped to attention and looked across the console. The female was staring out the front windshield, her profile a study in tension.

“Oh, yeah. Sure.”

The lane was plowed, and there was no wind or snow making things hazardous. But sometimes speed was not just m.p.h., but perception. Maybe she didn’t want to be back, either.

He wasn’t asking, though—

“Can you . . . go slower.”

This time, it wasn’t really a request, and he lifted his foot off the accelerator completely. The SUV rolled for some number of yards, and then it just stopped, the idle unable to move the heavy treaded tires through the snow pack.

Glancing over at her again, he tried not to memorize what she looked like, that profile so achingly beautiful that his chest hurt, the dark tendrils of her hair curling up around her face, her lips parted as if she were on the verge of speech.

Or a kiss—

“I’m Whestmorel’s daughter.” She took a deep breath. “And the reason I’m here—well, one of them, is that I am refusing my arranged mating and I have no other place to go.”

The sound of an exhale was loud in the interior. And then he coughed because he realized that he was the one who’d released his breath like that.

“I just need a place to think.” She smoothed her hair back, and hung her hands on her shoulders. “My father is livid because I’m embarrassing him in front of all the families that matter so much to him. But see, it’s not about me, really. He wants me to get mated to the male because it’s important for him. For . . . the things he’s doing. I tried to fall in love, I really did. And I thought I had some feelings for my intended at one point. Some things you can’t live with, though. Some things are just . . . wrong.”

Mahrci glanced over, and there was a strange light in her eyes: Tension . . . but there was more to it than that.

“I’m sorry,” he said. Even though a part of him was glad she’d had the backbone to get out of the situation.

“Hemmy, I’m telling you, this is . . . a bad mess that I’m in. And I don’t want anybody else sucked into it. That’s why I didn’t want to talk to you about myself.” She shrugged. “Also, it’s nice to just forget about things for a little bit, you know?”

He nodded. “I do. I get that.”

Her eyes swung back out to the lane ahead, a glowing white path cut between two mini-mountains of banks. On the far sides, the trees seemed to crowd up to the natural fencing, the snowfall from the night before lingering both in the boughs and on the bare branches.

“What about your mahmen ?” he asked.

“She died in childbirth.” She put her hand on her heart. “Not mine. My infant brother’s, and he went unto the Fade, too. Since then, it’s just been my father and me. Well, I was raised by the doggen , and my father has always been . . . busy. But it’s been only the two of us.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I was ten at the time.” Mahrci continued to focus on the winter landscape. “The truth is, it did not affect me as much as you might think. I was raised by doggen nannies before she died. I mean, I was shown to her and my father from time to time, but that was pretty much the extent of it. She was a ghost before she passed, and I say that with no malice, honestly. My nanny was my mahmen , and she is still in my life even though she doesn’t live in my father’s house anymore.”

With obvious resolve, she glanced over at him. “My father is very angry at me. And that’s why . . . I’m begging you to leave as soon as your work here is done.” There was a slight pause. And then she blurted, “Whataboutwhenyouwereayoung?”

He knew there was more to things by the way she rushed her question. But at least if they were talking, she wasn’t disappearing on him.

“I was an orphan, but everything worked out.” Mayhem shrugged. “My parents left me at a Spring Festival as a nine-year-old—”

“They left you?”

“Mm-hmm.” He wanted to hold her hand, but not because he felt like he needed the support. He just . . . really wanted to touch her. “I ended up being taken in by a baker. He let me sleep at the shop.”

“Oh, that was kind of him.”

“I’m not sure kind was the reason behind it all. He was looking for an extra set of hands, not another son. By taking me in, his real son didn’t have to work and was allowed to go to school.”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “That must have been hard.”

“Are you kidding me?” He pointed to his chest. “I didn’t want to go to school. I had a roof over my head, and all the bread and pastries I could eat. It was awesome.”

Mahrci frowned as she seemed to study his features for clues as to whether he was hiding pain from her. From himself.

“Really, it was all right,” he said. “What.”

“Ah, you’re telling me you were essentially dumped at the side of the road by your parents—”

“Honestly, I had no more a fucked-up childhood than anybody else does. Like young in so-called normal households have it easy? Just because you’re checking off all the ‘normal’ boxes doesn’t mean that everything is hunky-frickin’-dory.”

And the same was true if you grew up with all kinds of bread at home—and not the loaf stuff, but the green, stacked variety.

“Well, I’m glad you told me—” She cleared her throat as her voice cracked. And then she rubbed her eyes, clearly so no tears fell. “I’m so sorry . . . my emotions are all over the place.”

“Sure they are. That was an intense situation back there in the supermarket, and this conversation—we’re not exactly talking about the weather, are we?”

She nodded in what looked like an absent way. Then she turned to him again.

Unlike the silence on the highway, now the quiet seemed to wrap around them, moving them closer together, even as neither of them changed positions.

“I’m really . . .” Her words trailed off. “Lost right now.”

He reached up and brushed a piece of her hair back. “You’re going to be fine.”

“I don’t think I am.” That gaze drifted down to his mouth. “I’m not . . . okay, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Yes, you do.” His voice deepened, his blood starting to thicken with arousal. “You know exactly what you’re doing. You also know . . . what you want.”

“Do I,” she whispered.

He traced her face with his eyes, lingering on her lips. “And my answer is yes.”

“I didn’t ask a question—”

“You can use me, if you want.”

Mahrci looked away sharply. “That’s wrong.”

“No, it isn’t. I totally consent to being your rebound. Your revenge, your rebellion. Whatever it is. Use me.”

“Why in the world would you let yourself . . . be treated like that?”

“Easy.” He waited until she looked at him again. “I want you, too. And that’s enough for me.”

The female’s eyes flared. And then she turned to him.

“I’m not right,” she repeated. Like she was confessing to something. “In the head.”

“You’re right enough for me.”

That simple truth was so powerful that a part of him threatened to reveal even more. Because how had this happened so fast between them? Then again, that didn’t really matter anymore. For him, the journey was over. He was at his destination: From the moment he had first seen her, Mahrci had been different. And he wasn’t going to miss his chance.

He’d rather have a little time with her.

Than none at all.

On some level, Mahrci had known this moment was coming. She hadn’t been sure where or when, and certainly couldn’t have predicted it would be here, in an SUV full of groceries, in the middle of the drive up to the big house. But she had known they would find themselves alone, in a privacy that was electrically charged.

“You shouldn’t trust me,” she said softly.

“Trust isn’t relevant in this case.”

Okaaaay, so maybe he only wanted a one-night stand , she thought. The question was, what did she want?

Well, he was right about one thing. At least part of that could be answered really damn easily.

“And no, you’re not going to hurt me,” he murmured as he brushed her cheek. “So you don’t need to worry about that.”

She shook her head. “I’m not using you or trying to hurt you. That’s not the kind of person I am.”

“And I live in the present. That’s the kind of person I am.” He stroked the side of her throat inside the collar of her fleece . . . then lingered on her collarbone. “So I don’t worry about what was, I don’t care about what’s coming. I have the here-and-now. This moment. Here . . .”

He leaned in a little. “And . . . now.”

His eyes were hooded and hungry, his big body throwing off all kinds of sexual signals. But he stayed right where he was, in that tilt, on the cusp.

Mahrci parted her lips. “I’m sorry.”

With a nod, he backed off. “Well, you know where to find me. And everything is good with me. All, nothing. A little.”

He reached forward to put the engine in drive—

Mahrci launched herself over the center console, grabbed the front of his jacket, and pulled him in. As their mouths met, she wasn’t gentle. Neither was he. It was an explosion of contact, and as she buried her hands in his hair, it was just such a relief to let go and feel.

No thinking. No planning. No worrying.

Just the sensation of his lips and her own meeting, and the scent of his arousal, and the urge to be naked and under his surging body.

As he penetrated her. As he filled her up.

Hemmy had a point about living in the present. And she hadn’t ever felt this free.

As his tongue licked into her mouth, she moaned and thought about that big bed she’d been lying in alone—

For a split second, she had a spike of reversion, a return to her life of What would people think? But considering what she had done right before coming up here, this kiss wasn’t a betrayal.

And it felt soooo good.

Hemmy slowly eased back. “How we doing?”

“You are . . . an amazing kisser.”

The beaming smile that came back at her was a charmer. “Tell me more.”

Mahrci ran her hands through his blond hair. Stroked his strong jawline. Put her hand on his thick shoulder. “Fishing for compliments, are you?”

“Fine, let’s just do that some more.”

Now he took control, cupping the nape of her neck and bringing her to him—and she was happy to close in on him, reaching down and releasing her seatbelt so she could all but drape herself over the drink cup holders that separated them.

The kissing got explosive again quick, and as she arched into him, she understood what he meant: Here and now . . . was everything: The scent of his arousal in her nose, his lips against hers, his body so close, yet so tantalizingly far away . . .

With the promise of everything she wanted just a bedroom away. Or a back seat. Or maybe his front seat.

When they finally broke apart for air, they were both panting and the windows were steamed up.

“You are . . . a really, really good kisser,” she said roughly. “Not that I’ve kissed a lot of males.”

Hemmy smiled in a lazy, sexy way. “Well, I feel the same way about you. And I haven’t kissed any males.”

She laughed as he ran his thumb over her lower lip. “I’m glad you approve.”

“I more than approve,” he growled. “And I have to say, this is not the way I expected this to go. Well, the groceries in the back, yes—”

“I’m not going to take advantage of you.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you are welcome to take all of my virtue. Not that I have much left—” Abruptly, he shook his head. “Uh-oh. Nope. No, don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Overthink anything. I can see it on your face. Just be here with me now. I promise you, fate will take care of the rest—”

A flare of headlights pierced through the SUV, lighting the side of his face.

“Looks like we have company,” he grumbled.

Mahrci stiffened and looked out the back, but all she got was blinded.

“I think your groundskeeper had made his return,” Hemmy said as he put them in drive and continued along.

“Are you sure?”

Wouldn’t that be a thank-God. As opposed to the list of people she didn’t want to see.

“Those lights are too high to be anything else but that heavy-duty Ford.”

“Oh. Good. And he’s not my groundskeeper. He’s my father’s.”

As they made their way down the lane, some of the mood was lost for her, and she tried to get it back, touching her mouth with her fingertips. Still, she couldn’t ignore the fact that she had a lot of music to face. Sooner or later, she was going to have to—

“And it looks like we have company.”

She shook herself back into focus and looked out the front windshield. Sure enough, parked right in front of the big house, was a low-slung, gray BMW—

A very unladylike curse left her on a frustrated exhale.

“Not who you expected?” Hemmy said as he pulled in front of the sedan.

No, she had expected this. Or should have.

“Unfortunately, no,” she whispered.

“Are you okay?” He put the SUV in park and turned off the engine. “Mahrci?”

“That’s my ex-fiancé.” She glanced across at him. “I didn’t know he was coming, I swear. He hates me now.”

Hemmy glanced into the rear view mirror at the BMW. “Can I ask you a question. Before we go in.”

“Yes, of course. But there isn’t much to ask. I broke it off, and shamed him and my father—”

“No, that’s not what I want to know.” Those pale eyes that had glowed with such a sexual charge narrowed into slits. “Did he hurt you. In any way. Ever?”

“No.” She shook her head emphatically. “It was never like that—nothing violent. Actually, there wasn’t much between us at all, which was one of the problems we had. At least on my side.”

There were others, too. Plenty of them.

“Good,” he said in a pleasant voice. “That’ll mean we don’t have to call a crime scene cleanup team.”

As he opened his door, she did her best to decode his words. “I’m sorry? I don’t under—”

Hemmy got out and then planted his palms on the driver’s seat and leaned back into the interior. “I’d have to fucking kill him if he hurt you.”

Mahrci’s breath caught. And if it had been anybody else, she would have chalked the words up to hyperbole.

With the way the male in front of her was looking?

They were a vow.

She covered one of his hands with her own. “Thank you. It’s been . . . a very long time since anyone, well . . . I’m grateful. Even though there’s no reason to go after him.”

Hemmy squeezed her palm. “I gotchu, female. Anytime, anywhere. I’ll be there for you.”

He straightened and closed the door. Then he seemed to freeze.

Twisting around, she watched him call to the groundskeeper, who had pulled the truck into the space where the plow had been left.

The other male got out and looked over at him. Neither moved.

It was clear they knew each other, and Hemmy started walking forward first. But then the groundskeeper joined him.

As they met and embraced, tears sprung to her eyes. She didn’t know whether they were for him . . . or for her.

But there was nothing like finding an ally . . . when you least expected it.