When he made it onto the private road and revved the engine, I peered over at him. His eyes were pensive, his face sculpted, and it drew attention to his soft lips. He had a broad mouth that was spectacular when he smiled, but he seemed to smile more with his eyes than anything. Lorenzo was a serious man, but an honest one. I knew this trip would decide the fate of our relationship, for better or worse. Yet I happily accepted the risk, hoping to be in his strong arms at least once more.
“What are you thinking about?”
I settled my eyes on the road. “Just wondering why you smoke in this truck but not in the expensive car.” The truck had a musty smell that his Ferrari didn’t.
“I don’t treat things that I love like an ashtray. Something else is going on in that head of yours.”
“I love morning light.”
“Me too. Especially when it showers your naked body in my bed. I don’t think I’ve ever admired the sun as much as I did then.”
Why did he have to say such things that made me want to smile so wide? I quickly glanced away before he saw the corners of my mouth turning up. “How long will it take to get to Cognito?”
He throttled the engine when we hit the main road. “I drive fast, so just under twenty-four hours. Have you ever been there?”
I touched my braid. “I’ve never been anywhere.”
“Well, it’s a whole other world. Cognito is an old city that dates back hundreds of years. Immortals own a lot of property and land out there, unbeknownst to mortals. If you think Texas has a lot of us, you haven’t seen anything yet. We have more Shifters down here, but up there, it’s a little of everything. Even some you’ve never heard of.”
“You’ve been?”
“Business takes me a lot of places, and I also like to vacation. It’s not so bad if you know the lifestyle. You stay close to me, do you understand? They’re more abrasive up there, and there are lots of juicers.”
“Juicers?”
“It’s what they call a Mage that’s gone rogue. They get their highs from stealing people’s energy. They prefer juicing from another Mage, but that’s not so easy to do when most of those immortals are experienced fighters. The new ones—Learners—are often preyed upon, but their Creators usually escort them in public. So most of the juicers settle for other Breeds.”
“Why not humans?”
“Humans have weak energy and are easily killed. They don’t like to draw attention to themselves with bodies everywhere, and it’s harder to kill Breed from juicing.”
“But it’s possible?”
“Yes. A Mage once told me juicing is like draining a battery. Most of them hang out in clubs, looking for someone who won’t put up a fight.”
“Then they would have underestimated me.”
“No, Ivy.” He reached over and stroked my cheek. “You stay with me.”
***
The first several hours in the truck with Lorenzo were awkward because we had never spent time together outside his bedroom. We made small talk and then I got lost in my thoughts, gazing at the open fields as we headed north. Arkansas had beautiful tall pine trees and thick woods.
“I’d like to visit here sometime in the spring,” I said absently.
“Mosquitoes,” was all he replied.
Snow dusted the ground and became deeper the farther north we traveled. We hit a roadblock in Tennessee and Lorenzo took his oversized truck off the road and scaled an incline to get around the mess. I was scared to death, gripping the door and yelling at him. He merely laughed and shot me a confident gaze when the tires hit concrete, and we were off again. By then, the sun had gone down. I stayed awake for as long as I could but found myself nodding off. His truck had a middle seat, and at some point during the night, Lorenzo had unbuckled my seat belt and coaxed me to lie down.
“Ow,” I hissed, sitting up. I’d only napped for a short time.
“What’s wrong?”
“My leg. I can’t lie on my left side.”
“So put your feet in my lap.”
I laughed, unraveling my braid. “The armrest doesn’t make for a comfortable pillow.”
“I’ll move our bags into the front seat and you can sleep in the back.”
When my hair was finally free from its binding, I ran my fingers through it and released a soft moan. It looked like the front seat would have to do, so I reclined my seat back a little bit.
The truck swerved off the road and Lorenzo shut off the headlights, leaving only the interior-panel display on. “I need you to stop doing that,” he said, his dark eyes watching my hands stroke down the length of my hair.
“I can’t sleep with it in. It bothers me. It feels good to let it loose and run my fingers through it.”
Lorenzo unbuckled his seat belt and slid next to me. His mere proximity and all that alpha power made me tense up. He smoothed his left hand down my hair, brushing his knuckles over my breasts, stomach, and then thighs.
I gasped when he abruptly slipped his hand between my legs.
“Shhh. Let me take care of you, nashoba. Will you unbutton your blouse for me?”
My breath became unsteady. Without argument, I unlatched the small buttons on my brown cardigan. His fingers loved me with gentle strokes, rewarding me as I opened my shirt. I smoldered as Lorenzo’s hot gaze looked upon my body.