She snapped her gaze up to his, locked on and he shivered. He wanted to look into her soul but it felt like she was looking into his.
As the intensity of the moment flooded through him, he came so violently that he yelled his release, cursing as jets of come spurted into her. She didn’t flinch away, not until her own orgasm took hold, his thumb pressed firmly to her clit, rubbing hard as she bucked and spasmed.
He was loath to pull out. His cock still semi-hard, it wouldn’t take much to fire him up again. But she unlatched her legs, sat up, pushed against his chest.
His cock slid out as he sat back on his heels, watching as she scrambled to pick up her discarded clothes.
“You’re the wrong kinda man for me, Jaylon.”
Her words hit like a sledgehammer. His heart contracted, like it was shriveling up, crawling back into its hole. After what had just happened—more than sex, so much more than a physical act.
He clenched his jaw, determined to show her nothing but indifference. Fuck her. And then she turned and looked at him. With tears glistening in those beautiful eyes, he knew she wasn’t taking a shot at him. This was about her.
“I’m not setting myself up for another fall. Rejection and me, we don’t play well together. You make me lust, you make me want to say things that I have no business saying.” She choked on her words. Swallowed hard, wiped her cheek, brushing at the tears angrily. “Especially to someone I’ve just met. Th-th-this was a mistake.”
He stood, wanting to speak, to move to her and wrap her up, protect her from her pain. A pain he didn’t totally understand.
“I’m not the right one for you either, Jay. I was meant for something else.” She paused again. Breathed in deep, blew it out. “Or at least I thought I was. Now I think my destiny is to be alone.” She slipped her clothes on quickly and, without another glance in his direction, walked away from him.
And then he knew. He’d had suspicions after what she’d said at dinner about her sister finding her mate. Aubrey had no idea she was a Huntress. For whatever reason, Aubrey believed that—where her sister had been chosen and claimed by her destined Hunter—she didn’t have the same potential. She had no idea it was only a matter of time before a Hunter came looking for her. And she wanted it. She wanted it badly. To belong. To be claimed. Just as she’d been raised to believe.
She’d just upped the stakes. He needed to break down her walls and get that heart of hers, because the first chance a Hunter got would be the only chance the bastard would need.
Chapter Ten
She’d been avoiding him for days. Probably not the most mature thing to do, but facing him was more than difficult and not because she was embarrassed or because she didn’t like him. Certainly not because she thought she’d made a mistake, even though that was what she’d told him. Sex had not been a mistake. She’d made a conscious choice. Sleep with Jaylon, put a wedge between herself and the Hunters. Tainted by another man. No longer pure, untouched. No longer waiting for something she could never have. She’d made that choice and it hadn’t been a mistake.
What she hadn’t been even remotely prepared for was how intensely she’d feel for him in that moment. That moment when they both reached the peak of ultimate release. That moment of pure bliss. Eyes locked, a link forming that she couldn’t bear. A connection she couldn’t understand. Who was this man? What had he done to her? In that moment, she had forgotten about her sorrow, her loss, she had forgotten about her pathetic life and being an outcast. In that moment, she belonged with him. Only him.
And that was some scary shit.
Shit she didn’t want to deal with.
Just like she didn’t want to deal with her sister, who’d been calling and calling her for days. Leaving message after message. She’d listened to the first one, where Corra was almost unintelligible, ranting about some prophesy, just another ruse to get Aubrey to call her back. She’d stopped listening to those that came after that.
Aubrey was in full on avoidance mode. Letting the calls go to voice mail and only seeing Jaylon at the forced “family” dinners, where she would eat quickly then sequester herself in her room, claiming a headache or planning—or something.
Luckily, she didn’t see him ever during the day and Darcy kept her busy with trips out of town, shopping, shows, whatever. So, with the exception of the fifteen tension-filled minutes it took her to fork a bunch of food into her mouth at dinnertime, she didn’t have to even think about Jaylon.
Right.
Except for the dreams she was having about him. Or the fantasies that always led to touching herself. Or the hoping—always hoping—that she’d turn the corner and bump into him.
Yeah, she wasn’t thinking about him at all.