I’ve been driving for the last five hours in silence. By rights, we should almost be home, but Skull told me to drag my feet and that’s what I’m doing, which explains why we’re only halfway through the state of Oklahoma instead of in Missouri. He thinks Beth will follow her sister. He’s so sure of it, he’s planning on meeting us when we cross over into Missouri.
I have mixed feeling about it all. I don’t want my time with Katie to end. As pissed off as I was at the stunt she pulled today, the relief I felt when I found her was different for me. Profound, even. I’m a lover of women. All women. I just don’t believe in monogamy, or that it’s even possible. Katie pulls strings inside of me I didn’t know were there. I’m not tired of her. Not even a little bit. Instead, I keep remembering our night together and I fucking want more. It could be just sex, but the thing is, I enjoy just talking to her and spending time with her almost as much as the sex, and that shit right there, that has never fucking happened. That has to mean something, right? I don’t know what it means, but I do know it makes me curious.
As I watch her stretch, her shirt pulling taut over her breasts and that sweet little noise that escapes her lips, I know it’s more than that. Katie is different. Fuck me running. She’s got a hold on me and I’m starting to wonder if I’m ever going to get free.
I pick her up in my arms and something settles inside of me. She’s made for my arms. She fits. It’s sudden, but I feel it in my fucking blood. The same blood she heats. I made fun of Sabre, Latch, and Skull. Called them *-whipped and a million other things, but fuck me if it’s not starting to sink in that I might be trapped and just as hard and as quick as they were. The scariest thing about that shit isn’t the thought of being tied down with one woman my whole life. Fuck, no. That’s how far her claws are in me. The scary thing is how Katie will react when Skull gets Beth in his clutches again, because my brother is fucked up.
I’m not even sure what he’s going to do.
I checked into the Ken’s Bargain Motel before I went back to collect Katie. It’s a small, out of the way motel where there are five rooms attached to the main office all in succession, one right after the other. I asked for the room on the end out of habit. I don’t need Katie screaming and alerting the front office, either. She’s given me a big enough headache as it is.
I carry her inside and put her on the bed. With all of the shifting and moving around, she finally wakes up. She stretches her hands above her head, yawning. She probably has no idea how fucking sexy she looks right now. At least my dick is waking up and appreciating the fact.
“What time is it?”
“Late. We’ll bed down for the night and get up early in the morning.”
She scrunches up her nose and combs her fingers through her hair while yawning again, but not quietly. I’m freaking smiling over that. I was right; I’m going down just like my brothers were. Shit, and within just a couple of days. I might have fallen quicker than they did.
“I need a shower,” she mumbles, looking around the room, probably for an escape route. How the hell did I get here? What happened to the good ol’ days when I wanted rid of a woman and they were crying, wanting to stay?
“Fine, but let’s hurry. I’m killed,” I tell her, yanking off my shirt.
“I meant me, as in singular.”
“Sweetness, after the merry chase you’ve sent me on, you’re not moving two feet away from me. We either shower together or we don’t shower. The choice is yours.”
“But I’m dusty and sore.”
“Then we shower.”
“Hunter, I can still feel his hands on me. Please? Chain me to the shower somehow, I don’t care, but I want a shower and I want it alone.”
Motherfucking-Hellfire! “He put his hands on you?”
She jumps. I don’t know if it’s from the tone in my voice or the look on my face. Both, probably. I’m going to hunt that bastard down and cut his balls out with a rusty spoon and feed them to the motherfucker before I do the world a favor and put a bullet between his eyes.
“My boobs and ass,” she answers. “He was definitely an ass man. Can I please wash without you watching? I promise to be on my best behavior. Scouts honor.”
“Sweetness, I doubt you were ever a scout.”
“Please, Hunter?”
I’m starting to see differences in Katie. When she’s sweet and more honest with me, she uses my real name, and I doubt she even realizes the change—but I do. I’m a card player from way back and it’s good to know that I’m learning Katie’s tells.
“Let’s go. You look too tired to do much running anyways,” I tell her.
She slides off the bed with a groan. “You have no idea,” she whispers, but it breaks off in a cry when she tries to put pressure on her leg. She nearly crumbles to the floor before I make it to her side and hold her in my arms.
“Sweetness?” I question, unsure of what happened.