Primal Heat (5 page)

Chapter Six

“You look like shit.”

I kept my head down, my forehead resting on my elbow, my fingers lying
flat against the keyboard of my laptop.

“No, I mean it. Actual shit.”

I raised my hand in a middle-fingered salute and opened one eye to face
my accuser. Said accuser, Kendra Fletcher, peered at me with her wide brown
eyes as she popped a Twinkie in her mouth.

“It’s been a long day.” When I lifted my head, paper stuck to it.

Kendra laughed and reached out to take it off. Popping the last bite of
Twinkie in her mouth, she flipped the paper.

“Kelo v. City of New London. Hmm, sounds juicy. Any sex scenes?”

I snatched the paper back from her and added it to the ever-growing pile
next to me. “Oh yeah. I found my new book boyfriend to be sure.”

“Please tell me this is work related, not class related. ‘Cause I
know
I didn’t brief that one.”

Darby Gaines plopped down in the chair next to Kendra. He put an arm
around her and gave her a big, slobbery kiss. Kendra squealed and slapped at
him.

“Ugh. Not enough coffee yet.” I held up a hand to shield my eyes from
the escalation of their P.D.A. Kendra’s giggles earned her a round of shushing
from deeper in the library.

Darby let her go and reached over to tousle my hair. “You’re keeping
vampire hours, Winslow. Not good for your complexion.”

I hauled myself into a sitting position and closed my laptop. I’d spent
the last eight hours working on Dale’s project, plus trying to prepare for Con
Law. I was just about to make a snide comment to Darby about his own complexion
when he slid a steaming, 20 ounce Styrofoam cup in front of me.

“Bless you. You are a miracle man. I knew there was a reason I liked
you.” I carefully lifted the lid and gulped down a scalding mouthful of black
coffee. Screw the roof of my mouth; I needed caffeine more than skin.

“Don’t let him take the credit. That was all my idea.”

I believed her. Kendra and I had only met six months ago as two
wide-eyed first years on the morning of orientation. But, she, Darby, and I had
instantly clicked during Legal Research & Writing I. None of us would have
survived it without each other. Now, they kept me sane and drove me crazy all
at the same time. The romance between them was only a week old. I just hoped it
didn’t go sour and ruin our friendship. At the moment, they were all I had.

“This is work stuff,” I answered after another steaming gulp of coffee.
I wouldn’t have said no to one of Kendra’s Twinkies either. If Iris knew that’s
what I planned for dinner, she probably would have boxed my ears as I got off
the bus this morning. Or was that last night? I spent the entire day in the law
library between classes and had one left to go before I could finally call it a
day.

“Anything you care to share? You haven’t said much about your fancy new
internship. You know how pissed Ross and Cal are that you got it?”

Ross and Cal were currently competing for the top spot in our class
after Lud Morris dropped out of school. They were a couple of insufferable eggheads
who fit the First Year Law Student stereotype to a tee. They proved the old
saying: If you don’t know who the class asshole is by week three, it’s you.
Let’s just say Ross and Cal had no clue who the class assholes were. Ross had
taken an internship with a bankruptcy judge downtown and was rumored to be knee-deep
in unglamorous Chapter 13 filings. Cal worked for his father, senior partner at
one of the oldest law firms in town.

“Nothing too exciting,” I said. I bit my lip and Kendra noticed. Though
we may have only known each other for a short time, we’d gone through a kind of
academic trench warfare together. She already knew me quite well.

“Come on. You need to give me some gossipy nugget about working with
Foster. You know, before Lud flew over the cuckoo’s nest, he told Ross one of
his aides was, uh . . . you know. One of
them.”
She whispered “them” and
looked around making sure no one overheard her.

I gave her a coy bat of my eyelashes and rested my chin back on my
hand. “Whatever do you mean, Kendra?”

Darby reached over her and grabbed the other Twinkie from her pack,
killing my breakfast plans. “She means werewolves.”

“Thanks, Captain Subtle.” Kendra whacked him on the top of the head.

I shrugged but kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t sure whether disclosing
Dale’s werewolf status violated confidentiality, but I wasn’t in the mood for a
zillion questions. But, Kendra hadn’t exaggerated about Captain Subtle. Darby
shoved the entire Twinkie in his mouth at once and seemed to swallow it whole.
I wondered if he might be a were-snake or something.

“Fess up, Winslow. You’re busted. My sister’s a cashier at Wild Lake
Outfitters. She saw you chatting it up with Sebastian Lanier in the lobby of
the store the other day. She said he looked like he was into you. And that you
were there for work on account of fact you looked ‘all worky.’ Her words, not
mine.”

Another round of frantic shushing followed Kendra’s gasp of surprise.
So much for my plan to keep things under wraps.

“Don’t get your shorts in a twist. I had to drop off some files for
him. And that’s all you’re getting from me on the subject. I can’t talk about
work stuff. But, suffice it to say it
was
work stuff. Nothing more
interesting.”

Kendra slapped my shoulder. “Bullshit! You’re gonna spill. What’s he
like? Is he nice? God. He’s so tall. I just wanna, I don’t know. Lick him. Is
he lickable? Could you tell? I mean the werewolf stuff. What’s he like up
close.”

I did my level best to keep my face neutral when answering her. A blush
would give me away, and I’d never hear the end of it. “He’s, uh, a little
intense. I don’t know if I’d use the word nice. He’s very direct. And I didn’t
spend more than five minutes alone with him.”

The librarian started walking toward us as Kendra squealed. I nodded
with my chin, mouthed “sorry” and started gathering my papers and laptop. “Come
on,” I said. “We’re going to be late for class.”

Darby grabbed Kendra’s books and made a talking gesture with his cupped
hand as Kendra’s words gushed forth. “You were
alone
with him? Oh my
God. I would die.”

“Don’t fangirl out on me,” I said as we hit the elevator. “It wasn’t a
big deal.” God. I felt like the worst liar ever. I was never going to hear the
end of it from Kendra.

“Did he bite you?” Darby asked, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

“He did not bite me. He did not touch me. I gave him papers. He wrote
notes on them. I left. Now, that’s the end of the story. Hush. Put a cork in
it, Ken. Nothing to see here.”

“Oh, you are
going
to do a better job of explaining yourself,
Missy.” Kendra took her books from Darby as he leaned over me to press the down
button and the doors shut.

But, time was on my side. We had thirty seconds to make it to the other
end of the hall when the elevator stopped. Professor Cline locked the doors on
you if you weren’t inside the room at the top of the hour. We made it just in
time, and Kendra was stifled by the alphabetical seating chart. Fletcher was
across the room from Winslow, and I got to be alone with my thoughts. Lucky for
me, the Commerce Clause turned out to be just the thing I needed to douse the
more wicked ones brewing at the mention of Sebastian Lanier.

Cline’s lecture ran long and when he finally let us go, I had about two
minutes to race across the quad and make the last bus. Iris was off tonight,
and there was no chance any of the other drivers would wait on me if I was
late. I had to face Kendra’s indignant stare as I dashed out of the lecture
hall and pushed my way through the throng of dismissed students.

As I burst out of the doors, thunder cracked and the first fat drops of
rain began to fall. Making the last bus went from important to a full-scale
emergency. Walking home in the rain at night wasn’t high on my list of favorite
things.

As I rounded the corner toward the stop, great sheets started to fall
sideways, drenching me from head to toe in less than ten seconds.

“Shit!” I looked up to see the blinking lights of the number seven as
it pulled away from the curb. I rebalanced my bag on my shoulder and shouted
and waved as I ran toward it. “Wait! Fuck!”

A wave of water splashed up my leg and reached as far as my chest as I
stepped in a large puddle. I called out at the top of my lungs but knew it was
no use. Iris wasn’t driving tonight and no one else would give me special
treatment and wait. That bus was long gone, and I was well and truly fucked. I
plopped down on the bench under the bus stop awning. It did little to keep me
dry as the rain blew sideways and straight at my face.

Fuck. I hated to do it, but couldn’t see that I had any choice. I
pulled my cell phone out of my bag and tried to dial Kendra’s number. She had
her car and offered to take me home on a daily basis. I always said no. She was
my friend and I’d been honest about where I lived. Still, hearing about my
living arrangements and seeing them firsthand were two different things.
Oakwood Mobile Home Park fit every stereotype there was about trailer trash,
located literally on the wrong side of the tracks. Plus, chances were good if
Kendra
did
drop me off, she’d get treated to the Lori Winslow show. This
generally involved my mother, drunk off her ass, wearing nothing but her bra
and hot pants, screaming at me about how I was getting too big for my britches.
Twenty-four and a half more months. Then, I could leave it behind for good.

It was a good plan and probably would have worked. Except the battery
symbol on my phone blinked twice, then the screen went black.

Yes. I was well and truly fucked. I wanted a few minutes, hoping the
rain might let up, but if anything it got worse. So, it was three miles and one
foot in front of the other tonight. Already soaked to the bone, I supposed it made
no difference now. I pulled my hood over my head, heaved my bag across my
shoulder, and started toward home.

A little more than twenty-four hours ago, I’d stood in Bas’s
glass-walled office. Now, I trudged through the rain and sleet toward the
closest thing I had to home, freezing to the bone. I let thoughts of Bas warm
me. What was he doing now? I shivered against the cold and tried to conjure the
feel of his hands on me, warm and urgent. Pulling the ends of my fleece hoodie
closer around me, I tried to stave off the frosty air.

I made it halfway around the block when the sound of my name stabbed
through my frigid skin and warmed me from the inside out in spite of the
pelting rain.

He pulled alongside me in a slick, shiny black pickup truck as if my thoughts
had conjured him into existence. I blinked hard, thinking maybe I’d imagined
the whole thing. How could he be right here? Maybe I’d actually fallen down and
knocked myself out and this was all just some sort of head trauma-induced
hallucination. But, it wasn’t. My eyes might betray me, but the sound of his
voice sent a tremor through me. I don’t know what I was expecting. A limo? No.
He might be a millionaire, a billionaire for all I knew, but Bas Lanier
probably wouldn’t be caught dead in one. He rolled the window down and those
flashing blue-silver eyes raised gooseflesh between my shoulder blades.

“Get in,” he said. It was a command, not an offer. I looked behind me,
but there was no one in the street but the two of us. A million thoughts ran
through my head, but they boiled down to a simple phrase that lit his eyes like
wildfire when I uttered it.

“Why, Mr. Lanier, what big teeth you have.”

His grin was wide and devilish as he reached across the cab and opened
the door to let me in.

Chapter Seven

I was frozen. Shivering. Soaked to the bone. I tried to keep my teeth
from rattling as Bas pulled away from the curb, leaving the bus stop far
behind. He kept one hand on the wheel and reached behind him, grabbing a wool
plaid stadium blanket out of the back and tossing it toward me. His fingers
brushed my cheek when he did it and his brows knit together with concern.

“Jesus, you’re freezing. What the hell were you doing out there like
that?”

Any ability I had to come up with a sassy retort skittered right out of
my head as I shivered. I peeled off my drenched hoodie and pulled the ends of
the blanket around me. As I cast my hoodie aside, I realized it was a Wild Lake
Outfitters brand. Bas’s eyebrow raised just a fraction of an inch as he saw it
too.

“Th-thanks.” I thought about what to say to answer his question about
where I was going. Car trouble? Was there some other white lie I could use to
cover up the truth? I was pretty sure the likes of Bas Lanier had never set
foot in a mobile home park. The thing is, I wasn’t ashamed. I couldn’t help my
mother’s choices, only my own. And I was doing everything I could to get up and
out of the hellhole she’d raised me in. But, I didn’t like the looks of disgust
or pity that settled on the faces of people who didn’t understand the world the
way I did. Those who hadn’t had to claw their way out of something.

I squared my shoulders as best I could, considering how they trembled,
and turned to face him. “What were
you
doing out there like that?”

Bas kept his eyes on the road but his mouth curved into a smile. Again,
the memory of how it felt against mine flashed through me, warming me more than
the heat blasting out of the dashboard vents.

“I was just in the neighborhood.”

“Right.” It seemed he wanted to keep his own secrets as well. “Well, I
was just getting out of class.” My body convulsed and I let out an undignified
sneeze, hitting my forehead on the glove box.

Bas’s smile dropped and he reached over to touch my forehead. “Okay,
this isn’t funny anymore. Your skin’s like ice. You’re going to end up with
pneumonia if you don’t get warm and dry.”

“I don’t think that’s how pneumonia works. You sound like my
grandmother.”

“Well, be that as it may, Red Riding Hood, I’m taking you home.”

The ice coursing through my veins wasn’t from the wet clothes. No way
in hell would I let Bas drive into Oakwood. No. Fucking. Way.

“I’m not comfortable with that.” It was the best I could come up with
to say.

Bas let out an obstinate growl and pulled the car into a nearby carpool
lot. This time of night, there was no one else around and the woods fanned out
on the other side of it. He jammed the truck in park, unhooked his seatbelt and
turned to face me.

“Are you trying to drive me crazy?”

“Am I what?”

“You. Look at you. What the hell were you thinking being out there like
that? Never mind pneumonia. Were you planning on walking three miles through
that neighborhood alone? This is the shittiest part of town. It’s not safe for
you out here alone. Do you have any idea the thousand things that could have
happened to you if I hadn’t come along?”

“Wait. What?” The ice in my veins turned to molten lava. “Were you
following me?”

Bas blinked hard once, but the stern expression on his face didn’t
alter. “Answer me.”

I turned and fumbled with the latch on the door, but Bas had locked it.
“Abby,” he said, his voice a touch softer, but still full of command. “I mean
it. You could have really gotten hurt. Why didn’t you call someone if you
needed a ride?”

I opened my mouth to say a dozen things, then clamped it shut again.
His eyes gutted me. They flashed silver and blue, staring hard at me. “My phone
died.”

He raised a brow and gave an unconvincing nod. “So with all that rotten
luck you had going on, you just thought it would change if you took a stroll
through the worst part of town?”

“Why is this any of your business? You don’t even know me. I’m grateful
you came along. I mean, I guess. But at what point in our non-relationship did
you think it was okay to tell me what to do?”

He shook his head and scratched his chin, considering my question. Again,
I had the sensation the world had just slowed to a freeze frame. Every sense
seemed tuned to him. It was as if things had grown so silent, I could hear his
heartbeat thundering in my own ears. He closed his eyes slowly and his nostrils
flared. I didn’t know him. Didn’t understand his moods. But, in that fraction
of a second I knew as he opened his eyes again and looked at me, he’d made a
decision that would change everything.

He leaned forward and put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me close
to him. My shivering stopped in an instant. His heat poured into me, setting
off hummingbird wings against my heart. “What if I told you I want to make you
my business?”

He didn’t give me the chance to answer. At least, not with words. He
tilted his head and pressed his lips against mine. I raised a fist, intending
to what? Fight him off? Knock some sense into myself? But, as his lips
feathered against mine, light at first, then sinking into me, drawing me down
into the swirling light of his heated touch, my body gave him all the answers
he needed.

Yes. Oh, God. Yes. I wanted him to make me his business. I wanted him
to make me his. It went against everything I thought I was. Everything I was
trying to do. I couldn’t afford a diversion like Bas. But, my fingers betrayed
me as I threaded them through his thick hair, pulling him down even closer. He
hovered over me, his lips moving down the column of my throat. The blanket fell
away. My drenched cotton t-shirt stuck to me like a second skin. There was
nothing to it. My nipples strained against the wet fabric.

He whispered my name as he slid out of his own jacket and pulled me
across his lap. I was on fire. Soaked in a different place now. His hands were
everywhere, playing across my shoulder, sliding up the hem of my t-shirt. I
couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. A fire woke inside of me along with a
powerful hunger. I wanted him.

God, this was wrong. Crazy. This wasn’t me. I didn’t just hook up with
random guys on the side of the road. But, as Bas’s fingers skittered along my
flesh, reaching up over my rib cage and finding the slope of my breast, a flame
lit within me brighter than anything I’d ever known. It felt so good, so right.
I groaned as he ran the pad of his thumb across my taut nipple. I arched
against him as he slid his other hand beneath my ass and lifted me.

He was smooth and strong, shifting his weight beneath me. In one fluid
movement, he vaulted the front seat with me in his arms and we tumbled into the
back seat of the cab. I ran my hands along the curve of his strong shoulders,
felt the solid muscles of his back as he stretched along the length of me. When
I finally came up for air, I cupped his face with one hand and looked at him.
His eyes flashed bright blue with an animal light that sent heat spearing
through me, settling in the juncture of my thighs. I felt myself arch my back
and spread my legs. My sex pulsed with arousal as Bas kept one hand around my
waist and the other slid under my back.

“Abby.” His voice was raw with lust, and I knew he struggled to keep
his wolf in check. A part of me wanted him to let it out, and I ached from it.

He wanted to say something else, the lines etched across his forehead
showed some war he fought within himself. It was the wolf, but it was more.
Realization slammed into me. He wanted permission. It wasn’t enough that I
moaned and writhed with lust beneath him. He needed the words.

Bas held back. It maddened me. Desire coursed through my veins, and it
felt like I had my own beast within me fighting to come out. Whatever he’d done
to me, I was ready to throw caution and reason out the window. But, as Bas
shifted his weight and watched me, logic seeped in where lust had ruled.

“Wait,” I gasped, struggling to bring myself to a sitting position. My heart
thundered in my ears in time with the throbbing between my legs. God, I wanted
to throw myself on top of him and straddle him like a wild thing myself. Bas
shifted, helping me up.

His chest heaved and his hands trembled a little as he tried to collect
himself. His jeans tented from his erection and it took everything in me not to
reach across and free it.

“God. I’m sorry,” he said, his voice still ragged as he tried to quell
the tide of his own desire. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

I pulled my shirt down and drew my knees to my chest, squeezing my legs
together tight to try and drive away the pulsing need between them. I could
barely think straight. But, this was a bad idea. If I threw myself at Bas, I
wouldn’t be able to take it back. I just met him. There was a conflict of
interest. And, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that fucking Bas would play
directly into Dale’s plans.

“What was the plan?”

The corner of Bas’s luscious mouth twitched as he held back a
devastating smile. “There wasn’t one. I swear to God. I just saw you walking.”

“Liar.”

He reeled back as if I’d slapped him and trained his eyes on me. This
time, he couldn’t hold back the smile.

“What are you looking for, Miss Winslow?”

“I . . . uh. I just don’t want to be used.”

Bas’s eyes widened and some of the color drained from his face.

“You aren’t. Not by me. I promise you that. But, you need to look out
for Dale Thorp and the congressman too.”

My heart sank and a blush of anger rose in my cheeks. Not anger.
Embarrassment. Maybe a little shame. There could be no question that Dale had
sent me to Bas as some sort of gift. Two minutes ago, I had been willing to
play right into his hands. As Bas looked at me with those piercing blue eyes
and I could still feel the heat from his skin warming mine, I knew I might
still be willing. From the moment he touched me, I craved the man like no
other. It thrilled and terrified me. I needed to put some distance between us
and fast before I did or said something I couldn’t take back. The rain let up
and I closed my fingers around the door handle, intending to step out.

“No!”

I froze. Bas touched my shoulder. “I’m serious about it not being safe
for you to walk out there by yourself. I’ll drive you anywhere you want to go.”

Where I
wanted
to go was anywhere with him. But, I couldn’t give
in to that. Not now. Not when I wasn’t sure what that said about me. As he sat
there with fire in his eyes, I knew he’d never let me leave without making sure
I was safe. It infuriated me and melted me all at once. In the span of a
second, I made a choice.

“Fine. Take me home.” I could have lied, had him take me to Kendra’s,
back to the library, anywhere but Oakwood. But, it felt important that he see
me for who and what I was and where I came from. I wasn’t ashamed. If he were,
that would tell me everything I needed to know about him.

I moved back into the passenger seat and Bas got behind the wheel. I
pointed the way and he drove me the last mile until we reached the rusted,
rickety sign marking the entrance to Oakwood Park. I watched him closely. Bas
kept his shoulders square and his eyes straight ahead.

“Turn right at the second stop sign and it’s the last unit on the left.
The one with the green shutters.” The shutters that were half falling off, I
could have added. But, I didn’t. In another few seconds he’d see it all for
himself.

He gave me a nod and drove down the street, sliding the car into park
right in front of my mother’s trailer. The lights were dim and the driveway was
empty. She probably spent the night at Chad’s house, her latest loser
boyfriend.

“Home sweet home. How do you like it?” My tone came out harsher than I
intended. I wanted to push him, shock him. Make him betray the judgment or pity
I always got when people found out where I lived. He did none of those things.
He gripped the wheel hard and turned to face me.

“Are you going to rip my face off if I tell you I want to see you again?”

I don’t know why, but that was the last thing I expected him to say. It
shocked me into laughter. “Is it all this?” I spread my hands and motioned
toward the double wide.

He cocked his head when he looked at me, giving me an expression very
much like a dog when he’s confused by a sharp noise. A blush shot through me
straight to my shoes.

“Why do you think it matters to me where you live?”

“It matters to everyone. Why do you think I’m working so hard to get
out? I just don’t have a choice right now until I get through law school. I’m
saving up to get a place of my own. And believe it or not, it’s quiet here most
of the time. At least when my mom’s out, which is often. So, I can’t screw
anything up. Not school. Not my internship. Nothing.”

As soon as I said it, I realized how true it was. Just a few minutes
ago, I’d been willing to let wild lust cloud my judgment and put everything I’d
worked so hard for at risk. I couldn’t let that happen again. No matter how
much I wanted Bas to just throw his arms around me again and kiss away
everything I’d just told him.