“Yeah, right?”
“I hate to hurry you, but I need to hurry you. This stuff isn’t that strong. I don’t have access to impressive mages. Yet. This elixir won’t last long.”
“Strike one…”
He directed me to a mine shaft that was so well hidden that there was no way I would’ve found it without him, the bushes and trees creating a natural blind. We gingerly sank into it, Austin going first to watch out for bugs and spiders (I’d insisted, threatening him with a second strike). Once in, he asked again if I trusted him.
I stared down at the rickety old metal cart on the rusted set of tracks, leading down into the blackness.
“I mean…I do, but that doesn’t exactly mean I want to get in this thing.”
He crawled in, facing the black maw. Only a slight diffusion of light made it through the natural canopy blocking off the entrance. Once there, he put out his hands for me.
“I’ve taken this ride many times before,” he said. “It’s an escape hatch, so to speak. If someone is following you, they won’t be able to follow us. Not quickly, anyway. Only a handful of people in the town know about it. I test it a couple of times a year to make sure it is still safe. It has not failed yet.”
“Not yet, huh?” I closed the distance slowly. “I’m not going to lie, man, this is not shaping up to be a great date. I’m not so into this idea.”
“Have faith.” He stretched his arms out toward me and wiggled his fingers.
“Are there seatbelts? Helmets?”
“I can wrap my arms and legs around you, if you want?”
A spear of heat blasted through me. My breathing turned shallow, and against my better judgment, for a couple reasons, I climbed into the cart and nestled between his spread thighs.
“Your shirt is going to get dirty if you lean back,” I said with a suddenly dry mouth.
“Too late.” He pulled me back against his chest. His legs pushed into my sides and his arms came around me, wrapping me into his body. Into his smell, clean cotton and a delicious spicy sort of cologne. “Strike…three? I forgot what strike we’re on now,” he whispered, the heat from his body soaking into me, his breath enveloping my cheek. “You look absolutely beautiful tonight, Jess. I was waiting to tell you.”
“Why?” I asked, turning my face, feeling his lips brush against my jaw. I tightened my fingers on his knees. “Why wait?”
“Because if I told you right off the bat, I worried you’d think it was a line. Telling you now, right before I send you on a joyride that might kill you, seemed so much more fitting.” His lips, against my temple now, curled up into a smile. “I’m biased, though. I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen the second I met you.”
His heart beat against my back, speeding up, matching mine. I turned, sliding my hand up his leg, my logic on hiatus, responding to his words, which I could tell were definitely not a line. He meant every syllable.
Still twisting, I lifted my lips toward his. Our breath mingled, heating up. He dipped his head, those full, lush lips skimming the corner of mine, nearly lining up. I closed my eyes, wanting this with everything I had.
He dropped his hand to my hip, pulling my body in tighter between his legs. He shifted his weight, leaning over me. I moved my hand from his leg toward his shoulder, uncomfortably twisted but not caring, needing to taste him. To feel his lips on mine.
As my hand moved, it hit something that knocked backward.
Clunk.
The metal box we were sitting in dropped a few inches, startling me.
“Crap,” he said, quickly grabbing my hips with both hands and wrenching me around so I was facing forward. He slapped his hands down on the sides of the box and pulled his legs up and over mine before leaning in, holding me to him. “Hold on. Here we go…”FifteenAs the mine cart sped through the deserted hard-rock mine, Jess reached up around Austin’s arms, squeezing his biceps for dear life. She wasn’t screaming, though. With the first big drop, speeding up the cart to an exhilarating pace, loud, manic laughter flew back toward him.
He smiled at her delight, feeling the adrenaline himself. Truth be told, he took this ride more than a couple of times a year, loving the rush. Loving the adrenaline. Laughing at his fear. Just like she was.
If it wasn’t for a turn coming up that would whip them to the side, clattering their heads together, he’d lean over her and kiss along her jaw.
Good thing he couldn’t.
He had to stop this! He could not give in to this attraction. Not with her. The second she got a true glimpse of what it was like to be with an alpha like him, with his hang-ups, she’d go running for the hills. She’d cast him out of her circle and, if she grew powerful enough, out of her town. He wasn’t like his brother. He couldn’t temper his possessiveness. He couldn’t balance his strong feelings. He’d be lost to her, and he would react in ways no Jane would tolerate. He would not be able to suffer another man touching her, for one, or even overtly flirting with her. It would eat at his soul until his animal exploded.