While she showered and prepared to leave, Elias had sat watchfully on the end of the guest room bed, thick thighs in a manspread, hands clasped loosely between his knees. She’d let him observe, the shower curtain pulled back, water pooling on the floor, positive he would storm the bathroom any moment and reward her for being a tease. But he’d simply continued to stare, a vein ticking in his temple, a host of mysterious thoughts whirring behind his eyes. The seduction attempt had left Roksana critically hot and bothered. Elias seemed to know it, too, taking every opportunity to graze fingertips across her hip bone or twist his grip in the hem of her borrowed dress.
Elias opened the passenger side door of the Impala for her, leaving only enough room that she had to squeeze past his hard body, a knowing smile curved his lips.
She almost bit him.
No sooner had they settled into the Impala, Elias directly behind her in the backseat, did Tucker fire up the engine and gun the car in reverse, sending them flying down the bumpy forest floor at a breakneck pace. They hit the road in under a minute and he whipped the wheel into a K-turn, flooring the gas pedal with a cry of, “Road trip, motherfuckers!”
Roksana grimaced at the dress she wore. “We need to stop for clothes. I can’t go to the club dressed like a grandma.”
Tucker sighed, the tires of the Impala squealing as he turned onto the highway. “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Women are hell on road trips.”
“Hush, bloodsucker. I’ll buy you a fancy cigar.”
He laid on the horn. “Now we’re talking.”
They’d driven for a while, trying to get some distance in the rearview before looking for a place to stop. A matter of days ago, Roksana had played in an underworld poker game with fae and vampires. Now she was in a mall in suburban Connecticut.
Life was weird.
With the shopping center twenty minutes from closing, there were very few customers in the place, but the people who did pass them did a double-take. She could only imagine the picture they made, her in a vintage dress with a bruised face and combat boots, Elias prowling like an amber-eyed lion in his long black coat, daring anyone to get too close to her. And Tucker smoking a lit cigar, his gold chains glinting in the open collar of his white dress shirt.
Not exactly the typical clientele for Nordstrom, but hey, desperate times called for desperate shopping. Elias followed behind her closely now as she browsed the racks, essentially grabbing everything black and in her size.
“She’s not even looking at the price tags,” Elias murmured, pretending to scroll through his phone, even though she could feel him staring at her legs. “Must still have my credit card.”
She made a show of bending over and untucking it from her boot, holding it up and winking at him. “I never leave home without it, vampire.”
When he only looked gratified, a hot wave of awareness sizzled through her, sensitizing every inch of her skin. His eyes were sending the clear message that he loved providing for her. Initially, she’d stolen his credit card to annoy him, but had it ever really done the trick? Or was he secretly enjoying it the whole time?
“What about this?” From the other side of the rack, Tucker held up a yellow kimono. “You could jazz it up with a chunky necklace or something.”
Roksana shook herself free of the Elias-trance with a laugh, but the buzz in her blood remained. Focus on the night ahead, ding dong. But how was she supposed to do that when having him so close put her in a constant state of arousal? She desperately needed to come up with a game plan for when they reached Enders. Sure, she could use the marriage decree to gain entry and secure a meeting with Tilda, but she was banned from the slayer bar months ago for fighting alongside vampires in order to protect Ginny. Tonight could very well turn violent and she was still not at full speed after Moscow.
“Here,” Elias said, taking the pile of clothes out of her hands. “I’ll start getting these rung up. We need to get back on the road.”
“Thanks.” Roksana held up a pleated leather mini-dress, cooing at it like a mother to an infant. “I’ll be there in a minute. Just going to go throw this on in the dressing room.”
Elias eyed the sexy dress with distaste, but wisely chose not to comment, him and Tucker winding their way through the racks to the register. Roksana made quick work of stripping off her borrowed clothes and squeezing into the black leather, feeling so instantly at home in the confining material, she let out a gusty sigh.