“Listen you two, we don’t have time for you to do the vertical mambo. The upright nooky. The standing deed. The hide the sausage. Nope, not right this moment. Besides that, my sensitive ears and eyes are not equipped to hear or see all that. Let’s get to where we’re going. After we get settled you can create me a soundproof space, so that I may be properly protected from that which I should not see.”
“Can I eat him?” Thadd asked Torrance, feathering his lips against hers as he spoke.
She sighed, licking his bottom lip before letting her head fall back on her shoulders. She let out a frustrated sigh. “He’s right though. If we continue doing the sucky face thing, I’m going to rip your clothes off, and I promise we won’t be leaving this room for a long time, or we’ll be interrupted by Ridge and whoever he brings with him.”
The mention of her so-called brotherish had him setting her back on her feet, mood almost killed. His dick was still hard, which he was sure it would be for the foreseeable future, say the next hundred and fifty years, give or take a few.
They loaded into Torrance’s truck with the back filled with her suitcases and a couple boxes while the goat sat up front between them.
“Why can’t I drive your truck?” he asked again as they drove down the hill toward town. Seriously, who would name a couple towns Nowhere and Assjacket? Whatever forefathers had stopped in the two cities clearly had a sense of humor or were pissed off. He was leaning toward the latter.
“Because this is my precious.” Torrance ran her hands over the steering wheel slowly.
The way she’d said the word ‘Precious’ reminded him of the little creature Gollum from the movie Lord of the Rings. “Upendo, if you begin muttering that over and over, we’re gonna have a problem.” He tried to reach between them to touch her, only to come into contact with their very own personal cockblock named Mr. Bixley, or Dicksley as Torrance had started calling him.
“Goat, I will bite you if you stop me from touching my female,” he warned the little creature of some unknown age. He was sure the little guy wasn’t a baby like Torrance had assumed. In fact, from the way he spoke, he’d bet the fucker was a little ancient prick.
“She cannot concentrate on navigating the roads if she has you pawing her. Besides, you will have plenty of time to do your claiming, later.” Mr. Bixley sat back on his haunches looking way too satisfied with his front legs crossed over one another.
“You’ll be lucky if you make it to Texas, Dicksley.” Thadd leaned forward, hiding a grin as the little animal flinched closer to Torrance as he turned the radio on. “Any requests?”
Torrance’s lips lifted in what he was beginning to realize was her version of a shit-eating grin. “Oh, I love this song.”
He sat back, listening to the lyrics, inhaling slowly. They drove a little further while he watched her drive. Thadd didn’t think he’d actually enjoy a female if he’d been blessed by the Goddess with one. Not like Hollis and Annie did. No, he had assumed if he ever took one for a mate, they’d tolerate one another, maybe have a young or two, but want to be with one another, know what the other was thinking, doing, he couldn’t see himself giving two shits, until that very moment.
“You’re staring,” she whispered.
He shrugged, no use denying it.
“What would you have done if I would’ve been all scarred up and not pleasing to the eye?”
“It wouldn’t have mattered to me.” Total honestly was the only thing he could offer her.
Torrance wasn’t fishing for compliments; he knew that as well as he knew his own mind.
“I know I’m not the most gorgeous female out there, or the ugliest so there’s that. I mean, I do like my red hair even though I had one guy tell me he liked Julia Roberts red better in that movie where she played a hooker. Like that was supposed to make me like him or something. Most people think because my skin isn’t milky white like most redheads, I had to be dying it, but nope, this is my natural color. I’m just glad I don’t have to pile on a ton of sunblock. Plus, I love getting a nice tan instead of burning. Maybe it’s my shifter genetics? Since I don’t know who my parents are, it’s really anyone’s guess.”
“My lion wanted you before I ever saw you. No, that’s not true.” Thadd shook his head, inhaling deeply. “I need to confess something to you.”
Thadd wasn’t sure how Torrance would take what he had to say but keeping something like his vision from her seemed wrong. Hell, he wasn’t sure if it was a vision, a premonition, or what the fuck it was. All he knew was, it had led him to her.
“You’re freaking me out. I know you’re not mated, or at least you don’t smell of a—female.”
“No, I’m not mated, never been one I wanted until you.” He took a deep breath, running both hands down his face before deciding to just say the words. Truth was always better than half-truths or lies.
“Maybe you should pull over first. I don’t think a story like this should be told on a highway.”
Torrance looked around them, her competent hands white knuckling the steering wheel. To say she was upset would be an understatement. Thadd wished he could hold her, which was another reason he wanted her to pull off the highway while he explained his dreams.
“There’s an exit up ahead that’s like a scenic byway.”
His mate was
