“I hope so.”
“Simon.”
“Yes?” I brought her hand to my mouth and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.
“Don’t let me leave.” Her voice was small and rife with fear. I turned off the highway and pulled into the first place we came to. I shoved my seat back, unclipped both our seatbelts, and tugged her across so I could hold her in my lap. I took her mouth, needing the taste of her on my tongue. I held her hip with one hand and stroked my other palm up and down her back. I only let her come up for air when she was moaning and wiggling against my erection.
“Do you really think you have to worry about me letting you leave?” I teased.
She smiled and shook her head. “Why am I so comfortable with you so quickly? I don’t really know you, but I feel like I do.”
“You’re my mate, and the bite I gave you is building a bond between us. It’s a connection unlike any other.”
“Does that make it real then? Or did your bite make me feel this way?”
It took me a minute to realize she wasn’t accusing me of anything but merely asking a question out of curiosity.
“I can’t make you feel things you don’t. I can’t force a connection that wasn’t meant to be. The reason you’re responding to it is because we’re mates. It’ll only get stronger between us.”
I dropped another kiss on her mouth. “Now, back to your original fear. Cecilia, your father never left, and you’re just as much a piece of him as you are your mother. Have you ever once thought of leaving him?”
“No, of course not.”
“There you go. You’re not a leaver. A runner, maybe,” I teased. “But that’s okay. I’ll chase you if that’s what you want.”
“See!” she exclaimed. “Just like a—”
“Don’t say it!” I commanded. “Don’t even think it.”
My mate giggled again. It was fast becoming one of my favorite sounds. She ran her fingers up the back of my neck into my hair and tugged my lips down to hers. It wasn’t lost on me that it was the first time she’d initiated a kiss between us. I let her take the lead until my control snapped. Then I took her under, eating at her mouth until we were both gasping for air. I glanced around, desperate to find someplace I could take her. Someplace I could strip her naked and sate the hunger I had for her.
“Not yet,” she whispered, brushing her lips along my jaw. “The next time we make love, it’ll be in my bed.”
I groaned, dropping my head back against the headrest. I glanced at the GPS. We still had a couple of hours to drive. I might make it that long. Emphasis on might. I slapped her on the butt, making her squeal with surprise.
“Get in your seat, baby, and let’s get back on the road. Your house first,” I commanded. “Then, once I’m done with you, we’ll go see your dad and Leslie.”
Chapter Six
~Cici~
I grew more aroused the closer we got to my house until I was nearly taut with need as Simon pulled my Jeep into the garage. He’d barely put it into park before I was up and practically sprinting in through the adjoining door. My shirt was over my head and tossed somewhere in the kitchen as I beelined for the bedroom.
“Cici?”
I squealed as my dad’s voice sounded from my living room. I immediately started backpedaling, hoping to find my shirt as quickly as possible, but met a warm wall of hard flesh instead. A growling wall. Simon. I was lifted and placed firmly behind his wide body as the light flipped on and my dad stood there with lifted brow as he stared at us.
“I put your mail on the table and was leaving when I heard the garage. Thought I’d wait and see how things went. I see you brought company with you.”
My dad was obviously not going anywhere until he knew more. Usually, I didn’t mind his overbearing, protective mode. But right now, I was desperate to get the man in front of me stripped naked and do incredibly wicked things to him.
Simon growled again and took a step forward. I wrapped around his back, hands across his chest while my breasts pressed against the middle of his back.
“Simon, that’s my dad. Not exactly the way I wanted to introduce the two of you, but I’m adaptable. Dad, this is Simon. Now, I’d like to step in the other room and…” I paused, clearing my throat with embarrassment, “get my shirt. You’ll both wait until I’m back in this room to say anything. And stay in your respective corners.”
I knew it was too much to ask and wasn’t surprised when I heard my dad questioning Simon as I flipped on the kitchen light and found my shirt on the floor.
“Who are you, Simon? And why are you following my daughter into her house while she disrobes?”
Oh, God! Could this get any more embarrassing?
Simon laughed. “I’d think that would be apparent. You’re lucky I didn’t catch up to her when she tossed the shirt or you’d have been greeted with the sounds of the two of us—”
“Simon!” I squealed his name as I hurried back to them, tugging my shirt in place as I did. Without thought, I reached out and smacked him hard on the arm. “That’s my dad!”
“I know who he is,” Simon offered with a grunt before lifting my hand and inspecting it. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
It was my turn to growl, and though I wasn’t a shifter, I thought I did a passable job of sounding like my mate. My mate.
“Simon’s my mate, Dad.”
My dad’s gaze sharpened, but he only nodded as if he’d already known
