My eyebrows raise, my heart beating erratically. "And how invited is that?"
The look in his eyes, hungry and downright devious, softens slightly. His lips part, and I wait for his next words. But they do not arrive. Whatever he was going to say, he folded it back, tucking it away.
I want to know what he was going to say, but maybe it's better if I don't. We're precariously walking a tightrope, dancing on it, while lust and attraction reaches for us, trying to pull us under. How much longer before we succumb?
Dom's hands slip into his pockets, his shoulders straightening as he regains control of himself. "I missed you in the passenger seat today."
My hands run over his shoulders. I do not feel compelled to exercise such control, considering he is currently a bastion of it. "I missed being there."
"You didn't get Bugles."
I pout. "I didn't get to pick out a weird little treat for you."
"There will be other opportunities. I still have my scorpion lollipop and questionable rock candy should we get desperate." A gust of wind sweeps over us, and his hands leave his pockets to push my hair back from my face, his fingertips blazing a trail of heat down my throat. Two knuckles drag across my collarbone. Maybe he's not as in control as I thought. "I can't wait to get you alone later," he says, a groan but also a growl, something that reaches deep into my belly and takes hold.
My mind fills with memories of last night in the elevator, before my nether regions caught fire. Before that pain, there was exquisite pleasure. I want more, and I want it delivered by this man, with his strong hands and nimble fingers. "I cannot wait to be alone with you." I look over at my family, standing around at the start of the trail.
"Can you hurry up?" Kerrigan yells when she sees me looking. "The vortex is closing."
Rainbow shakes her head. "Vortexes don't close, though their energy does fluctuate."
To Dom, I murmur, "How do you feel about making them think we're walking with them to the vortex, but then we double back and hide out in the Road Kraken?"
"I feel great about it, but Savage Grandma looks like she's pretty serious."
I look back, finding my grandma. Fisted hands rest on her hips, eagle eyes on us.
Dom takes my hand, and we head for the vortex.
CHAPTER 43
Cecily
The glamping portionof the trip is my restitution for putting up with hours of listening to Rainbow wax poetic about auras and gemstones and vortexes.
Kerrigan needn't be worried, there is no real camping to be found here.
Sky Island Glamping is a place you'd expect to find a celebrity who calls themselves 'down-to-earth' in an interview. The tents are not called tents, butsuites.Made of thick, sturdy canvas, the freestandingsuiteis large enough for a full bathroom, king-size bed, and a sixteen-foot long floor-to-ceiling window to show off a panoramic view of the Ponderosa pine forest beyond. The suite also has air-conditioning and heating, and as the perky employee who showed us to the suite reminded us, "It's that time of year where you never know which one you'll need."
"This is probably the coolest place we've been so far," Dom says, lying back on the bed and looking up at the skylight where, when it's dark, we should be able to see millions of stars from the comfort of our plush bed.
"I can't get over this view." I'm standing beside the windowed wall, staring out at the dense forest, the clouds hanging lowabove the treetops. In the distance, the clouds are heavy and dark. "It doesn't seem real."
"It's stunning," Dom agrees.
I look back to say something, but the words die in my throat. He's not looking outside at the natural wonder. His gaze is locked on me.
"Come here," he says, his voice vining around me, pulling me in. I should be ashamed of how quickly I go to him, but I can't muster the indignation. The man I recently loathed has become someone I'm growing addicted to. Maybe there really is a thin line between love and hate.
I tuck in beside him, lying on my back so I can look up at the darkening sky. Watching an afternoon thunderstorm from the safety of Dom's arms, cocooned in this soft bed, sounds like paradise.
"How are you feeling?" Dom's question rolls over me.
He's not asking how I'm feeling in this moment, at least not directly. He wants to know how I'm feeling about listening to Savage Grandma struggle for breath on the short, easy, flat walk to the vortex.
"Like a part of my heart is being slowly ripped from my body."
"Yeah," he says. There is sorrow in his tone. "That was hard."
