She wasn’t making any sense. “Cora, I—”
“Save it,” she interrupted. “I don’t want to talk about it. Just don’t do it again. I’m going to take a quick shower, and then we can hit the road, okay?”
There was so much pleading in her eyes, he could do nothing but nod and step back.
Slowly, she shut the door, and moments later he heard the shower turn on.
Staring at the slab of wood that stood between him and his mate, he couldn’t help but wonder if at some point in his very long life he managed to piss off a gypsy or a witch. Only someone with a curse hanging over their head could manage to fuck things up as badly as he just had.
Chapter twenty
Cora
Cora didn’t say a word for the first hour of their drive through Northern California. Thankfully, Saiden took his cue from her and remained quiet as well, though she could practically feel him itching to say something from the driver’s seat. The silence was awkward, a heavy palpable feeling in the air, yet neither of them broke.
For as quiet as it was inside the car, her mind was the complete opposite. It felt like she was standing in the eye of a storm that threatened to smash her to bits with one wrong move. Or one wrong word.
She just couldn’t stop thinking about that damn kiss. About how her body had melted into him without a thought or hesitation, as if she knew on some deep biological level that they were meant to be together.
When they kissed everything just felt…right. Like finally finding a place to call home after a lifetime of searching. The moment his lips touched hers, she forgot about everything and everyone. There was only him and her and the spark between them.
Which was complete insanity for so many reasons that she could probably write a self-help novel about it.
‘101 Poor Decisions - Vampire Edition.’
The very fact that he was a vampire would comprise half the damn book. Sure, he seemed decent with his ‘you’ll be safe with me’ lines, but that was the opening scene to like half of the horror movies she’d watched. When someone says you will be safe with them, you will undoubtedly NOT be safe with them.
Jinx loved to remind her that movies were not real life, but Cora was always quick to disagree. Movies taught you so many valuable lessons if you just knew which ones to watch. The romance crap where things end happily ever after? A steaming pile of bullshit with a side of lies. Films like Cabin in the Woods where everyone dies in the end because they made poor life choices? Now that’s more like it.
And the reality was that even if he wasn’t a vampire, and even if he didn’t want to wipe her brain to eliminate her pi?ce de résistance movie script, getting involved with him was still a bad idea. He was going to live for hundreds of years, and she was… not, to say the very least.
If that single kiss was any indication, she had to stop things from progressing any farther. There was no rehab for the drug that was Saiden, and one more taste might lead to a lethal addiction. If her muscles hadn’t seized up when they did, she would have been lost to him like the damsel who went to investigate a strange noise and was never heard from again.
Except she wasn’t a damsel. She was a director. Which meant she was in charge of how things were going to play out, and there was no sex scene in her movie.
In her film, the vampire was the villain. He preyed on the young ingénue and killed her in the end because that’s what happens when you think the snake is just cute and misunderstood. You get bit.
There was no way in hell he was getting his fangs in her. Literallyor metaphorically.
Now if she could just convince her brain to stop playing their kiss on fucking repeat, it would be a lot easier to move on to the next scene.
Minutes later she got her wish, just not in any way she would have chosen.
There was a loud thunk that shook Cora in her seat, and suddenly the McLaren was limping along the freeway.
“Fuck,” Saiden grumbled, the first word to penetrate their silence. He carefully guided the vehicle onto the shoulder and killed the engine.
“Please tell me you didn’t just pop a tire.”
The vein bulging in Saiden’s forehead as he gripped the steering wheel hard enough to break it was answer enough.
“Okay, this is fine,” she said. “I mean, you have a spare right?” Saiden’s eyes slid over to her, and Cora felt her stomach bottom out. “Please tell me you’re not the only person in the world who doesn’t have a spare.”
“This is a McLaren, Cora. It’s designed for speed which means it doesn’t carry anything that might weigh it down.”
“What kind of tiny dick energy is needed to drive without a spare tire just so you can go an extra two miles per hour?” Cora squawked, scrubbing her hands over her face. “And why didn’t you see this coming? I thought the whole purpose of your ‘not-spidey sense’ was to avoid situations like these?”
“First off,” Saiden gritted out. “We both know my dick is anything but tiny.”
