“Theywon’twait. And you’re going to have to be the one to let them in.” He slid my hand over the firm, warm lump in his pants. “I need aminute.”
“Oh shit.” I smiled as I reached for my underwear. “How long will thattake?”
He headed for the bathroom. “It’ll be gone the minute Vic steps through thedoor.”
Sixteen
Justus
Iflushedthe toilet before I came out of the bathroom, but Vic did not look fooled. Based on the determination in his jaw line, I gathered that Marc had told him to stay between me and Kaci. Physically, if necessary. Marc might have no plans to separate us, but he wasn’t—evidently—going to let us eliminate the legal possibility of an annulment by consummating themarriage.
But Vic was too much of a gentleman to ask what we’d been up to. Not that he’d need to, after Kaci cursed him through thedoor.
I nodded at the cast encasing his left arm and hand, except for his fingers and thumb. “Sorry about that. I assume you didn’t go to the ER for thecast?”
“Of course not. One of Blackwell’s grandsons is a medical intern. He took care ofit.”
“Can you shift like that?” I’d never really thought about what happened to a shifter with a broken bone. And suddenly I felt evenguiltier.
“Not for a month or so.” He turned to Kaci, effectively dismissing the entire subject. “Okay, let’s take a look at you.” With his good hand, he tilted Kaci’s chin up and carefully pushed hair back from her forehead to examine the wound on her temple. A growl of warning built in my throat the moment he touched her, but I swallowed it and settled for clenching my fistsinstead.
Marc wasn’t kidding. Something hadchanged.
Kaci wasmine. Not to own, but to…love. To protect. I knew damn well that Vic meant her no harm, but deep down, some part of me no longer trusted him, despite the fact that he was bigger and stronger than I was and had far moreexperience.
Deep down, Iknewthat no one else in the world could give Kaci what she needed better than I could, be that physical protection or…pleasure. And I didn’t want anyone else totry.
I didn’t even want anyone else nearher.
But before that thought had even fully played out in my head, I recognized the danger inherent init.
While Vic assessed Kaci’s injuries and I stood stiffly to the side, Chris started the coffee pot set up next to the second sink, just outside of thebathroom.
Because motelssuck.
“This one’s scabbed over nicely, and you look pretty alert.” Vic let Kaci’s hair go, and it tumbled over herforehead.
“I’m fine,” she snapped. “Seriously, did you guys check in yet? Because there are plenty of rooms available. You can totally go get your own. Like,now.”
Vic snorted with a glance at me. “We’re notstaying.”
I tried not to sound gleeful. “That’s too bad. Do you want something to eat before you go? We could order apizza…”
Another snort, this one from Chris, as he clicked the coffee carafe into place beneath the drip. “None of us are staying. We’re hitting the road as soon as Kaci’s taken care of. Thus, the coffee. If this even qualifies,” he added with a skeptical glance at the packet the grounds had comefrom.
“Okay. Well, I’m hungry, so why don’t you guys go get some food and give us, like, half an hour?” Kaci glanced at me with raised brows, and I couldn’t resist a grin. “Or forty-five minutes? To finish getting ready to go. We’ll meet you in the parking lot in, like, an hour.Tops.”
“Sit.” Vic looked almost amused as he pulled out a chair at the table for her, evidently well aware that he’d interrupted us just in time. “Let’s look at yourarm.”
“I already cleaned it,” I said as I started gathering up our things from around theroom.
Kaci sank into the chair, her jaw clenched. “I’m fine,” she saidagain.
I stuffed her dirty clothes into one of the empty plastic bags from the pharmacy, then squatted next to her chair, one hand on her knee. “Please let him look. And try to relax.” I stood, then leaned in to kiss her cheek and whispered into her ear. “We were stalled, not stopped. It will happen. Some place much nicer than this. When we have plenty of time to get itright.”
She looked doubtful. But she laid her arm on the table in front ofVic.
He gave me an almost respectful nod, then carefully unwound her bandage using only his good hand. “Yup, that’s a bad one.” He aimed the light from his phone at it. “The muscle looks like it’s already starting to heal,though.”
