“Tell me what you’re going to do once this job is over,” she said, ignoring my advice.
“Sage, we don’t have to…”
“I want to know.” She turned towards me with a sad smile on her face. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad, I’m just curious. That was always an ice breaker I liked to use with new people: ‘if you won the lottery, what would you do?’ It’s fun to answer, and says a lot about a person.”
“Losing you doesn’t feel like winning the lottery, though. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
She reached over and placed a hand on my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. I placed mine on top of hers. “Humor me,” she said.
I loosed a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. I mean, first thing I’m going to do is quit. Even if I wasn’t getting enough to retire on, after today, I’m officially done with this life.”
“Hm,” she replied. “And then what?”
“And then, I’m going to renovate my place. I want to add some built-in bookshelves, modernize the kitchen, and get one of those big, fancy tubs with jets for my bathroom. Maybe even add a second story, I don’t know. Not that I need a lot of space. It’s just me, anyway.”
I felt her pulse quicken, could practically taste it in the air. I was becoming attuned to her mood and emotions.
“It might not always be just you, though, right? You might finally have time to find someone.”
I choked out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, right. Most women think demons make shitty boyfriends, and the kind of women whodowant to date demons are usually turned off by the fact that I’d rather stay home on a Friday night than go out and party. And, Sage, I think we can be honest with one another here…”
She turned towards me, her eyes clear and pained.
“After meeting you, and now losing you… I don’t think I can ever imagine myself with anyone else. I can’t explain it, and I don’t know if you’re feeling this way, too, but it’s like… it’s like…”
“I know,” she said softly. “I understand.”
We didn’t speak for the next few hours, even eating our lunch from the roadside diner we stopped at in awkward silence.
What the fuck was I going to do? WhatcouldI do? I had no idea what exactly awaited Sage once we got to Noctis, but it obviously scared the shit out of her. And I was going againstevery instinct screaming at me to protect her by bringing her back to the Premier.
But with the alternative being my death, all I could do was keep driving.
The sky darkened as we got closer to Noctis, and Sage’s leg bounced nervously beside me.
“Can you pull over soon? I need to go to the bathroom.”
“We’re almost there. Maybe we shouldn’t take any unnecessary stops.” I wanted to savor every second I had left, to draw this out until the deadline, but it was just going to make it harder on both of us at the end.
“Please, Ronan. It’s necessary.”
The sound of my name from her lips was its own kind of magic, and I couldn’t resist whatever request came afterwards. I saw a sign for a rest stop ahead in five miles, and pulled in there. Thankfully, the parking lot was empty, and I stopped right in front of the restrooms. I turned off the engine, but she didn’t move.
“I thought you had to go?” I asked.
She slowly unbuckled her seat belt, but instead of opening the door, she slid her legs across the center console onto my lap, straddling me in the driver’s seat.
I stilled, afraid that if I touched her, my rut would kick back in. It hadn’t faded entirely, but hearing her ask me to stop when I’d caught her in the woods had worked better than any of the suppressants I’d taken so far.
“Sage, I don’t think this is a good idea,” I said, even though it also felt like the best idea.
She placed her hands on my cheeks, tilting my face up to look at hers. “Please fuck me, Ronan. Before I have to go back to him. I… I just want to know what it feels like.”
My dick stood at attention, ready and raring to go, but my mind was a traitorous cock block, trying to think of any reason tostop this. “Want to know what sex feels like? You’re not a virgin, are you?”
“No,” she replied, getting exasperated. “I’m not a virgin, Ronan.” She slowly began to grind against me, and I swallowed back my groan.
“So… so what, you just want to try an alpha demon? Is that it?”
