Except this. All it took was her mate stepping back from her to crush her spirit.
“Stop,” Ethan said.
One word. It was only one word, but the steel and command in his voice brought her spiral to a screeching halt.
“Don’t ever think for a fucking second that I don’t want you, Tressa. That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Okay, he was saying the right things, but…
She dropped her face and scuffed her white sneaker against the ground, drawing a line through the gravel. “So then why…?”
“Hey,” he said, two fingers gently but firmly lifting her chin up so she was forced to look at him. “After,” he told her, pressing a fleeting kiss to her lips. “When I finally get to have you, I don’t want a single thought in my head distracting me from worshipping you. Once I find the vampire and destroy her, that’s when I’ll get to enjoy the rest of my dessert.”
A shiver ran through her at the way he said “dessert.” She’d definitely been a fan of the ice cream play—the sting of the cold immediately soothed by the heat from his mouth.
“I could get on board with that,” she said, running her hand down his arm and twining her fingers through his. “But that doesn’t change the fact that your engine is all revved up with no room to race.”
Ethan chuckled and brought her hand up to his mouth. Holding eye contact with her, he dropped his lips to her overheated skin. “Well, if I haven’t made it clear yet, I’m not like other guys. I don’t care about going fast. I just want to enjoy the ride. And Tressa? I more than enjoyed what just happened between us.”
The heat in his eyes was messing with her, but she would just have to trust him. Trust that he was being truthful, and he really did care more about pleasing her than getting himself off.
Tressa opened her mouth to tell him how incredible he was, but the sound of footsteps crunching through the gravel parking lot made them leap apart.
“Well,” a smooth female voice said. “I almost hate to interrupt such a perfect moment, but then again, I’ve already seen far more than I needed to.”
Chapter twenty-eight
Ethan
They both whipped their heads around, and Ethan froze in place.
His eyes locked on the woman in smartly tailored gray slacks and a pristine navy blouse who was frowning at him and Tressa. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought she left from a service at the church and happened to stumble across them.
But he did know better, and he would never forget that face for as long as he lived.
“You,” he spat, his fists tightening at his sides. Fiery rage surged in his chest as the hatred he had nursed for the past week roared to life inside him. His hands and fingers tingled with the urge to lash out—to punch, claw, strangle, something. Thankfully though, his rational brain kept his feet locked in place, a small voice at the back of his head reminding him that he had no weapons and was still vulnerable.
It wasn’t supposed to go like this. He was supposed to hunt her down. Ambush her. Go in guns blazing and take her out before she could react. This, her being the one to find him, was… not the plan.
Still, he wasn’t going down without a fight.
The dark-haired vamp stepped forward. “Allow me to properlyintroduce myself. My name is Renata Inês Magdalena Da Silva. You know, I’ve been looking for you, Ethan Aidan Ambrose. You’re the one that got away. I’m still very keen to find out just how you managed that.”
Ethan bit back the urge to say ‘you and me both’ since he had no desire to let her know he was just as clueless. What he needed to do was keep her talking and buy themselves some time. He trusted that Tressa would have a plan. She was a hunter, after all. For all he knew, the trunk could be full of weapons.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Ethan snapped, cringing internally when it came out more like a schoolyard taunt than the firm ‘fuck you’ he intended.
Renata—because apparently the murderous creature had a name—folded her arms and arched an eyebrow. “Interesting that you don’t know either.”
Shit, am I that transparent?
“Regardless,” Renata continued, “while I do appreciate Tressa’s oh so enthusiastic scream alerting me to your presence, I must say that given our history, I did not expect to find you in the arms of another vampire quite so soon. I thought for sure it would take you longer to come around.”
Ethan scoffed, his fear overridden by the absurdity of her statement. “Like I’d ever touch one of you undead bitches.”
The vampire cocked her head, her dark eyes sliding over to Tressa. “Oh dear,” she said, and Ethan thought for a second that she legitimately sounded apologetic. “I didn’t realize you were keeping that little fact a secret. My mistake.”
Ethan barked out a harsh laugh and turned to look at Tressa, curious to see how she was responding to such a bizarre conversation. He assumed she would be just as amused as he was.
