Heart of Stone - Book 2: Hearts Collide

He tore himself away. As much as he wanted to crush his lips against hers and ram his tongue down her throat, he knew he was on the verge of losing control and he couldn’t do that to her. Not here. Not now.

He took a step back and saw that she was on the brink of collapsing. Shit. The mate bond was taking a heavy toll on her.

He wanted to smash his head against the wall. You have to be more careful!

He helped her walk to the same bench that they had previously sat down on and, like that first time, he pressed her head between her knees.

He had to clear the air. To get rid of the sexual tension before it consumed them.

“Bring back memories?” he asked, although it came out rather gravely. Clearly, he was still trying to come down from his amped-up hormones.

“Oh, yeah,” she said breathlessly to the ground.

He rubbed her back as they both breathed in and out deeply.

As he leaned his back against the metal frame, he massaged his forehead with his other hand. How was he going to manage all this? While his body yearned for hers, his mind was still tainted with thoughts of Adelaide.

Not only that, but there were still vampires that needed to be taken care of. More humans were disappearing in the night, although at a much slower rate than he had initially feared. So far, their search teams had been successful in recovering half of the missing bodies and destroying them before they became newborns.

Then, there was Coyote’s visit and the Spirit Walker requesting Aubree and him to go down to Arizona. He didn’t know when he was supposed to do that. Couldn’t the Spirit Walker wait until the vampire threat had been taken care of?

′No,′ Coyote had said. ′It is in your best interest that you visit the Spirit Walker as soon as possible.′

How were they supposed to make the trip down to Arizona when Aubree was still with Dan? When they could barely spend five minutes alone together without the matebond toying with their emotions? The mere thought of her lips was arousing him again and he pulled away from her to put a few inches between them.

She looked up at him from her knees in question. “What?”

His lips curled up. He pressed them together to try and prevent the grin from breaking out. He could feel his face heat up and he lowered his hand from his forehead to his lips, to try and conceal his smile. “Just thinking.”

He looked away, but he couldn’t help peeking at her from the corner of his eye to see her reaction.

Her hazel eyes fell to his crotch before dashing away as her face turned red. “Oh-Okay.”

He couldn’t hold back his grin and it pulled across his face as he chuckled lightly. While there was a bulge in his pants, the fact that she even looked was what amused him the most.

This was nothing. What would she think when he—

He gave his head a mental shake. Cease and desist.

Still, the thought tickled him and he couldn’t wipe the smirk from his face as she slowly sat up straight. Her hands were clasped together in her lap, her ankles crossed, and her legs pressed together. She was stiff, but her chest rose up and down steadily as she continued to gulp lungfuls of air. The sun highlighted the honey tones in her light brown hair that she swept over her shoulder.

She was exquisite and he couldn’t even kiss her.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

She pursed her lips as her eyes met his. “Much better now.”

“I meant, in general. Over the last few days.”

She lowered her gaze to her hands. “Okay, I guess.”

That was sufficient for him, but she continued after a moment’s pause.

“I mean, there are times when I question myself. Like, am I doing the right thing? Am I being fair? Honest? Or am I just making things worse?”

He caught himself entranced by those fluttering lips again and forced himself to look away. He needed a distraction but found nothing. “Do your best. That’s all you can do right now,” he said to the empty space next to him.

She sighed. “I know. And I know I need to break up with him soon. Gwen—”

“Can handle herself,” he interrupted, turning around in his seat and catching her chin between his fingers and tilting it up.

Her hazel eyes widened as her breath caught in her throat.

“She’s stressed, yes,” he whispered, “but we all are. Don’t worry about her. Just do what you think is best.”

She swallowed, her next words took his breath away.

“I don’t want him touching me anymore, either.”

He released her chin, brushed back a lock of her hair, and reached for her hand in her lap. As he rose to his feet, he pulled her up with him. He couldn’t have her looking back at him with those eyes and not want to kiss away every little thought that strayed across her mind. “Let’s get you back before we lose control again.”

Entwining his fingers with hers, he walked with a bit of distance between them back to Dan’s apartment, not wanting to let go when the time came.