Darkest Temptation (The Dark Ones Saga 4)

She wanted.

I wanted back.

And we were alone.

Mating in the back of Alex’s Jeep actually cheered me more than I thought, but it was wrong.

All wrong.

Wolves and vampires did not mate.

Someone got something wrong.

And if I lost it all…

Lost her…

Lost anyone…

Control, control! I ripped the wheel and cleared my throat as I turned into a parking spot near the front of the store. “So, you like grocery shopping?”

I inwardly groaned. Was I always this bad at decent conversations with people I wanted to lick?

Maybe that was the problem; I’d never wanted to lick anyone, claim anyone as badly as I did her. It made me stupid.

Sex made everyone stupid.

But at this point, I’d probably get first prize.

Serenity grabbed a cart and smiled up at me. “Yeah, it was one-on-one time with my parents. We’d always grab a Starbucks and then run around and find all the best bargains on food. We never ate the same thing every week. My mom liked keeping things fresh and exciting. Some weeks we did pasta one day and a casserole the next, since we don’t really eat to survive.” She shrugged. “We eat more for pleasure than anything else.”

I swayed when she said pleasure.

My eyes swam with lust.

She steadied me with her hand on my arm.

“Sorry,” I croaked then looked down at her hand and took it in mine, helping her push the cart toward the produce section.

I didn’t want to let go.

I knew I should.

It would be the wise thing to do.

Because I was minutes away from stripping her naked next to a head of lettuce. That damn well would cause a need for clean-up on aisle four.

“Relax…” she whispered. “…it’s just grocery shopping and a little hand-holding. It’s not marriage. You don’t have to keep me.” Her heart stuttered a bit.

I felt her pain, the intense need to be needed. Wanted.

“It would be more than marriage.” I spoke in a quiet voice, releasing her hand in order to grab the same lettuce I was hell-bent on pushing her up against. Carrots. I mindlessly started tossing things in the cart without any sort of purpose to keep my hands occupied. They wanted her skin so bad I couldn’t focus. My teeth kept pressing against my inside cheek, imagining piercing her soft flesh.

I gripped the cart again.

Serenity seemed to know the storm that brewed inside as she very gently kept rubbing her thumb over my hand.

“It’s scary. This whole mating business.”