****
The remainder of their flight passed in silence, both of them turning inward, though he had no idea what thoughts were running through her mind. “I’ll drive you home,” he told her as they stepped out of the helicopter.
“That’s okay. My car’s just a few streets over.”
“Then I’ll walk you to your car.”
“You? Walk? I can’t imagine you’d be content with something so mundane,” she teased.
“I think I can manage for a block or two. After that, I might have to take flight to avoid utter boredom.”
“Suit yourself.” She motioned for him to lead the way, and he did, back inside the hotel and down to the building’s front lobby. Even at the later hour, there were still plenty of people moving around—not surprising in Sin City. With every set of eyes on them, they left the building. She looked up at him when they stepped outside and her lips parted like she was going to speak, but she turned away seconds later and started down the street.
“I’m hosting a dinner tomorrow night,” he told her when they reached her car. “Join me?”
“I don’t know. I appreciate the offer, but—”
“I promise, no helicopters,” he teased.
“I’m just not sure this is a good idea.”
She was on the fence. So much of her wanted to say yes, he could see it in her eyes, but just like before, something made her hesitate. And while he couldn’t bring himself to take her like this, he could use the desire radiating from her to sway her decision.
In one, swift movement, he leaned in, pressing her back up against the door of her car, as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her hard against him. It took her by surprise, and her lips parted in response. A growl threatened to escape his throat as he swooped in, covering her mouth with his and feeling her soft lips beneath his.
Fuck, he wanted her; every fiber of both his beings wanted her. He wanted to tear her clothes off and make every inch of her body his. He’d never felt so starved for sustenance, as if her body was what he needed to survive and he’d been deprived of it for far too long. His hands shook with his restraint, desperate to ignore the tiny sigh against his lips as she moved her hands to the back of his neck, twining in the short hair there. He couldn’t help but to glide his tongue along the parted seam of her lips, but she opened for him further. Was she insane? She was terrified of flying but not of the beast who held her in his grasp?
She pressed her body closer against his, molding her soft curves to his hard frame, making his cock throb painfully. Damn it, he didn’t care that they were on the side of a busy Vegas street. He wanted her naked. He wanted to feel her bare skin against his. He needed to taste her, to sample every inch of her with his hands, his tongue…his teeth. The thought made him pull back fast, gritting his teeth against the arousal that pounded through his veins.
He needed to run, to fly, to do whatever he had to do to get out of there, but instead, “Have dinner with me,” slipped from his lips. He wanted to tell her to strip her clothes for him, to spread her legs wide so he could feel her velvet heat sheathing him. He knew she was on fire. The scent of her arousal filled his nostrils and drove him mad.
“Okay,” she whispered back as she lunged upward for his lips, and she sighed quietly as their tongues met.
He felt it like never before. Not once in as long as he could remember had he fought so hard to keep it locked inside. Her quiet sigh, the feel of her lips against his, her intoxicating scent; it was all too much.
He needed to get out of there or else he was going to regret what happened next. He wasn’t going to be able to leave until he’d touched and tasted every inch of her; until he’d found his release deep inside her, right there in the public’s eye. And he knew he didn’t have enough control to be gentle. She’d hate him by the time he was finished, and the only thing worse than trying to keep the beast locked inside was imagining the look of loathing on her face afterwards.
He pulled away and she whimpered quietly at the loss, looking up at him with blue wildfire in her eyes.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ava,” he whispered and then he left. He didn’t have a choice. A few more seconds and he wouldn’t have been able to walk away.
“My name’s Hope,” she whispered when he was several yards away, probably so quietly that he wasn’t meant to hear it.
He did, though, and as he tested the name on his tongue, and he liked the feel of it. It suited her. He breathed in and out deeply as he strode back toward the hotel, but he didn’t stop when he reached the front lobby. Instead, he continued right past, walking along the busy street with just one destination in mind. He needed to get away from her. Though he’d only spent a few hours with her, he was already certain she was unlike anyone he’d ever met—and he absolutely should have ignored her that first night on stage. He should have chalked her up as nothing more than an attractive magician’s assistant and gone looking for a boring, everyday beauty to warm his bed.
Cade needed to stretch his wings and soar far away from everything; needed to fly high above the clouds and miles away from anything that resembled humanity.
He continued to walk along the city’s streets, feeling cramped in his own skin. Ten minutes passed, and he started to run. Twenty minutes passed, and then thirty. His legs had the ability to move so much faster, but he couldn’t give them freedom to run full-stride. Finally, he saw his destination up ahead—Red Rock Canyon National Park. There would be no one around this late at night and no streetlights lit the area, leaving it black enough so no one who happened to be nearby would be able to see him. He could see, though. Even his human eyes could see clearly in the dark.
He stepped into the blackness and closed his eyes. Within seconds, he could feel it happening. It had taken years for him to perfect making it come at will, but it was second nature now. And this time, with that part of him already so desperate to come out, there was no effort. By sheer will, he felt his human form give way to something so much more; to power unlike any human body could contain; to scales like armor, so much stronger than thin human flesh. And to wings that could carry him faster than any human legs could.
Heat filled his massive body and he could no longer be still. He took to the skies, waiting for the familiar relief to wash over him. But though his body no longer felt constrained, his mind was no more free than it had been a moment before. As he soared above the clouds, her image was there in his mind. Even like this he couldn’t escape the woman he barely knew.