Chapter Six

She was fucked. Totally fucked. Cortney had never come like that. Ever. Not by herself, not with a partner, and certainly never with a toy. She wanted to blame the bike and the vibrations of the powerful motor for getting her all worked up, but she’d ridden a motorcycle before, and it had never had that effect on her. All she knew was that even though they had been on the road less than an hour, and she’d had the most amazing orgasm of her life just before climbing back on, she was already craving Draven’s touch again.

At some point, since they’d gotten back on the road, her hands had made their way under the edge of his shirt. She tried not to stroke his skin. She tried so hard, but the play of hard muscle, and the heat radiating from him made it impossible not to want to touch and caress. Her fingers played with the edge of the sexy grooves on either side of his lower abdomen. Something she would have liked to explore more of had it not been for the waistband of his jeans getting in the way.

Realizing what she was doing, Cortney pulled her hands back up, but all that did was slide her palms over the ridged muscles beneath them. His moan drifted through the mic, making her pussy clench, and a fresh wave of heat pour out of her.

She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. What the hell was she doing feeling the man up? She had to stay strong. If she didn’t get a hold of herself, she really would be begging him to stop again. Either that, or she’d let her hands explore lower, and that would be a mistake. Right? Of course, it would.

When he slowed and signaled a turn, her heart sped. She had no idea where they were going. Maybe the road coming up on the right was the turn off to the Odyssey. Maybe it wasn’t. Either way, she’d find out soon enough.

They had driven for a few minutes before he signaled a left turn. “Hold on, it’s going to get bumpy,” he warned, his voice rougher than it had been.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her heart pounding.

His throaty laugh had her pussy clenching again and her breath catching in her throat.

“Not hardly,” he said as he maneuvered the motorcycle over the rough dirt road.

Before she could say anything else, they were stopped. She climbed off and waited for him to do the same. With impatient movements, he jerked his helmet off and hung it on the handlebar, then strode away from her, not looking at her even once. A picnic table with paint chipping sat off to the right. Beyond that, a lake. The sun sparkled on the water’s surface, drawing her attention.

What was she supposed to do? Follow him? They weren’t at the Odyssey, that much she knew. Not unless their homes were up in the trees. Oh, God, she hoped that wasn’t the case. She didn’t know much about phoenixes. They didn’t live in nests, did they? She giggled at the visual of Draven sitting in a nest of straw and dirt, high up in a tree. She glanced up to the top of the tall pines just to be sure. Nope, no nests that would fit a grown man, much less a bunch of them that would hold a whole group of phoenixes.

She pulled her helmet off and sat it on the picnic table before hoisting her butt up there. If Draven wanted her to follow, he should have said so. He didn’t stop moving until he reached the water’s edge. Once there, he just stood there, looking over the water with his hands fisted at his sides. Had she made him angry? Maybe he didn’t like being touched. Though from what they’d done earlier, and his moan, she hadn’t thought that was the case.

She waved a mosquito away from her arm. The area was pretty with wildflowers growing all over. The scent of the forest reminded her of her childhood when her parents had taken her and her siblings camping. Some of her fondest memories had been spent by a lake or around a campfire. The trail they’d ridden on to get there was overgrown, and it was obvious the place hadn’t seen a human in years, but she could imagine it had been a popular spot in the past.

Draven’s sudden burst of laughter made her jump, and her gaze flew back to him. He turned, and the first thing she noticed was the glowing amber of his eyes. The second, was his predatory stare as he closed the distance between them. She should get off the table, maybe even run, but something in the way he looked at her made her want to spread her legs and invite him in. She didn’t, but her body wanted it. Traitor.

Keeping herself from leaning closer when he stepped into her space was impossible. His scent, hot and spicy, mixed with the sheer hunger blazing in his eyes sent all rational thought flying from her brain. She grabbed a handful of his T-shirt and pulled him the rest of the way. He didn’t hesitate. The instant their lips met, he devoured her. A needy moan—hers, his, she wasn’t sure—filled the air around them. He pulled her ass closer to the edge of the table and spread her legs, pushing himself flush against her throbbing flesh. His heat seeped through the layers of fabric, re-igniting her need. Not that it had left her to begin with.

She brought her hands up his back under his shirt, loving the feel of his rippling muscles under her fingers. “I want to see you,” she whispered as she lifted the shirt higher.

“That’s not a good idea. I’m barely holding on as it is,” he said, his voice husky.

The sexy sound had her clit throbbing. She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him tighter against her. She moaned at the friction. His fingers gripping her ass tighter. “Take your shirt off, Draven,” she told him. No, it wasn’t a good idea, but at that moment, nothing but seeing what her imagination had conjured up during their ride out there was more important.

He opened his mouth to object, but then reached behind his neck with one hand and pulled the shirt up and off.

Yeah, that hadn’t been a good idea. A fresh wave of wetness moistened her panties at the sight of him. Every defined muscle begged for her touch. She wanted to trace the outline of each one with her tongue. She really shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help it. She brought her hands up his ridged belly and over his chest, pausing only a moment to swipe her thumbs over his taut nipples.

Draven closed his eyes. “You’re making this really hard, little bird. I’m doing my best to keep from doing what I want, but each stroke of your hand…” he trailed off when she ground her pelvis against his cock.

“What do you want?” she asked him, fully aware that she was playing with fire.

He opened his eyes and locked gazes with her. “I want to tear your clothes off and fuck you senseless. I want to claim you so much it hurts, but you’re not ready for that.”

He was right. She wasn’t ready. At least, not for the claiming part. The fucking she was totally on board with. “Can’t we do one without the other? I mean, the fucking, not the claiming?”

He pulled her closer, burying his head in her shoulder. He kissed her there, licked her skin, then nipped at it with his teeth before kissing it again. “No. Not right now, at least. My phoenix is too needy. It doesn’t care that you’re not ready. It just wants to tie you to him forever, and the craze is driving me too hard. I’m not sure I’d be able to keep it from happening.”

She gasped and pulled away. Yeah, no. She wasn’t ready for that. In a month, she’d have to leave. She couldn’t give up all that she’d worked so hard for. Not even for the most amazing sex of her life.

When he pulled away again, she let him go. He shook out the T-shirt he still had fisted in his hand and drew it over his head, hiding the body she wanted nothing more than to lick all over.

“This is going to get worse, isn’t it? The mating craze?” she asked when he ran his fingers through his hair and then held his hand out to her to help her from the table.

“Yeah. It’ll keep growing until we’re mated.”

“What if we never mate?” she asked, her heart pounding. She couldn’t live the rest of her life in this perpetual state of lust.

He shrugged. “I guess we’ll figure that out when the time comes.” Draven handed her the helmet and strode back to the bike in silence.

“I guess so.”