King of the Asheville Coven (Winterset Coven #1)(14)

Sadey inhaled his clean, crisp scent and nuzzled his neck affectionately, then smiled against his skin. “Okay, Aric. I’ll stay.”





Chapter Seven


Sadey leaned against her rental car outside the firehouse, waiting for the clock to hit five a.m. Aric’s boss, Fire Chief Lang, always let him off in plenty of time to get home before dawn if they weren’t out on a call, and since the fire truck was still parked in the towering garage, the excitement in her middle had been growing for the past half hour.

The nights he was on shift were the hardest because she didn’t get to see him much that day. The past week had been amazing. Every minute spent with him made her feel more alive, more vibrant. So it wasn’t a normal dating relationship. They couldn’t go out during the day, but she’d always been a night owl anyway, and her online graphic design job allowed her to work odd hours that she could move around to get more time with the man she was falling in love with.

She would much rather deal with the oddities of this relationships than the abusive one with Brock.

Aric was teaching her she could trust people again. He was showing her there was still good people in the world, and he was the best she’d ever met. He was easy with his compliments, and an easy smiler. He was sensitive when she’d had a rough day, and she could tell he tried to tamp his brutal vampire instincts around her.

One thing that hadn’t happened, though? Aric had taken her out on dates, talked for hours and hours on her front porch, but past kissing and petting, he had been avoiding intimacy.

That shit ended now.

A happy purr crawled up the back of her throat. She was on the hunt because he’d been revving her up for days with his gentle touches and how damn sexy he looked. Even his laugh melted her into a puddle of hormones.

Aric waved to someone in the garage she couldn’t see from this angle, then he shouldered a gear bag and strode a few steps out of the station. His nostrils flared slightly, and he jerked his attention to her. Despite his greeting smile, his eyes were too dark, too hungry.

Maybe it had been a rough shift.

“Hey,” he said in that deep, sexy timbre of his as he jogged across the street. He slipped his hands to her waist and pulled her close. “This is a good surprise.”

“I didn’t want to wait for you to come tell me good night. Or…good morning? I wanted to spend extra minutes with you.”

Aric chuckled and lifted her knuckles to his lips, let them linger there before he said, “You missed me.”

She giggled and play-nipped his chest. “I always miss you.”

“Who are you?” a man called from the open door of the firehouse garage. A taller man in a fire department T-shirt jogged over and stood beside the other, who was squinting into the dark at her.

Aric nodded his head toward them and pulled her hand, led her back to the station. His eyes might be dark and roiling with something she didn’t understand, but Aric’s steps were light and confident as he pulled her in front of him and rested his hands on top of her shoulders. “John, Nick, this is Sadey. She’s my…” Aric cleared his throat and frowned at them each in turn. “She’s mine.”

The taller one, Nick, jacked up his dark eyebrows. “Whoa, vamp has a girlfriend.”

But that didn’t sound right. He was more to her, and from the way Aric acted, she was more to him as well.

Beside her, Aric was as tense as a stretched rubber band, and his eyes were narrowed suspiciously on his fellow firefighters like he expected them to stake him at any moment.

He’d told her about the tension in the crew already. They were supposed to be close-knit, because their lives often depended on each other when they were out on calls, but Aric was struggling to adjust to the new station.

Sadey shook their hands and politely murmured, “Nice to meet you. Aric has told me a lot about you.”

“Oh, yeah?” John asked. “Anything good?”

“Hell no,” Aric muttered. But his tone was softer, teasing maybe, and when she looked up at him, he wore a slight smile just at the corners of his lips.

Sadey giggled and played along. “It’s true. He goes on and on about what *s you both are.”

“My feelings are hurt,” Nick said with a grin at Aric.

“I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to hurt your feelings,” Aric murmured. He intertwined his fingers in Sadey’s. “Night.” Aric led Sadey to her ride, but behind them Nick called out, “Bye, Sadey!” in a baiting tone.

John was making kissing sounds and poked a finger rhythmically into the hole he’d made with the other hand.

Sadey laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Y’all stay out of trouble.”

“You stay out of trouble, Sadey!” John called. “Protect your neck from Blood-Suck Aric!”

She was snickering like a lunatic as she climbed into the passenger’s seat. Aric was holding the door open for her, but he had a troubled furrow between his dark brows.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as he climbed in behind the wheel.

He turned the engine and pulled out onto the two lane road. “I wouldn’t bite you without permission.”

“I know that.”

He ran his hands over his clean-shaven jaw and took a left, headed back to her house. And it struck her. His dark eyes, the gaunt look of his face. “How long has it been since you fed?”