Obsession Untamed (Feral Warriors #2)(49)

So far, they’d struck out.

Yet Foxx continued to insist they’d find Vhyper in the Blue Ridge.

For twenty-four hours they’d searched estate after estate. Paenther pressed his fists into his thighs. For twenty-four hours, he hadn’t been able to quit wondering how the ethereal beauty with the sky blue eyes tasted. How she smelled. How she’d feel around his shaft as he buried himself deep inside her.

Foxx gave a put-upon sigh and turned the car around, heading back to the store.

She probably wouldn’t be there. And even if she was, she was probably married, or taken, or completely uninterested.

No, not uninterested. Of that he was sure. She’d felt that heat, too.

If she wasn’t there, he’d forget her. If she was there, and he didn’t feel the same punch of lust, he’d walk away. And if she was there, and he felt the way he had yesterday?

He’d have to take it one step at a time.

A half hour later, they pulled into the parking lot in a spray of dust and gravel, just like before. The old brick store looked even more decrepit than he remembered, if such a thing were possible. Clean enough—no trash or broken-down cars littered the place—but the building was definitely in need of a little TLC.

Foxx’s stomach rumbled as he threw the car into park. “I’m hungry.”

“What else is new?”

Foxx pushed out of the car and headed for the store without a backward glance, not bothering to ask if Paenther wanted anything this time. It was clear he did, or he wouldn’t have demanded they come back here. Fortunately, Foxx didn’t seem to have a clue just what it was that his companion wanted.

Paenther climbed out of the car more slowly, feeling as off-balance as he had yesterday. After four hundred years, one would think a man would outgrow that peculiar awkwardness of first infatuation, yet here he was, palms damp, pulse racing.

The last thing he needed was the distraction of a woman. Her beauty had undoubtedly grown way out of proportion in his mind. That was the true reason he’d insisted on returning. Once he saw her again, saw that she was nothing out of the ordinary, he’d be able to forget about her and stay focused on the only things that mattered.

As he crossed the parking lot, the wind rattled in the trees, tugging at his hair and coat, the loamy scent of the woods mixing with the dust of the parking lot.

Hell, she probably isn’t even here.

But as he reached for the front door, a movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned…and froze. She stood outside, at the corner of the building, in a shapeless pale green dress that somehow only accentuated her delicate beauty. Watching him.

Damn, but she was even more lovely than he’d remembered.

She smiled. His heart rate soared, and he was closing the distance between them before he’d given any conscious thought to whether or not he should. As he neared, she backed up, one small step at a time, turning the corner into shade. And privacy.

Paenther followed her into the sharply cooler air of the shade, then stopped two arm lengths away, trapped between the invitation in her bright blue eyes and the disbelief of the warrior inside him. What am I doing? Vhyper needs me.

Squirrels chattered in the sun-drenched trees behind the building. Vhyper was nowhere to be found. And he just wanted a kiss. For the first time in as far back as he could remember, lust had risen, curling up through the burning wreckage the Mage had made of his soul. He wanted. Needed. And the feel of it was intoxicating.

He took a step toward her, then stopped again. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. Like all Ferals, he was bigger than most human males. And there was something innately fragile about her.

To his surprised relief, she took the pursuit out of his hands and closed the distance between them, gliding into his arms with lightness and grace. He instinctively cradled her against him like the most delicate flower even as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his.

Fire erupted in his chest, rushing out and down, heating his limbs and body and blood in a way that pleasured instead of pained. All thought of gentleness flew from his head as she swept her tongue into his mouth with a strength and certainty that had him suddenly wondering if her delicacy had more to do with a lack of age.

He pulled back from the kiss, keeping her tight against his body as he stared down into that exquisite face.

“How old are you, beauty?”

“Old enough.” That smile played at her mouth, her eyes twinkling with a depth that reassured him she was no child.

He covered her mouth, sweeping his tongue into hers as he pulled her tight against him. She tasted like the raindrops of old, sweet and pure, and smelled like violets. And he wanted her with a need unlike anything he’d ever experienced. With each stroke of his tongue against hers, his body hardened until he was throbbing with the desire to be inside her.

Her arm slipped from around his neck and moved down to slide over that distended part of his anatomy. The air hissed into his mouth as he pulled back, his gaze driving into hers.

Blue eyes swam with passion and a need nearly as great as his own.

He pressed his lips to her temple as he slid his palm down her thigh, then up again, lifting the skirt of her dress until he found the hem. He reached beneath, his fingers skimming her warm thighs, his hand sliding between them, rising to the bare, damp core of her.

The woman wore no undergarments.