Chapter 37: *CHAPTER 37*

Where Malcolm hovered above me, his eyes flickered, eyes shifting from green to black, body tensing as a muscle in his jaw ticked. If I had to guess he was feeling the affects of the Bond just as I was. I licked my lips and his eyes followed the action, heating. Shit this was bad...this was really really bad. So much for ignoring the Bond and whatever had happened between us last night.

Thankfully Patrick's dubious voice sounded beside us, startling and reeling me back to my sanity, "I guess if it runs in your family, it would explain how Malcolm knew to turn around and catch you so quickly." His eyes looked between us skeptically.

"Now, now," Malcolm turned a mocking eye in his colleague's direction, "no need to make excuses for your own slow reflexes."

Patrick scoffed and in a jerking motion pulled himself to his feet.

"Well," Malcolm announced, "I'd say it's about time for me to get the kid here something to eat for her 'low blood sugar'."

"Don't call me 'kid'," I hissed under my breath.

His lips twitched derisively, "It's fitting, though, wouldn't you say? What are you, four-feet-five inches? I'm honestly shocked they let you ride in a car without a booster seat."

"I'm five-foot-two, asshole." A perfectly reasonable height.

Malcolm snorted while his arms snaked behind my back and beneath the crook of my knees, my skirt pressed in the space between my thighs and his arm. Straightening his legs, he lifted me up in a single smooth motion. I had to fight back a protest, annoyed enough that I'd rather attempt to hobble my way back to his truck on my shaky noodle legs than be carried by him. Especially since my body was craving exactly what he was giving me right now. The feel of his hot slick skin sliding against mine. Crap, I needed to get ahold of myself.

Rather than give him that satisfaction of showing my discomfort, I crossed my arms, glowering at the side of his face. Malcolm's voice rumbled against the side of my arm as he called back to Patrick, "Have someone email me the report when you get back to the office. I'll send Treiger anything I come across."

A muffled harrumph was Patrick's only response and then Malcolm was walking us back to his truck. All the while I glared a hole in the side of his face. I was admittedly still feeling a bit annoyed about the booster seat comment. I worked to stop grinding my teeth as he circled us around the pair of black Suburbans. The sound of his feet was a quiet crunch against the dry sand and gravel, gait smooth as he moved. His eyes, which flickered with mirth, dipped down towards me.

"You checking me out, Montgomery?"

I might have been, but there was no way I was going to admit it, "Just looking for your jugular in case you decide to get handsy." I definitely wasn't going to admit that I wanted him to get handsy. Something was very very wrong with me.

He snorted.

With a flick of his hand, the door of his truck opened and I was set carefully onto the truck bench. As I righted myself in the seat with flopping arms he tugged the seatbelt free of the wall. Careful not to touch me, he looped it around my torso and I heard as the seatbelt clicked into place. My eyebrow ticked up at the gesture until I remembered his newfound caution about the Life Bond. I mentally rolled my eyes. Of course, he wouldn't want to take any chances in endangering his own life. Seemingly satisfied that I wasn't about to go careening through the windshield of his unmoving truck, Malcolm slammed the door closed to circle around the front.

Whatever heat was rekindled outside still hadn't gone away inspite my attempts to force it down. In fact it only managed to get worse as I watched his toned body make its way around the front of the truck. There was a heated aching throb at the apex of my thighs that only got worse as he pulled open the truck's cab door and slid in beside me. Being in close proximity to him seemed to set off whatever was going on with the Bond. The Curse trying to pull us together. That had to be what it was.

I don't know what was causing it, all I was certain of was that the air felt electrified. And that feeling nipped at my skin making me feel alive and desperate all at once. I shifted on the bench, trying to alleviate some of the aching I was feeling. Being weakened by the vision or whatever it was that had happened outside, left me with less energy than normal to fight the feeling. I was much too worn down to fight, all I wanted to do was give in.

Malcolm slid into the cab, turning the key in the ignition as I shifted in the seat, my thighs squeezing together at the sight of his profile. As if sensing it, his body suddenly tensed, his black heated gaze whipping in my direction. Barely taking his eyes off me, he put the truck into drive, somehow managing to stay on the road as our eyes tangled and our breathing grew rough.

We didn’t make it far up the road—only a mile or so when he pulled the truck off the road onto a secluded dirt lot of some sort. Though the way the Bond was tugging at me, I barely noticed what was happening outside the cab of the truck. My mind stuck on the idea of mentally tugging off Malcolm’s clothing. With the way he was was looking at me, the world could be burning down and I wouldn’t find it in me to care.

Between one heartbeat and the next, he was across the cab, smooshing my pliant body against the back window as he had his mouth slammed into mine. And dammit, it was good. So so good. His mouth tasted like heat and spice and everything Malcolm. I couldn’t get enough of it.

He pulled back slightly, fingers skimming the hem of my work skirt, “I know I said this last night, but you taste so fucking good.”

I groaned, twining my fingers through his hair to yank his face back to mine. I’d started to think I’d hallucinated how good the kiss had been last night, but boy had I been wrong. It was somehow better than I’d remembered. He was pressing into me so hard it was almost impossible to get breaths into my lungs but I didn’t care. It still wasn’t close enough.

I managed to maneuver my body to face him fully, bending my legs up to wrap around his hard toned waist. As my ankles locked around him, I used the leverage to pull him closer until he was pressed so tightly to me that I couldn’t tell where I ended and he began. He moaned into my mouth with the sudden pressure, and I lapped up the sound with my tongue, plunging greedily into his mouth. He opened readily for me, even going so far as to suck my tongue even further into his mouth as if I couldn’t get into him fast enough. Couldn't get me deep enough.

As we devoured each other, I pushed my fingers up the hem of his shirt, feeling the expanse of his hot chest soaking up the way he shuddered as I brushed his muscles. His fingers were doing exploring of their own, slowly making their way up my thighs, leaving trails of fire in their wake.

“We should stop,” he said, voice like gravel, “Tell me to stop.”

“Don’t you dare stop.” I thought I might die if he did.

He didn’t need any further encouragement. His hands continued up my thighs until they reached my panties. He groaned at the dampness he found there, swiping the fabric to the side in an easy motion. Featherlight fingers—fingers that had fought off monsters and burned them to crisps, touched me as though I’d break if he didn’t handle me with extreme care. Those rough, scarred fingers caught my folds, and I moaned long and loud, delirious in a way I’d never been before.

Our fused lips parted again, his tongue matching the circular swipes of his fingers as he worked me over. His touch was bliss. I couldn’t think, all I could do was feel as he worked up a rhythm. Finally, he slid one callused finger inside and we both hissed out long breaths at the feeling of him inside of me.

“God,” he ground out, “you’re so tight Kass. Like you were made for me.”

“Don’t stop,” I begged him again as he began to work his finger in and out in a steady rhythm. I didn’t last much longer. The pressure that had been building since last night finally threw me over the edge and I was screaming his name as stars exploded behind my eyelids. He continued slowly working in and out of me until we were both struggling to catch our breaths.

As I slowly came down from the high, reality was a splash of cold water down both our bodies. It was all so much. Too much. But that matched whatever this Curse was. This Bond. Looking into his eyes, I didn’t need the Bond to now that he was thinking the same thing I was.

We were in way over our heads.