Page 293 of Primal Bonds

He reached for her canvas overnight bag while she locked the car.

“That’s it.”

He set a hand on the small of her back and steered her to the Mazda. She dragged in a breath, released it.

“Trouble getting away?” His smile was knowing.

She lifted her chin. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Good.” He dragged her to him for an open-mouth kiss, and while she was still catching her breath, helped her into his car.

He drove one-handed, wending his way through the Sunday afternoon traffic with ease. His mustard-colored T-shirt clung lovingly to hard, rounded deltoids. His forearms were dusted with soft dark hair, his hands strong, capable.

Anticipation churned in her. Those hands would be on her in just a couple of hours, and she could hardly wait.

But her stomach was jumping with nerves.

Her first time with a man. And she had the added worry of wondering if sex would set off her Gift.

Because sex was the most intimate touch there was.

She stared down at her gloved hands.

Adric reached across the console to brush the backs of his fingers over her cheek. A soft touch that shuddered through her like a promise.

She swallowed hard. You want this, she reminded herself.

Because she did want it, bad. If she had a vision, well, Adric would just have to deal with it.

She stripped off her gloves and shoved them into a pocket.

“Do you know Lewes?” he asked.

“Yeah. I go there with my—” She stopped, bit her lip. The last thing she wanted was to bring up Dion and Tiago. Adric didn’t like her brothers any more than they liked him.

“So you like it?” Adric prompted as if he didn’t know why she’d halted.

She nodded. “It’s a pretty little town. But we go to swim in the ocean. Delaware has some of the cleanest beaches on the East Coast.”

Some of her best memories were going to Lewes with her brothers and spending a few days cruising as their dolphins off the coast, following the currents and snacking on fish.

Adric took her bare hand, the one with the protection charm, and lifted it to his lips. “I like the beach this time of year. It’s cold, but there’s almost no one else out. You have it all to yourself.”

She smiled at him. She hadn’t expected tenderness, not from the hard-ass Baltimore alpha. But his lips were warm and soft as he pressed them to her skin, and his smile had a sweet, almost tentative edge.

He set her hand on his leg but kept hold of it. She tensed, but her Gift was quiet. Maybe, just maybe, she could get through the next twenty-four hours without freaking Adric out by going full Seer-mode on him.

Anticipation buzzed in her veins. She pressed her inner thighs together and concentrated on keeping her breathing even. But Adric was a fada. He could scent her arousal, spicing the small space.

His lips curved in a slow grin.

There. That was the Adric she knew. Sexy with an edge.

The kind of man your brothers warned you about—which only made you want him more.

She grinned back at him.

He responded with a hum that was almost a purr and released her to whip the little car around a semi.

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