In Heat: Mating Call (In Heat Shapeshifter Romance Series #2) (15 page)

“But he's interested in you,” he countered.

She held his gaze for a moment and then looked away at the garden. When she looked back at him, she was smiling again but it did nothing to mask her fear.

“I want to go to London tonight. I want to go out.”

Her words stunned him so much he was surprised he remained on his feet. He stared at her, unsure whether he'd imagined her saying what she had.

“I'll be safe if you're with me,” she spoke fast and he could sense a change in her feelings. Fear was nerves now. “I want to celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?” he said, not at all convinced. He wasn't about to take her straight into London and then out into public where someone could spot her and report back to Kristian or worse, Kristian could spot them.

“It's almost time, isn't it?” She was beaming now, all fear gone and only a lingering trace of nerves left behind as excitement took over.

He loved to see her so excited about the mating and he knew that her reaction wasn't anything to do with Kristian. She wanted to mate with him as soon as possible because she loved him, because she'd waited so long and had been so patient. The excitement had been steadily building inside of her these past two years, just as it had been building inside him. Her smile was infectious and he had a hard time not smiling back at her. He couldn't smile. If she saw that, she'd think that she'd won and convinced him to take her out in London.

“I can feel it... come on, let's celebrate.”

“It's still a few days away—”

“But it's started and that's why you were showing your panther side last night out here with me. I saw it in your eyes.” She cut him off.

He nodded and kissed her ardently, holding her so close that he could feel her heart beating and loving the way she held onto him in return.

“You always bring out my primal side,” he whispered against her lips and then sighed. “You win.”

“I do?” she said, shock written across her face as she pulled away from him. She searched his eyes and grinned, bouncing on the spot when she saw what she was looking for. “I do!”

“We'll go into London tonight when everyone is gone. I'll take you to dinner. Wear your best dress.” He looked her over, remembering her in the slinky black number from last night. “Wear it again.”

“Wear what again... oh, the dress from last night?” She blushed and he pressed kisses to her cheek and neck, breathing her in. He loved the smell of her so much. “You really liked it?”

The nerves were back and this time he knew it was about her appearance. She could never see just how beautiful she was. She was always putting herself down.

“You looked delightfully fuckable.”

She pushed him backwards and he stumbled away from her. Her eyes were wide and he wondered if it was something he'd said.

“What?” he said.

“Nothing... just I remember thinking that when we first met... that you looked delightfully fuckable. It was the night we went on the date to the club, when I said you looked pretty too.”

He grinned. “I remember. So pretty wasn't your first option?”

She shook her head. “I believe there was an insanely sexy and a delightfully fuckable in there first... but pretty came out.”

“Never mind. I know the dirty truth now. You were after more than just drinks that night.”

Her eyes went wider. “You were the one pouring the fancy champagne and turning on the impossible to resist charm.”

“Yet you bought the condoms in the little girls room and started this sordid affair,” he said and her whole face went red. He wondered if she was red all over and raked his eyes down her body. “Damn but you looked good that night... and last night.”

“And every night?” she said, stepping up to him again.

He nodded.

“So where are we going to dinner?”

She was so beautiful today, so full of life and happiness. It was such a change to how she'd been on Christmas Eve and yesterday after Kristian's appearance. He wanted to do something that would make her smile like this again, that would erase all her bad memories or at least some of them.

He smiled as it came to him and his heart battled against his sense. This was the right decision to make. He was never one for traditions anyway.

“There's only one place special enough for what I have planned,” he said.

“And that is?” She looked so eager, so desperate to hear where he was going to take her. She'd love it. She'd never been there before. Where better to do what he planned.

“The Ivy.”

K
im followed Erik across the gravel drive, pausing for only a moment to wave goodbye to Rose. They'd be back for New Year's but she was going to miss her. She'd grown so used to lazing around Erik's house with him.

She was thankful that all the guests were gone now. They'd said goodbye to the last of them just two hours ago, and Sean had left shortly after that. He'd threatened that he'd be down for New Year's but she'd just ignored him, not rising to the bait.

By then, she'd be Erik's mate and all she wanted to do was spend some quality time with him. Preferably naked.

She frowned when she came out of her thoughts and found that Erik was just standing by the driver's side door of his black Aston Martin Vanquish, holding it open.

He nodded towards the seat.

She frowned, not moving but staring at him.

“Get in,” he purred.

She did, unable to deny such a wonderful sounding command. She wasn't going to refuse his offer of letting her drive his car. She'd been waiting years for this.

She slid into the seat and was surprised by how different it felt. She looked across at the passenger seat. It was the same as the driver's one, but sitting here made her feel as though this was a whole different car. Her fingers wrapped around the steering wheel and she flexed them, trying to get control of herself.

Erik slid in next to her and buckled his seatbelt. He pointed to hers. Her hands were trembling so much that it took her several attempts to get it into the hole.

Safely buckled up, she stared at the dashboard listening to the contrast of Erik's steady breathing compared to her frantic puffs.

“Well?” he said and she jumped.

He was seriously going to let her drive the car.

Swallowing hard, she looked at hm. “This is your car right... because this morning you said there was another present for me.”

“This is my car. Your present is not a car, although if you want one so much, I'll think about getting you one for your birthday.”

“Really?” Her voice squeaked and she coughed to clear it. He'd buy her a car. God knew how much this one cost but she wanted one just like it, right down to the colour.

“Really. Now start the car or we'll miss our reservation.”

She hitched her long dress up so it didn't get tangled with her shoes and was thankful that she'd chosen to wear black sling back sandals with low block heels tonight and not the stilettos she'd considered.

She shook as she started the engine and it roared into life, raw power at her command. She looked across at Erik, her eyes drifting over his body. He was strong, powerful. Something about that made her so hot, adding to the desire he could stir in her with just a single smile or look. He looked good tonight, damn good. He was wearing black slacks that hugged his muscular thighs now he was sitting, and a plain black shirt that was open at the collar to reveal a tantalising flash of his collarbones and chest muscles.

He raised a brow.

She focused on the car again and revved the engine. It growled. No, it was more of a purr, as deep and as seductive as the purr of its owner.

She released the handbrake, shifted into gear and pulled away.

At a snail's pace.

She leaned forwards as she drove, the headlights cutting the dark and illuminating the tree lined avenue that led from the house to the main road.

Erik sighed.

“We'll never get to London at this rate. Shall I drive?”

She shot him a black look. They'd get there, it was just that the moment she'd started driving, she'd realised that this was a very powerful car and she wasn't that great at driving. Plus, if she scratched, dented, crashed or utterly destroyed it, Erik was going to be angry. Very angry.

Hitting the open road, she applied a little more weight to the gas and was nipping along before she knew it. She kept it to a moderate fifty, excitement making her stomach flip as she thought about what it was going to be like when they made it to the motorway.

Or The Ivy.

She was going to pull up outside The Ivy in this car with one hell of a sexy man and all the paparazzi were going to be there.

Would they know Erik? He'd made it high up a list of the most eligible bachelors in the UK this year and had also made an appearance in the list of the richest people. She'd baulked when she'd seen the figure next to his name. Of course, she'd not asked him about it or even cared. It was just a little shocking to know he was worth so much when she was worth so little.

The only thing she owned in this world was her car, and it was probably worth less than five hundred pounds.

When they reached the motorway, she moved into the middle lane, increasing her speed until she was doing just over sixty. There was hardly anyone on the motorway. Everyone was probably celebrating with friends and family. It was Boxing Day after all.

“Go for it,” Erik said and she glanced at him just long enough to see he was watching her. “Just don't kill us.”

She stared at the open road. It was begging her to go faster, the car was begging her. The fastest she'd gone in a car before was seventy. Her Clio would probably break down if she went any faster. She put her foot down a little and the car growled, enticing her into opening it up and going for it just like Erik had said.

She swallowed her nerves and hit the accelerator.

The little dial went straight from seventy to ninety in the blink of an eye and before she knew what she was doing, she was pushing a hundred.

She giggled and it broke out into a full blown laugh as she felt the purr of the engine running through her and watched the world flying by. It was no wonder Erik liked this car so much. It was so incredibly powerful, effortlessly easing into high speeds.

It coaxed her into going faster.

She opened the window, wanting to feel how fast they were going as they zoomed down the motorway towards London. The wind whipped her hair around and she gave a brief thought to her appearance. She could always stop at a service station to straighten herself out before their grand arrival at The Ivy.

She put her foot down a little more, pushing it past one hundred miles an hour. Exhilaration left her breathless.

She grinned. “This is better than sex!”

Her eyes flicked to Erik for a split second and she caught the dark look in his eyes. It was coupled with a hint of a smile that spoke of desire and seduction as he lounged in his seat, watching her intently. She whimpered at that look.

“Well, almost better than sex.”

* * * *

The flash of the cameras blinded her as they walked towards the entrance of The Ivy. It seemed the paparazzi did know Erik after all. He held her hand tightly and she almost felt like waving at the photographers, but kept her cool.

The buzz of the room stopped for a second as they walked into the restaurant and she looked around at the people staring at her. She was surprised to see it so busy on Boxing Day. A moment later and everyone was chatting again. Were they talking about her and Erik?

The maitre de showed them to their table and she was barely able to contain her excitement as Erik held her seat out for her and pushed it in when she sat. There were countless famous faces around her and she had a hard time not staring at them at first but then she saw Erik. No celebrity could make her as excited as he did when he looked like that—a twinkle of happiness in his eyes as he looked at her.

She didn't hear what he said when he ordered for them. She trusted him not to order her something hideous like snails or caviar. She knew he wasn't fond of that fancy food either.

The waiter came back with some champagne and she wasn't surprised to see it was her favourite. It seemed to have become Erik's favourite too since that night at the club. She felt a little giddy as she sipped from her glass and stared across the table at Erik. He held his hand out to her, resting it on the crisp white tablecloth. She placed hers over it and held it. She couldn't believe that she was at The Ivy and all she wanted to do was stare at him.

Their starter came and she picked at it, prodding it and trying to remember what Erik had ordered. It looked like scallops. She'd never had them before. She watched Erik for a moment and he stopped eating and laughed.

“It won't kill you. They're nice, honest,” he said and squeezed her hand. She loved that he wasn't relinquishing it, not even to eat his food. She didn't think that their main course would be one they could eat with just one hand though. He was going to have to let her have her hand back soon. For now though, she was happy to sit here holding hands.

But it was making people stare and they looked quite expectant. What were they expecting?

She drank the remains of her champagne and Erik topped hers up again but left his empty. She frowned and then remembered that he would have to drive them to the apartment after dinner.

When the main course arrived, Erik's hand left hers and she felt a little cold because of it. She looked at him. He looked so hot in his black shirt, skin warmed by the candlelight. She stared at the patch of chest she could see and let her thoughts drift to how it always felt beneath her fingers—hard but smooth, beautifully defined and sensual. When her eyes met his again, there was a seductive edge to them. They were darker, more intense as he stared at her, his eyes gradually trailing down to her breasts. Her stomach tensed. He smiled and she knew he'd sensed the spark of desire he'd ignited in her.

She ate her main course of duck as demurely as possible, not wanting to make a fool of herself in front of so many people. Another glass of champagne later and she was starting not to care what people thought. She leaned her elbow on the table, pushed her plate aside and sighed at Erik.