Chapter 12
TWELVE
REGAN
“I don’t like this.” I stood outside of Andreas’s car with a large bag slung over my shoulder.
He held the door open for me. “Don’t like what? The car? It’s a classic.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant.” He lowered his voice and leaned in closer to me.
His chocolatey scent surrounded me and heat rolled from his body toward mine.
“But if we’re goin’ to stop this little romance your cousin is havin’ with my brother, then we gotta catch ‘em in the act and make them see how bad they are together.”
“Fine.” I narrowed my eyes at his beautiful face and threw the bag right at his stomach.
He gave a little oof sound and caught it. Metal clanged against metal as he shifted it around. “What’d you put in this thing?”
“Essentials.” I dropped down into the plush leather seat and made myself comfortable.
He closed the door and walked around the car to the driver's side.
The car was so old, or what Andreas would call a classic, that I had to reach across the long front seat and pull the lock up to open the door.
Andreas tossed the bag into the back, and it sounded like a bag of wrenches smacking into the seat.
Then it was followed by the sound of wrappers crunching.
I glanced over the seat into the back seat. “What’s back there?”
“Essentials.” He put the car in drive and slid out into the traffic. I gazed out the window as people turned to watch the car glide down the streets of Manhattan. “If we’re going on a recon mission, then maybe you should’ve picked a more inconspicuous car?”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head. I got this.” He sat back and drove in that masculine way with one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting on the door.
This close, I shifted my gaze from the streets and looked him over.
Even on a recon mission he was dressed well in a dark navy suit tailored perfectly to his body.
His shirt was a pristine white and pressed into crisp lines.
His shoes were a darker brown and polished to a shine.
He’d put effort into his appearance tonight .
. . but why? Even his normally unruly hair was styled to fall around his face.
His amber eyes darted to mine. “Do I meet your standards?”
I jerked my eyes away from him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Keep tellin’ yourself that.” He gave a dark rumbling chuckle.
“Is Kaso going to be angry at you if he finds out about us?” I turned away from him and crossed my arms. The car glided through traffic like a hot knife through butter.
He shrugged. “It’s bad for business, and business has always come first. This mission is business.”
“Fair enough.” I let the conversation fall to an easy silence.
Andreas reached for the radio and flicked it on. One of our songs blared through the car and I smirked. He twisted the knob, tuning the old car to another station and another of our songs came on. He glared at me, then pushed the knob in shutting the radio off. “I’m surrounded by Virtues.”
“What a struggle for you.” I shook my head.
We somehow got out of Manhattan in record time and onto the Brooklyn Bridge.
I leaned back in the seat and gazed up at the lights as we moved.
I’d always found the bridge to be beautiful, and my memory drifted back to when it’d been originally built.
“I’ve always loved this bridge. I remember when it was built. ”
“Wasn’t that long ago,” Andres whispered.
It wasn’t often that I ran into someone who was older. It was almost comforting . . . almost. “I forgot you’re kind of older.”
“Kind of?” He chuckled. “I’m old.”
“You’re a cute teenager. I’ll give you that.” I watched as he guided the car down the street and turned under a stone archway tucked in between two large apartment buildings. Brick walls were close on both sides of the car, and it was difficult to see what was up ahead.
“Teenager?” He scoffed. “Hardly.”
“Where are you taking me?” I should’ve asked sooner. I should’ve been more on guard. For some reason, I didn’t feel the need to be that on guard with Andreas, but I should've been. I couldn’t trust him.
“You don’t trust me?” The buildings came to an end, and we drove under another stone archway. An attendant walked up to the car and bent down to the window. When he saw it was Andreas, he gave him a small nod and waved him through the gate into a large, open parking lot.
Like in a 1950’s movie, our car blended in perfectly with the others all parked and facing toward a huge flat screen. I sucked in a breath. “I haven’t been to a drive-in in ages.”
“See? You should trust me.”
I twisted around in the seat. “What are we doing here?”
He motioned toward the screen and the cars in front of him. “If Kaso is goin’ to make a move, it’ll be here.”
“Not a bad place.” I hunkered down into the plush seat as the movie began to roll. The couples all around us scooched in closer, cuddling up to watch the show.
“Yeah, we like it well enough.” He shrugged.
I groaned. “I don’t need to know where you bring all your dates.”
“We own this place.” He smirked at me. “I don’t got time for dates. Kaso and I aren’t the same.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say to that. I loved everything about this drive-in, from the 1950’s themed uniforms the workers wore to the cars that matched the era and how perfectly pristine the atmosphere was.
“You like me better knowin’ we got a legit business, don’t you?”
Yes. “No.”
“Keep tellin’ yourself that.” He reached into the back seat and pulled a bag of snacks into his lap, then offered some to me.
I arched my eyebrows at him. “Essentials?”
“Snacks are essential, Regan.” He offered the bag to me again, but I was too nervous to eat. I gave my head a shake. He shrugged and then put the bag back into the back seat. “You’ll want them later.”
“How do you know?”
“I do my homework, just like you.” He winked, then turned back to face forward. He pointed in front of us. “There.”
I scrambled to reach for my bag in the back seat and yanked out a pair of binoculars. My ass swayed toward Andreas, and he sucked in a sharp breath. I flopped back into the front seat and glared at him. “Hey.”
“Not my fault. You put your ass in my face.” He made a show of looking me up and down. “It’s fine as hell.”
I held my binoculars up to my face to hide the heat in my cheeks. “Easy there, vampire.”
“Yeah, I’d be real easy.” He chuckled. “I guess I’m not so different than my brother.”
I shoved the binoculars toward him. “Let’s stay on task here.”
He wasn’t wrong though. I was starting to see the appeal in hooking up with an older vampire.
They were strong, smart, and the sex would be mind-blowing.
The experience alone would make him . . .
insatiable. A hint of guilt threaded through my body.
Maybe Chanel wasn’t so crazy. She just had the wrong vampire.
I glanced toward Andreas as he looked through the binoculars. “You know I don’t need these. I can see well enough at night,” he said. He tossed them into the back seat then gazed out at the car he thought Kaso was in. “They’re still sitting too far apart. Come on, Kaso. Make your move.”
“I thought we didn’t want them to make a move.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Hey, they’re here together. We need to catch them together in order to have a case against ‘em.” He licked his lips, leaving a wet trail over their fullness. “But he’s moving slower than I thought . . . I wouldn’t do that.”
“Oh yeah?” My voice sounded breathy. “What would you do?”
He glanced toward the car up ahead and then slid across the bench seat toward me. “I wouldn’t be so far away.”
I found myself leaning in toward him. “And then?”
A devilish smile spread across his face as he threw his arm across the back of his seat.
The tips of his fingers drifted up and down the side of my neck, sending shivers over my body.
Ever so slightly, he put pressure on my jaw and I turned my face toward him.
It was as if a switch had suddenly been flipped and the tension between us turned to something deep and fiery.
“Look at me, Regan.” His voice was a deep whisper, lulling, convincing.
My eyes snapped up to his and that golden intensity washed over me. I swallowed. “Yes?”
“I’d make sure she knew what I wanted.” His breath fanned over my face, and my eyes darted down to his lips.
“What do you want?” Nothing else mattered but me and him and this moment. I could hardly remember why I was here or why I shouldn’t be doing this. There was something intoxicating about his confidence.
He tilted his head to the side and pressed a light kiss to my neck. Then he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Nothing.”
My skin was on fire, and the rest of me was hyper-aware of everything he did.
His leg was flush against mine, and heat flowed from him to me and back again.
The tension was electric between us, and one of my hands dug into his arm, pulling him closer.
Another kiss near my jawline and a little moan escaped my lips.
A light graze of his fang on the side of my neck and my eyes flashed wide open.
His tongue darted out, tasting that little scratch, and he groaned.
I pulled back to tell him to stop, but his fingers threaded through my hair and he tugged me closer. His lips were a breath away from mine. “Just to taste you.”
His lips were on mine and I gasped in a breath that he caught on his lips.
They were firm yet soft and tasted of the sweetest, chocolatey flavor.
When he opened his mouth, our tongues wound together.
Something sparked inside me and little puffs of my magic streamed up from my fingers.
Andreas wound his arm around my hips and dragged me toward him.
I swung my leg over his hip, straddling him.
One of his arms held me tight to his body while the other snaked up my back and fisted the hair at the back of my head, holding me there.
His flavor was too much, his hard body below mine was overwhelming, and I wanted more.
I ground against him and his growl rumbled in his chest. He was so strong, strong enough to keep up with my angel strength.
There were few who could. My fingers dug into his back and arms, holding on to him as tightly as he held me.
It wasn’t close enough. Heat spread through my body, and I wanted more of him, here and now.
A tinkering sound broke the silence in the car, and I jerked back from him. He leaned in toward me again, about to take my lips, but that tinkering went off again and I looked around.
As if the spell had been broken, I sat back on his thighs. “Shit.”
His arms dropped to his sides, and he groaned.
I scrambled off his lap to the other side of the car. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“Damn it.” He yanked his phone from the inner pocket of his jacket, then held the screen toward me so I could read the name.
Kaso.
I straightened my clothing and tucked my hair behind my ears.
I mouthed the word fuck and tried to calm my racing heart.
What the hell was that? What did I just do?
Pot meet freaking kettle. My mouth still tasted all chocolatey and that intoxicating scent clung to my skin.
I licked my lips, and that didn’t help. They were swollen from his kiss, and my hair felt a mess from his fingers.
“What?” Andreas answered the phone.
The volume was loud enough that I could hear Kaso on the other end. “What is wrong with you?”
Andreas cleared his throat and his eyes darted toward me. “Nothin’. What’s wrong with you? Where are you?”
“Not sure I wanna say,” Kaso hedged.
“Try me.” Andreas straightened his clothing and ran his hand over his hair. He glanced down at himself and pulled his jacket in and started to button it, covering his hips.
Kaso sighed. “I’m looking for Chanel. I can’t find her anywhere.”
Andreas’s eyes flashed wide. “You’re not at the drive-in.”
“No, why would I be there?”
I looked toward the car in front of us. The guy had the same build and hair as Kaso, but we never saw his face. It wasn’t freaking Kaso. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and opened it.
A text from Chanel. ‘Hey are you good? You’re late for sound check.’
I hung my head and began to shake it back and forth.
Andreas watched me with caution. He sighed. “I thought you were with the angel.”
“Pssh. I wish,” I heard Kaso say.
I reached for the door handle, ready to bolt. Andreas reached out to me as he spoke quickly into the phone. “Let me call you back?”
“Wait, wha—”
Click. He hung up and turned toward me. “Don’t go.”
“Don’t go? Are you crazy? We just . . .” I couldn’t wrap my mind around what just happened.
“We just . . . had a great time?” He gave me that sly smile.
“No.” I grabbed the handle and yanked it hard. The door popped open. “I can’t.”
“I mean, you can, and we did.” He chuckled. “We did very well.”
I jabbed my finger in his direction, wanting to tell him that it’d never happen again and to stay the hell away from me. “I gotta go.”
“Just wait one second.”
I climbed out and slammed the door behind me.
With my heart racing in my chest, I ran toward the back of the lot.
When I found a hidden place, I opened my wings and shot straight up into the sky.
My mind was a whirl but there was one resounding thought running loudest through my head over and over again.
What the hell did I just do?