Hal's face tightened up. "Just another soldier."
From out of nowhere, a cloud of perfume invaded Mary's nose. It was the redheaded hostess sweeping up to the table.
"Was everything okay?" As Hal looked over, you could practically hear the woman sizzle.
"Fine, thanks," he said.
"Good." She slipped something onto the table. A napkin. With a number and a name on it.
As the woman flashed her eyes and sauntered off, Mary looked down at her hands. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her purse.
Time to go, she thought. For some reason she didn't want to watch Hal put that napkin in his pocket. Even though he had every right to do so.
"Well, this has been... interesting," she said. She picked up her bag and shuffled out of the booth.
"Why are you leaving?" His frown made him look like true military material, taking him very far away from the sexy male pinup stuff.
Unease flickered in her chest. "I'm tired. But, thanks, Hal. This has been... Well, thanks."
As she tried to get by him, he took her hand, stroking her inner wrist with his thumb. "Stay while I eat my dessert."
She looked away from his perfect face and his broad shoulders. The brunette across the aisle was getting to her feet and eyeing him, a business card in her hand.
Mary leaned down. "I'm sure you'll find plenty of others to keep you company. In fact, one's headed your way right now. I'd say good luck with her, but she looks like a sure thing."
Mary made a beeline for the exit. The chilly air and the relative silence were a relief after the crush of people, except as she approached her car, she had the eerie sense she wasn't alone. She glanced over her shoulder.
Hal was right behind her, even though she'd left him in the restaurant. She wheeled around, heart pounding like it wanted out of her ribs.
"Jesus! What are you doing?"
"Walking you to your car."
"I... ah. Don't bother."
"Too late. This Civic is yours, right?"
"How did you - "
"The lights flashed as you unlocked it."
She moved away from him, but as she backed up, Hal came forward. When she bumped against her car, she put her hands out.
"Stop."
"Don't be scared of me."
"Then don't crowd me."
She turned away from him and went for the door handle. His hand shot out, clamping on the seam between the window and the roof.
Yeah, she was going to get behind the wheel. When he let her.
"Mary?" His deep voice was right next to her head, and she jumped.
She felt the raw seduction of him and imagined his body as a cage locked around her. With a treasonous shift, her fear changed into something wanton and needy.
"Let me go," she whispered.
"Not yet."
She heard him take a deep breath, as if he were smelling her, and then her ears were flooded by a rhythmic pumping sound, as though he were purring. Her body loosened, heated, opened between her legs as if it was prepared to accept him inside.
Good God, she had to get away from him.
She grabbed onto his forearm and pushed. Which got her nowhere.
"Mary?"
"What?" she snapped, resentful because she was turned on when she should have been petrified. For God's sake, he was a stranger, a big, pushy stranger, and she was a woman alone with no one to miss her if she didn't make it home.
"Thank you for not bailing on me."
"You're welcome. Now how about letting me leave?"
"As soon as you let me kiss you good-night."
Mary had to open her mouth to get enough air into her lungs.
"Why?" she asked hoarsely. "Why would you want to do that?"
His hands fell onto her shoulders and turned her around. He towered over her, blocking out the glow from the restaurant, the lights in the parking lot, the stars far above.
"Just let me kiss you, Mary." His hands slid up her throat and on to the sides of her face. "Only once. Okay?"
"No, it's not okay," she whispered as he tilted her head back.
His lips descended and her mouth trembled. It had been so long since she'd been kissed. And never by a man like him.
The contact was soft, gentle. Unexpected, given the size of him.
And just as a blast of heat licked over her br**sts and landed between her legs, she heard a hiss.
He stumbled back and looked at her strangely. With a jerky movement, his heavy arms crossed over his chest, as if he were holding on to himself.
"Hal?"
He said nothing, just stood there, staring. If she didn't know better, she'd think he was shaken.
"Hal, are you all right?"
He shook his head once.
Then he walked away, disappearing into the darkness beyond the parking lot.
Chapter Thirteen
Rhage materialized in the courtyard between the Pit and the mansion.
He couldn't put an exact bead on the sensation inside his skin, but it was some kind of low-level buzz in his muscles and bones, like the vibration of a tuning fork. What he did know for sure was that he'd never felt the hum before. And that it had kicked off the moment his mouth had touched Mary's.
Since anything new and different with his body was bad, he'd immediately gotten the hell away from her, and not being around the female seemed to help. Trouble was, now that the feeling was fading, his body's need for release was causing him to twitch. Which wasn't fair. After the beast came out, he usually got at least a few days off.
He checked his watch.
Damn it, he wanted to go out hunting for lessers to take himself down a notch or two, but since Tohr had taken over command of the Brotherhood, new rules had been laid out.
After changing, Rhage was supposed to cool his jets for a couple days until he was back on all burners. With Darius's death this past summer, the number of brothers had been reduced to six, and then Wrath had ascended to the throne, so they were just five now. The race couldn't afford to lose another warrior.
The forced R & R made sense, but he hated being told what to do. And he couldn't stand not being out in the field, especially when he needed to drain off some juice.
Taking a set of keys from his coat, he went over to his souped-up GTO. The car came awake with a roar, and a minute and a half later he was out on the open road. He didn't know which direction he was headed in. Didn't care.
Mary. That kiss.
God, her mouth had been unbelievably sweet as it trembled under his, so sweet he'd wanted to part her lips with his tongue and slide inside of her. Slide and retreat and come back again for another taste. And then do the same with his body between her legs.
Except he'd had to stop. Whatever that hum was, it got him wired, so it was dangerous. The damn reaction didn't make sense, though. Mary calmed him, brought him some ease. Sure, he wanted her, and that was going to wire him out, but it shouldn't be enough to get him dangerous.
Ah, hell. Maybe he'd misinterpreted the response. Maybe that current had been sexual attraction of a more profound sort than he was used to... Which was typically nothing but the urge to come just so his body was less likely to flip out on him.
He thought about the females he'd had. There had been countless numbers of them, all nameless, faceless bodies he'd released into, not one of them a source of real pleasure for him. He'd touched them and kissed them only because unless they got off too, he felt like a total user.
Shit, he felt like a user anyway. He was a user.
So even if he hadn't been thrown by the buzz from kissing Mary, he still would have left her in that parking lot. With her lovely voice and her warrior eyes and her trembling mouth, Mary could not be just another screw. Taking her, even if she was willing, seemed like a violation of something pure. Something better than he was.
His cell phone rang and he took it out of his pocket. As he checked caller ID, he cursed, but answered the thing anyway. "Hey, Tohr. I was going to call you."
"I just saw your car peel out of here. Are you meeting the human female now?"
"I already did."
"That was quick. She must have treated you right."
Rhage ground his teeth. For once he had no quick comeback. "I talked to her about the kid. We've got no problem there. She likes him, she feels badly for him, but if he disappeared, she wouldn't cause a problem. She only met him recently."
"Good job, Hollywood. So where you headed now?"
"Just driving."
Tohr's voice softened. "You hate not being able to fight, don't you?"