curiosity and disbelief in her eyes. “What just happened in there?”
He tried to give her a lopsided grin, but it turned into a wince when he found his jaw was tender from the hits the vampire had landed. He rubbed the soreness. The night air chilled the dribble of blood from the cut on his cheek, making it wet and cold, but there was no scent of vampire. The third one must have been smart enough to ditch his buddies. His body ached from the fight, but it would heal fast enough. “A bar fight with strangers.”
“You didn’t know those guys?” she asked, looking around her nervously. “They seemed pretty intent on messing with you.” She grazed the corner of his mouth with her fingertips. “You’re hurt.”
The light touch was enough to send a powerful surge of awareness pounding through him that wiped away any of the ache that remained. Damn. There was no doubt in his mind there was a strong Mesmer forming with this woman.
He gently moved her fingers away from his mouth, keeping them folded in his. Her hands were fine-boned and slender and feminine. “No big deal.”
Her full lips tipped up into a soft smile, making him crave to kiss her. “Tough guy, huh?” She pulled a car remote from her pocket and pushed it, making the lights flash on a silver pickup on the edge of the dirt-and-gravel parking area beside the bar.
“Sounds like you’ve been around a few.”
She opened the driver’s door to the pickup and turned, standing in the gap, staring at him, her head tilted. “A few. But they’re nothing like you.”
Ty closed the gap between them, putting one hand on the door frame, shielding her from view of the parking lot but maintaining space between them. He knew better than to get close enough to be swamped by temptation. The Mesmer might be working on him, but that didn’t mean she’d understand if he came on too strong. Especially not after the fight.
“If you want to head home, I understand. I’ll stay here awhile and make sure those guys don’t follow you home.”
She reached out and grabbed fistfuls of his T-shirt near his collarbones, pulling him close until he was chest to chest with her. The soft swells of her breasts pressed against him, and the minty scent of her hair and the hint of lilac on her skin teased his sensitive sense of smell. Everything within him went silent and still, fixated on the lush curve of her mouth so damn close to his he could feel the warmth of her breath.
“What I want is for you to come home with me.” Jess stood on her tiptoes and looked up into his face, the dark fringe of lashes around her eyes making the blue luminous. Her rapid pulse beat against his chest, taking over the rhythm until his matched the pace she set. For a second the world tilted sideways.
Ty’s gaze dropped to the silky, damp edge of her lips and he was lost. He dipped down and kissed her. Her lips were soft and willing, tasting of peppermint. She tasted so damn sweet, hot and spicy all at once. A warm, viscous heat flowed through his veins, coating and drowning out every other sensation until he was hot and hard at the same time.
Ty gripped the edge of the truck’s door frame, nearly denting the sheet metal with his fingertips. But he was determined to keep his hands to himself, even though they itched to touch her. Heat seeped through his shirt, the temperature difference amplified by the chill in the air. The kiss turned deeper, slicker, the tip of her tongue brushing against his. The spicy fragrance of female that spiked the air left no doubt she was aroused. When they broke apart, both of them were breathing hard, their breath creating misty white clouds.
“You sure about this?” He could control his body, but not the rough edge of his voice as he struggled to maintain composure. “I could follow you.”
Jess looked up at him, her dark lashes dropping a fraction, giving her a sultry look. “Hop in.”
He was smart enough not to argue with her, but that didn’t mean that the little voice of human reason in the back of his head wasn’t screaming loudly that this was stupid and rash. He should take his own vehicle so he didn’t get stuck who knew where. He didn’t know a damn thing about her. Couldn’t read her mind and certainly hadn’t asked enough questions. But this is a Mesmer, the wild Were instinct side of him shouted back. No one, Were especially, could blame him for responding so quickly and profoundly to her. And hell, he could always follow his nose and walk back if he needed to.
“Anything you say,” he answered. He waited until she climbed up into the cab, admiring the way the dark denim jeans hugged the curve of her ass, then closed the truck door and walked around the back of the pickup. An uneasy sensation raised the hairs on his skin. He glanced over his shoulder one last time to make sure they weren’t being followed.
* * *
The truck started up with a rumble and Ty climbed inside. Jess glanced at the stretch of his T-shirt against the broad plane of his back and strong shoulders as he pulled the door shut.
Even roughed up, Ty Grayson was attractive as hell. He seemed even bigger in the confined space of the truck cab, the energy he threw off radiating around him like heat off a woodstove. Her heart was still pounding too hard and too fast in her chest, matching the insistent throb between her legs. Jess pressed her thighs together tightly to stem the ache and pulled out of the parking lot.
She still wasn’t exactly certain what had happened inside the bar. The guys had been moving so fast their punches had become blurred. One minute they were circling one another and the next the creepy guy who’d started talking to her had gone sailing through the air, breaking straight through the front of the wooden bar.
“We can get you cleaned up when we get to my house, if you want.”
“That all depends.”
“On what?”
He flashed a brilliant white smile at her in the dark. “If you’re offering to help.” The seductive, teasing tone in his voice brought to mind an image of them together in a shower. Naked. Skin slick with soap. Her stomach flipped and tightened and Jess gripped the steering wheel a little harder and let out a slow, steady breath to calm the jump in her pulse. The speedometer kicked up a few notches.
His muscular arm, dusted with dark hair, lay along the back edge of the bench seat, placing his large hand close enough for his fingers to gently skim a path up along the back of her neck. A delicious shiver radiated outward. Jess tried to focus on her driving rather than continuously glimpse at how the faded denim clung to his thighs...and other places.
“You know you’re going to be the talk of the town by tomorrow,” she murmured. Not that it would be a good thing, in her case. For a teacher anything that drew criticism or suspicion from parents wasn’t good. But then again, she was off the clock, and an adult. Why couldn’t she just let her hair down for one night?
A slight frown formed a distinct crease between his brows. “Yeah, I’m not sure that’s a good thing.” He stared straight ahead out the window into the dark.
Jess glanced in her rearview mirror. No lights. That was a good thing. It meant her brother Davis, a county sheriff, had kept his promise not to follow her tonight while he was on duty. “You don’t like complications.” Neither did she.
His gaze trailed a warm path over her skin that she could feel like a physical caress, even as she kept her eyes on the road.
“I don’t like other people telling me what to do.”
Jess’s
