"Good thinking." Cale pushed the door closed, and then jumped quickly into her car. A moment later they were both buckled up, and she was following her own car out of the parking lot.
Cale paused at the corner and glanced in the rearview mirror as Alex eased up behind him. A small smile claimed his lips as he recalled her reaction to his words that whether or not he stayed depended on her. She hadn't looked put off or horrified by the suggestion, and he was feeling good about how things were going, hopeful for the future.
Now that he'd put the idea of permanency in her head, Cale intended on spending every possible moment he could with her and bringing it up again and again until she not only got used to the idea but wanted it as much as he did. Today and tomorrow were Alex's days off, and Cale decided he would put them to good use. He'd make love to her until she couldn't stand, work while she was sleeping, and then return and make love to her again. It would mean consuming a lot more blood. He could go without sleep for quite a while so long as he upped his intake, and-
Cale let these plans go and frowned as he noticed a dark pickup pulling out of a side street behind him. Alex had fallen back about two car lengths, and the vehicle took advantage and slid between them. Not thatthere was that much traffic at this hour, but there was some.
Cale scowled into the rearview mirror, considering taking control of the driver's mind and making him shift into the other lane or something so that Alex would be behind him again, but then decided not to bother. No doubt the pickup would turn off soon enough. Besides, Alex knew the way to her own house.
Turning his attention back to the road, Cale wondered if he shouldn't hit a coffee shop and pick up some of that coffee Alex had mentioned stopping for. He suspected his comment about staying in Canada had pushed the plan from her mind, but he wouldn't mind a nice hot coffee about now ... and maybe a sandwich. They hadn't eaten much of the food Bricker had brought them, managing just a bite or two of Emile's meals.
And probably half the can of whipped cream, he thought, a smile curving his lips. Alex was the one who had discovered the dessert topping. She'd been nibbling a strawberry as they'd surveyed what Bricker had brought them when she'd spotted the whipped cream. She'd grabbed it up with an oooh of pleasure and squirted some on the strawberry in her hand. Alex had then offered him the can and strawberries. Cale had taken the whipped cream, but recalling Bricker's suggestion about making Alex his dessert, had bypassed the fruit. Moments later the two of them were rolling around on the cold ceramic floor, covered in whipped cream.
Cale's smile faded somewhat as he recalled the stickymoment or two it had led to when she'd tried to lick some of the whipped cream off him and experienced his pleasure along with him. Fortunately, he'd realized what was happening pretty quickly and intensified his attention to her body, managing to distract her from what she'd just experienced. There was no way to explain how they could feel each other's pleasure without revealing what he was, and Cale didn't think Alex was ready for that talk yet. It was why he'd stopped her in the dining room when she'd startled him by dropping to her knees to take him into her mouth.
He knew it was going to be a recurring problem. But it was one he would have to deal with until she knew what he was. So long as he was the only one doing the caressing, she would simply think their combined pleasure was hers alone. But if he let her pleasure him as she wanted to, she would definitely twig to something being different, Cale thought as he took the ramp onto the highway to cross the city.
He had heard countless tales of the merged mind and joined pleasure that existed between life mates, but it had still taken his breath away to experience it. It made all his other sexual experiences, both with mortals and immortals alike, pale in comparison. They were like the flicker of a lighted match next to a roaring inferno. It was addictive. Even now, his body was crying out for her, part of his mind wondering how quickly he could get her out of her winter coat and clothes and sink himself inside her body when they got back to the house.
Cale sighed as the thought caused a semi-erection that pressed insistently against the zipper of his jeans. He was nothing but a walking, talking erection at the moment, and from what he'd heard, he could expect that to be the case for a good year.
Grimacing, Cale reached down and tried to adjust himself to a more comfortable position, then glanced in the rearview mirror to see that while the pickup had followed him onto the highway, it was now in the passing lane, allowing Alex to steer the rental up behind him. Despite his night vision, all he could make out was her silhouette in the vehicle's dark interior, and he knew that as a mortal, she wouldn't even be able to see that much of him.
That thought had barely drifted through his mind when the car he was driving suddenly jolted to the right. Cale gripped the steering wheel, and glanced to the side to see that the pickup in the outside lane had suddenly swerved and rammed into him. Thinking the driver had lost control for some reason or other, Cale tried to focus on him or her, intending to take control and steer the vehicle safely off the highway; but he'd barely touched on the driver's mind when Alex began to honk her horn.
Cale instinctively glanced to the rearview mirror to see that she was no longer directly behind him but to the side. Cale swiveled to peer out the front window again, gasping as he saw that the pickup had forced him out of his lane. He was straddling the right lane and an off-ramp ... and headed straight for the concrete divide.
Cursing, he hit the brakes and tried to swerve off the road, but his vehicle was apparently hooked on something on the pickup. Cursing again, Cale hit the gas instead, wincing at the high shriek of metal on metal as he drove up the side of the pickup. Much to his relief, whatever was holding the vehicles together suddenly released, and he went veering onto the off-ramp, scraping along the side of the concrete divide before managing to right the car. He was free, but Cale now had another problem. He was going too damned fast for the curve.
Chapter Thirteen
"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Alex half prayed and half chanted as she slammed Cale's rental car into park on the side of the off-ramp. Her own car was a crumpled mass ahead, mangled against the dividing rail. There was no sign of the pickup that had hit him. When Cale had crashed, it had gunned its engines and taken off. Probably a drunken idiot fleeing the scene before the cops could show up, Alex thought grimly as she shoved the driver's side door open and stumbled through the snow toward her car.
She hadn't been able to believe her eyes when the pickup had suddenly swerved into Cale and begun to force him off the road. Alex had instinctively begun to slow to stay out of the way, but the moment she'd realized that the impact had steered the little car toward the concrete divider and that Cale was staring at the pickup and didn't yet realize it, she'd laid on the hornof the rental car to try to warn him. Much to her relief, he'd jerked his head around, apparently spotted the problem and managed to pull away from the pickup. But she'd known at once that he was going too fast. Her ears were still ringing from the horrible crash as the car had hit the rail, but there was also a rushing in her ears as adrenaline pumped through her, helping her slog through the snow to get to Cale.
Alex had a terrible feeling she would get there only to find him dead. She just wasn't lucky enough to be given a gift like him and be allowed to keep it. Her parents and grandparents had been taken from her, why had she thought for even a minute that she could have him?
Tears blurred her eyes, and Alex dashed them impatiently away as she reached the driver's side door. The front end of her car looked like a squeeze box with the driver's side taking the worst of the damage. The windows had shattered, and she cut herself on the broken glass chips still embedded in the frame of the door as she grabbed the cold metal to lean in. All Alex could make out was Cale's still form lying across the seats, his head in the passenger seat. He wasn't moving.
Despair sliding through her, Alex released the window frame and immediately began to stumble her way through the snow to get to the passenger door. This side had a lot less damage, and much to her relief the door still worked. She was able to pull it open so that she could lean into the car to examine Cale. Alex glanced over his dark form, then opened the glove compartment and reached in for the emergency flashlight she kept there. She flicked it on with fingers nowstiff from cold, and then shined it on Cale, a small sob slipping from her lips when she saw the damage.
His eyes were closed, and he was as pale as death, his chest and face covered with blood. Alex moved the light beam down to his legs and closed her eyes briefly against the sight of metal crushing them against the seat from the knees down. If it was as bad as it looked, they would need the Jaws of Life to get him out, she thought with despair, and reached into her coat pocket for her phone, but it wasn't there. She hadn't thought to grab it before leaving to go antiquing, Alex realized. It would still be in her charger at home, where she'd put it after returning from the hospital.
Cursing, she glanced to Cale, and then switched off the flashlight and set it on the floor so that she could lean in and search his pockets for his phone. She had just started on the first pocket when Cale suddenly jolted slightly upward with a loud, deep gasp as if she'd just hit him with defibrillator paddles.
"Cale?" she said with disbelief, her hands moving to his face as he fell back on the seat. "Can you hear me?"
When he moaned and turned his face into her hand, Alex sighed with relief. Tears began to fall down her cheeks in earnest, and she pressed a kiss to his forehead, whispering, "Thank God."
"Blood," he moaned.
"Yes, I know baby, you've lost a lot of blood. I need to call for an ambulance." She started to withdraw her hands from his face, but he caught her hand weakly and returned it to his face.
"No ... phone," Cale groaned, nuzzling her hand. She thought she even felt his warm tongue slide across her cold palm, but was more concerned about what he had said.
"You don't have your phone either? But I thought you called Bricker-you must have used the restaurant phone. I hadn't realized it was hooked up yet." Frowning, she turned her head to peer out the front window, wondering how far it was to a building or house where she could use a phone or at least get someone to call for an ambulance.
Pain shot through her hand, and Alex instinctively jerked it away from Cale with an "Ow!"