His voice dropped to a low growl. "If I come back to that bed, there's no way I'm not going for that sweet spot between your legs. And it wouldn't be just my hands and my tongue this time. It would be right back to where we were. My body on top of yours, every thick inch of me desperate to get into you."
As he caught the luscious scent of her arousal, the air between them surged with sex. And inside his body, he turned back into a live wire.
"Mary, I'd better go. I'll come back after you're asleep."
He left before she could utter another word. As the door shut behind him, he sagged against the wall in the corridor. Being out of the room helped. It was harder to catch her scent that way.
He heard a laugh and looked over to see Phury sauntering down the corridor.
"You look strung out, Hollywood. As well as really goddamned naked."
Rhage covered himself with his hands. "I don't know how you can take it."
The brother stopped, swirling the mug of hot cider he carried. "Take what?"
"The celibacy."
"Don't tell me your female won't have you?"
"That's not the problem."
"So why you out in this hall standing at full attention?"
"I, ah, don't want to hurt her."
Phury looked taken aback. "You're a big one, but you've never injured a female. At least not that I've known."
"No, it's just... I want her so badly, I'm... I'm juiced, man."
Phury's yellow eyes narrowed. "You talking about your beast?"
Rhage looked away. "Yeah."
The whistle that came out of the brother was grim. "Well... hell, you'd better take care of yourself. You want to pay her respect, that's fine. But you keep yourself on the level or you're really going to hurt her, you feel me? Find a fight, find some other females if you have to, but you make sure you're calm. And if you need some red smoke, you come to me. I'll give you some of my O-Zs, no problem."
Rhage took a deep breath. "I'll pass on the smokes right now. But can I borrow some sweats and a pair of Nikes? I'm going to try to run myself into exhaustion."
Phury clapped him on the back. "Come on, my brother. I'm more than happy to cover your ass."
Chapter Twenty-five
As the afternoon's light waned through the forest, O backed the Toro up, avoiding the pile of earth he'd created with it.
"You ready for the pipes?" U yelled out.
"Yeah. Drop one down. Let's see how it fits."
A composite-metal corrugated sewer pipe about three feet in diameter and seven feet long was lowered into the hole so it stood on its end. The thing fit perfectly.
"Let's get the other two in there," O said.
Twenty minutes later the three pipe sections were lined up. Using the Dingo, O pushed the dirt in while two other lessers held the pipes in place.
"Looking good," U said, walking around. "Looking damn good. But how do we get the civilians in and out?"
"Harness system." O shut off the Dingo and went over to peer inside one of the pipes. "You can buy them for rock climbing at Dick's Sporting Goods. We're strong enough to lift the civilians even if they're deadweight, and they'll be drugged, in pain, or exhausted, so they won't fight much."
"This was a great idea," U murmured. "But how do we cap them?"
"The lids will be metal mesh with a weight on the center."
O glanced up, seeing blue sky. "How long do you think until the roof's on?"
"We'll get the last wall up right now. Then all we have to do is erect the rafters and drop in the skylights. The shingling won't take long, and the clapboards are already on the three walls we have now. I'll move the tools in here, get a table, and we're rolling tomorrow night."
"We'll have the shades for the skylights by then?"
"Yeah. And they're retractable so you'll be able to open and lower them."
Man, those things were going to be handy. A little sunlight was the best maid a lesser could have. She comes in, flashes through the space, and presto!, no more vampire debris.
O nodded to his truck. "I'll take the Toro back to the rental place. You need anything from town?"
"Nope. We're good."
On the way into Caldwell, with the piece of machinery in the bed of the F-150, O should have been in a good mood. The building was going