Blood Ties (Book 3 of The Blood Bond Series)

45. Fresno

"I...I didn't sleep well last night," Adam admitted.

They were just stepping into the bathroom, their clothing heaped on top of the hamper since it was overflowing. They would have to do the wash the next day, but that didn't matter for now.

"I can imagine." Quinn stepped into the shower completely naked and turned on the water. It was ironic. Usually, he would bathe her, but even she could tell that he was exhausted. It was funny to think of an immortal being as having a flaw like fatigue, some chink in their armor. Adam's eyes seemed barely open, and she tested the water as he crept closer. "Come here. I'll do everything."

He nodded and stood under the hot spray, closing his eyes and breathing out a sigh that seemed to untangle all the stress of the past 24 hours. Well, it was a bit longer than that, but that was semantics. To him, it felt like days instead of a little over just one. It was like dog years. Without his mate close by, it felt like a week instead of a day. He almost smiled when he told her that with a soft smile tilting his lips.

"You know how long that felt—being away from you?"

She looked up at him, even though his eyes were closed. "How long?"

"A week, at least," he told her. "Every fucking hour away from you feels like it took years off my life, my love." He curled his arms around her and brought her close. The water washed over the both of them. "I never want to fucking be away from you like that again. This isn't about school or when you get a job in the future. Those times, all I would have to do is reach out in a text or come see you. I'm not averse to either, but knowing that I was trapped there, couldn't even get to my phone to say hi or I love you—it fucking killed me. I can't be without you, Quinn. If I go to jail for kidnapping you last year, it will kill me. We have to beat this...we just have to."

She reached up, cupping his face and gazing into his eyes once they opened for her. "We will. They're not taking you away from me, even if we do have to change our names and flee the country. They're not getting you. No matter what, we will get through this."

He kissed her then, long and hard, turning so he could press her up against the wall and forcing her legs open at the same time. His cock slide between them, lengthening—thickening, hardening, and he moaned into her mouth before their lips finally parted. She breathed hard, eyes opening wide.

"You're tired, Adam."

He shook his head. "I have energy enough for this." He took a long, slow breath and let it out. "I need this, Quinn. Don't leave me starved for you."

She didn't want to. She never wanted to. Quinn had only wanted him to get rest, while he wanted inside her, badly from the intense look in his eyes. "Okay."

The word was whispered, but there was nothing quiet about the rest of her. She raged underneath her skin, all blood and fire—the essence of what he needed, and just how much. Adam could hear her heart beat in her chest, faster and faster until he took her mouth again, licking inside her like a slippery asp crawling into its den as silently as a whisper.

He groaned, and the silence was broken, a whimper shaking out deep from her insides. It was desperate and wild, and she started to clutch at him, scraping fingernails down his skin as he continued to eat at her mouth and devour her moans.

Again he pressed her, harder this time, against the wall, but he lifted her leg, and she wrapped it around him, skin slippery as an eel's. She couldn't gain enough traction, so he lifted her from the floor, and she was able to hook her ankles together as their bodies slid against the other. He notched the head of his cock as her slit, rubbing it up and bumping it against her clit. It forced a gasp past her lips, and that blew his need apart. It rose from the depths of him like his cock lifted in salute to her nearness, her wetness. He teased the crown along her folds, poising it for a moment at her entrance until sheathing himself quickly inside her. She whimpered and called out.