Page 18

“I bet.”

The car quieted again, both of us awkward in the aftermath of his much-too-enthusiastic history lesson on his sword.

I stole a glance at my phone, always checking for a message I knew would never come. Nigel still hadn’t gotten in touch. I told myself it was fine and for the best. But in weak moments, I’d click his name and check if the messages I sent had been read.

They hadn’t.

Biting my lower lip, I pocketed my phone and tried to think about something that wasn’t the guy who abandoned me without a word.

The silence grew inside the car. Stuck in a small space with the ridiculously good-looking Austrian was torture. I’d opt for a punch to the face or kick to the chest over being locked inside a car with the vampire hunter. Because, in no small way, my heart was weak to him.

I was weak.

No matter how I spun the feeling, I couldn’t deny that attraction was an enemy I couldn’t defeat. I was ill-equipped and drowning. Yeah, I could pretend all I wanted and reject the lure, but forced as I was to be around him, it was only a matter of time before my eyes wandered and my heart fluttered helplessly under his potent charms.

With nothing and no one to buffer us or the thoughts in my head, my gaze strayed to where one of his hands rested on the dash and the other on the stick-shift. Black ink mixed with red, grey, and white spread across his smooth flesh.

I inspected each line of his tattoos, which was easy enough with his arms exposed up to his elbows. The muscle bulged beneath fully inked skin and morphed the picture it depicted when he tensed.

Phillip followed my gaze, lifting his arm and spreading his fingers so I could see it better. “Curious?”

I swallowed around a dry throat, eyes wandering away. “Not really.”

“The black snake is sin,” he went on despite my answer. “I’ve got several on me. I’ll let you guess where and for what reason.”

What a perv.

“I’m good.” My breath came faster and I struggled to keep the heat out of my face, not used to having nowhere to run. “I might get one or two someday,” I mumbled helplessly. “It won’t be long before I can.”

Even I knew how I sounded. I wanted him to acknowledge I was nearly an adult. I wanted him to see me as a woman and not some child.

I’m doomed. I’m seriously doomed.

My heart and head were at odds, and it was by far the most frustrated I’d ever been. It was like having hindsight but no will to employ it. It was seeing the trap and still walking right into it.

The older vampire hunter was clearly a bad idea. It was very clear to me from day one. Yet, here I was, demanding he see me as an adult woman and not a child. And even as I heard the words leaving my mouth, their meaning obvious, I couldn’t stop them.

Phillip’s sly smile greeted my next glance. “Ah, yes. You’re eighteen in June.” The way he said it made my stomach twist nervously. “Soon, you’ll get to do whatever you want and no one can tell you no.”

The hint of seriousness in his voice hit me in a weird way and I readjusted on my seat, licking my lips which were annoyingly dry again. But I refused to wear lip gloss or makeup.

I didn’t want Phillip to think it was for him.

He’d worn enough makeup for the both of us, anyway. To be fair, I envied his eyeliner application. Whenever I did dark lines, they looked like I was going for an undead look and not the sexy kickass girl look I wanted. His eyes were perfection in moonlight.

He looked like a badass warrior.

“Not really,” I started, tearing my eyes away from his perfect face. “I’ll still be under Grams’s thumb, and it’s not as if Hunters get to decide much outside of what weapon they want to take with them on a mission.”

Phillip hummed low in his throat and leaned closer to me, the leather creaking underneath him. “I don’t know about that. You don’t strike me as a rule-abider, and I’m certainly not the type to follow orders to the letter.”

My pulse thudded in my ears with the look Phillip offered me seconds after he basically admitted to cutting corners. “I’m not a top-notch Hunter. I don’t get the allowances you do,” I replied, voice much softer than I intended.

“True.” His hand touched the head of my seat, the tips of his fingers caressing my ginger hair in a way that was somehow the most sexual yet. “But you’ve been partnered with me, so it’s basically the same thing.”

The sensation in the air was unmistakably sensual. Even with as little experience as I had, I could tell his words carried a hell of a lot more meaning than what was said on the surface. And the way he stared at me wasn’t even close to the way Nigel or any other man had looked at me. It was mature. It came from a place of experience and confidence. It bore an uncanny resemblance to a Hunter who was about to deliver a death-blow to their enemy.

But then the moment was gone and Phillip’s eyes narrowed on Daxon’s house, focused. Sounds echoed into my ears and I tuned into the chaotic noise coming from inside the home.