Duke squatted, looked at Gen a dozen of her racing heartbeats, and looked to Brain. “Interesting day?”
“Yeah, brother. She’s a keeper. You need to find a way to figure this out, move beyond it.”
Duke looked back to Gen, pulled his shirt off in that ultra-sexy one-hand-over-the-shoulder move, and handed it to her. “Dry your feet.”
“With your shirt?”
He didn’t say another word, just offered the shirt and looked at her. She rolled her eyes, took it from him, and dried them. When she returned it, he put it back on and she said, “Can’t imagine having the smell of my feet on your shirt is a good thing.”
He went stock still, and the next thing she knew, he gave her the smell. It was her, and clean because of the river water.
His shirt smelled like her, and he was comforted by it.
He took it away almost as soon as he gave it to her, and she stopped working the sock onto her foot to say, “Thank you. I had no idea.”
Brain looked from one to the other and said, “I’ll be damned. Crossover with smell?”
“Keep it to yourself,” Duke growled, and Brain nodded.
“Got it. Have you told her why no one can know?”
He shook his head and Brain said, “Gen, you should keep this from everyone, even Isaac, though I know you trust him completely.”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated, but the short story is, if you and Duke work out, then over the years you’ll develop more than just smell. As your brain gets used to the connection, it’ll open up in different ways. Some supernaturals don’t trust the connection, think all humans with one should be put down. What Isaac knows, Abbott knows, and you don’t want the vampires in on this. Trust me.”
Gen looked at Duke for confirmation, and he said, “I told you Isaac is safe to talk to about anything supernatural as long as it isn’t club business. I’d rather he not know about this, but I’m not going to forbid you telling him.”
When her boots were laced, Gen stood, unsure of whether to go to him or keep her distance. Duke looked to Brain and asked, “You heading back or staying?”
Brain tilted his head towards the brunt of the crowed, forty yards away. “Lots of drunk pussy, I’ve scoped a few who should be ripe for the pickin’ in another twenty or thirty minutes.”
Duke didn’t touch Gen as they walked the sixty yards back to the parking lot. He let her put her helmet on by herself, and didn’t hold her arm for her to swing on behind him. She sat, stiff, behind him, her arms reaching for the seat behind her, but he turned and said, “You’ll have to hold on, Gen. No way around it.”
“If you don’t want to touch me, why come get me? I could’ve just ridden back with Brain.”
In answer, he cranked the bike and took off.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Duke followed a GPS to get out, and she hoped Brain had one so he could find his way home, too. Instead of going back the way she took Brain, Duke headed towards Cleveland and parked in a Denny’s.
“What made you take him there?” he asked as they got off the bike.
“I don’t know. The river soothes me, and they have great burgers, and he was hungry, and I figured he’d be up for the ride. I was hurting, needed something to take my mind off… things.”
He nodded. “I ended up on the Ocoee river, changed, ran through the woods on the south side of the river where there are rarely people. So, when I came back to human and got on my bike, looked to see where you were, imagine my surprise when you weren’t too far away as the crow flies.”
Gen sighed, looked down, and discovered she couldn’t take the helmet off with her chin down. She turned away from him, lifted her chin to take it off, and said, “Mike said some really mean things and he messed with my head, and then I let them mess with us. I should’ve talked to you, but my brother’s right that I try to be strong. I hate admitting to a weakness, so I didn’t. I’m sorry, Duke.”
The helmet came off and she reached back to let the ponytail loose, her face aimed at the interstate traffic and not Duke.
“Look at me.” It was an order, not a request, but she did it anyway.
“The part of me that’s man accepts your apology and is ready to talk it out and work through it. The part of me that’s a wild animal doesn’t, and it’ll take some work to get there.”
“Do you want to get there?”
He nodded, and she felt a huge weight lift off her chest. “Okay then. If we both want to, we’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah, but right now I’m starving. I changed twice, probably ran fifteen miles on four legs, and haven’t eaten.”