Maybe a shower would help. She didn’t want to get rid of his scent, he smelled delicious after all, but she needed to concentrate. With the curtains drawn on the one window in her small apartment, she stripped her T-shirt from her body as she went. She took another whiff of it before tossing it onto the chair on her way to the bathroom. She could always wear the T-shirt to bed later if she wanted to smell him.
She turned her back on the hot spray, hissing as it hit her tender skin. Groaning, she looked down and cupped her breasts. They were a little larger, and her nipples were more sensitive than usual. Damn it. Now was not the time to go into heat. She’d not had a cycle in months. Not since she’d learned she’d been sold, and she sure didn’t need one now.
With her hands still on her breasts, she squeezed them a little, giving in to her body’s needs. She imagined her tall, dark stranger standing behind her. His hands on her body. His breath warm against her neck. She slid her hands down her flat belly, tweaking her navel ring. It was the one frivolous spend she’d allowed herself since leaving her clan, and she loved it. She imagined him slipping around her and getting to his knees, his blue eyes shining up at her as he tongued the jewel. Her clit pulsed at the thought. She reached lower, needing to ease the ache before it became unbearable. If she could keep on top of it, there was a small chance she might be able to stave off the full heat. Charlotte closed her eyes and pictured the man still on his knees. He grinned up at her before trailing his tongue down lower. Her fingers slipped between her folds just as his tongue did in her mind.
She had barely touched herself when she heard a soft knock on her door, and then a few seconds later, the doorknob rattling. Had she locked it? Unwilling to let whoever was out there know that she’d heard, she stepped out of the shower and left the water running. She took a half second to dry herself as much as she could before squirming into her jeans. The damned shirt was in the other room. Not that it mattered. The bathroom didn’t have a window out of which she could escape, so she had to go back to the living area one way or the other. She just didn’t want to give Adrian a chance to see her naked if he’d made his way into the apartment.
Try as she might, all she could smell were the moth balls she’d left on the windowsill in the living room, and in a bowl by the door. The damned things were wreaking havoc on her nose, and it took a few hours for her to regain full sniffing ability once she was outside because of the blasted things, but, at least, it made it harder for the bastards to follow her scent. She stood immobile listening for any sound.
When nothing stirred outside the bathroom, she opened the door a crack and glanced out. Nothing was out of place. No one was inside. She sighed. Adrian hadn’t found her. It was probably some door to door sales person. Had it been Adrian, he would have busted the door down, not knocked and wait to be let in. Grabbing a fresh shirt, she pulled it on and went back to her maps. Maybe now she could figure out where to go next.
***
Jace looked at the old run down building in front of him. The white siding was chipped and flaking. Two of the windows were cracked, and one more was boarded up, and that was just the front of the house. He’d followed his mate’s scent to the back door, but that’s where it disappeared. The grass hadn’t been mowed in weeks, leaving the entire yard, small as it was, like a jungle of weeds and junk that was piled up at the back. Looks aside, she couldn’t possibly live there. At the rear entrance, the pungent odor of mothballs assailed his sensitive nose. The stink alone would drive a dragon mad, and one thing he knew, his mate was a dragon. Not that it would have mattered. He’d happily take a human mate if she were the one for him. All he had to do was look at Luke and Maddie to know that a human and dragon pairing could work. They were happy as hell, and there was no dragon in Maddie at all.
He gave the thin wooden door a little knock. If the she-dragon were in there, she’d hear it. He waited for a few seconds, but when the shower kept going, he sighed. Why he gave the doorknob a little jiggle, he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like he’d go barging in there without an invitation. Shaking his head at his foolishness, he turned and headed back. No point in scaring the locals by knocking on every door. One way or another, he’d find his mate. Just knowing she was near had him smiling, and put an extra bounce in his step. His wait was almost over.
THREE
Her whole body ached. No matter how hard Charlotte tried to ease the constant need, no matter how often she gave herself pleasure, it still wasn’t enough. Her body demanded more.