Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 by Touch of Seduction Page B

driving his goddamn beast to the edge. If he didn’t get out and give
himself some breathing room, the thing was going to shatter his control. And
then there’d be hell to pay.
    Reaching down, he turned off the music, then jerked
his chin toward the sign. “That looks like a good-size motel up there. We
should probably go ahead and stop.”
    “Will it be safe?” she asked, leaning forward to peer
through the windshield, as if to see if any monsters were lurking out there in
the dark.
    “As safe as anything else we’ll come across.”
    After heading around to the back of the building,
Aiden parked and turned off the engine, his tension cranking even higher now
that they’d stopped for the night. If he hadn’t been such a bastard, he knew he
would have told her that he’d wait outside until Kellan and Noah arrived, then
do the right thing for everyone involved and step aside. Every second he spent
in her presence was tempting fate. Tempting him to make a costly mistake. It
didn’t matter that he should keep his distance. Didn’t matter that she was
human and he didn’t trust her.
    No, the only thing that mattered, other than keeping
her and the kid alive, was getting her under him—which meant that he was just
going to have to suck it up and throw together a game plan. He was good at
working through shitty situations. He’d had to be, or he wouldn’t still be
around.
    And it could be worse, he thought. She could be
freaking out. Screaming and crying and blaming you for the mess that her life
is in.
    Yeah, when he looked at it that way, he’d gotten off
lucky, all things considered. Thanks to her stepsisters, she understood enough
about the clans to save them all a lot of arguing and headaches.
    And who knew? Maybe he was getting worked up over
nothing. After all, what were the chances that she was going to be anywhere
near as tempting as his imagination believed she would be?
    So stop getting so jacked up. After you bed her, you
can forget about her. Just like you’ve done with all the others.
    As far as game plans went, it wasn’t much, but Aiden
was willing to give it a go. He’d screw her a few times, making sure the itch
was scratched to the point that it bled clean, and God willing, once he did,
he’d find out that Olivia Harcourt was the same as every other woman he’d ever
had, even with that goddamn “Eve effect” going on. Then he’d be able to leave
her behind, and get on with his life, searching for the next Marker…and then
the next.
    The plan should have brought him a measure of peace,
but it didn’t. Instead, Aiden’s gut twisted tighter, and he swore something
foul under his breath. Christ, when had he become such a bloody head case?
    “You okay?”
    Jarred out of his thoughts by her question, Aiden
caught himself staring at her mouth. He could feel her embarrassment, thick and
hot in the air, but he couldn’t seem to look away, fascinated by the sensual
shape, the impossible softness. Not for the first time that night, he found
himself wondering if she’d actually kissed him back when he’d taken her to the
ground back at the house. Or if he’d just imagined it. And if she had, why?
    Frustrated at himself for mulling over it like an old
woman, he forced out a gritty admission. “I don’t want to leave you out here
unprotected.”
    She glanced around the quiet parking lot. “Do you
really think it’s dangerous?”
    Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “The odds are
unlikely that they could track us this quickly, especially with all the rain
that was coming down, but I also don’t see the point in taking unnecessary
risks.”
    She nodded, already undoing her seat belt. “Then we’ll
go in with you.”
    “That was the plan,” he murmured, already unfolding
his long body from behind the wheel. Aiden opened the back door and reached
inside for Jamie, who was slowly waking up. When he unbuckled her from her car
seat and lifted her into his arms, she cuddled against his chest as