Page 47 of Cursed Touch
After he finished, he thanked the nurses for having his back. He knew they took the brunt of the complaints for his lateness, emergency or not. Carter hurried to his car as he made another mental note to do something kind for them.
He pressed the call button on the steering wheel. “Call Vanessa Rayne.”
“Calling Vanessa Rayne,” the Bluetooth system called back.
His fingers curled around the steering wheel and released a few times before her voicemail picked up. He sighed and poked at his phone. The ringing filled his car again, and a deep voice answered, “Hey.”
“Are y’all still at the store?”
“No. She didn’t have a key to your place—which is bullshit, by the way—so I left Joel at the shop and brought her to her place,” Peter said.
Carter winced. “Can I speak with her?”
Peter grunted, and Carter heard some shuffling.
“Who is it?” she asked Peter, her voice becoming louder. “Hello?”
“Hi, sweetheart, how are you holding up?” he asked, smiling at merely the sound of her voice.
“Carter?”
“Yeah, babe.”
A silent moment passed before she cleared her throat. “Hi, I guess I’m okay. Trying to see what all I have so I can restock what was damaged.”
“If there’s anything I can help with, just tell me the word, okay?”
“Thanks, Carter,” she said, her voice so soft he wondered if she was upset.
“Peter says you’re at the apartment now,” he said, preferring to imagine her in his home. “Pack up whatever you need and head back to the house. Use the office to set up your workspace. I’d wanted to give you the code earlier, but honestly I was afraid it would scare you off…” He turned left at the streetlight. “Can you memorize it, or do you need to write it down?”
“I-I’ll remember it…” her raspy voice muttered.
His heart thundered in his chest as she called back the code and his instructions. Carter was rather surprised she had not fought him on the matter, as she was surrounded by her things. He was overwhelmed by how badly he wanted her to think of his home as theirs.
His heart did not have any concept of time. He’d found his mate, but taking the time to court her didn’t seem to matter to it. Carter was torn between the need to claim her as his and the logical side of dating her.
“I need to make a stop before grabbing dinner and coming home. Are you in the mood for anything specific?” he asked, and images of going down on her came to mind. His dick twitched as it begged to slide back into her warm mouth.
“Surprise me,” she said, and he wondered if her mind had also gone to the events that morning.
He adjusted himself as he slowed the car. “Be careful with what you ask for,” he whispered. “See you soon.”
“Bye,” she said through a heavy breath, and he hoped her body ached like his did.
Carter peered down at the semi he was sporting. “Whoa, buddy, better stand down before Joel sees you.”
Ten minutes later, he hit the lock button on the fob to his Audi and walked to the back door of Vanessa’s shop. He raised his hand to knock, but Joel opened it before he could make contact.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Joel said and stepped aside.
Carter’s brows pinched together. “How’d you know—”
“Heard your car and smelled you the moment you stepped out of it,” Joel said with a shrug.
Carter pursed his lips and nodded. “Nice. I forget how good your senses are compared to the rest of ours.”
