Shameful by May Dawson
3
Legacy
Lucas openedthe passenger door for me, and I slid into the smooth, dark leather. His car smelled good, just as Lucas always did. His natural, spicy scent jolted my memory of the strange guy who had come into the coffee shop and my muscles tensed.
“Kind of a weird day today,” I said. “A guy came into the café who smelled weird.”
He glanced at me sidelong. “Weirdhow?”
“Lots of cologne.”
His shoulders relaxed. “Some human guys hit the Axe a bit toohard.”
I started to say it was more than that, but maybe my reaction was ridiculous. “Yeah, I guess that isn’t that weird. Especially in a collegetown.”
“If anyone ever bothers you though,” he said, with boyish earnestness, “You tell me, okay? Come straight tome.”
“Okay…” I said guardedly.
“I am next in line for alpha,” he reminded me. “Protecting you is myjob.”
“Oh yeah?” I tapped my finger against my lips absently. Is thatall?
I knew most of the girls in the pack would’ve appreciated that bit of protectiveness, but I wasn’t impressed.
He glanced over at me. “I know you can protect yourself. But it’s still myjob.”
I nodded slowly. “Well, an Axe-soaked human isn’t really a problem.”
As long as Blondie was human.We weren’t the only supes in the world. I’d never met a vampire or a Fae, but they were out there. My father had brought home a blood-stained shirt once, made Courage and I both smell it so we’d be able to scent a vamp if we ever ran into one. But I hadn’t picked that smell out tonight in thecafé.
I couldn’t imagine why a vamp would come into the café anyway. “Do vampires drink coffee? I thought they were really just into blood.”
“You think a vamp came in to order an iced coffee?” A disbelieving grin crossed hislips.
“No.” My voice came out too sharp, and I softened it. “It was just a thought. It was just weird.”
“Well, if any other supes come in, leprechauns looking for lattes, centaurs seeking coffee, you definitely call me.” His lips twitched at the edges. “You have my number, right?”
“Of course.” Everyone in the pack had each other’s numbers.
“Then how come you never call me?” His voice had turned even lighter.
Something warm curled through my chest and settled there like my kitten, Augustus, sleeping on me when I was akid.
“How come you never call me?” I teased back. “I’m a nice girl. Nice girls don’t call boys first.”
“I don’t really call,” he said. “I’ll textyou.”
“Oh, will you?” My voice wasarch.
“Is Courage going to find me and fight me if I textyou?”
“Better not. He knows I can kick hisass.”
His smirk widened into a true, honest grin; his cheekbones swelled in a way that was magnetic. “That’s why I like you somuch.”
I laughed. I wasn’t going to respond to Lucas’s joking admission that he liked me. He might just be messing withme.
He abruptly slammed on the brakes, and I grabbed the oh-shit strap as the car bounced over gravel before coming to a stop on the side of theroad.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
He twisted toward me, running his tongue over his front teeth as if he were trying to loosen his words. For the one and only time I’d ever seen, Lucas looked uncertain. “Do you have any plans for tomorrow night?”
“Plans?” I played dumb, knowing he’d see right throughme.
He pulled a face. “Hopes?”
“Hopes?” My voice came out impossibly innocent and stupid.
“You’re fucking killing me, Legacy,” he said, and the next thing I knew he leaned across the console.
Lucas was about to kissme.
I barely had time to register another thought before his hand wrapped the back of my neck, and he pulled me toward him gently. I tilted my head and tried to soften my lips, just before his brushedmine.
I’d expected a first kiss to be magical, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t relax into being swept away. I felt stiff as a puppet.
His lips were soft and warm. He tasted like peppermint, and I wondered if he chewed gum or breath mints all the time or if he’d planned on kissing me. I wondered what my own breath smelled like. Probably coffee. I wondered how he felt about my breath, my lips, my kisses.
His lips probed mine, and just as I started to relax into the kiss, he pulledaway.
I drew a deep breath, trying to catch my breath again, and grinned athim.
“You’re a terrible kisser.” He sounded delighted.
Whatever just-kissed elation I’d felt was smothered by that blunt statement; it felt like I’d just tripped. “What?”
“It’s okay.” He touched my cheek, his touch affectionate, his thumb resting lightly on my cheekbone. “You’ve never done that before, huh?”
“So sorry to be so insufficient.” I reached for the car handle. “I’ll walk the rest of the way home. Thanks.”
“It’s six miles.” He didn’t sound troubled as I threw the car door open. “And it’s dark. And raining.”
“I don’t give a fuck!” I called back, slamming his car door. That boy loved hiscar.
God, this weather really was going to suck. It was too late to turn back now, though.
Cold rain pelted my hair, soaking it to my head, as I strode confidently down the gravel at the side of theroad.
I heard feet crunching behind me—fast—right before he grabbed my arm and spun me around. I brought my fists up automatically, even knowing it was just Lucas.
He grabbed my shoulders and yanked me toward him. His mouth descended on mine, greedily, kissing me hard. I briefly flirted with the thought of using this opportunity to murder him, but his hands were firm and possessive and sure on my body, his lips heated, and I felt myself melting against him instead.
It didn’t matter that I didn’t know what to do. Because Lucas was kissing me anyway, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. He stroked his tongue along the seam of my lips, and I wondered if I was supposed to open my mouth.
But before I could decide, he pulledaway.
“It’s a good thing, Legacy.” His gaze was self-satisfied, and rivulets of water ran from his soaked, spiky hair down his handsome face. “I like that you’re inexperienced. That you could just bemine.”
I wanted to know if he was inexperienced too, but I didn’t dare ask. Guys didn’t want to be inexperienced; they just wanted us tobe.
“If I want to be,” I answered tartly.
He frowned. “If you want to bewhat?”
“If I want to be yours.”
He stared at me as if he couldn’t wrap his brain around the possibility I wouldn’t want to be his, a wrinkle indenting his forehead above that long, straight nose. “So are you hoping for something tomorrow night?”
I licked my lips, stalling. His green-flecked blue eyes were magnetic, and so was the shape of his mouth.
Maybe I should play it safe, but instead I said, “I wouldn’t hate it if you and I found each other tomorrow.”
He tilted my chin up, leaning toward me again. “I wouldn’t hate it either.”
There in the rain, he wrapped me in his arms and kissed me like he meantit.