And if his family didn't like him bringing a woman home for a visit, they could shove it.
All he wanted was more Mariah.
Question was: did she want more of him? Maybe he could figure out the answer to that question later today.
Like it mattered for a guy planning to blow out of town.
"Sure."
"What?"
"I'm game to check out the ranch, if it won't disrupt... anything you all have to do there." She pulled the wool coat around her and picked up her bag. "It would be good to run home and change first, though."
"Want me to follow you back to your house?"
"Sound like a plan." She didn't protest as he took her bag from her.
He opened the hotel room door and motioned for her to precede him. As they walked down the hall, he gritted his teeth and let his power flow out of him. A noise there, a flicker of light here, made him tense, sensing threats everywhere.
But not threats to Vaughn.
The power was searching for potential danger to Mariah. And the power was doing it in a hypersensitive manner. The blood drained from his head, turning sound hollow.
Not detecting danger to Vaughn. Not at all.
No way. Impossible.
As they got in separate cars, he clenched the wheel, his knuckles turning white. Shit. Too much distance between them. He'd be behind that ridiculous Mini all the way back to Copper River, a two-hour drive. He tried not to tailgate as he followed her vehicle's shallow tracks in the dusting of snow.
Thirty minutes into the drive on the empty highway, his power screamed and threw out a wave, reaching forward.
A mule deer bolted from the trees and ran in front of Mariah's car.
Before he could slam on his brakes, she had slammed hers, stopping just in time to avoid hitting the deer. He managed not to hit her car, and they carried on down the highway. No harm, no foul.
But that wasn't the point, as the pounding in his chest reminded him.
He hadfeltthe danger to her before it had appeared. More to the point, his power had sensed it and tried to do something to protect her. What he'd felt last night when Linc attacked her, what he felt this morning... none of it was a fluke. In the most fundamental way, his power had changed how it functioned. Changed its purpose. Would the power continue to morph, and if so, into what?
Hell, Shelby had gone into a coma when her power shifted gears.
Maybe the effect on his mind would wear off if he spent time away from Mariah.
What a shitty existence that would be.
A flash of memory from this morning: Mariah against the tiles in the shower, water sluicing over her breasts as she bounced with the force of his thrusts. Their connection was so perfect, so right. He had to shift in the car seat to relieve pressure. What if he lost his mind but he still got to enjoy good mornings like that?
What a way to go.
When they reached her house, Vaughn stayed in the car while she ran in to change. He dialed home.
"Hello?" Shelby answered.
He groaned. His baby sister, with her radar to pick up emotion, was the last person he wanted to talk with. "You're home."
"I do live here, you know." All snark. Classic Shelby.
"Just figured you'd be at Eric's."
