Page 38 of Don't Bite the Botanist
But as much as she loved learning about his college years and hearing him talk in general—she could listen to his rich voice read the damn phonebook—not once did he reveal any information that helped her figure out why his research had been targeted.
Slumping against the door to his bedroom where she’d deposited him after it became too late to justify continuing their patio chat, Tressa grit her teeth to suppress the frustrated groan that roiled deep inside her.
A groan that had nothing to do with the lack of progress on their hunt for Renata and everything to do with the fact that her mate was sliding under the covers a few feet away while she had no right to join him. She briefly debated knocking on the door and asking if she could cuddle up beside him, but she didn’t get so far as to raise her hand before reminding herself that idea was more than absurd. He’d made it clear he was keeping things between them PG until the rogue was dealt with, and she wasn’t going to push him.
That didn’t mean she was going to be happy about sleeping without her mate, though.
Kicking the door to her own room shut behind her, Tressa flopped face down on the bed she had pushed up against the wall. Part of her worried Ethan might comment on the fact that his own bed had been moved to the side when it clearly belonged in the center, but if she was going to sleep alone, she was going to do it as close to him as possible. So yeah, she’d shifted the feng shui of his room a tad. And maybe she’d laid in the bed for a couple minutes so she could perfectly visualize him in the same spot later that night. So what? It wasn’t anything worse than Saiden had done when he was obsessing over Cora.
Rolling over to the side, she rested her hand on the wall and let the image of him fill her head.
Ten inches, she guessed. Ten inches of wood and plaster between her and Ethan. It might as well have been ten miles for as lonely as she felt, but it would have to suffice. The longer she left her hand in place, the more she could sense him, and she couldn’t help but wonder...
Was he leaning up against the wall on his side?
Was Ethan fighting his own urges?
Was he feeling that tug to dash from his room into hers and wrap Tressa up in his arms?
Heat spread through her body as her mind ran wild with thoughts of her mate. An ache developed between her legs, but she couldn’t stop the images if she wanted to. She closed her eyes, and Ethan was there, kissing her. She opened her eyes, and she could still visualize him, like a slow motion fantasy playing out—him bursting through her door, shirtless, sweeping her up in his tight embrace. No matter how much she tried to think of anything else, she couldn’t escape him.
She didn’twantto escape him. She just wanted the reality more than she wanted the fantasy.
But since reality wasn’t on the menu, she would have to make do.
Sliding her hands down her stomach toward the pulsing need that called her name, she sent out a brief thank you to Baylin for ensuring their rooms were all soundproof. She would have a hard time explaining the noises to Ethan if he overheard.
Unless… those same sounds were coming from his room. Tressa had no way of knowing for sure, but the thought of Ethan on the other side of the wall, touching himself and thinking about her, had a gush of wetness soaking her panties.
“Fuck,” she moaned, rubbing herself through the thin fabric of her underwear. As her speed increased, her mind drifted to the drawer oftoys beside her bed. After a few decades, sex had a tendency to become boring with most humans since she had to hold so much of herself back or risk breaking them. Most of the time, she relied on something battery-powered to scratch the random itches that arose, but just the concept of anything other than Ethan between her legs had her lip curling with disdain.
She wanted her mate, not some shitty silicone approximation.
So her hand continued to work herself as she pictured all the things she would do to Ethan if he became a vampire.
When, she corrected herself.
When he became a vampire.
When they lived happily ever after.
When she finally got to fuck him until his body begged for mercy. Or until hers did. Something about the way her mate trained in the gym suggested he would be more than able to match her pace in the bedroom.
“Ethan…” Her hand dipped inside her panties, no longer satisfied with a simple bit of friction. She slipped a finger inside, and then a second one, pumping them in and out as she imagined it wasn’t her hand, but Ethan’s. They were his long strong fingers, the same ones that had caressed the plants so delicately. So tenderly. Only now they were being put to a better use—caressing her own rose bud.
The warmth that had bloomed inside her grew more intense as she pumped her fingers into her wet heat while rubbing her palm against her clit.
She needed Ethan. Needed him to make her come. Needed his body pressed against hers.
She slapped her other hand against the wall, half crazed and wanting to put her fist through the damn plaster to get to her mate. The wall shook a bit from the impact, but she couldn’t be bothered to care.
Wanton moans escaped her as she ground her hips into her own hand. Squeezing her eyes shut, she imagined Ethan on the other side, touching himself, until finally, the visual was enough to send her over the edge.
She drenched her own fingers to thoughts of Ethan in his bed, stroking his cock and thinking of her.
Chapter twenty
Ethan
