Mated to a Human

☽ 27 ☾

Abby and Liam leave in her car while Harvey and I get in his grey truck. I'm supposed to run into my house and grab some things to stay the night at Norwood House, but I can hardly think of what to pack while Harvey is being playful.

He opens the passenger door for me, helps me step up into the truck, pulls my seatbelt over me, and clicks it in. I can't resist the small laughs on the tip of my tongue.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he's still leaned over me.

He draws back and holds onto the frame of the truck. "I thought you liked this?" He questions with an obvious awareness — he knows the last time he helped me into my seat, I insisted I could handle it myself.

"That's how you remember my last reaction — that I liked it?" I play along, smiling.

Harvey checks the heating and cooling vents to ensure they're pointed at me, and then he lifts my seat's reclining lever, and I drop a couple of inches backward.

"Okay! I'm comfortable!" I shout and try to shoo him away. "You're being the perfect gentleman, alright? Now stop."

"One more thing," he mutters, reaches between my legs and pushes my seat back for extra legroom.

I jolt to a halt and shake with giggles. "Stop."

He places his hands on his hips and surveys the truck for something else to adjust for me, and he goes for my headrest next, but I intercept him by catching both his hands; I hold them captive against my stomach.

"That's enough now," I say clearly, pink in the face and still grinning.

"Are you sure?"

I nod vigorously.

"Okay." Harvey's hands slide to each side of my waist, and he leans into me once more. He kisses me briefly on my lips and my stomach flips. "Let's go," he mutters and then steps back shut my door.

I rest my head against the seat and my butterflies keep fluttering. Harvey said being together at my house isn't like being together at Norwood House — with my family just beyond my bedroom door, there really isn't any privacy — but now I'm staying the night here, and we'll actually be alone.

I run my hands down my thighs as Harvey gets in the driver's seat, and my nails dig in just above my knees. A mental checklist forms in my head; I run through it to determine if I've done everything I have to in order to be intimate, or, at least to feel like I can be.

Harvey heads down the gravel drive and turns onto Audrey Way. I don't realize I'm chewing on my bottom lip until he asks, "Thinking about something?"

I turn my head. "Oh, just about the meeting," I fib, but I'm reminded of what Abby told me during our drive over — about his parents.

"I don't want you to be scared."

"I know, but... I'm not thinking about me. Abby mentioned your parents."

Harvey's face washes over with something, yet I can't tell if it's a sad look, an angry one, or a mix of both. He sighs. "She told you it was a vampire that killed them?"

I reluctantly nod.

"Just great."

"You didn't want me to know?"

His grip on the wheel tightens. "I didn't want you thinking people are going to die, so no."

"I wasn't thinking that. I — I thought all of this happening would be difficult for you, that it would bring up painful memories. I want you to know that you can talk to me. I'm here for you."