Trixie had a difficult life. She had her only child at fifteen. A child raising a child. She loved her daughter with all her heart and poured every waking minute into seeing to her care and education. She wanted her daughter to have everything that she didn’t have. She’d named her daughter Sherise and loved her more than anything else. When Sherise fell in love in high school and repeated Trixie’s downfall, getting pregnant at sixteen, Trixie loved her through it. Fortunately, Sherise’s man loved Sherise and stuck by her, marrying her. They moved in with Trixie.
Teagan bit her lip nervously. Her grandmother was an extraordinary woman, quite brilliant, and had she had the chance for a good education, in a different place, Teagan knew she would have excelled. As it was, she excelled at making a family. She worked hard until she had enough money to move Sherise, her husband, Terence, the baby and herself into another, much better part of the city. She worked so they could continue their educations.
Sherise had three daughters eighteen months apart. Terence got his education, a good job as an accountant and they happily raised their girls until he grew fatigued and sick. He died of cancer when he was barely twenty-four years of age. Sherise and her three daughters moved right back in with Trixie and she never once protested having to help her daughter raise more babies.
“Teagan.”
Teagan closed her eyes. She could barely resist Andre’s voice. Not when he said her name like that. A silk and velvet rasp she felt caressing her skin. She leaned into him and pressed her lips to his flat belly, right over his belly button. She loved him. Pure and simple, she loved him.
“I showed you what my grandmother did for her family in my memories. My mother didn’t go near other men for years. And then she met Charles at a place where she worked. He was Caucasian, but it didn’t matter to her. She thought they fell in love. She got pregnant with me. After so many years of not being with a man, she finally chose one and he left her the moment he found out.”
She stared at Andre’s hard chest. She didn’t want to look into his eyes. She knew, when it came to matters of safety, he was implacable. Still, it was her grandmother, and she had to try to make him understand. “She died in my grandmother’s arms, Andre. Giving birth to me. She died. My grandmother’s only child.”
She traced circles on his chest. “She took us all in. My sisters and me. I was a newborn baby. My father was Caucasian.” She finally lifted her eyes to him. “She loved me, Andre, in spite of the fact that her only daughter, her only child, died giving birth to me. I took away her beloved daughter, but she loved me anyway. She’s all about family. She loved my sisters. And once again, she worked her butt off so we could have educations. She wanted us to have choices she never had. She gave that to us.”
She was desperate for him to understand. “If you have to do it, you could separate her from them. Take her somewhere safe, like our cave, to give me a chance to explain the difference. She couldn’t possibly hurt me with you close by.”
She felt Andre take a deep breath and she knew she had convinced him. He nodded his head. “But, seriously, Teagan. You know me. If I tell you to do something, you do it with no questions.”
That was a total warning and she knew he meant it. She nodded her head, because if she didn’t, he wouldn’t drop it. She knew him now, inside and out, and there were certain things he didn’t give an inch on. In his mind he was making a great concession even taking her along, so she had to give him something back.
“You will have to trust me that I will look out for you and your grandmother.”
She nodded her head again. She did trust him. There was no doubt in her mind if he gave his word, he would do exactly what he promised. She went up on her toes, her arms going around his neck to bring his head down to hers so she could brush her lips over his. He slanted his mouth over hers and took control of the kiss, sending her stomach plummeting into a roller-coaster dive.
She loved his kisses. Seriously loved them. His kisses should have been an inspiration for all mankind. They were electric, shooting little charges of white lightning through her veins straight to her sex so all she could think about while she was kissing him was ripping off his clothes. Quite frankly, that part of being Carpathian, the ease of getting in and out of clothes—and stylish boots—was one of the best things ever. That and not having to pay for the clothes and boots. How cool was that?
“Teagan.”
There it was. Her name. That voice. Curling her toes. She loved that. She just plain loved Andre.
“Um . . .” She lifted her eyes to his face.