She was up on her toes, reaching her arms toward his shoulders and all but climbing him as he bent to cup her ass and lift her into him. Her legs were around his waist, and he had her turned and pressed against the wall without pulling from the warmth of her kiss. She jerked back from his mouth, her head leaning back, exposing the slender column of her neck. He sank to it, grazing her flesh with his teeth and stroking his tongue out to taste her.
He ached. His cock. His teeth. His heart. And it was all for her.
“Tah.” His name was a gasp from her lips.
He groaned and moved his mouth back up toward hers.
“Tah.” She turned her head, denying him. Denying them both.
“Abby.” He moaned her name, flexing his hips and pressing into her where her legs wrapped around his waist. He felt her shudder, smelled the heat of her desire.
“Tah. Put me down please.”
His eyes snapped to hers, and he saw the denial there.
“You want me.” It was a statement, not a question, and she didn’t deny it.
“Not like this,” she said softly.
He slowly eased back from her, helping her as she unwrapped her legs and braced along the wall as if needing the support to find her own footing.
“Like this?” he questioned. He wanted to roar with rage at the loss of her. He needed her. Couldn’t she see how much he needed her?
“I may not be the most beautiful woman you’ve ever taken in your arms, but I’m most likely the smartest. And I know.”
It just pissed him off that she discounted herself that easily. She was the most beautiful, in all the ways that mattered. He’d just been too scared to admit it.
“You know what?” he asked when she shook her head and stepped away from the wall, tugging the robe closer together.
He thought she wouldn’t answer him as she scooped up the wet towel and stepped into the bathroom with it. But she faced him when she walked out. He could see the sadness in her eyes, and it nearly destroyed him.
“That I’m worth more than one quick night in a cheap motel,” she whispered, moving to the side of the bed and tugging back the covers. “I’ll give you the side closest to the door. The water’s hot if you want a shower.”
He felt the need to roar again, and it took all he had to throttle it back. He stood and watched as she pulled the covers over her body still wearing the robe. He turned toward the bathroom, hitting the button to turn the television off as he did. He heard her murmured “good night” as he fought the urge to slam the bathroom door shut behind him.
The first thing he saw were her panties and bra hanging on a towel rack to dry by the sink. He felt the rumble of displeasure in his chest as he pulled the cotton panties from the rod and brought them to his nose. He could still smell her on them. And God help him, those panties were the only thing keeping him from going back to join her on that bed and trying to seduce her.
He started the shower, tucking her panties in his pocket before sliding his jeans off. She was right. She deserved so much more than this. Soon, he’d show her just how much she meant to him. He had a lot to make up for.
Chapter Three
From the journal of Abby Lane
I’ve found him, or at least who I think is the right person. He’s certainly big enough to hide a lion inside. He’s almost six and half feet tall and so sexy he makes my teeth ache. I go to the bar where he works every night just so I can see him, be close to him. I stick out like a sore thumb, but I’m unable to deny my need just to be near him.#p#分页标题#e#
All those long nights of researching a genealogy not my own. The dead-ends and back tracking, sifting through even the smallest crumb of information has led me here to him. What would he say if I told him I know all about him? He’s been alone for so much of his life. I cried when I read about his parents’ deaths when he was just a child. And to know he went to live with a grandmother who’s now gone as well! Would he feel the same connection I do if he was aware of how much we have in common?
I almost lost it when I heard his friend call him Tah. Does he have any idea the power behind his nickname? Does he know he comes from the greatest Tau ever born? I want to tell him. I want to follow him home and make him listen to all I have to share. I’d give anything to talk to him and have him listen without looking at me like I’m crazy. But I don’t see that happening.
So I watch…and wait, as if I’ll know when the time is right to approach him, as if that time will ever exist.
They call him Tah, and only I know how true that name is.
* * * *
Abby was fuming the next morning after getting dressed. Utah might play the innocent, but she knew he was at fault. There was no one else here, and she damn sure hadn’t hidden her panties. But short of calling him out on it, what could she do other than sit here at the table across from him, sans panties, while they ate the breakfast he’d picked up.