Taber (7 page)

“It hurts.”

“No shit. Stop being such a pussy and let me see.” She winced at the redness, which had taken over the whites of his eyes. After dipping the cloth in the water, she wrung it out and put some of the baby shampoo on it before placing it over his eyes. “Hold this.”

She washed her hands and dried them before returning to his side. They didn’t speak as she continued to drench his eyes with clean, cold water and the occasional dab of baby shampoo.

“What were you thinking?” she demanded, rinsing the cloth again.

“You’ve been avoiding me, I was thinking we really needed to talk.”

“And your solution is to jump out at me and get yourself Maced?”

“I didn’t jump out at you and trust me, I had no plans to get Maced.” He grabbed her wrists.

“Let go.” She slapped the cotton over his eyes again. “Looks like we both got surprised then, because I didn’t expect to see you.”

“Where were you?”

Staring at him and the cloth on his eyes, she shook her head. He still affected her, even now. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I was out.”

“What the fuck were you doing out with Sean Caan?”

She growled low in her throat at the knowledge he’d been watching her, invading her privacy. After snatching the washcloth she slapped it in the bowl, ignoring the water that sloshed over the edge.

“Get the fuck out of my house.”

“What?”

“You just can’t resist spying on me either? What’s next after the lies and the spying, Taber? You can probably just wave away the Mace, so do it and get out.” She stomped out of the room, heading to her bedroom before she slammed the door then threw herself on the bed.

Bastard!

Taber sat there and stared through blurry and painfully stinging eyes at the place where Lainey had just been. She was right. He could just wave it away, but honestly he hadn’t given it the least bit of thought. Not when she was paying him attention. Being gentle and caring. Concerned.

Well that lasted about as long as he’d been able to keep his mouth shut about her and Sean Caan. Yes, he’d followed her, yes he’d spied on her. No, he hadn’t thought she’d be this upset.

Why not?
His brain posed the question.

He waved it off, along with the sting in his eyes. Vision cleared, he headed towards the bedroom door, which had been slammed behind her. He paused with his hand on the knob, before turning it and allowing himself entrance to her room.

Lainey lay sprawled across her bed, face down. Although they weren’t loud, he could hear the echo of her soft whimpers. It hit him—he’d hurt her.

“Lainey.”

“Go away, Taber.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Look at me.”

“What part of ‘go away’ don’t you get?”

Taber sat on the edge of the bed. “Apparently all of it. Because I’m staying right here, not leaving until we talk this through.” He reached out and touched her leg, hating the way her entire body flinched. Not that long ago she’d arched and purred at his touches. Now she acted as if she wanted to get as far from him as possible. And he didn’t like it—not in the slightest. “Can you look at me?”

This time she did jerk free from his touch. She rolled to her side and sat up, crossing her legs and giving off a distinct vibe of
Trust that I’d rather be anywhere but here with you
.

“What?” The single word was snapped. “What could you possibly want?”

“You.”

It was honest and from his heart. Apparently she didn’t feel it was—she snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Do you doubt me?” Anger began to boil in his gut.

“Why shouldn’t I? You want me like a stalker does. Who the hell told you it was okay to follow someone and spy on them? That’s not done, Taber. Not if you’re trying to convince them they mean something to you.”

“You were out with another man!”

“We are not an item. I can damn well go out with whomever I want.”

His jaw ached he clenched it so hard. “We
invited
you out.”

“Which I
declined
because I had a previous engagement.”

“With Sean. I should fire the bastard.”

If he thought she was angry before he was sorely mistaken. She shot up from the bed and loomed over him. A very impressive feat, given how much shorter she was than him.

“You do, Taber, and I swear I’ll quit the reserve.”

“What about Kali?”

“I know she’s in good hands.”

“You wouldn’t leave her.”

“Don’t be so sure. Because I’ll be damned if you get to use your fucked up interpretation of what a relationship with me is like to fire people who are simply nice to me.”

He snarled at her. She didn’t look the least bit fazed. She crossed her arms and one foot tapped out a furious cadence. “A date is wanting more.”

“Maybe for you, Taber. But not for everyone. Sean is a very nice man who asked me about my fondness for art. Then he offered to take me to the museum.” Her body shook she was so angry.

“I would have taken you.”

“You didn’t even know I liked that style of art. Or if you did, you didn’t think it important. Right up there with not telling me you were a god. Just thought you’d keep that to yourself. I suppose it makes all the spying and stalking people easier.”

“How did he know?” he growled.

She threw up her hands. “Because
he
asked!”

“A man just ‘happens’ to ask you about some art? Where’d he see it?”

“You’re ridiculous. Fucking ridiculous. He saw it the same place you did. My office. But unlike you, Sean was interested in talking to me as opposed to getting my pants off.”

Lucky for him—it was a reason the man was still breathing. Her words slowly sank in and he shook his head. “In your office. That…what you have on your wall is what you’re talking about?”

“Un-fucking-believable. It’s like talking to a damn brick wall.” She stalked away from him and he rose to follow.

He caught up to her right inside the bedroom door. Somewhere deep within he knew he should talk to her but to be honest right here, right now, all he was thinking about was how gorgeous a pissed off Lainey was. Not to mention how fucking hot. So, he went with his gut. And groin.

Grabbing her, he spun her around and took control of her mouth. He wasn’t gentle—he took what he wanted and it was
her
. The intimate feel of her pressed along him. She smacked at him twice before her hands sank into his hair and jerked him tight to her.

“Damn you,” she seethed.

He wasted no time on chatter. His cock was thick and hard in his pants and he wanted to be buried completely in her. Taber jerked on the drawstring of her khaki cargos and shoved them down to pool at her feet. He snapped her panties with one single jerk then growled deep in his throat when she cupped him through his pants. Instinctively, he thrust his hips to grind into her touch.

Her hands returned to his shoulders and he used his powers to drop his own pants and briefs to the floor. He backed her up until she hit a wall on the other side of the room then lifted her and with one smooth stroke sank her onto his shaft.

Christ, she was so tight, hot and wet. He almost lost it there. She dug her nails into the back of his neck and he felt her internal muscles clench around him.

“Mine,” he growled.

“Shut up.”

He looked at her. Lainey’s face was contorted with harsh, sexual pleasure and he grinned, well aware that despite the anger between them, the passion still flowed strong. Holding her gaze, he powered into her. Her pupils dilated and she captured her lower lip in her white teeth.

“Mine.”

She snapped her teeth at him and he slammed with in harder. Pleasure rocketed through him at the response she gave. Her hold in his hair tightened and she locked their mouths together with the same primal wildness he was taking her with.

Their tongues duelled as he continued to drive hard and fast into her. His larger body kept her pinned to the wall as he refused to relent with his strokes.

Harder. Faster. Deeper. He wanted it all from her and even more. Sweat dripped from his skin to hers yet he continued to fuck her. Almost angrily, for he still harboured his jealously of her going out with another man. As well as anger that Sean knew more about her, in some ways, than he did.

But he wasn’t able to do this forever and the way her tight slit gripped him he knew he wouldn’t last much longer. He was right and he came deep within her, a roar escaping. Her pussy clenched around him, drenching his length with her own release. Her cry echoed in the room, mingling with his own.

Her face was buried in his neck and he loved the sharp exhalations of breath he felt there. The beast in him had been tamed and he was content. A smile turned up the corner of his mouth and for that reason, when she pushed at him he allowed her to drop. Glad the animosity was over.

He’d never been so wrong. She jerked up her pants, grabbed her torn underwear and shoved them in a pocket and stomped to the door, anger evident in every step she took.

“Lainey.”

Anger lingered in her gaze, rapidly replacing the pleasure he’d seen there moments ago. “Really not wanting to talk to you right now, Taber. I don’t like being followed and I
despise
being lied too. So take all your goddamn powers and go use them on a woman who will be impressed, because as far as I’m concerned, all it’s done is turned you into one gigantic asshole.”

Those words were said seconds before the door slammed behind her, leaving him alone in the room, pants still around his ankles and his contented, sexually satisfied feeling gone with her.

What the hell had just happened? Why hadn’t that solved things between them? He had assumed it would. Problem was—as he’d forgotten—Lainey was extremely unwilling to cooperate with
his
assumption on how things should go.

Chapter Six

She stood at her office window, staring out at Kali’s enclosure. The lynx wasn’t in view and yet Lainey remained there. Waiting, hoping to see her. It had been a while. Finally, Kali slipped from the shade and stepped into the sun, which gleamed off her brightly reddish brown coat with black spots and made it look even softer. Her short, bobbed tail flicked from side to side as she took in her surroundings.

Lainey watched as her ears twitched, searching for something—what, she didn’t know. It warmed her to know that her cat had settled in so well. Honestly, she didn’t think she could make it there much longer. It was hell being near Taber Ellis and yet so far away.

She still hurt from his obvious disregard for her privacy and wondered more about just how far would a god go to get what he wanted? She pressed a hand against the warm glass and sighed. If this didn’t end up working out for her, she sure would miss Kali. They’d been together for so long. But it was comforting that she was there, and it would make it easier knowing that her friend was well cared for.

Kali lifted her head and stared at her, as if sensing she was there. She’d left the glass on one way as opposed to two. Just recently, she’d figured it would be easier on the cat if she wasn’t able to see her all of the time. The first few days, Kali hadn’t seemed to want to settle down, but she had soon gone right back to her new routine.

The lynx yawned as if bored with the entire situation and padded off to get a drink. Slowly Lainey lowered her hand from the glass and sighed. There was just too much to think about right now. Ignoring the pain in her chest where her heart sat, she returned to her desk and reached for the next file, on a person who had a big cat they hoped to surrender to the reserve.

Taking a drink of her water, she flipped the file open. In the left hand corner was a picture of the feline. Her heart lurched and fury sliced through her veins.
Damn it!

The picture showed that it was actually two cats. A liger and a tigon, named Chet and Allie. Her heart went out to them. Chet was the liger, the result of breeding a lion to a tigress. Allie was the tigon, the creation of a tiger and a lioness. It was done by humans, normally those who wanted to create a freak that would draw money to them. Carnivals and small places. It was an ill-advised and frowned upon act by most reputable people.

Tigers and lions wouldn’t breed in the wild and more often than not, the offspring would suffer from a myriad of birth defects, which often ended in early death. Ligers are larger than either parents and tend to put the tigress at risk as well—usually requiring a C-section delivery, or killing the mother in the process, as had happened to Chet’s mother.

According to Dr Dillon Mitchem who’d saved them, he’d fixed Allie so she wouldn’t be able to breed, however he didn’t have the space for them. She and Chet had been born within weeks of one another and had grown up together with Allie’s mom.

Dr Mitchem had a small wildlife vet practice and sometimes kept animals if needed. He’d had these two for a few months and knew they needed more room to grow and live out hopefully long lives.

She flipped through the rest of what he’d put down, not really paying attention, for her mind had already been made up. They would come here. It wasn’t their fault some unscrupulous human had done what they had.

Lifting the phone, she placed a call.

“Dr Mitchem’s office.”

“Hi, this is Lainey Mercer calling from Ellis Animal Sanctuaries and Wildlife Reserve. May I speak to Dr Mitchem please?”

“Hold please.”

Maybe fifteen seconds later a man came on the line. “Ms Mercer, thank you so much for calling me back.” She heard birds squawking before a door closed and there was just silence.

“I just got finished reading over your file.”

“And? What do you think? Is it possible for them to relocate to your reserve? I know it's a bit odd having a tigon with only three legs but she really doesn’t let it bother her. It’s just her back leg, so she moves really well. And Chet protects her.”

Wait. Only three legs? Shit
. She should have finished reading it all.

“That’s not a problem, Dr Mitchem. We’ll take them. Can you have them for another month while we get a habitat ready for them? Or would you prefer we come now, keep them in a temporary home here and just move them once their new place is ready?”