Gabe's Destiny (Alien Mates Book Three) (13 page)

“I will live by the terms you set up, Taya, but I have a few I want added. If I ever see him around you…” He let the sentence drop because she knew what he was saying.

“You’re a very strong young woman. I became a lawyer because I wanted to help the innocent. When all I can do is stop them from being further abused, I wonder why I try.”

They sat down and hammered out the terms they wanted to present to the other party, hoping for an agreement.

The lawyer finally stood up collecting all of his paper work and placed it in his shoulder bag. Then he took out a check and showed it to her dad. When her dad looked it over the lawyer tore it up.

“Pro Bono,” he said with a smile and walked out.

An older cop came in the room. She knew they were watching her through the big mirror. She was used to it by now.

“It’s time to take you back.”

She nodded her head and kissed her parents. She was still being housed in the local jail. There were just a few cells and no one else was there when they brought her back. Lying on the narrow bunk, she fell asleep into the ever present nightmare.

They had gone two rounds each while they laughed and called her names. They told her how no decent man would ever want her, not that it mattered because she wasn’t worth it. They wanted to hurt her more. How could they hurt her more? She didn’t know, all she could see was the horror on her parents’ faces when they found her dead.

She tried to struggle but her body was in so much pain. Tears wouldn’t even come anymore. She was all cried out. All that was left was the insane itching in her hands and the voice in her head that begged to be set free.

He leaned over her and asked her if she liked it in the back door. She knew they would kill her. They would never let her make it to the cops and she just gave up. Yes, she told the voice in her head. Maybe it could save her or at least take her into unconsciousness so she wouldn’t see death coming. Her hands exploded, the rope holding her tied spread eagle to the bed burned.

The bed burned; it caught on fire and she stood up as they boys were fleeing into the other room. She lifted her hands and flames shot from them catching each one of them knocking them out. No, she screamed in her own head, it didn’t happen that way. For years she denied it, but now there was no denying what happened that night.

She got up and walked to the cell door. This was the past. Maybe she would never be redeemable, worthy of love, but she didn’t have to live her life filled with regret for a chain of events she didn’t start.

That night Michael called her a whore but he was wrong. She was simply a young girl who couldn’t see the evil that lived in his heart.

She walked out not knowing where she was going. As she walked, the chains that held her in place all her life fell from her.

“He changed the course of your life.” The woman from earlier said to her. “Nothing you do will bring back the girl you used to be. So now the question is will he steal the woman you were meant to be?”

She laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and everything changed in a blink of an eye.

Taya was standing outside of the cabin she saw in Gabe’s room. This was his cabin, it had to be. She walked up to the door allowing her hand to hover over the door knob before she decided to knock. The door was opened and he stood there. No shirt on, his chest gleaming under the setting sun, he was barefoot wearing only a pair of jeans. Before she could open her mouth, he pulled her into his arms.

“I was going crazy trying to find you, and then I ended up here. I knew if you were in these mountains, you would come to me. I just needed to be patient.”

“How long did you wait for me?”

“A month.”

She looked at him frowning. A month, was that possible?

“I would have waited years, Taya. Come in.”

The living room was just right, big enough to fit a couch, several chairs and a couple of side tables. Big enough for a family of four. There was a roaring fire and she found herself walking toward it. She placed her hands in front of the flames allowing herself to be warmed.

“Are you hungry?”

“I am.” Until he asked food hadn’t crossed her mind.

“My pantry is stocked. I will make you a meal.” He turned to walk into an open concept kitchen so she could see him from the living room.

“Can I cook for you?” She almost stopped breathing when he turned to look at her. The look on his face meant he knew this was monumental. He might not know why, but it was obvious things were changing between them.

She hadn’t cooked a meal for a man since the night Michael ruined her life. Not even her father. There was no way she would ever be thought of as less by the opposite sex.

“I would like that.” The honesty of his words touched her heart.

She looked in the fridge and pulled out the fixings for a salad and steak.

“I could make a steak salad.” Her voice wobbled she was so unsure of herself.

“That’s one of my favorite meals.”

She smiled at him, thankful he was trying to make this easier for her.

“No seriously, I love steak salads. It’s my go to when Ry takes me to some high end restaurant that has food I can’t pronounce and I think no one should eat.”

She laughed. She’d been to one of those restaurants once with friends. Friends, what happened to all of hers? Slowly, over time, they drifted away and she never fought to keep them. That would end today also.

There were potatoes in the pantry. She grabbed a few and started peeling.

“What are the potatoes for?”

“You can’t have a good steak salad without French fries.” Her lips quirked as she kept peeling and then cut up the potatoes.

“I don’t know who told you but that’s how I always make my steak salads. I start with a good blend of vegetables, a nice cut of meat, and potatoes for fries.”

She looked up to give him a quick smile and got lost in his eyes. They called to her making her want to spend eternity looking into them. One moment they were sky blue, the next they reminded her of the blue of the turbulent sea.

She turned on the burner and placed the pan with the oil on it. She rinsed off the fries adding them to the pan when the grease was hot, then washed the vegetables and the steak. She cut up the steak and set it aside. After drying off the vegetables she cut them. The steak went into a pan to cook with some seasonings and a little olive oil. When was the last time she enjoyed making a meal?

Gabe turned on the radio, it was low but the background noise made her feel comfortable.

“You could take of your shoes if you want, the floor is heated.”

She looked down at her feet; they were clad in running shoes. Her favorite shoes. There used to be a time when she loved a pair of heels but things changed. She went to the living room, toed off the shoes, and walked back. The floors were warm and for a minute she wished this was her house also.

The food was ready. She made two healthy plates putting more on Gabe’s. He told her the first night that he ate a lot so she made extra for him. His eyes lit up when she placed the plate in front of him and her heart turned over.

“I guess we have milk to drink?” He gave a soft laugh.

“There is also juice, water, soda, and coffee. I have a feeling if you’re in the mood for Gatorade I have some.”

She picked up two cans of soda, one diet for her. She looked at it and shrugged; she appreciated diet soda after months of drinking it. Two tall glasses of ice and she was ready to eat.

Gabe took a bite and moaned, then he took a second bite. “This is good. What seasonings did you use on the meat? I make this all the time but this is excellent.”

She just sat there and watched him eat as her heart slowed down just a little and the thought of not being worthwhile gave her a break. She felt normal, no, that wasn’t right. She felt special, appreciated.

He got up to help her clean the kitchen. She had been strangely quiet but he didn’t want to press her. It was obvious to him that she was coming to a decision, what kind of decision and what it meant to them, he didn’t know. He simply knew enough not to press her.

They went into the living room where she sat on the couch and he took a chair next to her.

“You could sit on the couch with me, if you want to.” She looked up at him with her beautiful grey eyes; they were so earnest and so scared.

Slowly he rose from the chair certain that one wrong move would make her retreat behind the wall she built up over her lifetime.

He slid onto the end of the couch then angled his body toward hers. She leaned back until her head was pillowed on the arm of the couch.

“I never made love before.”

That little bombshell hit him in the pit of his belly making him want to hunch over and wretch with the pain that laced her voice. She wasn’t shyly telling him she was innocent. No, he knew he could hear it. She was telling him she’d been hurt, abused.

He moved his hands behind his back so she couldn’t see his finger nails that were now razor sharp claws. He bit his lip to keep the roar inside and his offer to kill any idiot that had been stupid to enough to touch her was trapped between his teeth. Why? Because she didn’t want that. This wasn’t what this confession was about.

“For a long time I thought I deserved what I got. I was too trusting, too friendly. I wanted more out of life. At one point I was going to be a doctor—a surgeon—helping people who couldn’t help themselves. I don’t believe that anymore. I started to wonder when Zuhun captured me. I thought once again I was getting what I deserved, but then you were there fighting for me. Telling me without words I deserved more than I was getting.

“I tried you know, to make love, but it never happened. I was always scared, tense, thinking I didn’t deserve gentleness.”

He waited but she didn’t say another word, like she was lost in a sea of the past. His past flashed before him. He could give her tit for tat; tell her how awful his life had been. Let her see that they were a matched pair, but this was more than just what he’d lived through.

Hoping he was enough, he reached out to her allowing his hand to gently caress the curve of her foot. Her head came up and she looked at his hand and her foot. She moved her toes to touch his hand before she lifted her eyes to meet his.

Her eyes were shiny. He wondered if he saw hope reflected there or fear. Taking his thumb, he caressed right where her toes met her foot. She giggled and pulled her foot away just a little, but the smile on her lips made his heart feel better.

Reaching up he took her hand, slowly drawing her up and over until she was sitting next to him. Her hand went to his and she traced every finger.

“I never made love,” she whispered as her fingers gently caressed his trembling hand. “I always wanted to.”

Her hands went to his thigh and rubbed before she raised her head to look at him one more time. He pressed his finger over her mouth before he traced her lips. His head descended until he was kissing her. Light and gentle.

His kiss said I’m here and I won’t go further than you want to go. With a small groan he pulled away, her hand went behind his head and pulled him back down. She opened her lips giving him just enough room to plunder her mouth.

She tensed; he slowed down making it gentler until a low moan escaped her mouth. He allowed his tongue to slide sensuously over hers. To taste every crevice of her mouth. The hand on the back of his neck tightened as she pushed her body a little closer to his. Finally, she came up for air breathing hard.

He wrapped his hand around her waist and drew her into his lap.

Different.
The word popped into her head making her shiver a little. This is what she dreamed it would be like all those years ago. Her body felt like it was opening up a little at a time. Gabe was making her want to try a little more with him. To put herself in his arms and believe for once in her life that everything would be all right. Better than that, great, earth shattering. Cherished, was it too much to want to be cherished?

Taya,” his hand stroked her hair allowing his fingers to feel the strands flow through them. “Will you come with me to my room?”

Her body stilled. He wanted to take her to his room, show her his room. That never happened before. Maybe it was her fault, it hadn’t happened before. No, she wouldn’t do that. She’d taken enough blame for all the tragedy in her life.

“You don’t have to.” She whispered to him not wanting him to think he had to make a commitment to her, even a small one.

“I want to.” His hand tightened on her briefly before loosening. “I want to see the black silk of your hair spilling over my bed while your grey eyes look at me with a twinkle. I want your killer curves on my bed tempting me and your kiss-me-now lips parted and panting as you feel my hands on your body. I want everything you’ve got and then I want more.”

She raised her head to kiss him. Feeling his lips hard against the softness of hers. This time she wouldn’t over-think or judge. Right now with Gabe she would feel, because he did that to her.

“Take me to your room.”

He picked her up still kissing her. She sighed as she broke the kiss. He was strong. He walked towards the back of the cabin until he came to the last door. Opening it, he moved into a huge bedroom.

“Beautiful,” she whispered looking around the room. There was a large king sized bed in the middle of the room with a majestic headboard attached to it. The room was done in tones of brown giving it an earthy feel. There were several dressers as well as a vanity.

“A vanity?”

He looked at it with a big smile on his face before sadness descended. “When I first bought this cabin, I pictured my soul-bonded in here sitting at the vanity combing her hair or doing her make-up. I could see our children running around this place as we taught them about life. It was just a dream.”

Walking over to the bed, he gently laid her down and sat down at her side, lifting his hand to caress her.