Tempting the Tiger (13 page)

“You’d kill for them?”

He nodded.

“Anyone who endangered them?”

He nodded again.

“Then let me go, Reno, or you’re going to have to kill me.”

“I’m not going to kill you, Amia.”

“Then you’re going to get them killed.”

Chapter Seven

They drove longer than he’d planned to before he pulled off and headed to get food and a room for the night. Amia would have to settle for a burger and fries tonight since they were on schedule to reach the cabin in Colorado sometime tomorrow. He’d see Tah and Abby again and have to explain who Amia was. Tah would demand answers, answers they were desperate for. Reno couldn’t protect her from that. They needed them too badly. Just the thought of it made his stomach cramp and his heart ache. He really wished she’d learn to trust him before then. And wasn’t that funny. They’d had sex and would most definitely have it again, but she still didn’t trust him. What would it take to break down the walls she’d built up around her?

He went through the drive-thru of the first fast food place he came to and ordered from the menu. Amia slept through it, though he wasn’t sure how. She must've been exhausted. He looked for a hotel with a well-lit parking lot, hoping that might deter any of the Blanes from coming after Amia again. It made no sense to him. He’d been watching diligently since they’d left and had caught no tail. But obviously the Blanes were following them. How? And why had he not known until the moment they’d almost taken Amia from him?

Just the thought had one lip peeling back and a rumble growling up his throat. Amia awoke with a jerk.

“What’s wrong?” She moved her head around rapidly, looking everywhere.

Interesting. She could sleep through a crackling speaker, light conversation at a drive-thru window, and the aroma of hot salty food, but one growl from him and she was wide awake? What was happening here? He’d purposely kept himself from biting her, understanding from Tah that if he did, Amia would be bound to him, linked biologically if what Diane and the Professor suspected was true. By biting her, he would share some part of his animal genetics with her through the absorption of his saliva into her blood. They still didn’t understand the hows and whys of things. Diane and the Professor were working their asses off to try and figure it all out. But right now, the focus was on Abby and the baby, which was exactly where it needed to be.

“Reno?”

Her voice was soft and low, wrapping around his balls and sending his dick to happy-to-see-you status. He could feel the beast rising inside him, prowling and growling. It was demanding he claim her, bite her and mate her. And every time he looked at her, it became harder and harder to remind himself of all the reasons he couldn’t, wouldn’t. He knew all the things Tah and Abby had been through, and shit was only beginning. He couldn’t ask Amia to step into the unknown with him. She’d obviously been through enough already. He recalled the scars she held, both on her body and inside, where she thought they were hidden from others. But he saw her and admired the woman she was in spite of what had obviously been done to her. But by whom? And to what extent?

“We’re stopping here for the night.” He finally remembered to answer her question as she lifted a brow at him. “I grabbed some food.”

She eyed the bags and made sure he saw her displeasure.

All he could do was shake his head. “It’ll have to do for tonight. We both need some sleep.”

She gave a weary sigh of acceptance. He watched her shift, stretch, try to smother a yawn, then turn those big green eyes back his way. Jesus. He was three seconds away from seeing how far back his seat would go and if she’d fit over his lap.

“Let’s go see what they’ve got,” he said, killing the engine and pulling out the key.

“I’ll just sit here.”

He was already shaking his head before she finished. “From now on, you stay with me. Period.”

She glared, shifted again and opened that sweet mouth up for what he knew was going to be a snappy comeback. “You planning to hold my hand while I use the restroom too?”

His lips twitched, but he held the grin in. “If I need to.”

He exited the Jeep and walked around to get her door. She wasn’t happy, but she complied, and just to reward her, he took her hand and linked their fingers as he headed them toward the door. Okay, it was more of a personal reward since she was already trying to tug her fingers free. It was quick and easy to grab them a room and head back out to the vehicle. He drove around the building before parking then grabbed his pack and the shopping bags with her stuff. Amia gathered the food and drinks, then they headed to the room. He’d managed to snag one on the bottom level so he could see the car from the window. Plus this motel didn’t have room doors opening into the parking lot. There was a locked door requiring a keycard between them and the lot. If the Blanes planned anything here, it would be easier to smell them coming.

He inhaled as they stepped in and didn’t sense anything off. Chances were the Blanes would be busy dealing with the dead body he’d left them, at least for a bit. Amia preceded him into the room, and he shut and locked the door. Nothing big, one large bed, TV on a dresser, bedside table with a lamp and phone. Food was probably cold by now, but they both needed to eat anyway.

“I need a shower,” she muttered as she rummaged through the food bags, setting stuff out.

His mind filled with why she needed a shower—the branch where he’d bent her over and taken her like an animal. Then the way she’d ridden him when he’d finally regained control. When he tried to shove those thoughts away, he vividly recalled the blowjob she’d given him in the shower last time. Fuck. He was practically snarling with the need to feel her again. Her skin on his. He needed her like an addict craving his next fix.

“How much food do you need?” she asked.

He glanced over to see her gawking at the loot she’d unloaded—four burgers and three large fries.

He’d actually gone light. He was just shy of six feet six inches. There was a lot of him to feed. He had huge appetites, though right now food was the last thing on his mind. His gaze skimmed over her, snagging and holding on her peaked nipples. He wanted to suck them, lick them and do his best to bring her to orgasm with just that touch.

“Food’s getting cold,” she whispered, grabbing a burger and settling on the bed with it.

Food was already cold. But Amia was just warming up. He could smell the scent of her lust filling the room. His dick twitched behind his zipper, wanting out or more precisely, into something else. Her mouth. Her pussy. Her ass. He groaned. He really wanted to feel her hot ass gripping his dick and milking it. He wondered if she’d noticed the bottle of KY he’d thrown in the cart when they shopped earlier? And if she’d let him use it?

“Eat, Reno.” Her voice had gone soft again. Her cheeks were flushed with color. He knew she wanted him too. Knowing that could be his undoing. He was barely holding his shit in check as it was.

“Talk to me, Amia.” He grabbed a burger and sat next to her on the bed. “What’s going on here? Why were they trying to take you?”

She shrugged as she finished the bite in her mouth. “Marcus will never let me go. They always find me. There is no escape for me, ever. I keep trying to tell you that. You really need to let me go. I’m only going to endanger you and any friends you’re with.”

He shook his head. “Not happening. So give it up.” He finished his burger and stood up to get another one. “We just need to figure out how they knew where we were.”

“They followed us,” she said.

“No. I would have sensed any tail we had. Nothing. Or at least not close enough for me to sense them, and trust me, my senses are pretty fucking off the charts now.”

“Are you okay?”

He heard the quiver in her voice and wanted to roar. He was pacing, actually prowling was more accurate. The beast was raging inside him.
Mine
was a fucking mantra in his head that was becoming harder and harder to keep in. His muscles were tensed as he fought the desire to take and claim.

“Reno, you’re scaring me.”

He snapped his head back and did growl then, in frustration at himself. The last thing he wanted was to make her afraid of him. Then a thought occurred to him.

“Take your clothes off and hand them to me.”

She let out a nervous laugh. “You might want me to shower first.”

He took full notice of her reply. Not a no, and those fingers were already reaching for the hem of her shirt, tugging it up, up and over those lush breasts his mouth was still salivating for a taste of.

“You don’t have anything with you except the clothes you’re wearing. Everything else we bought new. Maybe they tagged your clothes some way.” He dropped his gaze to her boots. Fuck. “We should have grabbed new shoes.”

“I never thought of that.” Her eyes were wide, and she was making quick work of stripping down to her sexy cotton underwear. “You think they managed to tag my clothes?”

“Anything is possible. I should have burned yours when I took care of mine. I never even thought about them using a tracker to tag our clothes, and I should have,” Reno said as he stepped closer to scoop it all up in his hands.

She had him tied in knots of lust, want and need. His cock was always fully engaged. His brain apparently wasn’t.

“Give me the bra and panties too.”

Her gaze locked on his, and yeah, that was mutual lust heating up the room.

“Better safe than sorry,” he whispered huskily.

He kept his eyes on hers as she shimmied out of those panties and bra then tossed them to him. She was naked, and even with that hellacious looking scar on her belly, still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

He turned and dumped one of the shopping bags on the bed, then jammed her old clothes in it. She groaned as he reached for her boots and shoved them in as well.

“We’ll have to get you some new shoes tomorrow.”

She nodded, her eyes clouded with whatever path her thoughts were taking. Didn’t look like a good path to him. He stepped closer and pulled her naked body against his fully clothed one. Dipping his head, he took her mouth, kissing them both breathless. This time when her eyes met his, there was nothing but need reflected there.

“Why don’t you get started on that shower while I take care of getting these out of here?”

She licked her lips, the sight torturous for his cock. She surprised him by reaching out and cupping his dick through his jeans and giving it a squeeze.

“Will you be joining me?”

He nodded his head even as his mouth opened up with a reminder for both of them. “We need to talk.”

Her eyes took on a guarded look. “I keep telling you I don’t have the answers you want.”

“We won’t know that for sure until we talk,” he told her.

He bent and brushed his lips over hers again, then again. Every time he touched her, he only wanted her more. The physical connection they shared was insane. He’d had casual sex, one-night stands and flings, but Amia was none of those. Which made no sense at all. They’d just met. How was it they were already so attuned to one another?
Mine
whispered through his mind, but he challenged it with the fact he hadn’t bitten her, had purposely fought the urge.

“Take a shower,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

She sighed as she turned away and headed toward the bathroom. He waited until he heard the water start before he grabbed a keycard and his cell then stepped out. He had to trust her not to leave. If she did, he would just hunt her down and bring her back. She wasn’t getting away from him.

He opened his senses fully and scanned the area before he stepped out the locked outer door and into the night. Heading out at a jog, he moved quickly away from the hotel and found a huge dumpster outside a gas station where he dumped her clothes and shoes. He’d like to burn them just as he had his, but there was no way to do that without calling attention to himself. He had his phone to his ear, Tah’s number ringing, as he headed back.

“Getting close?” Tah answered.

“Be back some time tomorrow, depending on driving time.”

“Everything okay?”

“Ran into a problem today. The Blanes tried to snatch back the one I took. Things got a bit ugly.”

“Dead?”

“One of them.”

“You were followed?”

Reno could hear the disbelief in Tah’s voice.

“Not that I know of. I had her strip to the skin just in case they’d tagged her clothes. Just tossed them out to be sure.”

Total silence on the other end. To the point he was afraid he’d been disconnected. He pulled the phone back and glanced at the face. Still showed an active call.

“Tah?”

“Her? You took a fucking woman?”

Reno sighed. Fuck. Guess the cat was out of the bag now.

“She’s one of them. Marcus Blane’s daughter to be exact.”

“Fuck! Which means they’ll never let her go. What were you thinking? You can’t bring her here.”

“Can and will. We’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Fuck!” Tah exploded on the other end of the phone, and Reno could hear Abby’s voice in the background. “If you have a tail on you, you’ll bring them right the fuck to our door.”

“I won’t have a fucking tail. Have Logan double check the jammers and keep them active just in case. But I don’t think they want her back for the reasons you’re thinking.”

“Talk to me, Reno. What the fuck is going on?”

“I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. I’m back at the room now. I need to get in and make sure she’s okay. Just be ready for me to bring her in. And tell Diane I need to see her in the lab as soon as I get back.”

“What’s going on?” Tah demanded.

“I’m not sure,” Reno admitted. “But my beast is wide awake now and fighting like hell to claim control.”

“Fuck!” Tah exclaimed. “Tell me where you are. We’ll get there as fast as we can.”

“No. I’ve got it under control for now.”

Silence for a long moment, then Tah’s quiet voice demanding answers Reno wasn’t sure of.