Tempting Tabitha

by Tianna Xander

  Chapter Nineteen

  Tabby had only just returned to their cabin and closed the door when the sound of the door chime filled the room.

  Turning, she waved her hand over the locking mechanism. The door slid open, revealing one of the younger twins standing in the cooridor. “Is Deno here?” He didn’t try to hide the fact that he was trying to peer around her, looking for his brother.

  “No.” She shook her head. “I just left him repairing a console on deck three.” She gave him a knowing stare. “That wouldn’t have happened to be your job, would it?”

  His face turned a mottled shade of red, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Yes.” He straightened his stance, as though he were at attention. “Yes, ma’am. That was my job. I thought he might be finished with it by now.”

  “Why, so you could con him into doing something else for you?” She leaned against the doorframe, blocking his entrance. If the lazy adolescent wanted to try to con Deno into doing more of his work, she wasn’t about to help him.

  “No. My father charged me with informing everyone that we will be landing on the mountain on the outskirts of Magic in about thirteen hours.”

  “Thirteen hours?” So soon? Her heart pounded and felt as though it had fallen to her feet. They only had thirteen hours? There was no way they could get to know each other in such a short time.

  “Yes.” He smiled. “I guess the ship is repaired well enough that we can all go back to Earth. Isn’t that great?”

  “Yes.” She nodded absently. “Yes. It’s wonderful.”

  “You’ll tell him for me then?”

  “What?” She glanced up at him. “Oh, yes. Of course.” She closed the door.

  What should she do? She could tell him and spend the rest of the way back twiddling her thumbs while he packed, or she could ignore the message and spend their last few hours on board as though she had no idea they would be back on Earth sooner than they’d expected?

  “Damn. Just when things were going well.”

  “What’s wrong?” Deno pushed through the door, his right hand holding what appeared to be an ice pack of some kind to his head. “Anything I should know about?” His fingers were still caked with dirt and oil, and he still wore the blood-soaked shirt. Apparently, he’d stopped off at a communal replication device on his way back to the cabin.

  What if he already knew about returning to Earth? What if he’d met his brother along the way and he told him already?

  “Nothing much.”

  “Nothing much that makes you curse?” He bent to peer straight into her eyes. “Nope. I’m not buying it. What’s wrong?”

  “We’ll be back in Magic in about thirteen hours.” Tabby blurted out the words and tried not to look at him. The last thing she wanted was to see the delight on his face when he found out he didn’t have to put up with her anymore.

  “And this has you cursing?” He set down the ice pack, grasped her shoulders, and peered into her face with a smile. “Dare I hope that means you’ll miss staying in the same room with me?”

  Miss it? She hated the thought of having to stay in a room by herself. She liked having him close to her, holding her every night while they watched a movie or two.

  “Yes. I’ll miss it.” She crossed her arms and stepped away. “Does that make you happy?” She couldn’t keep the snark from her voice. She might be jumping to a conclusion, but it hurt her feelings that he didn’t seem disappointed in the least. “What did you expect? Did you think I’d be pleased?”

  “I don’t know what to think.” He straightened. “I guess I thought you might be glad to not have to share a cabin with me anymore.” He picked up the ice pack and squeezed it before setting it back on his blood-covered hair. “I suppose I might have hoped you’d rather stay here on the ship with me.”

  He’d hoped that?

  “Really?” She peered up at him. Did he mean that, or was he just saying that to make her feel better?

  “Yes. Really.” He cupped her chin in his hand and held her head in place as he stared into her eyes. “I want you to look at me when I say this. Okay?”

  “O-okay.” Her voice trembled a bit.

  “I don’t mind repeating this.” He stared deep into her eyes. “I will never mind repeating this, so make sure you remember that.”

  She wasn’t sure what to say, or even if his declaration needed a response, so she stood still and listened.

  “I don’t know when it happened. I don’t know how it happened, and frankly, I don’t give a damn. What I do know is that somewhere, at some time, I started falling in love with you until I was so far gone, I was lost. Sometime during this voyage to save your sister’s and my brother’s lives, I fell deeply, hopelessly in love with you and nothing you do or say is ever going to change that.”

  He pressed a light kiss against her lips and then met her gaze once more.

  “I know how your Earth men are. I know a lot of them are the love them and leave them type. But know this, kechi, the males of Zolon are not so fickle, no matter what you might think of me.”

  She latched on the one thing that didn’t make her feel uncomfortable. He’d called her kechi once before. She’d thought it was a dream, but apparently, it had really happened.

  “What’s that?” She rested her hand on his arm. “What does kechi mean?”

  “It is an endearment in my language reserved for our women, especially the rare few who can shift.” He reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. “It means kitten, or,” he sighed, looking thoughtful. “A more direct translation might be female tiger cub, but,” he said with a smile, “the way I mean it is kitten. You’re so small, you could only be something so delicate as a tiny, soft kitten with sharp claws.” He smiled down at her.

  Tabby’s face heated at his intense stare. No one had ever called her anything so... so dainty or cute before.

  “Oh.” She cleared her throat, suddenly aware of how hard and warm his forearm felt beneath her fingers. “No one has ever called me a kitten before.”

  “Then, it’s fitting that I should call you that.” He leaned down and pressed several light kisses against her eyes then nose and finally her mouth.

  “Why is it fitting?” She managed to ask when he ended their kiss and she managed to catch her breath.

  “It’s fitting because, unless you object, I intend to make you my mate before the end of the week.” He grinned. “How does a double wedding with your sister sound? I know Xeno won’t object.”

  “Whoa!” She backed away, holding her hand up. “Put on the brakes, there, mister. I don’t know that I’m ready to make that kind of commitment.”

  Wasn’t that what she wanted, what she’d been leading herself up to over the last few days?”

  “You might not be ready now.” Deno moved toward the bedroom as he pulled his shirt over his head. “But you will be.” Turning, he grinned. “I have faith.”

  Tabby hugged herself after he closed the bedroom door behind him. “He has faith, huh?”

  Part of her wanted to laugh, another cry, and still another part of her wanted to go bash him over the head with something and start his head bleeding all over again.

  “He has faith.” She smiled to herself and made her way into the kitchen and the replicator, feeling happier than she ever remembered being in her life.

  “Dinner is ready when you are!” She called into the bedroom where Deno had stayed even after she’d heard the sonic shower stop its telltale humming.

  “Be right out.”

  Nervous and unsure of what to do and where to be when he exited the bedroom, Tabby sat on the edge of the sofa and waited. She didn’t want to seem too eager to eat. While a man might say he didn’t mind his woman with a little extra padding, they didn’t always mean what they said.

  “There you are.” Deno smiled down at her when he stepped into the room. “I expected you to be waiting at the table.”

  “Why?” She frowned up at him. Her temper alre
ady starting to get the better of her.

  “Stop jumping to conclusions.” Deno scolded. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but whatever it is, it’s wrong because I have not said, done, or even thought anything that should put you on the defensive.”

  “I just wondered why you thought I would be waiting at the table.”

  “Because you said dinner was ready. Why take the time to replicate it if you had no intention to eat it?”

  “I might be hungry, but I’m not about to jump on the food at the first opportunity.” Her frown had turned to an outright scowl.

  “Wait a minute there, kechi. I didn’t mean anything by that. I didn’t mean anything at all.” He sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do. I know what you’re doing. Stop trying to push me away first. I’m not going anywhere. As much as I might hate to admit it, once a Zolonian male tiger imprints on a female, we can’t be driven away, no matter how badly you treat us. But...” He met her gaze. “Don’t think that gives you a license to treat me like dirt. It does not.”

  “Are you serious?” She held his gaze, hoping that what he said was true. “Do you truly never leave your women or, or cheat on them?”

  “Never.” He took her hand in his and laced their fingers together. “There are very few women on Zolon. There’s something in our water or in the ground. Something keeps most of our females from living past the age of twenty-five. We have no idea what it is. Only recently, we’ve discovered that a female can live past that age if most of her gestation period is off world. Meaning, her mother must leave Zolon for nearly a year for her daughter if she has one to live a long life.”

  “That doesn’t explain why the males don’t shop around.”

  It might explain why they seemed so desperate to hold onto a woman once they found one, but on Earth, there are literally millions to choose from. He could leave her in a heartbeat, regardless of his traditional ways.

  “Over the eons, our people have become nearly extinct. In that time, the males have evolved. We believe our goddess, has changed us, given us the imprinting process to keep mated couples together so that they would procreate and keep our species alive. Once a male imprints on a woman, he cannot be with another woman as long as his mate lives.”

  “So you’re telling me that as long as I live, there will never be another woman for you because your tiger has already imprinted on me?” She stared at him for a few moments before she realized her mouth was open. Closing it, she continued to stare until he answered.

  “Yes.” He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb. “If you refuse me, and you can refuse me, I will remain alone until you die. I could remain alone for the rest of my life. There is such a thing as a takana, a second chance mate, but those are so few they are more legend with my people than fact.”

  Tabby stared at him, her gaze searching his for a few moments before she decided what she saw was sincerity in his expression. He meant what he said.

  Deno had opened himself up to her. He had allowed his tiger to start tying his soul to hers even though she could reject him and leave him alone for the rest of her life.

  “I don’t know what to say.” She’d thought the worst of him. She always thought the worst of him, and he always proved her wrong—always with patience and maybe even a little bit of love.

  Chapter Twenty

  Deno held Tabitha’s gaze until she looked down at their clasped hands.

  “I’m sorry I always seem to think the worst of you. I have no excuse. Not really. Most of the little I know about men has been learned second hand. I’ve seen many men who cheat on their wives or beat them. Once, I even saw a man kill the woman I lived with. I freaked out and ran when I could have stayed and helped her. Though, in my defense, I didn’t know I could change into anything other than a cat at the time.”

  “It doesn’t matter, kechi. You shouldn’t have had to protect yourself or the other woman from anyone. Men aren’t supposed to harm those they claim to love.” He lifted their hands to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand. “I will never give you cause to believe you must defend yourself against me or any other male as long as I am with you.”

  “Thank you.” Her lips trembled as she smiled. “I plan to hold you to that.”

  “As you should.” He shifted in his seat. No matter the seriousness of their conversation, sitting so close to her was stirring his blood, and he needed to put some distance between them before he tried to mate her before she was ready.

  He hoped he had more control over himself than that, but who knew when her scent was so enticing, and his beast was nearing the edge of its control?

  Deno meant every word he said when he promised to never give her a reason to fear for her safety in his presence. He surely didn’t want to give her cause to run from him screaming in terror just after making such a pledge.

  “I’m starved. We should eat.” He stood. “I hope you’ve kept the food in the warmer. Otherwise, we might have to recycle what you’ve prepared.”

  “It’s in the warmer. I just hope it hasn’t cooked the steak too much. If it has, it will be tough and dry.”

  “Replicated meat is never tough.” He chuckled. “Though, it can be dry, unless you’ve turned on the steamer.” He held out his hand, waiting for her to take it.

  “I didn’t know it had a steamer.” She placed her hand in his and let him help her to her feet. “There’s a lot of things I don’t know about the replicator.” She sighed. “It’s probably just as well. We’ll be in Magic tomorrow, and we’ll have to actually cook stuff.”

  “I really hope you don’t expect me to actually cook.” She turned to him with a grin. “The extent of my knowhow is toast. A human masquerading as a cat can’t get away with fixing much else. People tend to realize when their food comes up missing.”

  “I can imagine they do. Especially if it’s something tasty.”

  “Oh, that steak was tasty, all right. Right up until the woman I was staying with took the last of it away from me and threw it in the trash, telling the nice kitty that beef was bad for her.” She grinned. “I think she almost checked herself into an institution. She didn’t remember fixing that steak or leaving it on the counter, but there it was, on a plate with a fork and a knife.” She giggled. “She kept asking herself why she was still hungry after a meal like that.”

  “Oh, to have been a fly on that wall.” Deno laughed, rested his hand on the small of her back, and steered her to a seat. “I’ll get dinner. You sit here and relax.”

  Deno retrieved the food from the device and carried it to the table. The only thing missing was something cold to drink. Instead of using the replicator, he got a bottle of sweet wine from his refrigerator and set it and two glasses on the table.

  “Have you ever had wine?”

  “Just a sip or two.” She stared at the bottle. “I hope it’s sweet. The dry stuff always leaves me thirstier than I was before I drank it.”

  “Same here.” He grinned. “Plus, I like it sweet. Dad likes it dry.” He wrinkled his nose. “So, I guess there’s no accounting for taste.”

  “I wouldn’t let him hear you say that.” She laughed and took the glass he offered her.

  “No kidding. He’d find a reason to keep us out here another week just so he could have me scrubbing down the engine compartment with a toothbrush.”

  “I can so see him doing that.”

  Deno stopped pouring his wine and watched her laugh. He loved the way her eyes crinkled just a little at the corners, the way her mouth tipped up at the ends, and how her violet eyes sparkled with mirth.

  If only she knew what she did to him, how she made his heart pound and his muscles clench. If she did, she would never doubt the power she held over him. Perhaps then, she could revel in the feminine influence she wielded without even thinking.

  “How is it you Earth women always seem to know what to feed a male?” He took another bite of the medium ra
re steak and closed his eyes. If only they had something, anything like a cow on Zolon. Hell, they barely had real meat. If you could count the tough, stringy flesh of gorka meat.

  The gorka, an orange reptile close in likeness to an Earth alligator with short stubby teeth, was an herbivore. The males, the largest of the species, grew up to be the Earth equivalent to forty feet long and ten feet tall. It was probably a good thing the smelly creatures didn’t eat meat. If they had, Zolonians might never have evolved on the planet. Gorkas did enough damage trampling over things. He couldn’t imagine what it would have been like had they wanted to eat everything in sight as well.

  “I think it might have something to do with men being men.” She smiled. “Every man I have ever seen, which haven’t been many in the grand scheme of things, has always liked steak.” She wrinkled her nose. “Except one. He called himself Stephof. He didn’t eat meat, which would have been okay, but he didn’t like vegetables either.” She laughed. “I’ve never seen a worse vegetarian in my life. He lived on tofu everything and potatoes.”

  “Tofu?” He’d never eaten that. “What’s that?”

  “Believe me, you don’t want to know.” She laughed with a shake of her head. “Tofu isn’t really all that bad if you buy the right kind and cook it the right way. I had a few women feed me a little when they’d prepared it. Still, most men find it nasty. Especially those who like a lot of red meat.”

  “That’s me,” he said with a laugh. “So what you’re saying is that you will never try to feed me tofu?”

  “I will not.” She smiled as he uncovered their dinner and set her plate before her. “As long as you promise to never try to feed me seafood.”

  “You’ve got a deal.” Deno set the tray aside and took the seat next to her. “You don’t mind if I sit here instead of across the table, do you?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “You’re fine where you are.” She picked up her glass and held it in front of her. “To new beginnings.”