He couldn’t keep from smiling. At least she wasn’t oblivious, or even extremely shy about their connection. It might make things easier on him…later.
“We…will talk. Later. When we stop for the night.”
“Chicken.”
Her challenge turned his grin into a hearty laugh and he couldn’t keep from reaching for her hand, even though the contact was probably a bad idea.
“Scout’s honor. I want to be able to look into your gorgeous eyes while we talk. Promise.”
Hannah actually snorted at him. “Right, you’re some Boy Scout, all right.”
Lucky for him, she didn’t continue to press the issue. Hannah turned her gaze toward the passenger window and stared out at the passing scenery for most of the day. Sometimes she dozed for a while. Other times she fiddled with the dials on the radio, trying to get reception as they entered a new city. Even when they stopped for lunch, she didn’t mumble more than a few words. He hated her stance, somewhat resigned, defeated. Or maybe she was just pissed and biding her time. He couldn’t be sure.
In the late afternoon, the silence broke. Her phone, still in the cup holder between them, produced the shrill sound he recognized as her mother’s. Without asking permission, he picked up the call himself this time.
“Hello, Mrs. Stone. James here.”
“Thank God. Where’s Hannah?”
“She’s fine. She’s right next to me. What did you find out?” This time he intended to get some information from the horse’s mouth.
“I spoke with Maxwell. He didn’t fill you in on many specifics before he sent you on this wild mission, did he?”
“Hardly. And I’d sure like to know why.”
“Listen,” she mumbled so softly even James could barely hear her, “Hannah doesn’t know—”
“Doesn’t know what?”
“Anything.”
“Ahh.” Great, just great.
“We were going to tell her, eventually. But not yet.”
Hannah grabbed his arm, muttering something about giving her her own damn phone, but he leaned away, holding up a finger as a sign to hang on with what he hoped was a good puppy-dog look.
She harrumphed, but sat back.
The man drove her crazy. How dare he answer her phone? Talk to her mother. He had no right. And she needed far more answers than he did right now.
All she got out of the conversation was a series of “uh-huh”, “I see”, “are you sure?”, “do they know where he is?”, “okay”, “keep us posted”.
“Here, your mom wants to say hello.”
“Fuck you,” she mumbled while grabbing the phone he held toward her. “Mom? What the hell is going on?”
“James will explain everything. I’m sorry, honey. For everything. Believe me when I say I love you, your father loves you and we always have, both of us.”
“Why, Mom?”
“For your protection. Please, just trust me. I’ll be with you again soon. I’ll fly to Seattle and meet you there as soon as possible. In a few days.”
“No. Later isn’t good enough. What the hell is going on? Mom? Mom?” She pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it in disbelief. “Either she hung up on me or the call got dropped.” Slowly, she turned to James. “What the hell is going on?” The question was becoming redundant, but she didn’t care.
James laid a hand on her thigh again, probably intending reassurance, but only succeeding in sending her libido through the roof once more. Every time he touched her, sparks shot through her body.
“You wanna just hang on to this so you can screen all my calls?” She didn’t care if her sarcasm leaked out for his enjoyment. Not to mention James didn’t even crack a smile. He literally took the proffered phone, lifted his hips a bit and put it in his jeans pocket. Bastard.
“I’ll look for a place to stop,” he tossed her way. Surely he could feel the daggers she was about to start shooting through the car if she didn’t get answers, and soon.
“I advise you do, if you don’t want me to start punching you for answers.”
“Hmmm, that’s not a bad vision. You pummeling me with your tiny fists until I have to restrain them to avoid injury. Could you do it after we check into the room?”
“Bastard.” This time she didn’t keep the name calling to herself.
Three exits later, James pulled off the highway at a busy intersection advertising about six hotels.
Glancing around, he pulled into a seeming random selection, cut the engine and turned to face her. “I know you’re losing patience. Please hang on a few more minutes until I get us checked in…and maybe order a pizza. I’m starving.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Fair enough. Come on.” James stepped out of the car, grabbed the bag he’d stuffed behind the seat and his own duffel with one hand and swung around the car to open the door for Hannah before she could literally get her seat belt off. The man had gentlemanly skills she’d not seen in…well, forever.
How many kidnappers were kind enough to open the door for their victims?
In no time, they acquired a room, ordered room service and settled on a loveseat in the sitting area.
Hannah stared at James as he fiddled with his hands before leaning forward and taking her own. His gaze, when it met hers only inches away, reached into her soul. She shivered at the intimate contact she’d been bereft of for about twelve hours now. Ever since she’d come shamelessly against his leg in the dark during the early morning hours.
He wasted no time. “Hannah, apparently there’s someone from another pack who—”
“Pack?”
James froze for a fraction of a second, but it didn’t go unnoticed.
“Another…town…I guess you’d say.” James dropped her hands, jumped up and started pacing. “Look, I suck at this. Talking, I mean. Explaining things. Things you should have been told by your own parents, not your…well, not me. Please, just bear with me. Let me try to explain.”
His fidgeting was endearing in a way. He rang his hands together and paced the room. She wished she could feel sorry for his plight. Their predicament was no more fair to him than to her, but somehow she believed she was the least informed in this matter.
A knock at the door made her jump, her heart racing. Relax. Lord. No one has a clue where we are. It was absurd how uneasy she felt about the unknown enemy lurking somewhere out there.
“It’s just the pizza.”
“How do you know?” What is he—psychic?
“Can’t you smell it?” James headed for the door, his nose lifted into the air, a deep exhalation of excitement escaping his lips on a sigh. Pizza must be his favorite food.
And yes, now that he mentioned it, she could smell it. She’d just been concentrating so hard on the masculine scent of James quickly filling the entire room, she couldn’t care less about what wafted in from the hall.
Moments later, James returned balancing a steaming box, a six-pack of beer dangling from his pinky and a bottle of soda in his other hand. “I wasn’t sure if you were a beer drinker, so I ordered you a soda.” He placed the contents on the tiny coffee table, yanked one can free of its plastic casing and popped the top. When he reached the beer out in offering, Hannah willingly took the sweat-covered can. She didn’t drink beer often, but today it seemed necessary.
The second one he opened was half empty in one long swig. “Sorry, I figure a little alcohol will give me the fortification I need to tell you your life story.”
“I’m ready.”
James whipped open the square box between them and grabbed a piping-hot slice of pizza before pushing the box toward her. “Ow, ow, hot.” He glanced at her, but the warning must have been for her only, because two seconds later, he stuffed half the slice in his mouth and swallowed with barely a chew.
“Did you taste it?” Hannah cautiously snagged her own slice and gingerly nibbled the triangle, testing the heat level. “Mmm, that’s good. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.�
� Her stomach groaned in appreciation.
With a steady glare, Hannah intended to pull James back on track. “I don’t care if you have to talk with your mouth full, start.”
“Pushy, pushy woman.” Sauce hung on the corner of his mouth and Hannah had the urge to lick it off him. She shook the thought from her head while she watched his tongue snake out to lick his lips.
“’Kay, so apparently this guy, man really, older man actually, wants you…for himself.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m talking. You’re listening, remember?” He grabbed another slice and devoured the entire piece before continuing. “It seems he laid some kind of claim on you when you were just a child, a baby practically. It’s, well, not uncommon where we come from.” He chose his words with obvious caution.
“Where do we ‘come’ from, James? India?”
With a glare at her sarcasm, James shut her up and resumed. “Let me just get this out and we’ll fill in the blanks later, okay?”
Hannah pursed her lips.
“So Gerald, that’s his name, asked for you and your parents declined. Not surprising, since he’s forty years older than you and a complete ass. Anyway, he was none too pleased and it isn’t extremely common for someone to be denied a…match, I guess you could call it. He got rather demanding and took the matter to our…governing body. Your parents were beyond themselves worrying about the implications, so they decided the best thing to do would be to send you away, you and your mother, and keep you essentially hidden until you came of age, so to speak.
“I’m not sure quite what they thought would happen next, but it seems Gerald was the man your father spoke of that was getting closer to finding you himself, so they decided to abandon ship, so to speak, and sent me to bring you back.”
Was he done? What the fuck?
“Riight.”
James’ shoulders slumped in relief as though she’d meant to imply all was understood and case closed. Far from it, buster.
“So let me get this straight. I was living a nice quiet life in the suburbs of Seattle with my kind, loving parents, and some old guy decided he wanted me for some perverted arranged marriage at the age of, what?, three, four? So rather than take the matter up with the authorities, my parents hid me away in Boston for sixteen years. Sure, that makes perfect sense.”
Hey, she had to give him credit for something. At least he paused long enough to indicate recognition of her extreme sarcasm as her voice rose to a decibel that would make anyone cringe.
“It might be a bit more complicated than that, but you got the gist.”
“Seriously? That’s your response?”
James settled on the sofa next to her, polished off the bottle in his hand and set the empty on the coffee table.
“Look, there’s more to it, obviously, but frankly I don’t even have all the details, and the reality is we have a way bigger problem on our hands than Gerald thinking he can have you for himself and— Fuck, why didn’t I think of that?” He jumped up to resume pacing, his hand rubbing his jaw in deep consideration.
“What? You do realize every time your mouth opens with an explanation, the result is ten more questions on my part, right?”
“It just doesn’t matter what Gerald wants anymore.”
“And that would be because…?”
“Of course there’s no way I can even begin to tell your parents all this and allay their fears, but I guess they’ll find out soon enough when we walk through the front door of your father’s house, won’t they?”
James glanced at the ceiling, seemingly conversing with only himself. At least she hoped he was anyway, because she had no earthly idea what the fuck he was talking about.
“Of course,” she replied in an effort to get his attention. She couldn’t paste a more perplexed look on her face if she tried.
James smiled and looked straight at her. “That is, if you’ll have me.”
“Have you what?” Hannah shook her head back and forth. Surely, he wasn’t meaning marriage. She couldn’t sit another moment and she got to her feet. “James, this is insane. I must be dreaming. A nightmare actually, one in which the predominant language spoken isn’t one I’ve ever heard.”
Hannah stomped up to James and grabbed his forearms, thinking to shake some sense into him. One of them was completely crazy and she felt confident it wasn’t her.
The minute she touched his bare arms with her hands, she regretted it. The zing racing through her nearly made her knees buckle. Every single time she touched him, she experienced the sensation to a greater degree than the last. As if they were magnets getting stronger and stronger with each trial run until they’d reach a pinnacle, getting so strong she wouldn’t be able to let go one of these times.
Her brain swam, wanting nothing more than for that to be true. “James?” She looked into his deep brown eyes, her neck tilted back to accommodate his height, about six inches taller than herself.
Soothing hands firmly grasped her upper arms and he pulled her closer, clearly just as sucked into the strange abyss as she was. “Tell me you feel it too. I mean, I know you do, but I want to hear you say it. Tell me you want me, Hannah. With every ounce of your being, tell me I’m yours and I swear I will be.”
Hannah held her breath. It seemed absurd, but she couldn’t shake the feeling he was right. “I have no idea what you are, what planet you come from or how you have such a hold on me, but there’s no doubt I want you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
She’d never been so bold. Why admit such a thing?
“It’s good enough for me.” James lowered his head the last few inches and took Hannah’s mouth in a kiss that reached into her soul. Soft lips started a gentle exploration around Hannah’s own before pressing more firmly and caressing the seam of her mouth, demanding entrance—or waiting for permission, she couldn’t be sure. She couldn’t think anymore. Her knees did buckle then, but strong arms grabbed her about the waist and carried her across the room, feet dangling, without breaking contact with her mouth.
She felt devoured. Her lips parted, her tongue tangling with his, matching his every demand.
She barely noticed when she fell against the bed and landed in the center. James moved so smoothly, his tongue never stopping its exploration for even an instant. He landed on top of her, pressing her firmly into the mattress, the presence feeling incredibly welcome.
Minutes later, when she thought she’d never come up for air, he shifted and trailed urgent kisses across her cheek, nibbling her ear, then biting gently on the lobe. The small tug, combined with his exhalation, sent a shudder through her from head to toe.
His hands began to wander from her arms to her face, seeming to learn every inch of her skin before heading lower to rest against her sides. He slid down the bed just a few inches, enough to allow him access to her throat and the skin exposed at her neck. The friction of his movement made her thighs tingle beneath her jeans.
God, his thumbs rested against her breasts, rubbing back and forth so lightly she couldn’t even be sure she wasn’t imagining it, wishing it were true.
She wanted him to reach farther, grasp her aching breasts and squeeze them between his palms. A soft moan escaped her lips on the thought and Hannah froze when she heard the wanton state she’d fallen into in such a short period of time.
“Baby?”
Tendrils of embarrassment leaked between her dulled senses. “I don’t… I’ve never done anything like this. I’m not this kind of girl.”
A soft chuckle sent warm breath across her neck as James nuzzled his way lower. “I know you aren’t.”
“How could you? You don’t know me at all.” She strained beneath the effort to make conversation, but she needed to find a way to connect with reality. She couldn’t just have sex with this man, right here, right now. Could she?
“I know enough. I can…smell your innocence. The sweet, sweet aroma of your body begging for me. Demanding I take you.”
“Huh
? Smell…what?” Somehow the crazy words he spoke didn’t seem nearly as ridiculous as they should. After all, couldn’t she also smell him, more than she’d ever been aware of anyone in her life? But she’d never met anyone who seemed to have the same keen sense.
“Just relax, babe. Turn your brain off for a while. Just…feel.” While he mumbled soothing words against her neck, James shoved her T-shirt over her head, pushing her arms up above her and causing her breath to hitch. He left her that way, arms trapped in the tangle of cotton.
No man had ever undressed her. For whatever reason, no guy had ever induced enough of a spark to make Hannah want more. Until now.
“I love this black lace bra of yours, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy many hours of seeing it on you in the future, but for now it has to go.” Nimble fingers popped the front clasp so fast Hannah didn’t even have a moment to think about her nudity under James’ gaze.
Eyes closed, she actually tipped her head back and arched into his face, hoping he’d take the hint and pull her nipples into the warm contours of his mouth.
“God, you’re so beautiful.” Hands caressed the sides of Hannah’s breasts with not near enough pressure to assuage her need for him to pick up the pace. “Your nipples are so pink and rosy.” He blew on one and then the other and Hannah moaned, her head lolling to the side.
“Please…”
A soft chuckle pebbled her aching chest even tighter. “I want to enjoy our joining, hon. This is no race, as much as I wish it were. Do you know how badly I want to rip off these painted-on jeans and drive my cock into you right this second?”
“Do it.”
“Nah, next time.” The soft tips of James’ hair brushed across Hannah’s chest as his mouth began a spiral nibbling around one breast, a painstakingly slow trek to the center. His other hand gently squeezed the globe missing out on the action.
Hannah’s legs were trapped beneath James, pinned together under his stomach. She tugged them firmly to dislodge them from imprisonment and luckily James lifted his torso ever so slightly to allow their escape. Without hesitating, she spread her legs beneath him. When he lowered himself once more into the vee of her legs, she moaned. The increased contact against her crotch made her arch her back to an angle that would press her sensitive core more securely against him.
Awakening Abduction Page 4
