by A. Star
She resisted a wince. She hated lying, but what choice did she have? “Yes, unlike my parents.” Not wanting to linger on it, she went right on, “It is good that you have remained friends so long.”
He smiled. “Yeah, we almost didn’t. He was kind of a jerk right after it happened. Not that I could blame him, but it’s hard to stay close to someone so angry and bitter. He got better about all that, but still wasn’t his old self. He used to be the most outgoing, charming son of a bitch you’d ever want to meet. After, even once he got working again and all that, he was never...social again. Never wanted to reach out. I finally started pushing him, which I guess is when he met you.” Cade’s smile turned wry. “It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but you set me straight on that score.”
She met his smile. “You only need to understand. Like I said, people do not want to be lonely.” Although the man Cade had described before the accident sounded a lot like the one she’d talked to. Maybe that was why he’d hidden the chair from her: because with her not knowing, he felt like his old self.
“No,” he agreed, “no, they don’t.”
“You’re being a jackass!” Bobby declared in no uncertain terms as he and Gareth worked in Gareth’s private study. “You drag this girl all the way from Russia and then you ignore her, you bastard.” Gareth glanced up in surprise, a little amazed that Bobby was quite so impassioned over it. He was an emphatic guy, but he rarely swore at his employer. “She’s a great girl. She’s also really smart and knows medicine. I told her you had an L1 spinal cord injury, ASIA-C, and she understood what that meant!” He threw his arms in the air. At Gareth’s frown, he rolled his eyes. “You can’t hide it anymore. I told her about it because she wanted to know, and has a right to.”
“When did you talk to her?” He didn’t think it was that late in the day already.
“This morning,” Bobby said. “She was looking for you and ended up finding everyone but you, including Cade and me. And she’s nice enough to stick around and talk to a person.”
A deep voice from the door startled them both. “You know how I usually hate to agree with Bobby’s constant stream of enthusiasm,” Cade said, thick arms folded across his chest, leaning against the frame, “but I have to in this case. She’s a lovely girl, and I’m sorry I was a jackass about it. If I had gotten to know her, hell, I’d have probably tried to marry her.”
Gareth stared. “You’ve talked to her for all of twenty-four hours, not even!”
“More than you have in that time and don’t think she hasn’t noticed,” Cade said. “You just get a sense about her once you talk to her. I know you must have felt it, because you had me pull strings and put a rush on the paperwork to get her here. Once she’s in the house, you hide in here like a big, fat chicken.”
“Between you two, who needs an ego,” Gareth muttered.
“Like that’s ever been your problem.” Bobby rolled his eyes.
“I pay you,” he pointed out.
“Not enough to keep my mouth shut.”
Gareth sighed.
“Why are you hiding from her?” Cade got to the point.
“I knew from talking to her that I wanted her in my life,” Gareth admitted quietly. “She just has that way about her, but I don’t know... Once she got here, I was just overwhelmed by my body’s reaction to her. The way every sense in my head exploded from being too close. I was afraid I was going to have a stroke.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And then she saw the chair and I thought...” He trailed off with a sigh.
“You’re not giving her enough credit,” Bobby said. “It was all there before she flew over and I’m sure it will all still be there, but to know, you have to talk to her.” He paused. “You should do something nice for her.”
“Like what?” Gareth asked.
Bobby rolled his eyes in exasperation. “How did you convince a woman to fly thousands of miles to marry your sorry ass?” He met Gareth’s annoyed stare. “Well, I know she was talking about her room last night at dinner.”
“She was complaining about her room?”
Gareth immediately regretted his choice of words when Bobby and Cade both looked at him like he was the stupidest person on earth.
“No, she was not complaining,” Bobby said. “She was just saying that it feels like a guest room and she was thinking of ways she might be able to make it feel more like...her room. Was talking about some pieces of furniture she’d had in Russia that she’d chosen to leave behind but kind of regretted doing so. Maybe you could help her make her room feel a little more like home.”
It made sense, once Gareth stopped worrying about his own insecurities enough to think it over. “Do you think that will be a sufficient apology for being an ass?”
Cade chuckled. “It’s a start.”
Wheeling up to the open door of the guest bedroom, Gareth knocked on the frame and peeked in. Irina was sitting at the computer with a noticeably tense set to her lovely shoulders and she jumped a little at his knock, turning to see who it was.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said with an apologetic smile. “It’s just that I’ve been told I’ve been a jackass since yesterday.”
Visibly relaxing, she smiled a little. “I may not have put it quite this way...”
He laughed, feeling a tingle of that heat fill him at the sight of her smile, and the way her shoulders were mostly bare in that tank top. “But it’s true. If not by your word, then by Cade and Bobby’s. And my own. I’m sorry. I was just...” How did he explain it all?
“It is all right,” she said, unfolding herself from the chair in way that made his blood pressure quiver. “It is no usual thing, what we have.”
“That’s for sure,” he agreed, wondering why he’d ever wanted to stay away from this woman. “I hope you’ll let me try to make it up to you?”
She tilted her head, blinking once. “How so?”
He took this as permission to come further into her room, and as he did she didn’t say no, and this heartened him. “I’ve been told that your room does not feel very homey, so I thought perhaps we could go shopping for a few things to try to make it better for you. And anything else you might need. You came with so little.”
The expression on her face was not the one he had been expecting. She frowned. “I am not here for your money, Gareth. I know that is stereotype, I see it on TV, but it is not true... I have all I need...”
He quickly waved his hand. “I didn’t think you were,” he reassured her quickly. “But, hell, I have the money and I want you to be comfortable here.” He paused. “Please, let me do this for you.”
That seemed to make her relent. Who knew he’d ever have to convince a woman to go shopping? “Maybe a few things,” she agreed reluctantly.
A funny thing happened during the drive.
Sitting in the back seat of the rather luxurious car, as Gareth chose to hire a driver rather than buy a specially designed vehicle that he could operate himself, Irina found the man she had been talking to all these months. He seemed to come back so quickly once he had gotten over whatever he’d needed to get over, and the flashing eyes and charming smile, the wit and conversation, drew her in and reminded her of why she had chosen him in the first place.
Did she love him? Honestly, she didn’t know it went that far. She had never been in love, after all, but she had grown very fond of him and he had something no one else she’d communicated with had: he had an ability to make her feel...okay.
It wasn’t anything that she could explain, not properly, but living in fear as she had been—especially since the death of her parents—there was a quality in Gareth that had drawn her and had made her feel like if she was with him, she would be okay.
Her parents had been killed by the hunters sweeping through her native land. The underground of paranormal beings, living in hiding, had been infiltrated by those who wanted them all dead and were slowly achieving that goal. She was only alive because they didn’t do their research that in
depth. They found a name and found the body to go with it, slaughtered them, and moved on to the next name. Only Irina being an adult and no longer living with her family had saved her, or so she guessed.
All she knew was that she was still alive, and she had to get out of Russia before she no longer held that claim. She had dropped out of school and gone into hiding as best she could, but went online to find her escape route.
It being almost impossible for women of child-bearing age to get even a tourist visa out of Russia, finding a suitable mate was her only recourse if she didn’t want to go feral and risk her neck that way. Living full time in animal form in the wilds of Siberia was no better option, not forever.
Irina had one more thing that weighed down her heart: she was a genetic aberration, a regressive but a valuable one. Not only was her tiger form a Siberian, the largest of the big cats, but a white one. She might not be so lucky as a quick death if they found her.
Meeting Gareth had been a fortunate turn of events for her after many unfortunate ones: a man of considerable wealth who could get her out faster than most, should he wish it, but also one of intelligence and charm. And that strange feeling he gave her when she talked to him.
Safety. Trust. Even after learning he had lied to her and the doubt that seeded in her, the feeling remained and was only confirmed as they talked on the drive. She found herself smiling often, and more than she had in years.
“We will not look at much,” she said for the third time as they reached a section of town full of upscale stores connected by clean, brick-lined walkways bordered with an explosion of colorful flowers. Her words had faded in volume as she admired the bloom of summer.
“You’ve already said that,” Gareth admonished, but kindly, still sitting in the car.
Sandra, the driver, was already coming around the car to bring the wheel chair out of the trunk. Irina went to help, hearing both Gareth and Sandra tell her that she didn’t need to but she waved them off. She was going to help.
She couldn’t help but see a contradiction, and something that hadn’t occurred to her until they were standing on the sidewalk with the chair unfolding and locking between the two women.
It was a very basic chair. There was nothing upscale about it, no motors to be seen, just the chair and the wheels. With all his money, and his obvious willingness to not be 100% independent, with the assistant and the driver...
Sandra went to bring the chair around, but Irina stole her job and held it while Gareth pulled himself leg by leg and then the rest of him out of the car and into the chair. She had noticed he’d gotten himself into the car before, but hadn’t marked it as much because she’d been distracted by everything else.
“So where would you like to start?” Gareth asked as Sandra left to park the car. “There’s a furniture store down that way, or several clothing stores.”
Irina wanted to argue against the shopping trip again, but restrained herself. Instead she noticed the looks of many towards Gareth, mostly curious and some unreadable. None looked malicious in any way, but Irina felt the tiger rise up as she glanced at those who looked...
“Irina?” Gareth called her attention back to him. If he noticed her reaction, it didn’t show. “Where do you want to start?”
“I suppose the furniture store, if it would just have some small things.”
He rolled his eyes at her but then led the way down the sidewalk.
After spending an hour overwhelmed by choice at the furniture store and coming out with a plush carpet (that the tiger would enjoy lying on) and some more pillows (that the human would enjoy lying on), Gareth all but dragged her to the clothing store. She would not have imagined a man who enjoyed shopping, but she realized he was probably allaying his guilt.
“Why don’t you try this one?” Sandra, who had once again joined them, suggested as she held out a long cream-colored dress with a high neck and no sleeves. Gareth followed silently behind.
“It is lovely,” Irina agreed, taking in the simplicity of it. Elegant. She liked that. “I will just try it on,” she said with a small smile. A quick conversation with Sandra helped her select a size, and then she went to a dressing room.
When she stepped out wearing the figure-hugging number, Sandra—who was a quiet woman but turned out to be quite friendly—grinned. Irina looked askance at Gareth, wondering what he thought. He didn’t smile, but there was something in his eyes and his posture. Something that Irina recognized.
Something predatory, and not in the bad ways.
All the breath was sucked out of her body as she met that look. It was like lust passing between them, and yet not. For lust implies something superficial. This was a desire to possess and be possessed. It was the sort of connection made between mating were-tigers, when the humans and the animals mingled and merged. Her parents had that.
But he was no tiger. Nor anything but human, so how could she feel this way?
“What do you think?” she asked breathlessly, barely able to blink and wholly unable to look away.
“You’re beautiful,” he said quietly. “You should wear that to the wedding.”
Her brows rose. Not that the mention wasn’t coming. It was, after all, the entire basis of her visa in America: they had to marry in ninety days, or she would be returned to Russia. Unable to try again for years. And to her near certain death. She was here. She had to either run away and live in the states illegally, or marry him in three months. It was the proverbial elephant in the room after their rocky start these past two days, because how did one bring that up? And when did you start planning?
“It would work for that,” she agreed, almost feeling her grasp of English slip as her head swam in the heat. The room suddenly felt close, but not because she was ill. Because it had condensed to nothing more than the two of them, and the energy connecting them. The energy that flowed through her and ignited every corner of every sense she possessed. The need to go to him, to touch him and smell him, was strong, but she remained rooted in place.
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Irina and Sandra echoed in simultaneous surprise.
Gareth finally looked away from her and at his driver, then back again. A resolution settled into his shoulders and she could see how he’d built a business. It was a look that said he would not take “no” for an answer; that his mind was made up. It showed a streak of the arrogant bastard in him, but for the moment, she didn’t dislike it.
Dominance, but quietly so. It appealed to the animal in her.
“Do you know of any reason we should wait?” he asked reasonably.
“She only just got here,” Sandra pointed out.
“And we’ve been talking for months,” he returned equably. “We have now had out what...secrets would be revealed in physical proximity.” Here his demeanor broke briefly for a rueful, apologetic smile. “What then is left?”
The mention of “secrets” sent a shot of guilt through Irina, but she hid it. She could never tell him that, after all. True, she could think of a few things that might be left, if she really thought about it, but...that look. Oh, that look. That said all she needed to know, and apparently it had said all for him too.
“Tomorrow,” she agreed in a whisper, heart racing eagerly to the next day.
It wasn’t until they were back in the car, with the dress their only purchase, that Gareth suddenly realized what the hell he was doing. And yet even as a sort of panic settled in, he didn’t regret what he’d said.
He’d felt...something when they looked at one another. He knew to the very bottom of his soul, in every corner of his body, that she had felt it too. He couldn’t recall ever feeling anything so incredible, so strong, as what had passed between them and he knew that this was it. He’d made the right choice and he had to keep her.
He wanted her more than anything he’d wanted in his life. More than that pro football career that was ripped from him. More than his old life back after his accident. More than the successful business t
hat would repair the shreds of his self-image. And it wasn’t in the physical sense, but just the sense of her. He needed her in ways he couldn’t fully comprehend, and didn’t want to. It was almost...magical, and he didn’t want to try to explain that away.
However, that didn’t save them from some awkward silences in the car on the drive back, or exchanged looks leading to self-conscious laughs.
They reached the house and Sandra parked the car. After she had gotten out, going around to the trunk for the chair, Irina shocked the hell out of him by leaning across the seat and kissing him. It was just lips upon lips, but it was long, and firm, and made sparks explode behind his eyes.
She didn’t pull away until they heard the chair clink against the ground outside the door and she leaned back languidly, like a cat coiling in a sunbeam. Her eyes were almost hazy with emotions he couldn’t capture, but was certainly feeling. Then she smiled, and he almost passed out.
“Tonight,” she said as she opened her door, “I cook for you.”
“Bobby handles all of that,” he began, though he hated to disappoint her in such a kind offer. “He handles my nutrition pretty closely.” He paused, then explained, “Proper diet can help me not have to be on too many medications.”
Her smiled broadened like she had a secret, like she had a canary. “I already talked to Bobby about it. I have planned this since I come to look, and not find, you this morning. It is already sorted.”
Impressed, he assented before getting into the chair. His head felt so light that he barely noticed he was sitting down.
Having reluctantly spent the rest of the afternoon on their own affairs—Gareth back to work and Irina to the continued process of settling in—Irina set about dinner by six and, with Bobby’s help in Gareth’s impressive kitchen, had a good meal on the table by the time Gareth finished his business and came in to eat.
Inexplicably, Bobby made himself scarce at meal time and Cade was nowhere to be found, leaving the pair of them on their own. Not to the regret of either, truthfully, because everything had shifted to where it was supposed to be. Better than expected, if you asked Irina.
