Masculine voices grabbed his attention and he looked away from the display only to tense from head to toe, his head held rigid. The men slowed as they passed the first display he’d put out this morning. Books on military fiction and the like.
Everything about them was familiar—height, weight, looks. John Marley and Matthew Kline—two of the men who’d shot him, chased him through the woods then strung him up for daring to love a black woman. Fear filled him as the sight of them transported him back to that helpless feeling he’d experienced. The only thing he could think of was how he had to protect Ta-Mara and not let them kill again.
“Levi?”
Ta-Mara’s scent wafted around him and he blinked. What was she doing here? She should be hiding. Didn’t she realize the danger? Grabbing her arm, he searched frantically for a place to stash her until the danger had passed.
“What are you doing out here?” he bit off, positioning himself between her and the men, hoping they wouldn’t see her. “You need to hide.”
A cute little furrow appeared on her brow. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t want them to hurt you. Please, Calliope.” How could she not sense the menace surrounding them, growing thicker by each passing second?
Her expression shuttered before it transformed to one of concern then she nodded. “I know a place.” She led him away, they ducked into the bookstore and thankfully the few patrons there didn’t take any notice of them. It seemed to be a back room and he searched for somewhere to put her.
There, to the left.
He guided her there and blocked her in.
“You need to stay out of sight. Keep your voice down. I’ll come for you when it’s safe.”
She reversed their positions pushed him against the wall and shook him. “Levi. Levi!”
His head pounded and he squinted. “What?”
“Are you okay?” Damn, she sounded concerned. Why did she sound so worried for him?
His head cleared and he shook it a few times to get the fuzzy feeling out. “I think so.” He rubbed his eyes, removing the last bit of lingering cloudiness which had surrounded him, and looked around. “What are we doing in the back room?”
“How are you feeling?”
“Like I have a headache.”
“I think I should call the hospital and get you checked out.”
“Why? People have them all the times.”
“Levi, don’t you remember any of what just happened?”
Her tone was frightening him. “No. Did I do something embarrassing?”
“You should sit back here, you know, until you feel better. If it doesn’t happen soon, I’m taking you to the hospital.”
She wasn’t telling him something and he didn’t like it. “What aren’t you telling me, Ta-Mara?” He reached out and captured her wrists in his hands, spoiling the hasty retreat he knew was coming.
If he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn there were tears in her eyes. “You called me Calliope.”
Well, shit
. His hands fell away from her.
Ta-Mara left him there after getting a bottle of water for him and placing it at his side. He rocked back in the chair and rested his head against the smooth coolness of the wall. Calliope. He’d called her Calliope. What an asshole. Ta-Mara didn’t know who that was, but calling her by another woman’s name was inexcusable.
Why would he do that? It rushed back and he remembered—the men, their expressions and looks. He shot up from the chair and strode through the back room doorway toward the front.
Ta-Mara’s gentle laughter reached him and he slowed. If she were laughing, she couldn’t possibly be in trouble. He shook his head again. He had to stop thinking that every man near her could be looking to rape and kill her. Times weren’t the same as he was used to.
All this time he’d spent with her, he’d seen many couples together regardless of race. Still, it wasn’t easy for him to forget the faces of the men who’d killed his woman and attempted to do the same thing to him. There was no way they were the same men though. How could they have gotten here?
How could he?
Rounding the final shelf, he stopped at the sight of Ta-Mara talking to the two lookalikes of his murderers. She didn’t appear at all distressed—quite the opposite, in fact. Her hands rested comfortably in the back pockets of her pants and they spoke in animated tones and gestures.
She turned her head and gave him a smile, which didn’t quite reach her eyes, but it was a start. “I’ll also keep my eye out for it and if such book shows up, I’ll give you a call,” she said to the men.
“Thank you, ma’am.” The one who looked like Matthew gave her a smile and nod before they both walked back out.
Ta-Mara helped two others before they were again alone in the shop. She whirled on him with a ferociousness he’d not expected.
“What the hell was that about?” she demanded.
“I don’t know. I remember taking that last cart outside to set up, saw those two men and then I was with you in the back room.”
His answer didn’t appease her, a blind man could have picked up on that. Her full lips pursed in a way that had him thinking how much he wanted to kiss her over and over. He didn’t like that strained expression on her face, but preferred the soft, well-pleasured one.
“It was like you were somewhere else.” She shook her head. “I don’t know how to explain it, other than while you looked at me, it felt like you looked
through
me, seeing someone else. Then of course when you called me Calliope, I realized you did see someone else.”
There it was again. Calliope’s name falling from Ta-Mara’s lips. A chill skated across his skin and he fought the shiver. How did he begin to explain who she was to him? Or rather, who she had been.
“Ta-Mara, Calliope was—”
“Someone important to you. Someone you wanted to keep safe.”
Her voice wobbled and he didn’t understand it at all. Was she sad that he’d had a woman in his past?
“Yes, but—”
She cut him off again, “I have work to do. Excuse me.”
Stepping behind the counter, she settled at her computer and stared at the screen while her fingers flew over the keyboard. He could take a hint. He’d been dismissed. Now wasn’t the time to push the issue. Pivoting on his heels, he made his way to the back room and got to work on the books there. She’d seemed as though she would prefer a bit more time to herself. He could give her that. A little bit, anyway.
Ta-Mara surreptitiously watched him retreat as he strode away, her gaze locked on to the way his denim curled around his ass, advertising how nice it was. She blew out a breath and strove to stop her hands from shaking.
She knew he’d probably made the assumption she hated him calling her Calliope because she was jealous of being referred to by another woman’s name. That wasn’t it. Okay, so she wasn’t a huge fan of that, but it wasn’t the real reason for her reaction.
It had been strange enough for her to meet him under the circumstances she had, to hear his name and try to convince herself she wasn’t going insane. However this was the first time he’d mentioned Calliope and that had driven home the point that he wasn’t just from the past, but also from a book.
“I need psychiatric help,” she bemoaned, actually sitting on her hands to keep them from shaking.
She’d had the scare of her life when she’d seen him standing there in front of the shop, staring at something only he could see with murder in his eyes. Then he’d grabbed her and talked about needing to hide. It had taken a lot for her not to fight him on it and slap his hand away. When he looked through her, she understood he wasn’t right and the best thing would be to go along with him.
The phone rang and she jumped. Reaching for it, grateful for the interruption, she said, “Good afternoon. Roberta’s Reads. This is Ta-Mara. May I help you?” Nothing. “Hello? Hello, is anyone there?”
Shaking her head, she replaced it on the charging base and stood before swiping up a stack of books to replace on the shelf. Levi gave her a wide berth for the rest of the day and as she closed out the register, he sat on a chair waiting.
His strong arms were crossed over his chest and she watched his expression. Tired. Drawn. Missing something. Whatever had happened to him today hadn’t been fun for her but from the looks of things it had taken a lot out of Levi. Her heart ached for him and she had no idea what to do to make it better. And she desperately wanted to make him the happy man he’d been such a short time ago.
“Ready?” she asked.
He tipped his head up and looked at her. She trailed her gaze all over him. No excess fat, strong, powerful, capable and more. Levi reached out and tugged her closer until she straddled him and the chair he sat in. He didn’t speak, just wrapped his arms around her and buried his head against her chest. It wasn’t a sexual move. This was all about comfort.
Tossing the moneybag onto the counter, she returned the embrace, holding him tightly. Time ceased to matter as she offered what support she could. In the back of her mind, she thought about mentioning to him how she’d had an incident with Calliope as well. But she couldn’t force the words past her mouth.
She shook her head slightly as she threaded her fingers through the silken strands at the nape of his neck. What a pair they made—a man who basically came from the pages of a book, who was in love with a woman from those pages, possibly still did love her. And Ta-Mara who was feeling something—she didn’t know what to call it—for him. It might be a book to her but to him, it wouldn’t be fiction. It was his life. She didn’t even know the words to comfort him or let him know she’d read about him. Hell, this wouldn’t be the time anyway. Not when he was looking so lost. He needed her to just be there, and that she could do.
“Let’s go home,” she whispered.
His fingers tightened on her shirt before he released her and she sat back in order to see his forlorn expression. She attempted a smile but knew it fell short. Levi may not have been with her for that long but she couldn’t ignore how he’d managed to worm his way into her heart. Ta-Mara pressed her hand against his side and wanted to take him outside his mind. Yet she knew nothing could take away the memories of what he’d lost.
“Home?”
So much could be read into that one word and yet all she did was nod. His tone was filled with longing she didn’t know what to say. There was nothing for something like this. No platitudes would make it better and she hated being powerless to help. Those sapphires he called eyes watched her intently as she climbed off his lap—not that she had a problem being there—and grabbed the bag she’d tossed on the counter earlier.
Locked up and closed for the night, they left from the back and made it through the muggy night to her vehicle. After a brief stop to deposit the day’s money, she stopped to pick up her curbside order then drove home.
She changed then opened the containers while waiting for Levi to come back to the kitchen. One minute she was alone and the next he was there.
Smiling, she gestured to the food on the countertop. “Dig in. I’ll have the rest of this set out, so grab whatever you want.”
He moved toward her, not stopping until she was trapped between him and the counter’s edge. Not a bad place to be actually, so she wouldn’t complain.
“This,” he rumbled against the skin of her neck. “This is what I want.”
His hands slipped over her hips, drawing her back into the hard ridge in his jeans. Dropping the lid she’d just removed, she groaned as she rubbed against him. He lifted her skirt and she felt warm air hit her heated skin. Easy access—one delicious thing about skirts.
He ripped off her panties and covered her mound with his hand. He played with her clit, strummed it until she could hardly keep her legs up under her. Lower and lower, he dragged his touch, teasing her but never actually entering her.
“You’re wet,” he said, nipping her skin.
“You’re hard. We can help each other out.” Was that her voice sounding like she was begging? Yes it was, and she wasn’t so proud not to beg even more.
Another two flicks over her clit had her whimpering.
Damn man and his touch.
Widening her legs even more, she arched back into him, grinding along the definite erection he sported.
“Levi!” she gasped as he pressed two thick fingers deep inside her.
He didn’t speak, just pistoned them within her. She gripped the edge of the counter purely so she didn’t fall. Passion and need washed over her with the fury of a firestorm, blending and twisting so she couldn’t differentiate between the two.
His fingers disappeared then, before she could summon up a protest, he was sliding home inside her. His cock sank in with a single stroke, his weight nudging her further against the support. The counter was the perfect height for this.
Ta-Mara came hard and she cried out, turning her face so her cheek rested along the smooth coolness of her kitchen counter. Her nostrils filled with their scent, along with the food she’d been working with.
“Fuck me,” she begged.
“I am.” In and out he stroked. Nice and slow. A full thrust in followed by a withdrawal. Even paced.
“Hard. Please, Levi.”
He pulsed within her, and she tightened her internal muscles before pushing back against him. His growl echoed in her ear and she smiled, content she was about to get what she so desired.
Hard and fast, he drove into her, his fingers clenching the bare flesh of her hips beneath her skirt. It wasn’t romantic in the sense of there were no flowers, soft music or anything like that, but to Ta-Mara it was perfect. This was what she’d needed, craved. The raw primal joining where she felt
taken
. Claimed.
He lifted her and she hooked her feet around the backs of his knees, using more of the counter to hold her up. Thrust after thrust, he continued unrelentingly. Eyes closed, she lost herself to the feeling of being taken by him. She loved it.
“Come on my cock,” he growled, punctuating his words with strokes.
It was almost like her body had waited for the permission that came to her on a rasped voice. Toes curling, she gripped the granite edges so hard she briefly wondered if she’d leave finger marks behind. Stars exploded behind her lids as she jumped fully off the ledge she’d been toying with. Seconds later, after a few more thrusts, his release coated her and his roar echoed in the kitchen.