Taking Tessa

by Aria Cole

  "No way." Cage shook his head firmly. "Something a little less revealing."

  "Wait, I kind of like that." I fingered the short hemline.

  "Over my dead body, Tessa. Saved you once, not going to do it again just because you want to wear that scrap-of-nothing excuse for a dress."

  "Well, this one then?" The clerk held up another black dress, this one with a high neckline and a completely open back.

  "Yes."

  "No way in hell."

  "Cage!" I nudged his shoulder before swiping the dress from the woman's hands and heading for the changing rooms in back.

  "Tessa." His throaty reply followed me.

  I turned and cast him one last glance, the fire in my eyes burning bright as a mischievous smile danced on my lips. I ducked into the changing room and slid the latch on the door. I didn't love the dress—I'd seen prettier ones just walking through—but I loved the way it made his eyes light up.

  I stepped out of the dressing room a minute later. Cage’s eyes crawled up my skin, a wolfish fire burning in his eyes. "So help me, God. If you think I'm going to let you leave the house in that, you're insane."

  "Really? I think it's perfect." The smile on my lips betrayed me when I stepped out of the dressing room and did a small twirl. "Don't you think?"

  Silence hung in the space between us. After a few too-long beats I spun, my gaze landing on his.

  "Jesus, Tessa. What are you trying to do to me?" His ocean eyes crawled my body, moving up my legs, dancing over the curves of my breasts, and I closed my eyes in shame. Maybe he didn't like it like I'd thought he would.

  I turned and reached for the door of the dressing room, prepared to rip the awful dress off and get out of here. I'd embarrassed myself, and I wanted nothing more than to tuck tail and run.

  "Tessa." Warm fingertips grazed the small of my back, hovering around the curve before slinking up my spine. Goosebumps burned through my body and heightened every aroused nerve I had. "You're so fucking beautiful, all I can think about is slipping this dress off you. But I don’t want to scare you, Tessa. I need you to feel safe and wanted. I want you to feel loved."

  My eyes widened as his words registered.

  "You leave me speechless." One full palm spread across my back, and as if an electric current ran through his fingers, thunderbolts tore through my stomach, shredding my insides and shaking the cage around my heart. "You like this one?"

  I adjusted myself in the mirror, feeling awkwardly conscious of every move I made, of his eyes eating up my reflection in the mirror, the way his sea-blue irises darkened with some exciting emotion that pulled at him from the inside out.

  "I love it," I said softly, my eyes finally landing on his in the mirror. His fingertips twitched at my lower back, his other hand brushing away the soft hair falling over one shoulder. He snaked his nose up the curve of my neck. I swallowed, begging him to turn me into his arms and plaster a kiss on my lips. I wanted to feel his hard, ripped body pressed against every soft curve I had. My muscles ached to feel his skin against mine, to jump into his arms and kiss him until I was gasping for air, but I'd never been kissed, so no way could I attack him with my lips. He'd probably just push me away, horrified.

  Cage's fingertips trailed along the line of my jaw, and for just a fraction of a second, I thought, this is it, this is my first kiss. Just as my eyes fell closed, my lips tingling with quiet anticipation, his breathless words washed across my neck. "I love it, too."

  4

  Cage

  "You look hungry," I commented as we left the dress store. I knew I was sure as shit hungry, but not for food. I was having all kinds of inappropriate thoughts about Tessa, and considering she'd just come out of a dire situation, I needed to try my goddamn hardest to keep my hands off. I'd slipped in the dressing room, but that fucking dress. That back. A dress like that was made to drive a man crazy.

  "I could eat." Tessa cast me a sideways smile. The way she did that, made my heart leap with just a single twitch of her lips, completely confounded me. Tessa was something special, all right, and it hadn't taken me long to realize she struck every long-dormant nerve I had. I'd made a point of avoiding women for years, the pressure of a relationship too much to handle when I was so focused on working. The only passion I'd ever felt before now was directed at one thing—catching assholes and doing my best to send them to rot away behind bars.

  "How 'bout Cajun Cafe?"

  "Cajun Cafe?" she repeated, the soft tinkle in her laugh like a vice grip to my balls.

  "Have you ever had it? Might just be the best thing you ever tasted."

  "No, I haven't." She grinned up at me, a smile so wide I thought it would crack my own chest wide open. "It looks disgusting, but I'm game."

  My laugh echoed around the small food court. "Wait here."

  I stood in line, one eye watching her, the other trying to pretend I wasn't a man obsessed. I couldn't leave her for a single second, she was too fragile, too new to this world. I didn't know why I felt the pull down deep in my gut to protect her, but it was there, and I was a man who obeyed his gut feelings.

  "Two specials, please."

  The young guy at the counter nodded, punching in my order. "Drinks?"

  I paused, casting her a sidelong glance as I thought about running over to see what she liked to drink.

  "Go ask her, I can wait. Can't have the wife upset when you bring her the wrong thing," he laughed.

  "She's not—" I stopped. On second thought, I liked the sound of that. I turned to him and continued, "She's not my wife yet. And let's do a Sprite and a Coke."

  I shoved him some bills, his words running a constant loop in my head. Wife. Wife. Wife.

  Shit, I kind of liked the sound of that.

  I turned and leaned a hip against the counter, giving her a small wave and a grin when her eyes caught mine. She waved back, her face lit with some sort of inner glow I'd never noticed before. The apples of her cheeks warmed up to a rosy shade, her eyes crinkled when she smiled like she was smiling from the inside out. I'd never met someone like that before.

  "Here ya go, man. Good luck with the girl." The guy behind the counter pushed a tray of food at me.

  "Thanks." I nodded, still caught somewhere between fantasy and reality where Tessa was my bride and I could hang on to her, keep her safe and with me for the rest of our lives. I was surprised to find that not a thing in the world sounded better.

  "Bourbon chicken and General Tso's," I said when I sat down at the table.

  "Are you sure...I mean, do you even know what's in that? It doesn't look like chicken." She raised one speculative eyebrow.

  I chuckled, stabbing a piece with my fork and holding it out to her. "Just close your eyes and try. This stuff is addicting, and it's a mall tradition."

  "A mall tradition?" Her eyes crinkled in doubt.

  "Absolutely. What kind of man would I be if I didn't show you all the joys life has to offer?"

  "This is one of the joys of life?"

  I grinned, "One of many, baby."

  Her mouth popped open and I slid the bite between her lush lips. My cock disobeyed every moral bone in my body and twitched in my pants. What was he thinking?

  I averted my eyes, then stabbed another piece for myself.

  "This is kind of amazing." Tessa grinned once she'd swallowed, then took another piece with her fork. "I think I could eat this every day."

  "Well, I don't know how your liver would handle all that MSG, but it's a worthy goal."

  "Ah, right. MSG. Always a downside." She frowned at the chicken on her plate as if seeing it in a new and unflattering light.

  "Everything in moderation, I figure. A little here and there can't hurt, and believe me, I don't make a practice of eating Chinese food every day."

  Tessa's eyes fixated on my biceps before she blurted, "I can see that."

  My eyebrows shot up into my forehead. She was usually pretty good at keeping her thoughts to herself, much to my irritation, but tha
t hadn't been what I was expecting.

  "Why, Tessa, is that ogling you're doing?" I couldn't help but grin.

  Her cheeks flushed a bright shade of red and her eyes went back to her plate.

  "It's a good thing I like being ogled by you." I lifted her chin and swiped at a splash of sauce at the corner of her lips with my thumb. I watched her swallow, her breathing ratcheting up a notch, the way her eyes darkened just a tad. Damn, she was getting turned on. Tessa also felt this thing humming between us.

  "Maybe we should head back," I said on autopilot, only thinking I needed to get her alone, and now.

  "Yeah, I'm full." She stood and pushed the tray away from her.

  I grinned, thinking of how the last twenty-four hours of my life had taken me down a new and wildly unexpected path. I dumped the tray of half-eaten food into the trash, then returned, picking up our bags and wrapping my free arm around her shoulders.

  "Can't wait for you to model these clothes for me when we get home." Tessa's gaze turned up, her rosy lips parted just slightly as small puffs of air pushed past her lips. "You gotta stop looking at me like that, sweetheart. There's only so much a man can take."

  She closed her mouth and her gaze turned sideways. "Hey, nothing to be embarrassed about." I stopped and caught her chin as I spoke. "You're a beautiful woman, Tessa. Much more beautiful than you realize. I'm trying damn hard to be strong and do all the right things with you, but then you look up at me like that…" I traced her pouty bottom lip with my thumb. "…And all I can think about is kissing you."

  "Maybe you should, then."

  "Tessa," I groaned, letting my forehead rest against hers. My cock was achingly hard and at full mast between us. I only hoped she didn't feel it, but damn if I could do a thing about it. This is what Tessa did to me. "I'm going to do the right thing and take you home, tuck you in, and definitely not put my lips on you." I paused, my gaze eating up her sweet, emerald eyes. "Gonna try, anyway."

  Tessa bit down on her lip then, her eyes flaring with something before she pulled from my grip. "Maybe someday I'll appreciate your high moral ground, but that day isn't today, Cage West."

  I laughed as she walked ahead of me to my truck. "Such a firecracker."

  Fifteen minutes later, as we pulled our purchases from the truck, Tessa looked up at the sky, sucking in a lungful of breath as tears soaked her cheeks.

  "Hey, you okay?" I dropped the bags on the porch and rushed to her side, my hand cupping her face. "It breaks my heart to see you cry."

  Tessa sniffed, swiping at a tear running down her cheek, and she said, "It's just so good to be outside. You don't realize how much you'll miss it until it's just taken from you."

  I nodded, pulling her down next to me.

  "Just smelling the flowers makes me so happy. You know I used to look out the window and try to imagine their smell in my mind? I know what flowers smell like, but you'd be surprised how much your memory fades."

  "How did this happen, Tessa? How did you end up with him?"

  She shrugged, "My mom married him after only knowing him for two weeks when I was three. He'd been around forever, but he never really acted like my father, ya know? There was always just something off with him, but what could I say? My mom was high more than she was sober, so there was never a good time to talk to her. Then when she passed away..." Tessa paused as she pushed back more tears. "It just all fell apart. If I thought it was bad before..." She laughed angrily. "He went crazy. It was like he split with reality. The older I got, the more he thought he had to protect me. When I grew boobs and needed my first bra, he locked me in my room for two weeks and forced me to tape them with duct tape. He just kept screaming about hell and damnation, about Eve tempting Adam and the start of the end for our society."

  "But Tessa..." I paused, wondering how to word this question. "Why him? How was it that you get left with him when she passed away?"

  "I wasn't left with him. He always had me. I was with that man since the age of three. It was just Tom, Mom and me. Mom didn't have any other family that I knew of, and Tom just had some friends he partied with." She shook her head. "To the outside world, Tom was my father. No one even thought about questioning that, and once I was shut away and home-schooled, there was no one to question anything strange or out of the ordinary. I was completely isolated."

  This man was a fucking rapist. He may not have been convicted, but he was a rapist, and this beautiful girl was left to his mercy. I felt rage swarm around me. I wanted to head back to that house and beat him until he was black, blue, and broken. The fucking bastard had to be stopped.

  "Social services didn't visit the house. To them, I didn't exist, and to anyone else I was Tom's daughter, and to Tom I was his property, to do with as he pleased."

  Anger coiled like a tornado in my stomach. My fists ached and clenched together as I thought about how everyone in her life had let her down.

  "When did it go bad? I mean, where he stopped letting you out?"

  She turned her head up to the sky, fluffy white clouds as far as the eye could see. "Somewhere around my sixteenth birthday. I snuck out once or twice in the beginning, only to tend Mama's roses in the front yard. I couldn't stand to see them withering and overrun with weeds, but when he found me he screamed bloody murder and locked me in my room for a week. He only opened the door to slide food in. Thank God there was a bathroom off my bedroom or I don't know what I would have done. But normally as long as I stayed inside and obeyed, I would be allowed anywhere in the house. But I never knew how to gauge his temper." A visible shudder ran through her.

  "Christ, I had no idea it was that bad. And with all of that…you swear he never touched you? Never indecently?"

  "Every single time he laid a hand on me felt indecent, but he never did anything sexually."

  "Did he hit you?"

  "Not really." She shook her head. "He'd pull me around by the arm now and again, grab my hair if he was really angry, but verbal and emotional abuse was much more his speed."

  I nodded, clasping my hands together between my knees as I digested the shortened version of her life story. "So help me God, I'll do everything in my power to make sure you never have to look at that man again."

  “I don't ever want to live there again, but seeing him… In some ways, I feel sorry for him. When my mother died, all hope vanished from his eyes."

  "Wait, you mean to tell me you want to see him again?"

  Tessa paused, thoughts working in her mind before she replied, "Maybe. After a while. I feel like I want answers, like I need closure, and for some reason, he's the only one who can give it to me."

  "Tessa, I don't think that's a situation that ever brings closure. There's no good goddamn reason he did it. He held you captive against your will. Whether he harmed you physically or not, he harmed you. We are going to the station. That bastard is getting reported, and you are going to help lock him up. Is there anything else you can remember, or is there anything else you need to tell me?"

  Tessa's eyes, wide with fear, turned up to meet mine. "No, no, I don't think…"

  "Tessa…" I caught her wrist in my hand. "What if he does it to someone else?"

  "No, he would never—"

  "You don't know that."

  Tessa frowned, her beautiful eyes clouded with thoughts. "I think I'm going to lie down for a while. Is that okay?"

  "Absolutely." We both stood and she turned to go before I stopped her. "Tessa." I pressed a gentle hand at her elbow. "You don't ever have to ask me if it's okay to do something. You're a free, independent, and very strong woman. I can see it in your eyes. Don't ever be afraid to say anything to me, got that?"

  She nodded, her eyes burning with more of that unspoken kinetic energy that bounced between us. "Thanks for a great day."

  "The pleasure was all mine." I let a happy smile pull at my lips. My gaze cast down to her lips again, and there was that gnawing urge to pull her into my arms and kiss her until she was breathless.

  This gir
l had grabbed me by the balls and she didn't even know it.

  I was a goddamn helpless puppy dog with her, but truth was, I loved every single second of it. Being with Tessa made me the happiest damn man alive.

  5

  Tessa

  I woke the next morning, determined to be out of bed and cooking breakfast in the kitchen for Cage when he woke. Not only did I feel like it was something I had to do because it'd been so ingrained in me these last years, but I wanted to repay him in some small way. I pulled a carton of eggs from the fridge, along with cheese, and a bag of fried potatoes from the freezer.

  "Mornin', beautiful. Got something for you." I turned at the sound of Cage's voice. His eyes ate up the space between us, stealing my breath and leaving me begging for more of that feeling. He held a little white box in his hands and waved it back and forth.

  "You got me a phone?" My eyes bugged out when I finally realized what he'd done. "Cage, no, I can't accept—"

  "Forget it. You need a phone if you're going to stay safe. You've got to stay in touch with the real world, Tessa. Plus, I had the guy set it up for you. My name is listed as your emergency contact. I ducked out to the phone store for a few minutes while you were trying stuff on."

  I stood speechless, taking the box he'd pressed into my hands and opening it to reveal the latest smartphone. "You're crazy, Cage. I can't take this. I can go get a cheaper phone."

  "Enough complaining, more thank you'ing, please." He grinned and pulled me across the space to him, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "Are you cooking?"

  "Yes," I giggled and set the phone on the counter, unable to resist the call of his flesh against mine. My arm snaked around his waist in a one-armed hug as I continued, "I wanted to contribute somehow. I feel like such a loser accepting all your incredible support and not giving anything back."

  “'Nuff of that. I wouldn't have you anywhere else, and I sure as shit don't believe in that business about a woman's place in the kitchen. Truth is, sweetheart…" He nestled his nose against my cheek. "I'd rather be cooking with you than be served by you any day."