frowned. “How could he be of assistance?”
Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. He doesn’t have any connections that I know of. I just can’t think of anyone else.” She had no family left. She had no real friends either, only acquaintances from class. Most of those were a few years younger than her and still lived at home, had no jobs. They didn’t have to work every shift they could to earn enough to pay the bills and buy groceries. They never had to eat less for weeks at a time after spending a few hundred dollars on a car repair. Their problems had always seemed so trivial in comparison to hers, like those of high school students. She just hadn’t been able to relate to them. Only Dr. Aguera had understood. “Honestly, I kind of hate to get him involved because he has a wife and children and I don’t want to put them in danger.”
“Then we won’t involve him.”
“Which leaves us with the soldiers in black.” She glanced up at him. “If the vampires can make Kelly forget about Brad, what if they make you forget about me? Or make me forget about you? Or just make the motel clerk forget about us both, then kill us so we won’t pose a problem for them anymore?”
“I won’t let that happen,” he told her softly. “They may be powerful, but I still kept them from seeing us. If you wish to take a safer route, I’ll do as I said and lure them here. When they arrive… if they arrive… I will again keep them from seeing us. And while they search for the two soldiers the clerk will believe he saw, you and I will sneak into one of their vehicles—”
“And hitch a ride with them so we can listen to them and determine whether or not we can trust them.”
“Yes.”
She looked around the crappy motel room, hesitant to leave the little bit of safety it had provided. But what else could they do?
A cramp tightened her abdomen.
Wincing, she rubbed her tummy and breathed through it.
Yeah. They couldn’t stay here any longer.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
Chapter Ten
Taelon slipped back into the motel room.
Lisa sat at the wobbly table, her pretty face pensive. “Well?”
“It’s done,” he told her. “The clerk saw what I wanted him to see. He assigned me the room I requested, the one on the far end. Then he reached for the phone as I left the office.”
She nodded. One of her knees—clad in the thin, dark, formfitting pants she called leggings—bobbed up and down beneath the table, betraying her nervousness.
Closing the distance between them, he took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Come sit with me.” He tugged her up and led her over to the bed.
The wound in his chest still hurt with every movement. Pain shot through him as he knelt on the bed, then turned and sat with his back against the wall. Breathing through it, he stretched his legs out, then helped Lisa clamber onto the lumpy mattress.
When she would have sat beside him, he instead took her by the hips and settled her on his lap astride his thighs so she faced him.
Her cheeks pinkened. He could tell she liked the position though. Her breathing changed. She even scooted a little closer, the heart of her almost but not quite touching his cock, which lengthened and hardened in his pants at the feel of her.
“I’m too heavy,” she protested.
“You’re as light as a gravi,” he murmured, any pain her slight weight caused offset by the pleasure she inspired. Reaching out, he fingered a soft lock of her hair and brushed it back over her shoulder.
“What’s a gravi?”
“It’s a mammal on Lasara that looks a bit like the meerkats we saw on television last night, except with larger ears like a rabbit’s.”
She grinned.
He shook his head. “You’re so beautiful, Lisa.”
Her eyes lowered, betraying her disbelief. That and fear.
He urged her closer until she rested against his chest, her head tucked beneath his chin. “Don’t be afraid,” he murmured. “I vow I will protect you and keep you safe.”
She curled a hand around his neck, her fingers stroking him and sending little tingles down his back. “Now vow you’ll keep you safe. That will ease my fear.”
He couldn’t do that. If he had to die to protect her, he would.
She sighed.
Taelon pressed a kiss to her hair. “Shall I distract you with a confession that may offend you?” he murmured.
She straightened.