Love, Honor & Protect- Addicted to You 2 Page 2

  They share a glance then nod. “Precisely.”

  Kissing her teeth, she takes a threatening step forward. “You should know that not every woman who is with a wealthy man is fucking him for his money or for what he can do for them,” she spits, causing a few people to look our way. “Not everyone is like you two gold-digging bitches. So why don’t you two get the hell out of my face before I dislocate your jaw.”

  The two women take retreating steps back before casting me a glance. I glare at them and shake my head and look to Jessica, who is just standing there with her arms crossed and an unpleased look on her face. I don’t know if she’s unpleased with them being rude to Tabitha or for Tabitha putting her friends in their place. Either way, I don’t care. All I care about is getting Tabitha away from these women before she does something crazy.

  “Come, let’s find our seats.” I wrap my arm around her middle and pull her with me toward the arrangements of empty tables. “Are you alright?” I ask once we take our seats.

  She nods. “Peachy.”

  Every time I look over, Tabitha is staring at the table with a grave look spread across her face. I know she’s still upset with Jessica’s friends and I don’t blame her. If someone had accused me of being with someone for their money, for what they could offer me, I would be upset too.

  “Do you believe what they said?” she questions suddenly, turning her head to meet my gaze.

  “What?” I ask with narrowed eyes.

  “You heard me, Jeremiah. Does any part of you believe what those ignorant bitches said back there?” she jeers a bit too loudly, earning stares from those around us.

  “Lower your voice,” I hiss softly.

  She tilts her head to the side, glaring at me with a bitter smirk. “Oh, am I embarrassing you, Mr. Keegan? Have I made you uncomfortable with my behavior?” she spits.

  “What are you doing?” I question in confusion. I’m not understanding why she’s suddenly upset with me. “Why are you doing this?”

  I reach for her hand, but she snatches it away before I can. “Answer the fucking question, Jeremiah.”

  “You’ve asked me several questions, Tabitha.”

  “Does a part of you believe as those ignorant ass bitches do? Do you think I’m with you for your money and for what you have to offer?” she asks bitterly.

  “No,” I say truthfully, without hesitation. “I don’t believe as they do.”

  She stares at me for a long moment, her eyes searching my face, before pushing to her feet. I do the same.

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” she says before turning and walking away.

  I drop down into my chair and, while watching her disappear down the hall, run a frustrated hand through my hair. “Trouble in paradise?”

  I lift my head to meet Jessica’s gaze. “Jessica, don’t,” I snap, glaring at her. “I am not in the mood.”

  “Jeremiah, I’m sorry about what happened with Elena and Hayden.” She pushes herself into Tabitha’s chair and reaches for my hands. “I didn’t expect them to be so rude.”

  “It’s not me you should be apologizing to, Jess. Your friends were very unkind to her, and they went too far.”

  She nods. “I know, and I told them that. They promised not to do it again and to be on their best behavior.”

  “If I were them, I would stay as far away from Tabitha as I possibly could,” I warn. “She’s not in the best mood right now.”

  She nods and swallows the rest of her wine. “Ditto,” she chuckles.

  I shake my head. “You’re drunk, Jess,” I say with a soft smile.

  She shakes her head. “No, I’m not. I just had a serious conversation with you. Could a drunk person do that?”

  I laugh. “Yes, some actually can hold a serious conversation without drifting off somewhere else. I know you, Jess, and I know when you’re drunk.”

  She smiles a genuine smile before a serious look spreads across her face. “If I were drunk, would I do this?”

  She grabs my face and leans in, crushing her lips to mine. Her lips move against mine, but I don’t kiss her back. I’m in shock. I wasn’t expecting her to kiss me—ever. She’s my longest friend. I don’t feel that way about her. I thought she knew that. So I wrap my fingers around her arms and push her away.

  “What the hell, Jessica!” I hiss softly. “What was that?”

  She smiles at me through hooded eyes. “A kiss, silly.”

  “Yes, I know, but why—”

  “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” I look up to see Tabitha staring down at us with a blank look on her face. “I knew that was coming.”

  I jump to my feet. “Tabitha, it’s not what you think. She kissed me.”

  She looks at me. “I know.”

  “You believe me?” I ask, astounded.

  “I saw the whole thing. She kissed you and you pushed her away,” she says.

  I take a step forward, but she takes a step back. “What’s wrong?”

  She looks at Jessica, then me, then Jessica, and then me again. “You know, seeing her kiss you just now just put things into perspective for me.”

  I frown. “What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Look around you, Jeremiah. I don’t belong here with you, but she does,” she says, gesturing toward Jessica. “I don’t have a lot of money, I’m not the ideal lady, and I won’t stand by my man’s side and keep quiet like a good girl should.”

  “Tabitha—”

  “That’s never going to change; I’m never going to change. I will never be like these people, and I won’t pretend to be.” She takes a deep breath. “I will never fit in here with you.”

  “Tabitha, please, don’t do this,” I plead with her.

  “And this little game she’s playing—” she points at Jessica with an accusing finger, “—I will not play it.”

  “I… what game?” I ask.

  She shakes her head and takes a step back. “Just forget it. I’m going to go.” I go to reach for her hand, but she pulls away. “Alone. I need to be by myself right now.”

  She turns and walks away from me, leaving me standing beside Jessica. I want to run after her, to pull her into my arms and tell her I love her and I can’t lose her, ever, but I don’t. I don’t want to push her. She needs her space, which I’m reluctant to give her, and I’m going to try and respect that.

  I turn to Jessica, glaring at her. “What the fuck, Jessica!”

  She takes a startled step back. “Jer, I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry? Because of you, I may have just lost the woman I love,” I hiss. “Sorry isn’t going to fucking cut it.”

  Are you fucking crazy? Go after her, you idiot! a voice in my head snarls, snapping me out of my angry rant at Jessica. My body has a mind of its own because, before I know it, I’m sprinting after her, maneuvering through the sea of ungainly drunk dancing men and women.

  When I spot her, she’s stepping into an elevator. “Tabitha!” I yell over the boisterous chatter.

  She turns around just in time for me to see her face, stopping me in my tracks right outside the elevator. She’s crying. In all this time I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her shed a tear.

  “Tabitha,” I gasp.

  “Jeremiah,” she says just before the doors close, separating us.

  Past

  Jeremiah

  (3)

  After sitting here in the car, staring up at her parents’ house, I finally force myself to get out of the car, cross the street, and go up the steps to their front door. My finger hesitates above the doorbell as I think about last night. I couldn’t sleep at all. My mind wouldn’t stop replaying the image of her tear-stained face. It’s burned into my skull. She looked so broken, beaten. When I’d made it home last night, she wasn’t there. After calling and texting her for almost two hours, she finally replied, telling me she was at her parents. So, here I am, standing outside her parents’ house.

  I quickly ring the doorbell and take a step back. A
few seconds later, the door opens, and I’m greeted by Janice. “Jeremiah, what are you doing here?” she questions with a smile.

  I guess she didn’t tell her parents about what happened last night. If she did, I don’t think Janice would be so nice to me right now.

  “I need to speak with Tabitha.”

  She nods and steps back into the house. “Come on in. She’s just out back.”

  “Thank you.”

  I follow her down a hall with nothing but pictures of Tabitha, at an early age on up, and some family along both walls.

  “She hated taking pictures growing up. You don’t even want to know how long it took for us to get her to smile in just one.” Janice laughs as we turn into the kitchen.

  “Really? I wouldn’t have guessed she was the shy type.”

  Janice laughs. “Oh no, she wasn’t shy. She just hated taking pictures.” Her laugh dies down into a soft tone. “Tabitha was a very private child growing up. She finally grew out of it her senior year in high school.”

  “Private? Is there a reason why she was so private?”

  She stops at the back door and turns to me with a sad smile spread across her lips. “Tabitha lost her parents at a youthful age,” she says softly. “That child has lost a lot and has been through quite a lot in her life.”

  I tilt my head. “Wait. You’re not—”

  She smiles and shakes her head. “My husband and I adopted her.”

  “But you look so much alike,” I point out.

  “That’s because she’s my niece. Her mother was my sister.”

  I look out the window to see her sitting by the pool. She’s dressed in a black and white flower dress with her hair pulled up into a messy bun at the top of her head. She’s glowing beneath the sunlight.

  “That explains a lot,” I reply softly.

  “What do you mean?” Janice questions.

  I turn to meet her gaze. “It explains why she’s so guarded and doesn’t really express her feelings unless she’s upset.”

  “That’s Tabitha, alright,” she replies.

  We cross the yard, toward the pool. “Tabitha, sweetie, you have a visitor,” Janice announces before making a beeline for her husband, who stood over by a grill.

  “Tell them I’m busy,” Tabitha yells over her shoulder.

  “You don’t look busy to me.”

  Her head spins around, and she meets my gaze head on. “Do I even want to know how you found out where my parents lived?” she questions.

  “I asked Brooke.”

  Nodding, she pushes to her feet and turns to face me. “What are you doing here, Jer?” She folds her arms across her chest.

  “I’m here for you.”

  She shakes her head and takes a step back. “Jeremiah, I can’t be the woman you need.”

  All I can do is stare at her. She’s the woman I want and love, but the woman I know I don’t deserve. She isn’t like any other woman I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot. She’s not only stubborn, but she’s blunt. She isn’t afraid to put me in my place or tell me how she feels. I can honestly say that I don’t know where I would be right now if she had not come into my life.

  “Why are you staring at me like that?” Her head is tilted to the side, and her brows are raised.

  I continue to stare at her for a moment before taking a cautious step in her direction. I move until I’m standing so close that I can smell her apple-scented body wash. “Where have you been all my life?” I ask suddenly, my eyes searching hers. “All this time I’ve been on this earth, and I’m just now finding you. How have I never run into you before now?”

  She takes a deep breath, and with tearful eyes, she cupped my face. “We weren’t meant to meet until now.”

  It’s then that I decide to kiss her. I don’t care that we’re in front of her parents, and they are watching our every move. I just want to touch her, kiss her, smell her, and taste her. So, yielding to my desire, I gently remove her hands from my face, wrap my fingers around the back of her neck, and after what seems like forever, I pull her close, crashing my lips against hers. Instantly, my tongue darts out to taste her. She tastes better than I remember. Like honey and strawberries.

  I slide my hands down her curvaceous body, making a mental map of her every curve, and snake my arms around her middle, crushing her against me. A soft moan slips through her lips as I thrust my tongue deeper into her mouth. I’ve never wanted to savor a woman’s taste so desperately, but for some reason, I want to savor hers.

  Her fingers run through my hair, massaging my scalp, and I want to take her then. Her breasts are pressed into my chest, her nipples suddenly hard, and I’m so fucking tempted to cup them and suck each dark nipple into my mouth. I want to taste more than her mouth, like every inch of her five-foot-eight, light-brown frame. I want to see the face she’ll make when I bury myself deep inside her. I want to feel her body tremble and quake as she cums on my hard dick.

  “Jer.” My name escapes her lips breathlessly as she draws back and meets my gaze.

  “Yes, baby?”

  She loves it when I call her baby. It puts a smile on her face, and that’s all I want to do—make her smile—but I also want to make her mine. Officially.

  “We can’t do this,” she says with a small frown on her lips. “You and I just aren’t—”

  “Aren’t what?” I urge her to go on.

  I need to know what’s going through that head of hers. My heart is beating so erratically in my chest that it feels like it will stop at any moment, and I don’t like it. I don’t like where she’s going with this. There is no way in hell I’m letting her walk away from me, not without giving her the biggest fight of her life.

  She shakes her head, all the while stepping out of my arms. “You and I both know that I’m not really the woman for you.” She looks up to meet my gaze. “I can’t be the woman you want me to be. I curse, I’m opinionated, blunt, and even when I should probably keep my mouth shut, I keep talking.”

  “Tabitha…” I go to reach for her hand, but she takes a step back.

  “I can’t change anything about myself that makes me who I am. I won’t,” she says, shaking her head. “Not even for you.”

  I reach for her, but this time, when she goes to step back, I grab the flaps of her leather jacket and pull her close. Her hands flatten against my chest to keep herself from crashing into me from the force of my pull.

  “If you think for one fucking minute I give any fucks about you not being like those stuck-up bastards, then you are sadly mistaken.” I stare deeply into her eyes. “I want you. I want to be with you for who you are right now. If I wanted someone without thoughts of their own, I would be with them instead of you.”

  Her brows knit together as if she doesn’t believe me. “How can you be so sure?” Her arms are now folded beneath her breasts.

  “I don’t wonder what it would be like to kiss them, touch them, smell them, or taste them.” I reach down and take her hands in mine. “You are who I dream about and think about all day and all night. I want to build something—a life—with you and you only.”

  “Jeremiah—”

  “How am I supposed to live without you? Huh? How am I supposed to wake up every morning without you next to me?” I move closer until I’m hovering above her. “How do I do that? Please, if you know the answer, tell me because I don’t know.”

  For a long time, she doesn’t say anything. She just stares at me with a look in her eyes that I don’t recognize. If I am honest with myself, I’m scared. Scared that she’s going to walk away from me, and I’ll never see her again.

  “If anyone says anything I don’t like, I will not hesitate to voice my opinion,” she says, her voice low but calm. “If you can accept that, then maybe I can give this, us, a real chance.”

  “I’ll accept whatever you need me to,” I reply quickly.

  I watch the rise and fall of her chest as she breaths. Her eyes are still trained on me, but it’s a gentle gaze, differen
t from the look she was giving me not too long ago. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. It’s during this moment I wish I could read her mind to find out what was going through her head.

  “I think I might be falling in love with you.” Her voice is a whisper, but I hear her, nonetheless.

  I know I must have had looks of shock and bewilderment on my face because after what seemed like hours, she takes a step back.

  “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m going to go.”

  She turns to leave, but I reach out, wrap my fingers around her wrist, and before she can take a step away from me, I yank her against me, crushing my lips to hers. The kiss is filled with more passion and need than usual, and I know why. I love her. I love her more than words can describe and more than anyone has ever loved another. She’s the woman I want to build a life with, the woman I want to bare my children, and the woman I want to make my wife.

  Reluctantly, I draw back to stare into her glossy eyes, and they’re staring back at me. “I love you,” I finally admit with a big smile on my face. “I am in love with you, Tabitha Marie Davenport.”

  I stare down at her, computing her reaction.

  Her face lights up with a smile, as do her eyes, and she throws her arms around my neck, burying her nose and lips into the nape of my neck. My arms snake around her small waist, and before I can pull her closer, she draws back, cupping my face in her hands, staring up into my eyes.

  “You really mean that?” Her gaze penetrates mine. “You’re really in love with me? You’re not just saying it because you feel pressured to?”

  I shake my head. “I’m deeply and irrevocably in love with you, Tabitha. And if I need to tell you that every single day for you to believe me, I will.”

  She smiles widely. “That won’t be necessary.”

  The sound of someone clearing their throat causes the both of us to turn.

  “Would the two of you like to share the good news?” Her father is eyeing my hands that are resting on her waist.