CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Larkin Inn was considered the best motel in town, but it was well below the five-star hotels Stuart was used to.
But he could see how emotionally drained Tabby was.
He wasn’t about to drive her all the way to the big city just because of his desire for five-star luxury. This motel would have to do.
Because it was a muscle-car convention in town, they had only one motel room still available with two beds. So he took it.
But as soon as they entered the room, that tiredness overtook Tabby and she crawled onto the first bed she came to and fell flat on her face. It was a soft bed, and luxurious in her eyes. It was just what she needed.
Stuart didn’t try to avert her in any way.
He was pleased she was comfortable. He placed her overnight bag on the suitcase stand and his small, toiletry case in the bathroom.
Then he went and sat on the side of the second double bed, removed his tie and suit coat, and then removed his dress shoes.
It was his normal, everyday attire. He had very few casual clothes.
Which he knew was directly related to the fact that he was and always had been a workaholic.
Dellstone was his passion. That was also what led him to lose his company to his own son, and to lose every relationship he’d ever had.
He was too busy adding more and more to the forest that he couldn’t see the trees.
And that every tree was dying right around him.
Or plotting to choke the life out of him.
Everything he touched seemed to end acrimoniously.
Would the same be true with Tabby, he asked himself as he sat on that bed staring at her.
But he caught himself. Why was he even considering such a thing?
He spoke of her as if she wasn’t going to be some fleeting afterthought that would disappear from his memory as soon as he left town.
She’d already left a lasting impression on him.
But why, was the question. The same question she asked him: Why did he go back?
Why did he search her out two years ago and give her that big tip when he never intervened when his friends were rude to other waitresses?
Why did he intervene for her? Why did he go to that police station as if he’d never seen injustice before?
He’d seen it all his life and never got involved. Why did he get involved for Tabby?
He didn’t know, as he sat there staring at her slender frame stretched out on that bed. He couldn’t answer any of those questions. He stopped trying when she turned and looked at him. “I’m going to get in the tub.”
“I thought you just got out of the shower.”
“But they touched me,” she said and then she scrunched up her face.
Stuart could have kicked himself for not realizing what he was saying. Of course she wanted to wash the memory of that moment off of her, and their hands, and how they smelled, and how they looked at her body. “I’ll run your bath,” he said, got up, and went into the bathroom.
He was just turning off the water tap by the time Tabby made it into the bathroom. Wearing one of the white terrycloth bathrobes from the closet, she made her way to the tub.
He was still seated on the edge of the tub. “Tap your feet in and let me know if it’s too hot for you,” he said.
Tabby placed her hand on his broad shoulder and did as he asked. At first she was afraid it was going to be too hot, but as her feet relaxed in the tub she realized it wasn’t.
“It’s too hot?”
“No, it’s good,” she said.
Stuart stood up. “I’ll leave you to it then,” he said. He didn’t want to go. He was still worried about her mental health after such a traumatic event. But he made his way to the door and was about to close it.
“Don’t close the door,” Tabby said suddenly, and with such an edge of desperation in her voice that he turned and looked at her.
She looked terrified of being alone even for a second.
And they were in a bathroom too, where the source of her nightmare unfolded.
He wanted to kick himself again for not realizing that.
Or for being the selfish bastard he was accustomed to being. One of the two.
“I’ll join you,” he said as he stepped further into the bathroom and began removing his clothes. He didn’t ask for her permission because he wasn’t going to put her on the spot. He didn’t give her a choice.
Tabby wasn’t used to anybody taking charge the way Stuart did, but she was glad he did.
She would constantly think that somebody was coming into that bathroom to hurt her if he left her alone.
She hated feeling that way, but that was how she felt.
And that was why she removed her bathroom, revealing her nakedness to Stuart, and got into the tub.
She tried not to look at him as he undressed, but by the time he was naked and stepping into the tub, how could she not look?
Especially when she saw the size of him dangling right in front of her?
But what she loved about Stuart was the way he nudged her toward the center of the tub and sat behind her, with his back against the tub and her back against his chest. She was effectively seated between his muscular legs.
For the longest time they just sat there.
She laid all the way back against him and rested her arms on his thighs.
And although she could feel his penis getting aroused against her, it was a fact that Stuart couldn’t help it.
Her body felt so good against his body that he found himself in a sweet, drowsy state just sitting with her.
Tabby felt a drowsy calmness, too, as Stuart’s big body was wrapped around her as if he was her protective cocoon.
They lasted that way for several minutes. Until Tabby began to bathe, which meant her body was moving around, and just that movement stirred up Stuart’s body to such an extent that by the time she had finished, he was fully aroused. And wanted her so badly he could hardly contain himself.
When she finished bathing and was getting out of the tub, and he got a full view of her tight ass, he knew he couldn’t hold out a moment longer. He pulled her back down and sat her sideways on top of him. He was going to devour her mouth and then her whole body.
But when he looked into her eyes and saw that pain, that sadness, and even still that terror she couldn’t just bathe away, he couldn’t do it. For the first time in his life, his needs took a backseat to someone else’s. And instead of devouring her, he pulled her into his arms and held her.
Tabby knew he wanted more. She knew he needed more. But when he didn’t give in to his monster urges and just held her, she knew for certain, in that moment, that she had a very special man on her hands. Somebody who truly saw her, and saw her needs, too, and not just his own.
She’d never experienced anybody like Stuart before ever. She was so touched and so pleased, but so uncertain about where did she go from here, that she sobbed in his arms.