She trudged through the snow beside him and he tugged her along. “Do you know something? We have to warn somebody if something is planned—”
“It’s not like that,” Tate grumbled. “I have a friend who has psychic dreams. He saw me mourning your death in a plane crash. That is one dream I don’t want to see in real life. I’m not taking that chance.”
Lara could see the back of a cabin ahead. “Your friend has precognition dreams?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but Travis knows. He saved my life once, and he saved the life of his own wife.”
She didn’t think he was crazy, and she couldn’t deny that foresight in dreams was possible, but…
“Precognitive dreams are pretty unpredictable,” she told him as they arrived on the back porch of the cabin. “I don’t think you’re crazy, but I can’t live my life because somebody I don’t know foresaw my death. It could be many years in the future, or it may never happen.” She didn’t know his friend, but he could be delusional.
“I know him, and it isn’t far into the future. His dreams only come rarely now, and only about people he’s close to or family. Travis and I have been buddies for years.” Tate unlocked the door with a key left under the mat and pushed it open.
“So kidnapping was the only answer?” She propped her hands on her hips after she entered the door.
“Would you have waited for another flight later?”
“No,” she answered him honestly.
“Then yeah…sidetracking you was the only option.”
“For exactly how long?” She was angry now. Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing, but she didn’t know his friend, and it should have been her choice to risk it or not. There were very few documented cases of true precognitive dreams, and they weren’t predictable at all. Lara didn’t discount that dream foresight could happen. The power of the human mind was somewhat of a mystery, which was why she’d always been fascinated by psychology. But she would never live her life based on the possibility that she could die some day in the future from a plane crash. It could very well be some kind of coincidence, or just a regular dream.
They both shed their outerwear. The cabin was already warm.
“As long as it takes,” Tate answered abruptly as he walked into the cabin.
Lara followed and looked around the small hideaway. The cabin was one enormous room with real log construction and huge log beams along the high ceiling. There was a kitchenette on the other side of the room, a wood burning stove next to her that seemed to be throwing off a whole lot of heat, and rustic and charming furniture. Along one of the walls was a king-sized bed with a comfy looking patchwork quilt, the carved wood frame enormous. It looked like it was probably hand carved.
“Tate, that’s not even reasonable. In all likelihood, nothing will happen. People think they have precognitive dreams all the time, and they’re just coincidence.” She tried to use logic because Tate was the most logical man she’d ever known. It was difficult to hang onto her anger when he was obviously concerned about her. She could see it in his expression.
“Don’t you think I know that? But I can’t take that chance. Travis has been right too many times,” he growled.
“And if nothing happens?”
“I want to stay here for just a little while,” Tate admitted.
“For how long?”
“Until I can make you love me,” he replied in a guttural tone. His eyes looked at her intensely.
Lara’s heart clenched and beat at a rapid pace; a lump formed in her throat. She swallowed hard and choked out, “Why?”
“I want you to love me as much as I love you.” He paced the enormous room, circumventing the chairs in the living room area as he walked back and forth restlessly across the cabin. “Honestly, I doubt that’s even possible because I love you so damn much that I can’t fucking think rationally anymore. You’re my obsession. My thoughts all focused on you almost from the day we met. I’m scared you’ll get hurt, that something will happen to you, and I’m damn terrified that once you leave, I’ll lose my sanity.”
Lara choked back a sob as she watched Tate move like a caged lion. His agitation and vulnerability brought her to her knees.
He loves me.
Not only did he love her, but he loved her every bit as much as she loved him. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she watched his powerful body, now dressed in only a pair of jeans and a forest green sweater, move unceasingly. His expression was grim, and he speared an agitated hand through his already spiked hair.
Finally, he stopped right in front of her. “Tell me what I have to do and I’ll do it,” he grunted as his nostrils flared. His eyes were molten and swirled with a dozen emotions, all of them powerful and intense. “No limits.”
Lara felt her nipples harden and her pussy spasm painfully. The wildness in Tate aroused her unbearably; his vulnerability broke her heart. “You don’t have to do anything,” she confessed.
“No hope for me?” he asked sharply. His eyes sparked, and then changed to a silver sorrow.
Lara’s heart skipped a beat. “No hope for me either,” she whispered huskily. “I think I fell for you from the moment you saved those waffles for me at the buffet,” she told him lightly. “And I’ve just kept falling until I know I can’t escape.”
Luckily, now that she knew he loved her, she didn’t want to escape. She just wanted to wallow in Tate.
“You love me?” he asked incredulously.
“So much it hurts,” she answered with a sob, swiping at her tears.
Tate wrapped his muscular arms around her body, squeezing her so hard against him that Lara could hardly breathe, but she didn’t care. Her arms snaked around his neck and she inhaled the scent of him, drowning in her love for him.
“Why didn’t you tell me, baby? Jesus, I love you so damn much,” he said in a harsh tone.
“I was afraid. I thought love was a burden you didn’t want.”
“Have I ever made you feel like a burden?” Tate growled in her ear.
Lara thought for moment and answered candidly, “No.” She’d been a burden to her aunt and uncle, but Tate had never made her feel that way. “I think it was my own insecurities. I’m sorry. I almost left without telling you. I shouldn’t have cared if you could love me back. I should have said it.”