Page 61 of Allison

“I am now,” Allison whispers, looking up at him with so much emotion in her face. He isn’t sure if he should dare to hope she is feeling the same way about him as he is about her, but he can’t seem to keep from wanting her to. “Thank you for coming to get me, for going to all this trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all, sugar. I’m just glad you called me when you needed me.” Russell looks her over from head to toe. She looks a little worse for wear. He can see the fatigue in her eyes, dark circles under them. She looks like she’s lost weight and her hair has lost some of its luster. There is bruising on her face and forehead which makes his blood boil with anger. Those assholes are going to pay for hurting and scaring her. Despite all these things, she’s still gorgeous, especially looking up at him with such adoration, like he is her knight in shining armor.

“I’m going to take off,” Dude says as he walks up to them. “It was nice meeting you Allison, I just hate it was under these circumstances. Perhaps you and Worm will be back out to San Diego soon and you can come by the house, meet my wife, Cheyanne.”

“Thank you for escorting me,” Allison replies. She looks up at Russell briefly before continuing. “I’m not sure when we will be out there together, but thank you for the offer.” Dude nods. He shakes Worm’s hand then pulls him aside.

“Take care of her, she’s a nice girl. You’re a lucky man.”

“Thanks, I know how lucky I am and I’ll definitely be taking care of her,” Worm assures him. Dude grins at him knowingly.

“Have you talked to Tex about getting her a tracking device?” Dude asks, surprising Worm.

“Yes, it’s already been taken care of, but I haven’t discussed it with her. We are kind of a new thing. I don’t even really know where we stand. I just have this need to know she’s safe and well.” Dude slaps him on the shoulder and grips it hard.

“I completely understand where you are coming from,” Dude replies, with a grin. “You don’t have to be looking for love for it to find you. When you meet the one, you just know. Good luck man. If you need anything else, let us know, yeah?”

Worm is again nodding, but reeling from Dude’s choice of words. Love? Is that what he feels for Allison? It can’t be, he hardly knows her. Yet, his heart rebels at the thought. Worm turns his head to watch as Dude makes his way down the concourse toward where his return flight will be boarding soon.

Worm turns back to Allison. He takes her hand in one of his while getting one of her bags with the other. He begins to lead her down the concourse to the rental car area. “Where are we going?” she asks. “When does our flight leave? I only had the one ticket in the email you sent.”

“Our flight isn’t for a couple of days,” he informs her. “I thought you might want some time to process everything before we got back to Jacksonville. Your parents have been frantic with worry. They’ve been at a hotel near Emma’s place for three days. Emma is at her rope’s end, but when I told her what I had planned, she thought it was an excellent idea.”

“Oh no!” Allison exclaims. “I’m such an awful daughter. I didn’t even think to call them and let them know I was all right.”

“It’s all right, sugar. We told them you were okay, but that your phone is messed up so you might not be able to call.” Russell glances at her looking a little sheepish. “I know you had expressed some reluctance to share the details of your life with your parents, so I took the liberty of buying you some time with a little white lie.”

Allison stops walking and stares at him with her mouth hanging open.Shit!He has fucked up. She is going to be pissed at him and he can’t blame her. What right did he have to interfere in her relationship with her parents? “I hope that was all right?” Tears well up in her eyes, making his heart hurt. Without conscious thought he reaches up to rub his chest.

“Thank you!” Allison suddenly exclaims, throwing her arms around his neck. He hesitates for a second before wrapping her up tightly. When she pulls back to look up at him, he can’t wait another second. He lowers his head, pausing just before his lips meet hers, giving her time to pull away if this isn’t what she wants.

Allison doesn’t disappoint him. She closes the distance. Her mouth is as warm and sweet as he’d remembered. She opens instantly, their tongues stroking each other as if they have been kissing this way all their lives. He groans at her sweet taste, just as she moans into his mouth. He could kiss her all day, but they are jostled by others on the concourse. A man yells, “Get a room!” as he passes by them.

Russell ends the kiss reluctantly. He rests his forehead against hers while they both catch their breaths. There’ll be time for kissing and hopefully more, if Allison is feeling up to it, when he gets her to their room.

When he can speak without sounding breathless, he says, “So I take it I’m not in the dog house for taking liberties with your parents?” Allison grins up at him, though she still has a haunted look in her eyes.

“No, you’re not in the dog house for being all caveman,” Allison looks up at him with a coy grin on her face. “I’m actually really thankful. I should be ashamed for not thinking to call them, but they can just be a bit much. Thank you for sparing me having to deal with them before I’m ready. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, sugar,” Russell drawls, feeling like he is ten foot tall and bulletproof. He has made Allison happy and that means the world to him. “I would do anything for you.” She gawks at him again like he has shocked the crap out of her and perhaps he has. It hadn’t been his intention to drop that truth bomb on her, but it is how he feels. He’s never been one to play games. He just says what he thinks and what he means. “I wasn’t a hundred percent sure on the dynamics of your relationship with them,” Worm continues to change the subject, “but I remembered our conversations about family and just thought you might not mind me running a little interference.

“You did good, big guy,” Allison rests her head on his chest. He pulls her closer, kissing the top of her head.

“We better go,” he says after a couple of minutes. “I don’t want to take a chance that the rental car place doesn’t hold our reservation.” She releases her hold on him. He takes her hand in his again and they make their way to pick up the SUV Hack has reserved in his name.

Thirty minutes later they are loading up in the vehicle to head to the hotel. “Do you guys always have to travel in a beast of a vehicle?” Allison asks when he is lifting her up into the passenger seat. Russell chuckles at her question as he reaches over her to grab the seat belt and secure her in her seat.

“Yep,” he affirms, clicking her belt into place. Allison rolls her eyes in such a cute way; he isn’t even the least bit annoyed by her actions. Now, if that had been one of his sisters, that would be a different story. On them it’s annoying, on Allison? It’s adorable. He drops a quick kiss to her lips before backing out of her space and shutting her door.

It doesn’t take them long to reach the hotel Hack had booked for them. Within a few minutes, they’re checked in and headed up to their suite. They step into the elevator and he selects their floor. Worm had asked Hack to get them a two-bedroom suite, just in case Allison wasn’t comfortable with sharing a bed with him. Yeah, they’d hit it off at the wedding, but after everything she’s been through, she might not be ready for more than him holding her for comfort. He won’t do anything to make her feel awkward or ill at ease.

Allison hasn’t told him what those bastards did to her.What if she’s been violated in some way?He glances over at her. She has her arms crossed over her middle like she’s holding herself together. Images of what might have happened begin playing out in his mind. He feels physically sick at the thoughts running through his head. He is such a dickhead, thinking he might have a romantic stay with her in Denver, when she’s been through hell for more than a week.

He will put her needs first. He can wait until she’s had time to process what happened and to heal from everything before he attempts to move their relationship forward, but he will move them forward. He is convinced she is meant to be his. He just has to believe she feels the same. He reaches this conclusion as the elevator announces their arrival to their floor with a loud ding-ding.

He leads Allison down the corridor to their room, while pushing the luggage cart with her belongings. He opens the door and gestures for her to proceed him into the room. She enters the spacious room. Her head turns side to side taking in the opulent room. He’d asked Hack to go all out on the arrangements. He’d wanted to pamper her, and he will, just not with multiple orgasms like he’d planned.

He parks the luggage cart just inside the door and heads to the ensuite bathroom. He runs the water to get it hot, then stops the tub, letting it fill, then adjusts the temperature so it won’t be too hot for Allison. While it’s filling up, he gets towels and washcloths laying them in easy reach of the tub. He walks back out to begin unloading the luggage cart. Allison is staring at him with a dazed look. She must be so tired, he thinks, as he works. After the cart is empty, he pushes it outside their room. He’ll take it back down once he has her settled in the bath. He closes the door and walks over to her cautiously.

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