Taivon: Book Three of the Cantrell Brothers Series

Chapter Nineteen

Taivon took a delicate bite of his white egg omelet and then a small sip of his skim milk. He fought his tired eyes from falling with every sip and bite he took. Last night had been one of the best nights of his life, but yet, one of the worsts.

He could still feel her body on top of him, her lips on his neck and mouth, and her hands as they touched his bare back and chest. He loved her touch, more so than what he'd thought. He was actually addicted to it, Taivon had realized when he'd woken up this morning, alone in his bed without her body next to his for what felt like the millionth time.

It wasn't that they'd even slept with each other yet, but he felt lonely without her next to him. She was always so touchy, always rubbing her hands somewhere along him and kissing him with that wild abandonment he had come to treasure. And she talked with him all the time, even when he'd made a fool of himself by both stuttering and coming in his God damn pants.

Even now, he could feel his face heat up. His ears were probably red right now, but nobody was here to see it. The fact that he wanted somebody here, if only to fill this lonely void, surprised him. Except, he didn't want just anybody. He wanted her to talk, to touch, and to just be with him.

He cared for this woman, way more than what he'd been expecting. Sure, he'd seen himself liking her, but the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about her was that in of itself shocking to him – scary, even. Which was he'd freaked out last night. He didn't want to hurt her, and last night had been his way of trying to get her away from the hurt that would only come from being with him.

Of course, she'd stayed. She'd followed him into the kitchen and had hugged him. He'd wanted to push away, to spare this woman from being sucked into this fucked up thing he was doing. But once she'd put him in her arms, Taivon knew that there was no way he could let her go.

He just didn't know if it was for Holly or Alix anymore.

Taking one last sip of his milk, Taivon put his dishes away and then headed out. He gave one last fleeting look to the couch before going to the garage, hopping into his vehicle, and driving to Yellowstone.

He saw Isaiah almost immediately, probably waiting for him. The thought brought a smile to his face. The old man had been sticking to him like white on rice, ever since that night he'd all but broken down. Taivon didn't mind, though. If anything, he'd been feeling a lot better these past few weeks.

“Hey,” Isaiah said, as soon as he was near enough.

“What do we got planned for today?” Taivon asked.

“Well, you got a few tours scheduled, but we get to drive around for a few hours after one o'clock, so it'll be okay.”

They walked into the ranger station where he looked at the schedule. A tour at ten o'clock and then noon. Both of the trails were long ones, but he didn't really mind. The last couple of tours he'd given hadn't actually been so bad. He'd been able to focus on helping people appreciate this park as much as he did, and he'd actually enjoyed it.

Turning to Isaiah, he said, “I'll see ya at one, then.”

Isaiah gave him a pat on the back before heading farther into the station, where some of the rangers were meeting for morning coffee. Taivon didn't follow; he wasn't exactly welcome back there. Well, the joke was on them, because he didn't like coffee, anyway.

Smiling, Taivon left the station and got to his first round of tours. The tour manager, Cindy, didn't say anything to him, but he didn't mind. Usually, she just complained either to his face or to Cathy about what he did wrong.

Not today, Cindy.

As he brought his first group through the trails, he told them everything he knew about Yellowstone. The little kids asked him questions and so did the adults. A lot were on their phones, but Taivon wasn't too irritated. For the most part, the people took pictures, and a few even took some with him.