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“Wait.” Recognition sparked in Abby’s eyes, and she leaned forward and squinted at him from across the table. Michael had to hold back a laugh. She was gorgeous, but she looked ridiculous trying to figure him out like she was. “You’re not… Oh God, what was his name again?”
The way she screwed up her face as she thought was precious. Michael watched her, enchanted.
“Michael Kage,” she said at last. “My grandpa mentioned him from time to time, but I always thought it was someone his own age. I never thought…”
“That’s me.” Michael grinned. It was good to know that Carlson had been so fond of him.
Abby lifted her cup of coffee and busied herself by sipping at it. Even with the cream added, Michael found it too hot. When at last she put the cup down, there was resignation in her eyes.
“I can’t believe you lived here with him and I never even knew about it.”
“You were busy with your books,” Michael insisted. Now that he knew Abby was Carlson’s granddaughter, little bits of her history were falling into place. “He understood. He has all of them displayed on his bookshelf, did you know?”
“I saw.” Abby smiled, humble, but pleased with herself in a small way.
“He told me all about you,” Michael said. “Every time you’d send one of your books, he’d boast about how you were making it as an author, and that you were chasing your dreams and he was so proud of you for it. He said that he’d known since you were young that you were going to make your living artistically—that he called you the Dreamer.”
A blush reddened Abby’s cheeks, and Michael knew that it wasn’t from the coffee.
“He didn’t.”
“He did. He loved you very much.”
In a small way, sharing what he knew of Carlson with her helped ease the pain of his loss. By the look on Abby’s face, the relief was mutual.
There were tears in her eyes, but Michael knew from her scent that she was happy.
He figured it was his place to break the mood before she broke down. Whether she was happy or not, he didn’t want to see those tears fall.
“So, when do I start?”
Abby snapped free from her thoughts and refocused her attention on him. With the back of her hand, she brushed away the unshed tears that had gathered in her eyes. “What?”
“With the repairs,” Michael said. “I know from living here that this place needs them. Your grandfather never let me get anything done, but now that he’s gone I can really fix this place up.”
“I… Well.” Abby frowned. “I can wake up early tomorrow morning if you want to start coming in, but the problem is, I’m not sure how much I can pay you. I haven’t published anything in three months, and my funds are starting to get stretched a little thin.”
That wasn’t going to be a problem at all. Michael didn’t want money from her. “That’s no problem. I’ll put in the labor in exchange for a date.”
“A date?”
“You know, the kind where I take you out to dinner, or where we go on a hike, or really, anything that you could want. I’m not fussy.”
For a moment, it looked like Abby was going to say no. Her eyes had widened slightly, and she stayed perfectly still, as though she were terrified. As a human, could she sense the predator within him? Michael didn’t know. He’d lived with his clan for so long that he’d brushed off learning about the common man and how they reacted in the presence of shifters.
He never would have thought that he’d find his mate in a human.
“Well,” Abby said at last. Her expression brightened, and Michael couldn’t help but smile in return. “It’s a deal.”
They were the words he’d been waiting for. The yes he craved.
He’d prove to Abby that he could be her perfect mate. For now she was blind to it, but in time she’d understand.
There was no love like that of a tiger’s. No devotion as pure or as loyal.
And no woman on the planet deserved his love more than Abby did.
The only problem would be convincing her of it.
