Page 119 of Tame Me

This year has taught me how to like myself. I’d learned to laugh at my little idiosyncrasies that made me . . . well, me.

Despite all the breakups, I couldn’t deny I was happy. Most of all, I was completely confident that I would find a man. I was no longer the meek and mild wallflower who was sitting back and waiting for the perfect partner to come to me.

I was a tiger. A tiger who was ready to get on the prowl.

I raised my glass. “Look out world. . . here I come!” I giggled and gulped back a huge sip of my wine.

Someone knocked on my door and I frowned. Thinking it was Lolita, determined to drag me back to her party, I strolled through my apartment, and I peeked through the peephole.

My frown grew deeper when I saw the top of a fireman’s hat. I tugged the door open.

It was a fireman.

My jaw dropped, and my heart set to explode.

Chapter Thirty-Two

A sexy, shirtless fireman with red braces that skimmed up his bare, sculpted torso stood in my doorway. His head was tilted down, so I couldn’t see his face, but the rest of him was smoking hot. I cleared my throat. “Can I help you?”

“I believe it’s me who can help you.” He looked up and flashed a brilliant smile.

“Hunter!” My heart skyrocketed.

“I read there’s a woman up here who needed rescuing.”

I covered my gaping mouth. Tears stung my eyes. “But how did you find me?”

“Thirteen is your lucky number . . . according to your diary.”

“You read my diary?”

He cocked his head. “Fascinating reading.”

“But why . . . how?” Sentences failed to form.

“I told you I always finished what I started, and I started falling in love with you the moment we met.”

“Oh my . . .” Goosebumps rained across my flesh. “I tried to call you.”

“I know . . . seventeen times. May I come in?” He stepped across my threshold and squealing, jumped into his arms. His fireman’s hat went flying, and as he carried me into my room, the door closed.

Our lips met, and our kiss was on fire, filled with an unprecedented passion I’d never felt before.

He carried me to the bed and sat me down, and when he knelt on one knee at my feet, my chin dimpled. The lump in my throat was enormous. I could barely breathe.

I reached for his hand and strangled his palm to mine. “I can’t believe you’re here. Especially after reading my diary. Aren’t you disgusted in what I did . . . in me?”

“At first, I was so angry with you that I wanted to scream. It was only after about your tenth phone message that I picked up your diary. You’re a persistent one.”

“You deserved an explanation. I wanted to apologize.” A tear tumbled down my cheek, and he thumbed it away. “I’m so sorry.”

He nodded. “I know. As I read your entries, I learned about a courageous, funny . . . albeit naive woman who wasn’t afraid to take control of her destiny.”

“But I had sex with all those men.”

“Only fifteen this year. Eighteen in your whole life.”

“You counted them?”

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