Page 11 of Tame Me

Billy was a true gentleman. It was a pity that couldn’t be said for the first man I’d offered my heart to. “Many years ago, I was engaged to a man named Alexander.” I looked into Billy’s eyes, searching for the disgust I thought would be there, but it wasn’t. In fact, it was the opposite. Billy looked as interested as he was concerned. “We were engaged for three years before I found out he’d cheated on me.”

“Ohhh.” He shook his head. “Bastard.”

That was the first swear word I’d ever heard from Billy, and it was the perfect one to describe Alexander.

“Yep. But it wasn’t just with one woman—it was dozens of women, and even worse, one of them was my best friend.”

“Best friends don’t do things like that.”

“True. I learned that the hard way, though.”

His frown deepened. “What does this have to do with your parents?”

“Right. When I broke off my engagement, I couldn’t stand living in Mildura anymore—every woman I saw made me wonder if they’d slept with him. So, when I was offered this position at the hotel, I jumped at the chance to move one thousand miles away from my hometown. But my parents didn’t stop seeing Alexander. My dad actually goes fishing with him, even after everything he did.”

The horror on Billy’s face perfectly suited the story. “I can’t believe that.”

I shrugged. “It’s true, and next Friday, I fly home for Dad’s sixtieth birthday, and Alexander will be there.”

“Where? At the party?”

I nodded.

“Oh. That’s awkward.”

“Not anymore. I’ve made peace with it. But I hope he’s damn uncomfortable.”

“Good for you.” He held up his glass. “Here’s to moving on.”

“I’ll drink to that.” We chinked our glasses together, and as we sipped, I melted into his gorgeous honey eyes. I’d never seen eyes like his before, and it made me wonder what the rest of his family looked like. I placed my glass down. “Tell me about your parents.”

“You’d love them. Dad’s a real salt-of-the-earth type of guy—he’s always helping me out with the land. They lost everything they owned a decade or so ago after Dad made a few poor decisions with his finances.” Billy shrugged off the confronting story as if he was talking about losing a winning bingo ticket. “Because I built a house for them on my land, he feels like he owes me. But of course, he doesn’t.”

“And your mom?” I sipped my wine.

A cute smile formed on his lips. “She, too, thinks she owes me, and despite my constant objections, she’s always doing my cleaning and washing. It’s nothing for me to come home after twelve hours on the land to find dinner in the oven. I don’t know what I’d do without her. But don’t tell her I said that.”

He laughed, and although I laughed too, the scenario he’d described was one I couldn’t comprehend. Breaking free from my parents was one of the best decisions I’d made. I couldn’t imagine living within walking distance of them.

As Billy carried on talking about his parents, two things became clear—firstly, his devotion to them was unequivocal, and secondly, I was going to need another bottle of wine.

I waved at the waitress and pointed at the bottle. She nodded, and I smiled back at Billy, who was still talking. As the hours rolled on and I sipped my wine, Billy told stories of life on the land. It was obvious he loved every second of it. He, too, was a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy.

The staff were clearing the tables around us when we decided it was time to pay the bill. After a brief discussion, in which I was unyielding, Billy conceded to splitting the bill between us.

As we headed toward the hotel, he draped his arm around my shoulder, which was a good thing because the wine I’d gulped had gone straight to my head the second I’d stood up.

Billy said something funny, and a serious case of the giggles struck me. Soon, I was both giggling and snorting at the same time. So unsexy. But I couldn’t stop. He laughed with me, although I was pretty sure we weren’t laughing at the same thing.

We made it to the elevator without incident, and the second the doors closed, I pushed him against the wall, and as his hands found my breasts, I pressed my tongue into his mouth. The sexual desires that gripped me hours earlier were back.

Our lips were still locked together when the doors opened. He curled his arm around my waist and led me out of the elevator. Thank God he was guiding me, or I would have led him straight to my apartment without even thinking.

He opened his door, and the second the door closed, he pressed my back against the wall. Our lips locked together, our tongues probed, and our hands explored each other’s bodies.

I only realized he’d undone the belt at my waist when my dress fell aside, and his hand cupped my breast. My nipple hardened under his touch, begging him to squeeze it. He must’ve heard my silent pleas as his fingers tweaked my sensitive bud, gently at first, but as our kiss grew heated, he pinched harder.

I fumbled with his belt buckle, desperate to release the bulge from in there, but the buckle was a labyrinth, foiling my attempts. I grumbled and, with my hands on his pecs, pushed him back. “How do you get into this thing?”

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