Page 86 of Tame Me

‘Notsecretive,’ he says coolly, guiding me towards the stairs. ‘Private. There’s a difference.’

CHAPTER TWELVE

Dain

IPAUSE,holding Lukas as Talia regards the jet even more warily the nearer we get to it.

‘Is it big enough to get us all the way?’ she asks, drawing in a shuddering breath.

‘I promise I’ll get you all the way,’ I mutter with a smirk. Yes, I’m all but waggling my eyebrows with the innuendo. I can’t help myself.

She looks at me and the colour rises in her cheeks.

Yeah. I’ve spent the morning right beside her. Touching her. I’ve been inhaling her scent and feeling the warmth of her soft skin and all I want is to strip her and stroke her until she’s slippery and supple and hot enough to take all ofmeagain. I still want her and I can’t hide it. The way she melted against me earlier tells me she’s the same. That part of the pretence in front of Ava was no pretence at all. She still wants me too. But the complications—Lukas’s well-being—are too much.

‘I meant is it big enough to get us all the way to Australia?’ she clarifies primly.

‘It got me here.’ I smile. ‘You don’t feel safe?’

‘I never feel safe. Not entirely. I don’t think it’s possible to.’

My gut clenches. She’s spent her life worrying the rug was about to be tugged from beneath her and it seems it happened time and time again. So no wonder she fights for control and is so determined to do everything herself. She’s always had to. She never lets other people help—or not much at any rate, which infuriates me, even though I’ve learned she’s been let down by the people she should have been able to trust most. Her parents. And that’s something I can well understand.

‘It’s worse now Lukas is here.’ She glances at the plane again. ‘I’m horribly overprotective.’

Yeah, I know the feeling. ‘I guess that’s pretty normal,’ I mutter as I glance down at him in my arms. ‘He’s utterly defenceless. He doesn’t just need protection, he needs everything. He’s completely reliant on you for survival.’

‘Onus,’ she says softly.

Right. I have to pause for a moment as warmth bursts in my chest as if a damned firework’s been ignited in there. That’s the first indicator from her that we’re a team and in this together. And even though she’s the one who’s prevented this, that she now acknowledges it brings a burn of satisfaction to me.

We board and strap in. There’s a cot for Lukas but for take-off I place him in her lap and she uses a baby belt that’s attached to hers. Despite what she’s acknowledged, I know better than to offer to take him for this moment. I know she can’t give him over to me yet. But I can be there for them both. Her face pales but I suspect that it’s not just the flight bothering her but the enormity of this action. I don’t dismiss how hard this has to be for her.

Once we’re settled I reach across and take her hand in mine. She closes her eyes but doesn’t pull away. I know she doesn’t want to need me, but that she takes my touch soothes something inside me. I can’t resist leaning closer on the pretext of looking at Lukas. Although I want to look at him too. As the plane accelerates down the runway her hand twists and she holds me back. Tightly. An electrical pulse charges between us and the only response I’m capable of is to hold her even more tightly. A shiver runs through her and she opens her eyes and looks straight into mine. Hers are an even deeper brown than usual and I don’t think that emotion is fear.

It takes everything not to lean in and kiss her. Yet despite that keen frustration victory hums in my veins. Our physical compatibility is undeniable and right now I feel like a damned saint. I’ve been living like a monk for months. So not me. I work hard. I like reward. I like knowing I can get what I want. Her smile is what I want and her body is next on the menu.

Except it can’t be. There’s Lukas. There’s all this complication.

I release my seat belt as soon as we’ve levelled out, and pull together a snack plate for her. Keeping myself busy is the only way I can get through this.

I take Lukas from her and settle him into the cot that’s been installed in the plane. The cabin door is locked. I told the flight crew not to disturb us when we first boarded. I pass her the papers I printed early this morning before leaving the holiday home in Queenstown.

‘Will you look through these résumés and let me know if you have a preference?’ I ask. ‘I’ll arrange interviews for the top three as soon as we land.’

She looks confused. ‘For what position?’

‘I have a cleaner and a team who come and look after the grounds as well as a chef who’s onsite for some of the week and leaves meals for the weekends. But this is the first nanny I’ve had to employ and I assumed you’d want to have input into that decision.’

‘You want Lukas to have a nanny?’ She’s arctic and there’s no way she’d take my hand now.

But I expected a spiky response from Ms I-Don’t-Need-Anything-From-Anyone.

‘You worked right through your pregnancy and continued the moment you left hospital after giving birth,’ I point out calmly. ‘You need a break. Lukas needs you to have a break. To sleep.’

‘I don’t need a break.’

‘The dark circles under your eyes tell a different story.’

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