Page 28 of Untamed

Lesley felt a little silly. “So. You’re some sort of white knight?” she asked.

He barked out a laugh. “Hardly. Darling, I have never and will never claim to be innocent. But no, I don’t go around picking up different women every night and taking advantage of them.”

“These women . . .” she started.

“Are friends,” he said. “Some of them are strippers I’ve gotten to know,” he said, waving a hand at her when her eyebrows shot up. “Old case from last year. Some guys get it in their heads that a gal takes her clothes off, she owes them more. A few GIs got ugly, and we got involved.”

“You are a white knight!” she exclaimed, laughing.

He lunged at her, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her as close as he could with the console between them. She squealed and batted at his hands, catching his jacket in her fists as he captured her lips with his own. He was demanding, nipping at her lips until she parted them. His thumbs were tracing lines up and down her neck, over the sensitive pulse points. It was all she could do to hold on and just when she thought she couldn’t get any dizzier, he broke off.

“Lesley,” he ground out. “There is nothing light and pure about my thoughts when it comes to you.”

“And what are these thoughts, Antony?”

He inhaled sharply and leaned in to kiss her again. He brushed his lips lightly against hers and trailed them over her cheek as he buried his fingers in her hair at her nape.

Tugging slightly, he moved her head and ran his tongue over the edge of her ear. She shivered.

“I dream of all the ways I want to make you shiver.” He nipped her the tender skin just under her ear and soothed it with his tongue. “I want to know how you’ll sound when I run my tongue over your body, how you’ll taste when I lay you out before me. How you’ll shud—”

Lesley turned and grabbed his face, kissing him hard. If it only took him a few words to turn her insides to liquid heat—well, she was equal parts terrified and excited about the evening.

Antony broke the kiss and chuckled. “You asked.”

“I’m not sorry.”

He kissed her lightly, over her cheeks, her forehead, and finally on the tip of her nose before he released her.

He grumbled and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but not before giving her one more quick peck. “We’re going to be late, but I need a minute here.” At her grin, he raised his eyebrows. “You’ll get yours, Lesley.”

“I’m counting on it.” She sank back into the seat, heart racing.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

There had to be a couple hundred people in the museum. Antony kept Lesley close, holding her hand and letting her lead them through the exhibit on human anatomy. After the third piece, the couple debated on the wisdom of going to a Brazilian restaurant for dinner.

A voice sounded over the din of the crowd. “Well, Antony Ramos! Aren’t you looking good?”

Antony froze, and Lesley started at the look of rage in his eyes. They had gone flat, black. He turned his head to the side and muttered, “What the fuck? How?”

The woman approached, her smile wide. She had fluffy blonde hair, bottle, from the hints of brunette peeking out at the roots. She was conventionally pretty, though her blue eyes were hard and shrewd. As she approached, she looked Lesley up and down, calculating her as a competitor might. She tried to approach between them, but Antony wound his arm around Lesley’s waist, pulling her close, effectively blocking her.

The woman’s eyes narrowed so quickly that most might have missed it. She adjusted her course and moved toward Antony, head on, leaning in as though to hug him. He didn’t budge, but gripped Lesley tighter. Lesley was a little startled. Everything about his body language screamed danger, so she leaned into him more, giving him some grounding. When this stranger realized he wouldn’t touch her at all, she stumbled a little, catching herself when he made no move to help. Anger danced in her eyes, and once again, she covered.

“Now, is that any way to greet an old flame, Antony?” she pouted.

“You say ‘old flame’ as though there were any spark left, Victoria,” he said. Lesley leaning into him helped anchor him to reality. He clung to her like a lifeline, keeping him from falling into a past that was well behind him. The thought that Dr. K. would smack him right now flittered through his head and he wanted to laugh. So, he did, with a low chuckle. Victoria was always a pro at the manipulation game, but he’d grown where she hadn’t. He took a deep breath and took charge.

“Lesley, this is my ex-fiancée, Victoria,” he said, smiling down at her.

“Oh. Well, hello,” Lesley replied, sparing her a slight smile. “Yes, I’ve heard so much about you.” Ex. Fiancée. Well, this was a development that Lesley wasn’t prepared for, but Antony’s reaction said more than words could.

Victoria gave her a saccharine smile. “How sweet, I can’t say I’ve heard a thing about you.”

“Probably because we haven’t talked since you left me in the hospital, Vicky,” Antony interjected. “Cut the shit. What do you want?” He took a small amount of satisfaction in the uncertainty that passed across her face. It was true, they’d not spoken since that day in the hospital, over two years prior, where he lay, mentally and physically broken from the explosion in Afghanistan that had taken the lives of most of his team and left him missing a foot. She’d been cold then, giving him a non-apology before walking out of his life. Her last words rang in his head, and the once crushing memory was now a sad footnote to an otherwise bland relationship. Oddly enough, losing a leg to a car bomb had saved him from a bullet named Victoria.

“I just moved here, Antony,” she said. “I had no idea you were here, so when I saw you a minute ago, I thought it would be okay to come say hi. It’s been a long time, after all.” She smiled at him, turning up the brightness. It didn’t work.

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