Page 87 of Untamed

Lesley was in the kitchen wearing a pair of his shorts and his shirt from the night before. She’d set the eggs down on the counter and was on tiptoe, reaching for a bowl in the top cabinet. Her leg muscles flexed, and Antony felt his body react. He moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing toward her.

“Good morning to you, too,” she said, laughing. She tried to squirm away from his wandering hands. “Aren’t you tired after last night? And hungry?”

“No,” he said, spanning his hands across her abdomen and moving them up. “And yes. Starving.” He reached up and snagged the bowl Lesley’d been after, handed it to her and stepped back. “We’ll eat and then work on the starving part,” he said, smiling.

Lesley took the bowl from him. “Insatiable letch,” she said, looking him up and down. She stopped when she got to his waist and licked her lips slowly. After a second, she made eye contact with him and winked before turning away to the eggs.

“Wench,” Antony said, grabbing for her again and pulling her snug against him. His stomach rumbled loudly, and they both laughed. “Fine. Food first.”

Minutes later, they were sharing a simple omelette she’d thrown together with the few ingredients he had in his fridge. “We need to go shopping for you,” she said. “That fridge is the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in a while. Been eating out this whole time?”

“Yeah. When I’ve been eating,” he said.

Lesley’d noticed he’d lost a couple pounds. She had, too. Stress and anxiety hadn’t been good for either of them. “I have to ask. What’s happened to Vicky?”

“She’s in rehab.” He relayed the story.

“Was this after you saw her at the restaurant?”

Antony looked at her sharply. “How did you know about that?”

“I heard you,” she began. “I was there with Oliver and stopped by the bathroom before I left.” She grabbed his hand. “I heard what she said. Did she really say that to you? About not being whole anymore?”

Antony took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Yeah. I’d been back in the States for a month, and back in Texas for a week. She’d been to see me once in that time.” He took a long drink of his now cold coffee. “She barely looked at me and couldn’t even be there when the doctors came in to examine me. There was a new excuse every day.” He was silent for a few minutes, focused on their joined hands. He stroked his fingertip over her wrist. She waited, letting him be lost in his head. “I knew it was coming. Pretty sure she was cheating on me, or planning on it, even before I deployed. I wish she’d have ended it before, or that I would have, but I figured I’d just fix things when I got back, you know?” He looked at her then, his eyes flat. “She chose to be cruel and struck me where she knew it would hurt the most. She made herself out to be the victim, while I was laying there, broken and in pain, with Simon in the next room and the rest of the team in the fucking morgue.” His voice had gone rough. “But yeah, she’s gone. She’ll do her rehab, maybe even make it work. Testify. And hopefully she’ll fuck off back to San Antonio. Don’t much care at this point.”

“I sent you a message right before I heard you two,” Lesley said quietly.

“I know. I read it when I got out to the car. And then I saw you later for the case.” Antony traced her chin with his finger and turned her face toward him. “I’m sorry I didn’t respond. I understood you weren’t trying to hurt me, but this shit with her had me all fucked up and I needed to get the demons settled before making things right with you and didn’t know how to tell you that.”

“I knew as soon as you left that I’d really screwed things up,” she said. “Oliver reminded me what an idiot I was every day.”

“You’re not an idiot, Lesley. You got stuck in a shitty situation. I don’t blame you for needing time.” Antony said, bringing her hand up to his lips.

Lesley’s eyes misted a little. “I’m just glad you didn’t stop wanting me.”

Antony tugged at her hand, pulling her toward him. When she was within reach, he scooped her up into his lap. He placed his hands on the sides of her face, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. “I can’t think of a time where I’d ever stop wanting you, Lesley.” He kissed her gently. “Everything about my life is better with you in it, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that go now.”

EPILOGUE

Six weeks later

“You’ll be fine,” Antony said, smoothing a lock of hair over Lesley’s ear.

“I know. I just want this to be over,” Lesley said. “What if he trips me up?”

“No way. You’re too clever for that. It’s just a matter of damage control on their part. They all plead guilty. This is just to give statements, so the judge has your testimony on file.”

Lesley took a deep breath and held it. She closed her eyes and slowly let it out, counting down from ten. She willed her nerves to calm and breathed normally, paying attention to the feeling in her lungs, letting it radiate outward to the tips of her fingers and her feet. When she opened her eyes and Antony stood there, smiling. “What?” she asked.

“You’re beautiful.”

She blushed. He could still make her feel giddy, and she liked it.

The door opened, and the bailiff waved them in.

“Let’s do this,” she said, squaring her shoulders and walking through the door.

They were finished with court by lunch. The next step was for sentencing, and neither of them were required to be there, though Lesley considered going just to see. After a quick bite, the duo stopped off at the office so Antony could finish the final report and gather the boxes for the evidence storage. The rest of the team was there, and Lesley rolled up her sleeves and helped. Antony and Simon walked out with some boxes, leaving her alone with Audrey and Charlie.

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