Page 73 of Fierce

Ta Moko

“Bloody hell,” I finally managed to say. I’d made it to the bathroom to get rid of the condom and returned to find Hope on her knees, trying to fasten her bra with trembling hands. I dropped down beside her, brushed her hands aside, and did up the clasp, then pulled her blouse and sweater down over her body and straightened them for her. “Tell me you’re all right.”

“Oh, yeah.” She didn’t sound entirely steady, though, and there was nothing for it but to take her in my arms and sink to the floor with her, to pull her in close and smooth a hand over her hair.

“Sorry,” I said, so relieved when she relaxed into me. I hadn’t stuffed up utterly, then. “I couldn’t...”

“Yeah,” she said. “I know you couldn’t. I couldn’t, either. I just needed you so much. Because when you did that in the bar, I was so...so mad, and so sad, too.” She twisted in my arms so she could look at me. “Please don’t do that again.”

“No,” I said. “I won’t.”

She was crawling out of my lap, going in search of her thong and standing to pull it on under her skirt, and I rose with her.

“I got you to say ‘sorry’ again, though,” she said, looking up at me through her lashes in the way that got me every time. “And by the way—if you’re that impulsive in business, let’s just say I’m surprised.”

“I’m not that impulsive anywhere,” I said. “I couldn’t seem to help it. It wasn’t even my brain. You bypassed that, went straight to my body.”

“Primal.” She’d recovered faster than I had, it seemed, because her eyes were sparkling a bit now.

“Could be.”

“Kind of silly of you, though,” she said. “Here I am, a virgin for twenty-four years, which you had to know was real, and your body’s telling you that I’m going after somebody else, so you’d better jump in there fast and stop it? If I wanted some more, why wouldn’t I come back to you for it? Do you imagine anybody else could satisfy me the way you do?”

“Not exactly an expert in that area, though, are you?”

She smiled at that, walked over to me, and pulled my head down for a kiss. “I’m an expert on how you make me feel, though.” She brushed her mouth over mine again, soft and sweet. “I’m the world’s leading expert on that. And there couldn’t possibly be anything better. But I will have friends, and I will see them. Nathan’s my buddy, and I’m going to have a glass of wine with him occasionally, and you’re just going to have to deal.”

“He’s thinking about you naked,” I told her. Call it a last-ditch effort.

That made her laugh. “Come on, Hemi. How many women do you think about naked? He’s a guy, that’s all. Of course he’s suggested it, and of course I’ve said no. And believe me, now that you’ve given him that stare of yours, he’s not going to be asking again.”

“Oh, yeh?” That made me feel a bit better.

“Yeah.” She bent for her coat and put it on. “You going to give me a ride home?”

“Of course.” I pulled out my phone, thumbed the button, and spoke a few words into it. “Straight away.”

She was quiet while we walked to the lift, but when we were descending to the ground floor again, she said, “And by the way. I could’ve thought that you were with two sophisticated brunettes tonight, with the kind of bodies I’ll never have in a million years. Oh, wait. I did think that. And yet I didn’t come over to your table and make a scene, because I assumed you had a good reason for being with them. I won’t deny that I’d love to hear what it was. I’m sure they’re thinking about you naked, though. For your information.”

“Mm.” I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “Good thing I’m not interested. Business.” I didn’t tell her what kind. Anything about potential investments, I shared on a strictly need-to-know basis, and she didn’t need to know.

“It goes both ways,” she said. “It looks to me like this is a good time to have this conversation, like maybe we need some more promises. I take it you don’t want me to sleep with anybody else.”

“You could say that. Or you could say that I’d rip his head off.”

I got a little twitch of her lips for that. “And I don’t want you to do it, either. Do we have a deal?”

I sighed. “You drive a hard bargain. But you’ve got a deal.”

She fell silent again while Charles began the drive to Brooklyn, even though I’d closed the partition to give us privacy.

“Remember when you told me the swan story?” I finally said. “And you asked if I’d tell you one?”

“Of course I do. And I remember that you didn’t.”

“Mm. Your story was all about trust, wasn’t it. About proving yourself by what you do. Being steadfast. Makes me think that the Maori stories may be more up your street. More about weakness, and about the strength of overcoming it.”

“Oh.” My hand had been around hers, and now, she threaded her fingers through mine. “That sounds good. Can you tell me one?”

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