Page 59 of Untamed Sinner

“Thirty-eight.” I watch her process that.

“Thirty-eight years and you’ve never been in love,” is what she says.

“How many times have you been in love?” I ask, knowing I’ll hunt down each asshole and put him in the ground.

“That’s not the same thing,” she says with a scowl. She pulls away from me, sitting up. "I need water."

I don't stop her. Just watch as she slides out of bed and grabs my T-shirt from the floor, pulling it over her head as she walks out of the room.

I give her thirty seconds, long enough to think she has space but not long enough to believe I'm letting her get away.

Then I follow. I don't bother with clothes. I need to make something clear: she doesn't get to retreat from this. From us. It’s too late for that.

I find her in the kitchen, hands braced against the counter, head down. I move behind her silently, my body pressing against her back, pinning her in place.

She tenses for a second but immediately melts into me. I place my hand around her throat, holding her to me.

"Look at me," I tell her, my hand tilting her chin up and back, bracing her head against my shoulder.

Our eyes meet in the morning light.

“We don’t have to call it love,” I assure her.

She searches my face like she’s waiting for the punchline.

There isn’t one.

My thumb strokes the line of her jaw. “I don’t care what word you use. Attachment, obsession. Bad judgment.”

The corner of her mouth twitches.

I press a kiss to it. “Call it whatever helps you sleep.”

She studies me another long beat. “And what do you call it?”

Honestly? I don’t have a name for what this is to me. I only know facts, and the most important one is that I’m not letting her go. “When this is over, you’re coming home with me.”

She stills.

Lowering my head, I nip where her neck and shoulder meet. “You’re not disappearing.”

Something flickers across her face. Hope. Terror. Maybe both.

“No more aliases. No more motel rooms. No more looking over your shoulder.” I punctuate each phrase with a kiss up her neck. “You don’t run alone anymore. We’ll be partners.”

Her lips part. “You don’t do partners.”

“I do now. Understand something, Amanda.” My hand still cuffed around her neck, I arch her head back to meet her gaze. “I don’t make impulsive decisions, and I don’t change my mind.”

49

MANDY

Every instinct I have is screaming at me to move.

I don’t.

His hand is still around my throat, holding me gently but firmly, his naked body blanketing my back. His cock is notched between my ass cheeks, the T-shirt I’m wearing a flimsy barrier between us. His breath warms the side of my neck, and a shiver rolls through me that has nothing to do with fear.