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“Divorced?” she asked, but her eyes dropped to my rings.
“Married, but not to Connor anymore,” I whispered, glancing up to thank the waitress who dropped a glass of water on the table. When he left, Linda gave me a knowing smile.
“Lino, I suspect?”
I nodded, feeling a blush rise to my cheeks. “How did you guess?”
“I was there when he came for you. I’m sure that you remember very little of it, considering the painkillers I gave you, but I remember the look on his face very vividly. He loves you. I suspect he always has,” she said, sipping her white wine delicately.
“A few weeks ago, I’d have said you were crazy,” I sighed, glancing out the window on my side. Emilio’s reflection in the window where he sat at the bar as he watched me made me uncomfortable, but I persevered. “But now.” I smiled. “Now I hope you’re right.”
“He hasn’t told you?” she asked.
I shook my head, thinking it over. “Not in so many words, but it’s all the little things, you know? He shows me how much I mean to him, and he touches me constantly like he can’t get enough, and he takes care of me, and he calls me his life.”
The waitress returned, giving an apologetic smile that she’d interrupted. “Are you ready to order, miss?”
“Just the salad with grilled chicken and the balsamic, please.”
“Sure thing,” she grinned, darting away. I turned my attention back to Linda where she smiled at me knowingly.
“Have you told him how you feel?” she asked, giving me a pointed look that told me she didn’t really need to ask.
“Not yet,” I admitted. “I don’t want to think about what happens i
f I say it and he doesn’t say it back. I’m happy, for the first time in a long time. I just want to hold on to that for a little while before I shake things up.”
She reached across the table to take my hand in hers. “And there is nothing wrong with clinging to happiness after what you’ve gone through. He’s your husband now. You have all the time in the world to figure it out. You should just let things move at their own pace and enjoy them for what they are instead of forcing it.”
I sighed, nodding back at her and feeling like the lunch had been everything I didn’t know I needed. I’d worried that seeing Linda would remind me of all the times she held ice to my bruises after Connor hit me, or the way it felt to have her fingers washing blood from my hair and pulling glass from my feet.
But instead, it felt like finally closing the book on that chapter of my life. Even with Connor still out there, he would never touch me again.
Lino would make sure of that. Connor was unfortunately Lino’s problem now.
Not mine.
???
I really wanted him to get the Hell away from my desk. Under normal circumstances, I had no difficulties dismissing men who showed interest, but when it was one of Jasper's most wealthy clients who invested millions of dollars annually, I hesitated to be as outright about it as I might have been with a stranger.
I'd tried politely hinting that I needed to finish up my work for the day. I'd tried insinuating that Jasper wasn't a fan of people who used desks as furniture. I'd tried not engaging in the conversation aside from brief yes or no answers.
And yet his ass remained perched on my desk. Normally, Jasper might have waded in to rescue me by asking me to do something urgent for him that required me to go elsewhere or asking to see me in his office, but he was wrapped up in a meeting with his last client of the day, and this jerk off had been sitting on my desk since his own meeting ended nearly an hour ago.
My patience ran thin, even before he reached out a hand to touch my waist when I stood to go straighten out the waiting area. I spun, ready to tell him off myself, but Lino's deep, dangerous voice spoke too calmly before I could.
"I dare you to touch her again." There was no inflection to his voice, nothing that would have hinted at him being angry, but the way he stood inside the open door with his body too still was also nothing like a normal man.
Lino was dangerous, in a way that most men could only pretend to be. Dangerous in a way that should send most people running in the other direction when his voice went too calm and his body vibrated with the effort to keep it still.
"Relax, man. No harm done," the client said, holding up two hands as if he'd been innocent. "I've known Samara a long time. Just getting to know each other better." He obviously had no sense of self-preservation, because he touched my shoulder briefly before moving to stand from the desk.
I watched Lino's body tense, the way he prowled forward like a predator stalking an oblivious prey. The menace in every step he took was only enhanced by the way his suit clung to his body in a perfect fit, showcasing all the flawless, lean muscle of his thighs and his broad shoulders. "Do you know what happens to people who put their hands on my wife without her permission? Without my permission?" I went to his side, taking his hand in mine and looking to reassure him. While the touch hadn't been innocent—and would easily be described as harassment since I'd given him no indication of interest—he hadn't actually harmed me.
"Woah, man. Didn't know she was married. My bad." The client finally seemed to grasp a bit of self-preservation, but Lino was far beyond the ability to retain the beast that he'd awoken inside him. I wanted to remember that we were in my workplace, that it wasn't the time or place for Lino's display of possessiveness, but all I could focus on was how good it felt to have someone who wanted to claim me. Wanted to brand me with his name and tell everyone that I was his. Someone who was proud to have me as his own and would protect me, no matter what the consequences might be for either of us.
I felt lost in that feeling, lost in the need to wrap myself up in the unfamiliar sensation of being wanted.
