A Dom is Forever (Masters and Mercenaries #3)(27)

“A friend? I had no idea you were meeting a friend. Is it Theresa? She seems nice enough.”

Theresa worked in promotions and outreach for the UOF. She was ten years older and spent all her free time with her husband and five kids. “No. It’s not Theresa.”

She could hear his disapproval over the phone. “Well I hope it’s not the younger girls, Avery. They can be rather wild. I don’t like the thought of you getting involved in their antics.”

Sometimes he sounded like an overprotective father. “It’s no one from the office. It’s a man I met yesterday at the museum, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to show up.”

There was a long pause. “I had no idea you were looking for male companionship.”

What was wrong with Thomas? His tone had gone positively glacial. “I wasn’t really looking. I sort of fell into him.”

“Well, it’s probably best he didn’t show up. Men take advantage of women like you.” His voice went right back to silky smooth. “So I’ll be expecting you in twenty minutes or so? I’ll have chef make a nice luncheon.”

His words sort of faded into the background because Lee was standing right in front of her. There was no mistaking him. He was staring at her, the heat from those emerald eyes nearly scorching her. She couldn’t tell if he was still flaming mad or happy to see her. She just knew that she was so very aware of him.

Her heart sped up. Was this lust? Love at second sight? It didn’t really matter because she felt something for the first time in forever. She’d fooled herself that she was fine, that she was over the tragedy and starting to live again, but everything she’d felt had been echoes of real emotion.

This was what she’d missed for years. Heart-pounding desire at the very sight of him.

“I have to go, Thomas. He’s here.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded breathy.

“What? Avery, we should talk about this. What do you know about this man?”

She knew that he’d gotten tired of waiting. Lee stalked the distance between them.

“Hang up the phone, Avery,” he said in a deep voice that brooked no disobedience. Yeah, she kind of liked that, too.

“I’ll see you on Tuesday, Thomas. Sorry I can’t make it for lunch.” She hung up the phone and looked up. He was invading her space, forcing her to tilt her head up to look at him. It was a blatant show of alpha male dominance. He was bigger. He was taller. He was stronger. “Hi, Lee.”

His dark hair was falling over his forehead as he stared down at her. “Did you decide you could afford me?”

Tears filled her eyes. Damn it, she’d told herself she wasn’t going to cry. “Are you going to make me regret coming here?”

If she had to, she would make her apology and then leave. It had been a dumb mistake, but she hadn’t meant to hurt him.

His eyes softened slightly, his hand coming out to touch her hair. He brushed a loose strand away from her face. “Why are you here?”

She could totally save face. She could apologize and walk away and then she never had to know if he would reject her. He could be perfectly relegated to fantasy. She would be safe. She could make her way to Thomas’s place and spend the afternoon playing chess and having tea, and she would never know if Lee might have changed her life.

“Because I want you to forgive me for being so afraid.”

He looked down at her chest, blatantly eyeing the valley of her breasts that were oh so visible because Adam had convinced her the V-neck sweater was a good idea. “Is this new look for me?”

“I wanted to be pretty.” If he laughed at her, she would likely break down.

A brilliant smile crossed his face, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. “You can’t not be pretty, Avery. You’re beautiful. And you’re forgiven. Tell me something, sweetheart. Did you come here to just be my friend? I made it very plain what I want from you.”

Sex. God, he wanted sex. “I’m nervous. I don’t really know you.”

“Then you should get to know me.”

“You’re going to leave. You’ll go back to the States.”

“Not for a while. I’m here for a couple of months and then we’ll see. Avery, I’m not going to push you. Let’s go do some sightseeing, and we’ll see where things go. I like you. Let’s consider today a date and take it from there. Can you trust me that far?”

He backed off, and she could breathe again. “Yes. I would like to spend the day with you.”

She wasn’t sure she could pull off the whole brief hook-up thing, but she could go on a date. God. She was on a date. He reached out and took her hand, threading his big fingers through hers. Warmth spread across her skin.

“Come on. I want you to meet my friend. His name is Ian. Don’t let him scare you. He only looks like he eats small children for breakfast.”

Avery followed him. Her day was definitely looking up.





Thomas stared down at the phone in his hand, an unholy rage threatening to take over.

What the hell did she think she was doing? Had she picked up some local? Or some bloody f*cking tourist?

He should have insisted she stay here with him, but no, he’d sent her to the tiny flat Brian used to use because he wasn’t ready to make his play. In Dubai, he intended to meet with some doctors who could use “inventive new therapies” to strengthen his legs. He’d also scheduled some plastic surgeries of a most unusual variety. Thomas Molina had several spinal surgeries over his miserable life. The lack of scars hadn’t mattered until he’d decided to take Avery into his bed. She would be looking for scars and thin legs. He had to have a reason they were stronger than they looked. The whores he paid didn’t give a shit, didn’t even realize who he was.