The Taming of the Bastard by Lindy Dale Page A

don’t know when he’s being serious
anymore. I think it’s his way of showing he loves us or
something.”
    Okay. It seemed
pointless explaining that I was only here as a favour to Sam, that
I wasn’t interested in him. Not really. Except when he looked at me
and his eyes did that thing.
    Oh, I don’t
know.
    “But he’s such
a darling when he wants to be,” Sasha added. “He has a very kind
heart and he’s very protective of us girls. He might tease and be
an arse at times but I truly believe it’s because he thinks he’s
being funny. I don’t know that he realises he’s hurting people’s
feelings. He always looks after us and if something were to happen,
Sam would be the first one there to make it right.”
    “Totally. He,
like, opened a door for me the other week,” Kirby said.
    I tried not to
laugh. I mean, Kirby seemed serious.
    “And he saved
me from that sleazeball who was putting the hard word on me at Onyx Bar . Simmo was a waste of space on that particular
occasion but Sam saved me.”
    “He’s a man of
mystery. Nobody like really ‘knows him’,” added Kirby, doing finger
quotes in the air. “He never mentions his family or where he came
from. He just, totally, appeared one day. POOF!” She paused, her
head tilting in thought. “Do you think he’s, like, endangered from
his parents?”
    I gaped at
Kirby. What was she on about?
    Sasha smiled
and gave Kirby’s forearm a squeeze. “It’s ‘estranged’ Kirbs. And I
don’t think he’s estranged. He mentioned a sister once. She lives
in Sydney.”
    But Melanie
snorted. “Maybe Sam just doesn’t want all and fucking sundry
knowing his private business? Honestly, you two are such
busybodies.”
    “No, we’re not.
We’re just concerned.”
    “How many
people have you gossiped about in the last hour?...”
    Deathly
silence.
    This was gold.
Straight from the horse’s mouth. Sam was a supposed man-whore. Hmm . But he was also a diamond in the rough, a lone wolf who
revealed nothing to nobody. At least that was the impression they
were giving me. Maybe there was more to Sam than he showed to the
world. From what they were saying he was a big softie. He simply
didn’t like to show it.

 9 
    At last Sam
appeared, his dark hair damp from the shower. It stood in
irresistible spikes and, as he pushed a hand through it, a sigh
almost escaped my lips. Almost…but not quite. It was lucky I was
only doing this as a favour, I decided. Otherwise, I’d be
hyperventilating worse than Alex.
    He walked up to
the group, positioning himself at my side. Eyebrows raised. Lips
bent in knowing smirks.
    “Hi,” he said,
rubbing his sneaker against the back of his jeans where I’d spilt
my wine for the third time while pretending I wasn’t looking at his
chest. I think, after weeks of seeing me in action at work he was
becoming quite blasé about my clumsy ways. I don’t know if he’d
recognised that he was the cause of most of them.
    Timidly, I gave
him a hint of a smile. “Hi, yourself.”
    A second guy
popped out from behind Sam’s back, proffering a hand. His smile was
wide and friendly, quite a contrast to the size of his head, which
appeared very small in comparison the size of his enormous
neck.
    Briefly, I
wondered how a man could get shirts to fit a neck so large but then
Sam spoke. “This is Rambo. Ram, this is Millie, my friend from
work.”
    “Nice to meet
you, Millie.”
    “Rambo’s my
boyfriend,” Kirby cooed, taking up a possessive position in the
crook of his arm.
    “Yes, I think
we know that, Pumpkin,” he replied and kissed the tip of her nose.
She giggled and proceeded to adjust his collar and hair, lost in
her own little world of romance.
    Dismissing the
antics of the pair, Sam swivelled. His large eyes, framed by coal
black lashes, seemed even greener than before and they twinkled
disarmingly. “Sorry I took so long, I always seem to be the last
out of the showers.”
    I nodded. It
was the best I could manage.