Wild Boys - Heath Read online

  “Okay. You’ll text me if you need me? I still can’t believe your mystery man asked you out. You have all the luck.” Amanda blew a kiss through the phone. “Have fun, and I’ll keep my phone on in case you want me to come kick his ass.”

  Ally laughed. “He’s about six three. I don’t think you and I together would be able to do much in that regard, but honestly, as animalistic as he is in the bedroom, he seems really kind otherwise. I think.”

  “You think.” Amanda giggled. “That’s really good, sis. Maybe you shouldn’t end up in bed with him tonight.”

  “I’m already planning on keeping our convos outside the bedroom.”

  “Really? Wow. Good for you.”

  A knock at the door made her heart leap. “I think he’s here.”

  “Have fun, and remember, no bedroom.”

  She ended the call, wondering if she was strong enough to stick to the no-bedroom idea. She carried Fifi while she answered the door. Her resolve melted at the sight of Heath’s broad shoulders filling the doorway, with a bouquet of orange roses in his hands and an easy smile that warmed her all over. The black cotton shirt he wore was stretched tight across his shoulders, and his low-slung jeans fit him perfectly in all the right places. He wore a pair of leather loafers that probably cost more than her monthly rent, and when he leaned in close to kiss her cheek, he smelled different, woodsier than he had earlier.

  “Hey there, beautiful.” He handed her the flowers. “These are for you.”

  Oh, that voice. It made her insides flutter every time she heard him speak.

  “Hi. Come in.” She stepped aside so he could come into her apartment. Her nerves flared for a brief moment over what he’d think of her cozy home.

  “Thank you.” She looked down at Fifi.

  “May I?” He reached for the kitty and nuzzled her against his chin, then kissed the top of her head. “She’s adorable. You must hate to leave her every day.”

  Ally filled a vase with water and tried to ignore the way he was making her heart go pitter-patter. She eyed him skeptically. “You’re either really good at knowing what to say to seduce a woman, or you’re a very special man.” Or both.

  He joined her in the kitchen with Fifi cuddled along one thick arm, purring loudly.

  “I think we already know that I can sweet-talk you into bed, and no one else matters.” He tucked Ally’s long hair behind her ear and leaned his shoulder against the fridge, then kissed Fifi’s head again. “I don’t need to use animals for props. I really do love them.”

  Ally pressed her hand to his chest and breathed deeply. She liked the way his muscles jumped beneath her palms and his eyes narrowed slightly when she touched him.

  “What are tonight’s rules?”

  He wrinkled his brow. “Rules?”

  “Well, when we met it was no last names, no particulars. Now you know where I work and where I live. What’s next?” She took Fifi and laid her in her bed by the couch.

  Heath wrapped his arms around Ally from behind and kissed her neck. “I don’t need any more rules, Allyson. Dating is sort of new territory for me.” He turned her in his arms and ran his knuckle down her cheek. “Do you want rules?”

  She thought about that for a moment before answering. Did she want to put restraints on their relationship, or would rules make sex even more appealing for both of them?

  “Allyson, what is going on in that brilliant mind of yours?” He kissed her forehead, and she smiled up at him.

  “I have no idea. Part of me thinks we should try to go on a date without ending up in bed, but the other part of me thinks that will make me want you even more.” Where was this honesty coming from?

  He tightened his hold on her waist. “All I can say is that this scares the shit out of me, too.”

  “Is that what I was saying?” She wrinkled her brow, knowing he’d hit the nail on the head.

  ***

  THE FIRST THING that struck Ally was the way their hands fit together as they walked toward the restaurant. She’d felt Heath’s hands in and on her body, but holding his hand was an experience all its own. His hands were thick and strong, yet soft and warm. Just as he carried himself with confidence, his grip was sure and safe. It was a nice feeling. She’d never paid much attention to things like how hands fit together before, but with Heath, she felt acutely aware of every little thing about him. When they stopped to let someone pass in front of them, he tightened his grip on her hand, and when he held the restaurant door open for her, his hand slid to her lower back in a possessive touch she thoroughly enjoyed.

  They were asked to leave their shoes at the door of the restaurant. Ally had never been to Hangawi, though she’d heard of the Korean vegetarian restaurant. It was an interesting choice for a first date. The tables were low to the ground, and there wasn’t a chair in sight. They sat on pillows on the floor, and instead of sitting across from her, Heath sat beside her. The first hour of their first date was already ten times more intimate than any date she’d ever been on.

  “I hope this is okay.” Heath reached for her hand.

  “Perfect. I’ve never been here, and I’ve been curious about it.”

  “I haven’t been here before either, but I figured if I was stepping out of my comfort zone, I might as well go all the way.” The side of his mouth quirked up. “No pun intended.” He leaned forward and kissed her like it was the most natural thing in the world. Other than her racing heart, it was.

  “Out of your comfort zone? What do you mean?”

  His eyes went serious, and he took a drink before answering. “Ally, I work hard and my life is complicated. I have familial obligations that I take seriously, and because of those things, I’ve just never bothered with dating.”

  “‘Familial obligations’? Like, divorced with a child or two? Or…married?” She held her breath while she waited for him to answer. She was not going to get involved with a married man.

  He shook his head and brushed her hair from her shoulder. “You do this cute thing when you’re worried. You draw your brows together and nibble on your lower lip.”

  “Way to avoid the question.” She readied herself to leave. “If you’re married, I don’t want—”

  “Ally, I’m not married. I told you I don’t lie, and cheating is lying. I spend a lot of time with my family. My mother and brothers. It’s complicated.”

  “Oh, sorry. I thought...Complicated how?”

  He pressed his lips to the point where her brows drew together. “Sorry. Sidetracked.”

  She smiled. He was complicated. He was a fierce lover, but he was revealing a gentler side that she wanted to get to know better.

  “My mother is blind, and my brothers and I take turns going over to spend time with her, take her on errands, out to dinner, you know, things like that.”

  She reached for his hand, feeling all of her muscles go soft. “That’s so sweet of you, but how is that complicated?”

  “It’s just busy. We have dinner there Sunday nights, too, and that time with my family is important to me. Between my work schedule and my family, I don’t have much time for doting on someone.”

  “I think it’s wonderful that you cherish the time you have with your family and you’re dedicated to your patients, but did you really just use the word ‘doting’?” She smiled.

  “What’s wrong with ‘doting’?” His eyes went serious again.

  “Nothing.” She laughed. “It’s not something guys usually say.” She leaned in close and whispered, “Especially guys who talk dirty.”

  “Well, see? I am complicated.” He leaned in even closer and said, “And I’d like to dote on you in several dirty ways.” He kissed her cheek as the waiter brought their food.

  They shared their meals, and conversation came easily. Ally noticed that she was the focus of Heath’s attention throughout the meal, despite the attractive women seated at what seemed like every other table. After he paid for their meal, he hailed a cab and they headed for a secret destin
ation.

  “Tell me about your family, Ally. Are you from New York?”

  “I’m supposed to think and speak coherently when you’ve told me you’re whisking me off to a secret destination?”

  He shrugged. “Testing your ability to multitask.”

  “I like you, Heath Wild.” She drew in a deep breath.

  “The feeling’s mutual.” He touched her chin.

  While her insides did a happy dance, she answered his question. “I grew up just outside of the city, where my parents still live. I went to SUNY Cortland. It was cheap, so it wasn’t a hardship on my parents, and my sister had gone there, so it felt safe.”

  “You have a sister?”

  “Yes. Amanda. Mandy. She’s a year older than me. We’re really close. In fact, she lives around the corner from me and works near the hospital as a paralegal.”

  “That’s nice. How often do you see your folks?” he asked as the cab pulled over in front of the Central Park Zoo.

  “Um. Heath? You know the zoo is closed, right?”

  He paid the cabdriver and came around to open her door. “It’s closed to the public, yes. But I pulled a few strings. Talk to me, Ally. Tell me about your folks as we walk.”

  He took her hand and guided her around the main gate. He was taking her to the zoo? At night? This was so romantic that she was having a hard time keeping her focus.

  “My parents?”

  “Your parents,” he urged.

  “My dad is an accountant, and my mom stayed home with us when we were little, but now she works part-time at the library and volunteers just about everywhere she can.”

  Heath led her to a gate where a tall blond man who looked to be in his late thirties was waiting for them.

  “Heath, good to see you again.” The man shook Heath’s hand and smiled at Ally. He had a friendly smile, the kind that said he clearly understood that this was a special evening for them. “You must be Allyson. I’m George. Nice to meet you.”

  “Hi, George. Nice to meet you, too.”

  They followed George into the zoo, and he locked the gate behind them. “Okay, guys, enjoy. I’ll be waiting here when you’re done.” He pointed to a bench where a pregnant blond woman was sitting. Heath waved, and the woman waved back as Heath guided Ally in the opposite direction.

  “That’s his wife, Julie,” Heath explained.

  “He’s just going to let us wander around? What if we do something bad, like jump into an animal’s enclosure?” They walked along the wide path toward the animal habitats.

  Heath laughed. “I think he trusts my judgment. Should I trust yours?”

  He draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her against him. Moonlight cast a hazy glow over the pavement. “You said you’d never been to a zoo. I thought it was something we could do that was different.”

  “This is different, all right.” She stopped walking and touched his chest again. “This is so special. Thank you, but you didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”

  “Well, don’t get too excited yet. We may not see any animals this late at night.”

  “I don’t care if we don’t see any animals. It was such a thoughtful thing to arrange. Thank you, Heath.” She went up on her toes, and he met her halfway in a sweet kiss. His lips were warm and moist, inviting. As he deepened the kiss, her body melted against him, and she didn’t want the kiss to end. His hands splayed against her back, and she could feel his strength through his chest, his biceps, his thighs pressing against hers. When their lips finally parted, she was breathless for more.

  “I sure like you, Allyson,” he said softly.

  “Ditto,” was all she could manage.

  As they neared the animal habitats, musky scents hung in the air. Without the road noises or people milling about, Ally was focused on Heath. His stride felt easier, as if he wasn’t on alert, ready to fend off strangers, like he seemed to be when they were out on the busy streets. Ally thought they’d hear animal noises more clearly at night, but there weren’t many discernible animal sounds, just the sounds of their shoes on the pavement and every now and again a random feral noise in the distance.

  They walked through the aviary, and she was delighted to hear the sounds of wings flapping, as they must have scared a bird into flight. Ally’s sense of smell and sound were heightened, but while she tried to focus on spotting birds, she was distracted by the man standing beside her and the feel of his shoulder pressing intimately against hers.

  Heath was right: They didn’t see many animals, but just being together was nice, walking in the moonlight, having the zoo all to themselves. Knowing that he cared enough to go to the trouble of pulling whatever strings it took for him to get George to open the zoo made Ally feel special.

  She marveled at the way her heart skipped a beat when the glowing eyes of deer appeared in the tufted deer habitat. Deer were fairly common. Why did this feel so magical? Heath kissed her temple, and she had her answer. Being with Heath was magical. Everything else—the animal sightings and sounds—was a gift.

  As they made their way through the zoo, the otter and porcupines were not curious enough to appear when they passed. They continued along the path, and Ally felt like every minute brought her and Heath closer together. She glanced at him, and he smiled down at her. Each time he caught her sneaking glances, he pulled her in closer, and she felt as though they were becoming more than just physically close. They were both relaxing into their surprise coupling.

  “You were cute in the lab today,” Heath said as they walked around the temperate territory, where the snow monkeys and red pandas were kept.

  “Cute? I was so nervous. I had no idea you worked there.”

  They stopped at the stone wall by the snow monkeys, and he tugged her in close again. “Nervous? What worried you?”

  “Well, let’s see. You and I were both looking for a night of no-strings-attached fun, which somehow turned into two nights, and then you somehow got me to have phone sex with you. Then you top it off by walking into the lab where I work. What about all of that sounds comfortable to you? I wasn’t sure if you’d be pissed that I worked there, or, for that matter, if I would be that you worked there. I was kind of shocked, to be honest. I had just written you off.”

  “Written me off? Why?” He tightened his grip on her hips. “Am I that bad?”

  “No, but…” Her eyes skated nervously over the monkey enclosure. Rocks lined a pool of water moving in the evening breeze on the far side of the exhibit. Ally tried to figure out how to explain what she’d felt earlier.

  He stepped into her line of sight and gazed into her eyes with a soft, worried look that she hadn’t seen before.

  “Talk to me, Ally. We’ve both been lied to. We established that the other night. I’m not going to do that to you.”

  “I’m not worried about that.” She dropped her gaze. “Or maybe I am. I’m not sure. But this afternoon I realized I was anxiously awaiting each text from you, and I kept thinking, what happens when they stop? Eventually they would, and I’d already felt myself getting tied up in you in a way that I probably shouldn’t.”

  “That’s why we’re here.” He said it so easily, like it made perfect sense, and she didn’t have a clue what he meant.

  “At the zoo?”

  “No, sweetheart.” He smiled again.

  Somehow his words, his smile, eased her worries. He looked trustworthy and sincere, and she knew it was genuine, but she’d been hurt before.

  Hasn’t everyone?

  She hated the conflicting feelings warring inside her.

  “That’s why we’re on this date,” he explained. “I was feeling the same things, Ally. I’ve never checked my cell phone as many times as I have in the last two days. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I had to find out why, and when I saw you in the lab, all my rules about dating came crashing down.”

  ***

  HEATH COULDN’T BELIEVE the words that were spewing from his mouth. They were all true, but he hadn’
t realized how strongly he’d felt them. He could tell by the worry in Ally’s eyes that she was struggling with this as much as he was, and all he wanted was to make her worries go away.

  That wasn’t exactly true.

  He wanted much more.

  “But why, Heath? Why are we feeling this way after the things we did?”

  “What do you mean? If you have great sex, it can’t lead to something more?” Didn’t most women want something more? Now he was flat-out confused. “I have to be honest. I have been confused as hell over all of this, but then I thought, why fight it?”

  She touched her forehead to his chest, and he held her close. There beneath the moon and the stars, outside the snow monkey enclosure in Central Park, Heath felt his world shift and his heart open.

  He cupped her face between his hands and tilted it up toward his, searching her eyes for answers. He didn’t even know what the questions were, but somehow he knew that whatever the answers were, they lay within her.

  “We’ll go slow, Ally.”

  He was rewarded with another sweet smile. He couldn’t help but press his lips to hers.

  “We can start by you telling me your last name.”

  She laughed, and it was music to his ears. “Jenner. Allyson Jenner.”

  “Related to Bruce?”

  She shook her head, and he lowered his lips to hers again. “You really are the most intriguing woman I know, Allyson Jenner.”

  They left the zoo a short while later, having seen few animals and discovering a whole new world within each other.

  They walked back to Ally’s apartment, and by the time they reached her door, Heath didn’t want the night to end. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed spending time with a woman so much or hadn’t wished he was reading a medical journal or catching up on sports instead. When he was with Ally, the rest of the world fell away.

  “Do you want to come in for a drink?” she offered.

  It was nearly midnight, and Heath knew she had to get up early, as did he, but when she blinked up at him with her big doe eyes, he couldn’t resist accepting.

  “Sure.”