FORTY – NO ONE TOUCHES LACHLAN'S WOMAN

MASON

I look up from speaking to the head waiter, my eyes instinctively searching the room for a sign of shiny, black hair. Mira. Fuck!

Weird how I cannot seem to go two minutes without looking at her or knowing where she is, but she can survive a whole year without me. The thought causes an odd pang in my chest. And my chest doesn't do odd pangs.

There. Found her. I watch as she comes towards me, her beauty never failing to twist me a thousand different ways. Mira Fernandez has a rare, exotic kind of beauty, and the fact that she isn't aware of it only ramps up the allure.

My eyes follow her steadfastly as she gazes around the restaurant in child-like awe, completely oblivious of the mesmerized stares the male patrons throw her way. One guy stares at her until he overfills his glass of wine as she passes by, and I feel the stirrings of anger in my veins.

I want to carry her out of here and take her far, far away, where no one would get the pleasure of ogling her, where she would exi