“So you enjoy being a security guard?”
Why did it chap him so much that she thought he was just a security guard? Not that being a security guard was a bad gig.
He just wanted to impress her. Wanted this woman, whoever she really was, to know that he was so much more than what she might guess. But letting her into his life in any capacity would put her in the sort of danger a woman like this could never dream up.
So for tonight he had to be Whitt the security guard. At least on paper.
“I love what I do.” He skimmed his fingers over hers, tracing the beds of her unpainted nails, paying more attention to her hands than he did to most women’s entire bodies.
This wasn’t like him. Spending time with a woman was always a means to an end. A path that led to a physical release and nothing else.
“But?”
Wade snapped his attention from their hands to her face.
Her fucking gorgeous face. Warm hazel eyes framed by long lashes studied him with an intensity he found in few other people.
The same intensity most people found intimidating in him.
“But sometimes it’s limiting.” It didn’t used to be. What he did was always freeing. No ties to bind him. Nothing holding him back or down.
He could be the wind. Constantly moving. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
But never still.
It was the life he knew. The life he understood.
“You don’t seem like the kind of man who would let something like a job limit him.” Her words were surprisingly accusatory, and it was his turn to feel judged.
“What makes you think you know what kind of man I am?”
She smiled. “What makes you think I don’t?”
He should have left. Should have walked out the minute he saw her. Watched her reading the people at the table around her.
Wade should have known she would try to see more than he showed her.
“You are an interesting woman, Carly Smith.” He dragged the fake name out, hoping she would admit the lie and give him the truth.
And for a second he thought she might.
Her almost green eyes lingered on where his hand now held hers as she pulled her lower lip between her teeth.
Wade held his breath. It was something he’d done countless times over the years. A way to focus all his attention on the person in front of him, making absolutely sure he would see everything.
Especially what they didn’t want him to see.
That’s why he didn’t miss the exact second she decided to stick with the lie she told. Tonight she would stay Carly Smith.
Not that he couldn’t learn the truth of who she was anyway.
He wouldn’t though. For her sake.
“No one’s ever called me interesting before.” Her eyes slowly lifted to his.
“I’m sure that’s not the case.” Wade knew damn well many, many people found this woman interesting. Most of them men.
Men who probably also found her quiet, thoughtful nature intimidating as hell.
Not him though. He found it fucking irresistible.
Unfortunately.
She chuckled, revealing the barest hint of a dimple on her left cheek. “Oh, it’s definitely the case.” The woman calling herself Carly smiled a little more, digging that same dimple deeper. “Most people don’t really get me.”
“That I would believe.” Wade leaned closer, trying to catch a little more of the alluring scent of her skin. It was different. Not what he would have expected her to be wearing and like nothing he’d smelled before. “But I can’t imagine there are many people you would want to get you.”
A tiny flash in her eyes gave her away. Told him he was right.
This woman was the very reason most people don’t get her.
She didn’t let them close enough to even try.
And damned if that didn’t make him like her more. Make him wish he could be one of the ones she let in.
It couldn’t happen. By his own choosing.
But still.
Her head tipped to one side as her hazel eyes moved over his face. It took everything he had to be as blank of a slate as possible. It shouldn’t be as difficult to accomplish as it was. It never had been before.
Finally she took a deep breath. “Why are you here tonight, Whitt?”
He almost told her the whole truth, barely managing to bite it back at the last second. “I was tired of sitting alone.”
It’s still more than he should give her. More than he should probably give himself.
Another flash of something passed across her unwavering gaze. Maybe understanding. “Being alone isn’t so bad.”
He shook his head. “It’s not.” Wade’s eyes dropped to where he held her hand in his. How long had it been since he’d held a woman’s hand?
Years.
Hand holding was something done by couples. People who could have a future and a past.
Not people like him. “But sometimes you can get sick of your own company.”
The sound of her laugh broke through the troubling thoughts fighting for acknowledgement in his mind, shattering them apart with the lightness of the sound.
“Isn’t that the freaking truth.” The woman who was captivating him more with each passing second let out a soft sigh. “I didn’t think anyone else ever felt that way.” She gave him a small smile. “Unfortunately I’m not sure I wouldn’t get sick of everyone else’s company too.”
Wade couldn’t stop his own smile. “I know exactly what you mean.”
It’s why it was always so easy to live the way he did. Keep everyone far enough away they wouldn’t get hurt. It kept things simple. Neat.
But this woman didn’t seem simple.
Not-Carly propped one elbow on the table and rested her chin on the knuckles of her hand. “I think I like your company though, Whitt.” Her eyes were sharp, narrowing just a little as she watched him the same way he watched her.
Looking for the truth.
He couldn’t give it to her. Even if he wanted to. This woman might be nothing like anyone he’d met before, but that didn’t change the reality of the situation.
The reality of his life.
“I like your company too, Carly.”
The name was bitter on his tongue. The lie she fed him even worse.
Because the reasons to give a man a fake name were few, and Wade was pretty sure he knew why this woman did it.
Carly, the mysteriously fascinating woman making him break the rules he set himself, was not single.
No doubt she had a man waiting for her at home. Maybe one that wronged her.
Maybe one she no longer loved, but didn’t know how to escape.
He could be that escape for her. Just for a night.
“Do you want to get out of here?” It was a phrase he’d used more than a few times. Its meaning was universally clear.
Wade found himself holding his breath once again, but this time it was for completely selfish reasons. He didn’t want to miss a second of this night. Didn’t want to forget a single breath this woman took.
“Where would we go?” The question was tentative. A little hesitant.
It was easy for him to be all in. He was big and capable of handling anything that came at him.
But the woman beside him had to consider the potential ramifications of leaving with a man she didn’t really know. She was smaller than he was by a fair bit. Not skinny or frail, just delicate. Soft curves and feminine angles.
And he was an unknown. Possibly dangerous.
Definitely dangerous. Just not to her.
“How about a movie?”
Her brows lifted. “You want to take me to a movie?” Her head dipped a little. “Now.”
“I want to take you wherever you want to go.” And then he wanted to take her places she’d only dreamt of going.
The longer he spent with her, the firmer the plan for the evening became in his mind.
One night.
With her.
Have all the things he’d never be able to keep. Just for a little bit.
Have her.
The lingering uncertainty still sat hazy in her gaze as it rested on him. “I don’t like movies.”
“Everyone likes movies.”
One pale brown brow lifted. “Do you?”
Another smile fought its way onto his lips. “No.” Wade reached for her with his free hand, finding a strand of her blonde hair and sliding it between his fingers. “What do you like to do?”
“I like to hike.” Her eyes moved to the window beside them, skimming over the darkened street outside. “That’s not very helpful right now though is it?”
“Not a night hiker?”
She shifted in her seat, sitting a little straighter. “I do hike at night, actually.” One foot slid from under the table and she held her leg up, displaying a heeled ankle boot. “I’m just not prepared.” She started to drop her foot back to the floor but he caught it, gripping her leg at the knee, propping it over one of his own before scooting closer.
“What are you prepared for?”
The tip of her tongue peeked out to skim over her lips before disappearing. “I feel like I should tell you I’m not in a place where I’m looking for anything serious.”
“Do I strike you as serious?” He shouldn’t be testing her. Knowing she was paying as close of attention to him as he was to her would prove nothing. Change nothing.
“Very.” Her lips barely twitched. “But I like that.”
“I’m glad.” It felt good to be honest with her about something. It made it too easy to keep going. “I like you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
Wade leaned in close, finally getting the full scent of her deep, dark perfume. He breathed it into his lungs, hoping it might stay there. Make it possible to keep a part of her with him long after he had to leave her behind.
“You’d be surprised what I know.” He dared to get closer, letting his lips barely graze the shell of her ear.
“And what I don’t know I can always figure out.”
3
SHE’D LOST HER damn mind.
But he was so...
So lots of things.
And all of them were making her consider leaving with him. Going wherever he was willing to take her.
Do something a little crazy for once in her life.
Bess shoved her half-empty bottle across the table. “Let’s go.”
The barely-there widening of his dark eyes gave away his surprise. At least part of him didn’t expect her to do this, which was way less than how much of her didn’t expect her to do it. Never in a million years would Bess have thought she would be the girl leaving a bar with a devastatingly handsome, but mostly unknown, man.
But here she was, and it didn’t feel as wrong as she thought it might. Quite the opposite actually. So far everything with him felt easy.
Felt right.
Whitt stood. A slow, easy movement that seemed to take forever. Probably because Bess held her breath the whole time. Watching him with greedy eyes.
Good Lord the man was gorgeous. The epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, and for some reason he wanted to leave with her tonight.
Maybe he was a serial killer.
The thought almost didn’t make her pause, but it was impossible to dig up any shame over it.
Still. She had to at least ask. “You don’t have a windowless basement with a padlock on it do you?”
His lips barely twitched with amusement. “I’m staying in a hotel.”
“Oh.”
She shouldn’t be feeling like she did at the news that Whitt wasn’t local. It was actually perfect that he was just passing through, because her life was complicated enough as it was. The last thing she needed was mister tall dark and handsome making things worse.
What she needed was for him to make them better. Show her the possibilities someone else tried to convince her didn’t exist.
And so far he was doing exactly that.
Whitt reached for her hand, lacing his long, strong fingers with hers. “Still want to come with me?”
Holy hell did she.
Bess nodded and a second later they were moving, Whitt leading her through the crowded bar with an ease that made her wonder how often he’d done it. Led a woman out into the night.
The bite at her stomach couldn’t be jealousy. That would be ridiculous.
So that meant it had to be excitement. Anticipation maybe.
Whitt having experience would be a good thing.
The street outside was cool and quiet, and the second the bar door closed behind them the silence fell heavy and fast.
Usually Bess loved silence.
Peace and quiet were her two favorite things.
Not right now, though. Right now it gave her room to think. Time to feed the gnaw of nervousness biting her belly.
“Where are we going?” Whitt’s deep voice curled around her. As warm and strong as the hand holding hers, and nearly as comforting.
“I’ve never done this before.” The admission slips out. While the idea of trying to be something different for a night was simple, the reality of the task was proving significantly more difficult.
She’d spent her whole life learning to be okay with who she was. How she acted. What she enjoyed.
And it felt like a step back to pretend to be someone else.
“I just got out of a relationship.” Bess glanced up at the man beside her. This probably wasn’t what he was hoping their exit from the bar would lead to, but life didn’t always give you what you hoped for, so he was going to have to suck it up. “I was with him for five years.”
Whitt let out a low whistle. “That’s a long time.” His hold on her hand tightened. “Why didn’t you marry him?”
Her eyes darted his way. “Why would you assume it was me that didn’t want to marry him?”
His lips curved into the devastating smile he’d gifted her a few times already. “Lots of reasons.” Whitt’s dark eyes moved up and down the street in a quick, sweeping scan. The firm line of his body went completely still.
A second later he yanked her hard, pulling Bess to one side, tucking her body tight against the building beside them as he pressed against her, his large frame blocking out her view of the street along with the sidewalk they just occupied.
Before she even had a chance to be startled, the sound of rubber on asphalt cut through the quiet of the night. Metal grated cement as a car jumped the curb she’d been standing next to a few seconds ago. A loud crash had her clinging to the fabric of Whitt’s shirt, pulling him closer, trying to keep him from the car’s path.
His head dipped close. “Breathe. Everything’s okay.”
He sounded so calm. Like this was an everyday event instead of a potential fatality.
The sound of the engine faded as the car continued on, disappearing down the street.
Bess stared up at the man who just saved her life, heart racing. “What just happened?”
Whitt held her a little tighter as his attention turned from the car to her face. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?” His hands moved over her head, down her neck and arms, gently squeezing as he went.
“I’m fine.” Bess watched as he checked her over, hands moving with an odd amount of efficiency as they covered all the spots that hit the brick wall of the building at her back. “What just happened?”
Whitt’s eyes barely lifted to hers for a second before going back to the road behind them. His jaw set. “I think someone had a little too much to drink tonight and decided to drive home anyway.”
Yeah. She’d figured that part out.
“I meant how did you know that was going to happen?”
She hadn’t even heard the car coming, let alone seen it. Somehow Whitt not only realized it was heading straight toward them, he also managed to get them both out of the way.
Without ever looking behind them.
T
he set of his jaw tightened and his already dark eyes went darker. “I heard him.”
Bess shook her head. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“Then you weren’t listening.” Whitt took a step back, scanning the street before taking her hand again and pulling her from the wall. “Come on.”
Bess let him lead her away, past a No Parking sign laying bent and broken on the sidewalk, and across the street. “Why were you listening?”
“I’m always listening.”
Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe Whitt wasn’t just some devastatingly handsome man in a bar, looking for a night of...
What was he looking for? Was he really only here because he simply didn’t want to be alone?
Bess stopped, digging in the heels of her boots as Whitt continued to walk a few steps before turning to face her. “What’s wrong?”
“What are you hoping to get out of tonight?” It shouldn’t matter. She shouldn’t give two craps why he was taking her back to his hotel, and initially she didn’t.
But suddenly now she did. Maybe because he just prevented her from being roadkill.
Or maybe it was something else. Something a little deeper.
The real reason she needed to know was there and gone in an instant. A flash of something she’d chased her whole life.
The desire to be understood.
In just the small amount of time they’d spent together, Whitt made her think he might be able to do that. See her in a way no one else could.
A brave woman might be able to offer him the same in return.
“I don’t know.” The honesty of his answer was unmissable.
Bess took a step closer to the man who wasn’t at all what he wanted the outside world to see him as. This time she paid closer attention to the way he stood, the way he watched.
The way he breathed.
All of it was intense in a way she’d never seen before.
On alert.
As if he expected something bad to happen any second.
Like it just did.
“What are you hoping to get out of tonight, Carly?”
She expected him to ask her, and was ready with the most honest answer she had. “Clarity.”
Whitt eased closer, bringing one hand to her face. His touch was careful and soft. So different than she would expect given the circumstances. “I think I can do that.”
Collateral Damage Page 2