Plus, unlike most people, she seemed to be genuinely at ease with his silence, and very few people made it past greeting him.
“Have we met before?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You look familiar for some reason.”
Dallas shook his head, wondering if his cover was blown. He’d been careful to stick to the shadows during the scuffle last night. There was no way that she had seen him.
Either way, that was his cue to leave. He’d lingered too long, and it was better that he not leave a lasting impression.
He got up from the booth, moving to the door even as Mel followed him, dodging a waitress as she shot questions at him.
“Have you heard about or seen any of those things? The giant monsters?”
Dallas didn’t answer, and as his hand was on the door, he realized that keeping his cover wasn’t the only reason he needed to be away from her. No, something deep within him was reacting to her in a way he’d never felt before.
Something was drawing him toward her. What, he still wasn’t sure. It was probably just the fact that she was his mission.
It definitely had nothing to do with her being the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
The bell on the door tinkled as he exited the diner, then again as she followed him out into the bright, afternoon Texas sun. Mainstreet bustled in front of them.
“What about transforming people? Seen anything like that?”
He grunted, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking both ways as he stepped out into traffic. Maybe if he crossed the road, she would stop following him.
No luck. She trailed him right out into the street. Damn, this woman was persistent.
As he stepped up on the curb on the other side of the street, he couldn’t help looking over his shoulder to make sure she got across safely.
It was a good thing that he did.
At the same time, a car skidded haphazardly out of ongoing traffic, speeding right at her.
Dallas cursed darkly as he lunged for her. This infuriating reporter was really going to get herself killed.
He grabbed her just in time, pulling her to the side and up onto the curb with him, narrowly dodging the car. That was twice in less than twenty-four hours that he had saved her.
“Careful,” he growled, maybe a little too sternly due to fear at what had almost happened. “You’ll get yourself killed.”
His own forcefulness surprised him. He maintained a cool detachment to pretty much everything, but for some reason, the idea of this woman getting hurt or possibly dying shook him straight to his core.
Dallas looked her up and down, assessing every inch of her to ensure that she wasn’t hurt. When he was satisfied that she wasn’t, he let her go and stepped back, eyeing her carefully.
“You—you saved me,” Mel said, blinking and eyeing the road. “That was so fast.”
He nodded slowly, watching her. She seemed a bit shaken up but otherwise fine. And now, at least, she wasn’t asking him any more questions. He could disappear and continue following her from a distance now.
That was until her eyes welled up.
Dallas’s eyes widened in panic. Oh hell, what was going on with this human? She was leaking. Upset.
Had he hurt her when he pulled her from the traffic? Was she okay? She smelled fine, and he hadn’t noticed any bruises or cuts when he had looked her over.
He had no idea what to do about her tears, but a low growl from his tiger deep within him told him he better figure it out quick.
4
Tears streamed down Mel’s cheeks, completely oblivious to their extremely inconvenient timing.
She’d honestly thought she was about to die, and the relief had just completely overwhelmed her.
So now here she was, on Main Street, silently crying in front of this man whose name she didn’t even know.
A man who’d glared at her and practically yelled at her for almost dying.
When she’d spotted him across the restaurant, he had been so utterly intriguing that she couldn’t help but walk over to sit down and talk to him.
She wasn’t usually the kind of reporter to chase after huge, gorgeous men, but there was something about him. And she’d been in the business long enough to know when to trust her gut.
Even now, as concern and confusion filled his glowing amber eyes, she couldn’t help but think that he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. He had rugged black hair down to his shoulders, a straight nose set above soft, kissable lips, and a stubborn jawline that was taut right now.
Not only that, but he was impossibly tall and ripped with muscles that couldn’t even be hidden by the loose white work shirt he was wearing. His huge pecs and biceps strained against the material.
An Adonis, complete with a black Stetson.
Not that she had time to be thinking about that right now when she’d almost died.
It just all felt like too much, between spending the night fearing that someone would break into her ratty hotel room, the crazy experience with the creepy, gross cowboys the night before, and Trent literally hanging her out to dry all morning.
She’d been up bright and early to chase leads, but after she’d gone over to his hotel room and knocked on the door, only to receive some bull-crap response about “not feeling well,” it had taken some of the wind from her sails.
Mel should have known that he would be a jerk, and to top it all off, she still hadn’t heard from him today.
“I’m sorry for bothering you,” she said, wiping her cheek and composing herself. “I’ll be more careful. Thank you.”
He was watching her now, silent concern plain on his face. It had taken almost being killed by a car to even get any words out of him.
Right now, it looked like more words weren’t forthcoming.
She turned to leave, but he spoke again. One word.
“Wait.”
His voice was deep and masculine yet slightly melodic, and her ears tingled as she turned back to face him. He was holding up a hand, gesturing toward a small hole-in-the-wall cafe that had outdoor seating. He walked over, pulling a chair from the table and eyeing her expectantly.
Mel rubbed her cheek again, understanding flaring. “You want me to sit with you?”
He nodded slowly, still holding the back of the chair.
This was probably a dead end, Mel knew that, but there was something about the way he was looking at her that made her want to join him.
Blinking away the rest of her tears, she walked over and took the seat he offered. Once she was seated, he walked around the table and sat across from her, still eyeing her with concern.
He didn’t say anything for few minutes, and when the waiter dropped by, clad in black and white, he silently pointed to the menu to order them both coffee and waved the server away.
When he finally did speak, his voice was quiet.
“What’s wrong?”
Mel blinked at the unexpected emotion, care, and protectiveness contained in the two words. She never would have expected such emotions from a rough-looking man like him.
She could trust him. She could feel it.
“It’s just been tough,” she said, letting it all out. “I was attacked last night and nearly killed today. My cameraman’s being flaky, and I need to go out to a ranch outside of town to talk to someone I don’t know, who probably has a bogus story, and it’s just all so frustrating. Nothing is how I thought it would be. Not that I’ll give up.”
“I’ll escort you,” he said in a low growl. His expression was hard, but his amber eyes showed that he was sincere.
She stared at him, wondering if she had heard him right. She couldn’t have, right? He had just been ignoring her minutes earlier, and now he wanted to accompany her?
“What?” Mel asked, confused. “I don’t even know your name, and you’re offering to help me? Don’t you have a job or a family or a girlfriend?”
“My name’s Dallas,” he said, shrugging. “And I’m free.”
>
Who was this secretive, fascinating man? She had to admit, although she knew next to nothing about him, his offer was tempting.
He had saved her once, and she was increasingly curious about this sexy cowboy. If she wasn’t already working on a story, she might have abandoned it just to try and figure him out.
Mel was good at getting things out of people. She had to be in order to be a reporter, but in the last little while, he had succeeded in getting more out of her than she got out of him.
If he came with her, she could continue working on her current story while figuring him out.
Plus, she probably should just be thankful. Still, part of her couldn’t believe that Dallas would want to help her.
“Why? Why would you help me?” she asked.
Another shrug.
Mel blushed and looked away. “Well, I’d be silly to turn down help. I’m heading up to Hillson Ranch. You know of it?”
He nodded.
She cocked an eyebrow. “How? Are you a local or something?”
He nodded again.
“Nice. Anyway, there are some people up there who claim they saw giant monsters.” She continued. “Apparently, they even got video of them.”
Dallas frowned, that beautiful jaw going taut again.
“Yeah, I know,” Mel said, laughing. “I still won’t believe it until I see it.”
Things hadn’t gotten that much better, and she was still no closer to figuring out what was going on in this town, but at least now she didn’t feel so alone anymore, nor was she really worried about anything like last night happening.
For some reason, being around Dallas felt kind of safe. Looking at him again, she got the feeling that she could just trust him.
And Mel rarely got that feeling about anyone.
Hopefully, her instincts would prove correct.
5
Later that day, Dallas ducked a little in the passenger’s side of Mel’s vehicle as they bumped down the extremely well-worn country road several miles out of town. It was so well-worn, in fact, that there were huge gaps and holes, and her van had little in the way of suspension.
Hence the ducking. Otherwise, his head would bang against the ceiling.
And he didn’t want to have to explain why there was a Dallas-shaped dent in the ceiling of her van.
Shifters had hard heads, after all.
“Sorry,” Mel said, grimacing as she looked over at him. “I didn’t think it would be this bumpy.”
Dallas shook his head.
It wasn’t more than he could handle. This whole afternoon had been unexpected. He had only planned on following from a distance, but that had gone out the window.
Hell, he couldn’t even leave her for a few hours for fear that she might get run over by a car, attacked by cowboys, or who knew what.
She was a walking disaster. And he’d never been as intrigued by anyone in his life.
Plus, it was better that he didn’t have to work from the shadows. The closer he was to her, the easier it would be to tell exactly what she was doing. And secretly, he was enjoying being around her, watching her, trying to figure out what it was about her that drew him to her.
Maybe it was her tenacity in the face of such a sticky situation. It wasn’t her fault that she just happened to be digging into something that he was specifically tasked with keeping quiet.
Unless a human was mated to one, it was never a good idea for them to know about shifters.
“I can see the ranch, but the road’s only getting worse, and my van’s not really made for this,” Mel said, wincing as they hit a particularly hefty bump. “Maybe I should stop.”
Dallas nodded. “Best not to get stuck.”
When she pulled over to the side of the road and shut off the van, he got out and walked around, holding out a hand for her to step down, which she took.
Damn, her touch was electric.
She let go of his arm, then took a few steps, but didn’t make it very far, as she was wearing heels.
Dallas fought back a small smile of amusement as he watched her wobble for a second on the uneven ground, determined to make it to the ranch.
Only when she was about to fall did he jump forward to catch her, almost instinctively.
He laughed as he swung her up into his arms. Those pretty newscaster heels really weren’t going to do anything on this terrain.
“Sorry,” she muttered, blushing and looking away. “I should have worn something more practical. They’re so picky about how I look when I do interviews, but after this, I’m going to wear what I want. I probably look really stupid like this.”
On the contrary, Dallas liked her exactly how she was, gorgeous curves and all. She looked delectable, but she felt even better.
He had one hand down supporting her sumptuous legs and another supporting her back as she leaned into him.
Feeling her against him was stirring up all kinds of crazy thoughts, like the fact that this was exactly how he would carry her if he was taking her to bed.
Oh, the things he could do to her, the pleasure he could show her. Dallas fought back the urge to lick his lips as she leaned in even closer against him and placed a hand against his chest.
At the touch, his tiger growled possessively.
Mate.
He shook away the thought quickly.
Not possible.
He had been right. Spending time around her was dangerous for a whole lot of reasons.
Dallas was both relieved and a bit disappointed when they got to the small ranch and he had to set her down. She still wouldn’t look at him, fanning herself with her hand as they stepped up onto the porch.
It was a small estate, with only a house and small barn off to the side. It looked like it had been a while since any repairs had been done, but everything seemed to be in working condition.
When they knocked on the old oak door, an aged rancher answered. He was wearing a faded flannel and blue overalls, and he frowned at them.
“What do y’all need?”
Mel stepped forward. “You must be Vern. Harry told me you saw something interesting the other day.”
Vern nodded, inching the door open a little more as he eyed them warily. “That’s right. I seen it, and no one’s believin’ me. Good thing my daughter got it all on video.”
Uh-oh.
Dallas cleared his throat. Hopefully, the video didn’t contain anything too interesting. If it did, he wasn’t sure what he’d do.
“Can we see it?” Mel asked, eyes lighting up in excitement. “I’m a reporter, and I really think there’s a story here.”
“Yes, I s’pose you could,” Vern said, nodding as he looked over his shoulder. “Franny!” he called out. “Bring the video of that lizard dino thingy!”
Mel shot a curious, excited look at Dallas, and he just shrugged.
A few minutes later, a woman who couldn’t have been more than twenty-six showed up at the door, holding her phone. She swiped through it for a bit, then handed it to Vern.
“Here, Pa, like you asked for,” she said.
“Thanks.” Vern held out the phone to them as the video played on the screen.
Dallas narrowed his eyes at it from over Mel’s shoulder. The footage was blurry and dark, definitely taken during one of the more recent storms. Most of it was too dark to see anything, but midway through, lightning struck the sky, illuminating what looked like the giant shape of a basilisk for a second.
Dallas frowned.
“Hard to see, I know,” Franny said, folding her arms. “But I seen it as sure as I’m seeing you now!”
Mel sighed. “Thanks so much for showing me. Unfortunately, it’s maybe too blurry to use, but it’s a start. The best I have so far.” She grinned at Franny, then Dallas.
Dallas just stood there, unsure what to say or do. Her vivaciousness just seemed to take root in him, making something light take hold of him maybe for the first time.
“Where was this taken?” Mel asked.
Franny pointed out over the hills. “Thataway, a few miles south.”
“Thank you.” Mel handed Franny’s phone back. “Would it be okay if we came back and went out to investigate it?”
Vern’s eyes went wide. “Do as you like, but I ain’t going near that range. If something that frightenin’ exists, I’m keeping me and my daughter as far away as possible.”
With that, he closed the front door, leaving Dallas and Mel standing on the porch in the waning evening light.
“I knew it,” Mel said triumphantly. “I knew something was going on out here!”
“I don’t know,” Dallas replied skeptically. “Could be fake.”
She nodded slowly. “Could be, but either way, it’s a new lead.” She smiled warmly, staring out at the beautiful Texas sunset from their spot on the porch.
Dallas turned and watched it with her, enjoying the way the last beams of red and orange played against the dark-blue sky and the mountains in the distance.
“Oh wow, that’s so beautiful,” she said. “You get to see that often?”
“Every night.”
Mel sighed. “I could get used to that.”
Dallas nodded, enjoying the easy moment with her. It was like, for a second, everything was simple. He wasn’t a shifter trying to protect his home and his life. No, right now he was just a man standing next to a beautiful woman, enjoying a sunset more than he ever had before.
Thinking about it that way, he couldn’t help but look at her and wonder what her lips, rosy and soft and dark, would taste like. What would it feel like to pull her close and savor her?
“You’re staring. Is something wrong?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.
Dallas looked away, shoving down the foolish thoughts. Of course things would never be that simple, and he didn’t have the luxury of wondering about such things.
He shook his head.
She eyed him warily for a second, then smiled and shrugged. “Fair enough. I’ll never know what goes on in that mysterious head of yours, will I?”
Dallas held her gaze for a moment, then frowned, not knowing what to say. “I’ll take you back to your hotel.”
Outlaw Tiger Page 3