by Katie Reus
He nodded at the ground and stepped past her. She watched as he bent down and when he came back up with something in his hand she was even more confused at what she saw.
He held it up for her to inspect. “They shot this at me using a shotgun with some sort of modifier on it. I’ve never seen something like that before. I barely heard the release.”
“You mean they shot you with something police use in riot controls?” That was beyond weird. But also deadly. She’d read an article about the kind of damage those things could do if they hit someone in the head or ribs. “Where did they hit you?”
“Barely clipped my shoulder. Trust me, I’m fine,” he said as he scanned her from head to foot. “Did they hurt you? Did they say anything?”
A shiver raced through her as the reality of what could have happened slammed into her all at once. “They didn’t hurt me, but they would have.” As thoughts of how truly horrific tonight could have gone settled in her mind, another shiver took hold and soon she was full-on shaking, her teeth chattering even as she tried to speak. There had been three of them. She hadn’t even seen the third until that fight. And there’d been a driver, so that was four.
“Shit,” he muttered, pulling her into a tight embrace. The sudden hold should have shocked her but she was barely hanging on after what had just happened. “You’re okay.” A big, surprisingly gentle hand, soothingly stroked down her back, helping steady out her breathing and slow her heart rate.
Despite the fact that she was standing in the middle of the street—where the hell was anyone else?—with a stranger, she felt oddly safe in his arms. Still clutching her phone, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest. He smelled fresh, like clean linen with just a hint of a spicy aftershave. She struggled to find her voice, but couldn’t make her throat work as it tightened.
“Don’t try to talk just yet,” he murmured, slowly walking them until they reached the sidewalk. “Step up.”
She did as he said then took a deep, shuddering breath as she stepped out of his embrace. “I’m okay. Sort of.” Enough to talk anyway. “Again, thank you for saving me. If you hadn’t been here…” Shuddering again, she trailed off. She so didn’t need to say the words aloud. The images were already vivid enough in her crazy imagination. “Are you a cop or something?”
He shook his head before glancing around. “No, but we need to call them now. And get you out of this alley. I don’t like how cut off it is from everything.”
She wasn’t going to argue with getting the hell out of there. “My purse,” she blurted, nodding down the sidewalk where the contents of her bag were strewn about.
He fell into step beside her as they headed for it. “What’s your name?”
“Mina. You?”
“Alexander, but you can call me Blue. It’s my last name.”
Despite the remnants of fear clinging to her insides like kudzu, she let out a short laugh. “Blue?”
He lifted those broad shoulders, still not looking at her as he scanned the alley. God, she wanted to punch herself for walking down here alone. The city was relatively safe and this was a great neighborhood, but seeing it through a stranger’s eyes, she realized how truly quiet and cut off this street was. There weren’t any shops on it so no one had any reason to be down here unless they were cutting through. Like she’d stupidly done. That’s what she got for getting complacent. Back in California she’d never have done something like this.
Of course there she would never have been allowed anywhere without armed freaking guards. She raked a shaky hand through her hair as they reached her belongings. “Listen…I don’t want to call the cops.”
He pinned her with that dark gaze, making her squirm. The man was like a statue standing there. “Why not?”
She blinked, surprised he wasn’t immediately insisting she do it. “It’s complicated. Besides, what are they going to do except take a report? We’ll have to go down to the police station and make a statement. Then what? Did you get the license plate?”
He shook his head. “There was mud rubbed on it. But I got a good look at all those guys. And so did you. Right?”
“Two of them.” But if they went to the police it would eventually leak to the public who she was. Only a few people in Key West knew her real name and she trusted them implicitly. She’d been using her mother’s maiden name since she moved here so she could live in peace with relative anonymity. It wasn’t that her father was famous, just filthy stinking rich. And certain people would recognize her last name and try to capitalize on that. Or worse, hurt her. If she filed a report—and she couldn’t give a fake last name to the cops—and the media got wind of it… Yeah, not happening. She wasn’t going to sit back and just do nothing, but… “I’m not filing a report,” she insisted before bending to gather her things.
He knelt next to her and started helping. She was surprised, but relieved he didn’t argue. “This isn’t a purse, it’s like a fucking suitcase,” he muttered.
She laughed at his analysis because it was true. He handed her a fallen e-reader, then a new pack of paintbrushes she’d bought on her way to Jerome’s, as she gathered up everything else. When he paused, she frowned upon seeing what he’d picked up.
And felt her face heat.
He was holding two condoms. The silver wrapper with the word Playhouse in bold, black lettering was unmistakable. They looked so small in his big hands, which made a very feminine part of her tighten unexpectedly. When she’d had the painting for the Playhouse delivered they’d not only paid her, but sent her a very creative gift basket with all sorts of toys. Some things she hadn’t even known what they were used for until she’d Googled them. She’d planned to give the condoms and flavored lube to Jerome—thank God the lube hadn’t fallen out of her purse—but had forgotten after seeing the amount on her check.
“Those aren’t…” She cut herself off, not needing to explain anything to this stranger. She hadn’t had sex since she moved to Florida, not that that was any of his business. If she wanted to walk around with an entire arsenal of condoms and sex toys it was no one’s business but hers. Snatching them from his hand she shoved them into her purse. When she met his gaze again she was surprised by the flash of hunger in that dark gaze.
Unable to find her voice, she finally drank him in. All of him. Crouching there on the sidewalk he looked like a tiger, ready to pounce. Not necessarily on her, but there was a lot of strength and power in that body. That very muscular, very large body. And something told her that he was proportionate everywhere. With the sharp, defined lines of his face, he’d be a dream to paint. And sculpt. That thought made her hands itch to do just that. As her gaze landed on his lips she was struck by how soft they were in comparison to the rest of him. Soft, kissable…
When he cleared his throat she felt her face heat up again as she met his gaze. And that hunger was still there. It was muted now, but definitely simmering beneath the surface in those dark brown eyes. “Seriously, thank you for what you did. I can’t believe you took on all those men for a stranger. Can I buy you dinner or something? Please.” It was a lame way to thank him, but she couldn’t think of anything else.
Sighing, he rubbed a big hand over his face. “You should call the cops,” he muttered.
She ignored his words as she saw his bruised knuckles. “You’re hurt,” she said, sounding more accusing than she’d meant to.
Reaching out, she took his right hand in hers. It might have been her imagination but an electric current seemed to jolt through her at the contact. His palm and fingers were rough and callused as she inspected his knuckles. He jerked slightly at her touch, but didn’t pull away.
“This is nothing,” he muttered in that deep gravelly voice that did strange things to her insides.
Frowning, she shook her head and stood. “It’s not nothing. You’re coming back to my place so I can patch you up.” When it seemed like he might argue, she continued. “It’s not up for discussion.” She couldn�
��t explain it, even to herself, but she wanted to take care of this man after everything he’d done for her. Fighting off all those men, and for a stranger, it was incredible.
His dark eyes widened as he stood next to her—towering over her. Men never towered over her, never made her feel small and petite, but this guy did. It was jarring. Exciting. “Fine. But you’re telling me more about those men,” he said as they headed down the sidewalk.
“What’s to tell? I don’t know them.” As music and the sounds of happy, drunk people reached her ears, a sense of calm slid through her.
“But you know why they wanted to take you.” He wasn’t asking. “Because those guys didn’t have mugging or rape in mind.” His blunt words made her stumble as they reached the end of the sidewalk. As if realizing what he’d said he cursed under his breath. “Sorry.”
She shook her head, fighting off a shiver as she pointed left. “This way. And I really don’t know what they wanted.” But she had a small idea. Maybe. She needed to call her father as soon as she had some privacy. Then she would take action and hire security if necessary—which she was ninety-nine percent sure it would be. Involving the cops would be pointless and while she was very appreciative of this stranger’s help she wasn’t going to tell him everything. Especially not since he had a gun. The guy had saved her so she wasn’t worried about him hurting her. Well that and her internal radar wasn’t pinging out of control. She’d learned at a young age to figure out who was an asshole and who wasn’t. Blue definitely wasn’t.
“Hmm.” The sound he made indicated he didn’t believe her. But he didn’t say anything else, just stayed close to her as they headed down the sidewalk. When they neared a cluster of drinking college-aged kids laughing and clogging up the sidewalk, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered around them. “Stay close.”
A delicious shiver raced down her spine as she slid an arm around his taut waist. It felt weird to snuggle up to a stranger but after what had just happened she didn’t mind in the least. His warmth and strength were reassuring. Her nerves felt frayed the more she thought about what could have happened and all she wanted to do was get to the safety of her apartment.
He was silent as they walked, which was fine with her. When she was working on a project she would sometimes go for days without talking to anyone and this was a comfortable silence. But there was something she didn’t understand about this Blue.
“Why are you helping me?” she finally asked as they crossed the second-to-last street before her building.
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked almost absently as he continued scanning, so vigilant she had to wonder at what kind of training he had.
Because this man was trained. She’d had her fair share of bodyguards over the years and had no doubt Blue had a similar background. In that moment, she wanted to know a lot more about this tall, sexy man who’d gone out of his way to help a complete stranger—and didn’t even want her to look at his injury, because he was more concerned about her.
Chapter 3
Blue watched as Mina slid out a key card and put it into the slot on the silver pad next to the elevator. Tall, leggy, slender, with long dark hair that fell around her shoulders and breasts in soft waves, she was a fantasy come to life. When she looked up at him he realized she also needed to type in a code in the keypad next to it. Of course she wouldn’t want him to see it. He turned away so she could do it with privacy.
He couldn’t believe that she didn’t want to call the police after what had happened. He could have pushed, but it wasn’t his business. That didn’t mean he was letting this go though. Not when she could still be in danger.
Those guys had been professionals. Not as trained as him and clearly stupid since they hadn’t been wearing masks—or maybe they hadn’t cared about her seeing their faces, which was even more concerning. Though the fact that they’d hit him with a bean bag gun instead of using real bullets had been surprising. And telling about some of their intent. He’d been busy grappling with two of them when another man from the interior of that SUV had pumped a round at him. It had taken him off guard but luckily they’d run instead of continuing to open fire. He hadn’t wanted to use his weapon in a semi-public place unless absolutely necessary, though he would have done it without pause if they’d shot at him again.
Once they were in the interior of the small elevator, Mina’s sweet tropical scent wrapped around him. He felt tongue-tied around her, and it was more than just his adjustment to the civilian world. He had no problem talking with female friends. But he didn’t want to sleep with his friends. Mina, however, made his entire body come to life. And after finding those condoms in her purse, all he could think about was using them with her. Which wasn’t like him. He hadn’t been with a woman since he’d returned to the civilian world. Hell, he hadn’t been with anyone during his last deployment either. Mainly because it was too fucking hard to give anyone that level of trust.
He still had occasional nightmares and didn’t want anyone to see that. Especially not a woman. Of course he didn’t have to stay the night with anyone, but he wasn’t in to one-night stands. Not since his early twenties. Even though he was thirty-three, going on thirty-four, some days he felt like he was a hundred.
“What are you thinking about? You seem very deep in thought right now.” Mina’s soft voice broke him out of his thoughts.
Dragging his gaze back down to her, he found himself ensnared by her deep green eyes. They were like a forest green, so dark they almost appeared brown. And he could feel himself drowning in them. Tearing his gaze away wasn’t any better. He drank in the sight of her like a starved man and she was the only thing that could quench him. God, what the hell was wrong with him? The ankle length dress she wore was thin and clung to her in all the right places, not hiding a single delectable curve. He didn’t know much about women’s fashion but he was pretty sure the style was called Bohemian. Whatever it was, it was fucking hot. Covered in a multicolored pattern of greens and browns the top of the dress was a halter style, with two rope-looking things that tied around the back of her neck. And right now all he could think about was pulling that tie free so he could find out what color her nipples were, because he was certain she wasn’t wearing a bra. Scrubbing his hand over his face, he looked away. “Just wondering if you always invite strange men up to your place.”
She stiffened next to him. “I don’t, but even if I did it wouldn’t be any of your damn business.”
God, he was such a jackass. Realizing how that had sounded, he turned to her as the elevator stopped on the third floor. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He’d meant it from a security perspective. “I…I’m shit with people. I was thinking of something I shouldn’t and didn’t want to say it out loud. I’m sorry.” What the fuck had gotten in to him? He couldn’t believe the shit just rolling out of his mouth right now. He sounded like the biggest moron on the planet. Yeah, she was going to tell him to get the hell out of here right now. He stayed in the elevator, waiting for her to change her mind.
To his surprise, her green eyes lit up as she smiled and motioned to the open doors. “I’m shit with people too. Come on.”
Pushing out a breath of relief he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, he followed her out—and tried to ignore the soft sway of her ass as she headed for one of the two doors along the tiled hallway. She was slender and lean, but her curves were perfect. “This is me.”
Shit, this place was more than just nice. The fairly non-descript pastel blue four-story building located on a side street right off Duval had to be prime real estate. The location was close to the water, in a safe area and quiet enough that he couldn’t hear any music or other noises coming from the restaurants and clubs he knew were nearby.
“Wait,” he demanded as she put her key in the door.
She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes wide. “What?”
“Do you have an alarm system?”
She nodded. “Of course. And it’s always armed.”
“Okay.” Those men hadn’t targeted her randomly, something he was fairly sure she was aware of. So it stood to reason that her own home might be a target. Yeah, he didn’t like this one bit. He wanted to insist on going in first, but didn’t want to push his luck.
Once inside the beeping of her alarm sounded. After she turned it off, she immediately re-armed it to stay mode, which eased some of his tension. Barely. He wanted to see how good this system was. “So, what do you do?” he asked as she headed down a short, tiled hallway, unable to help but notice the extra number of security sensors along the tops of the walls. That was good—and interesting.
“I’m an artist. I sell my paintings and occasionally sculptures through a couple local shops, but recently—very recently—I did my first commissioned job. I’m hoping it’s not the last…” She trailed off as they reached the end of the hallway. Directly to their left was a small kitchen and that opened up into a living room and what he was certain was supposed to be a dining room area, but she’d turned it into a mini-library. It was filled with colorful paintings of ocean life and books, some on shelves and others stacked on the floor. It should appear cluttered, but it wasn’t. It was bright and full of life. A stark difference to his own condo in Miami. “Sit in there, I’ll be right back,” she said, pointing to one of the couches in the living room. Without glancing at him she disappeared to the right down a short hallway to what he assumed was her bedroom.
He heard her talking to someone and wondered if someone else lived here, but by the brief conversation he realized she was on the phone. Or at least leaving a message.
Looking at his bruised knuckles, he made his way to the living room and did as she said. The furniture was simple and mostly a light brown, but she had colorful throw pillows, blankets and art dotting the room making it seem alive. Minutes later she returned with a first aid kit in her long, elegant fingers. Her care was unnecessary, but he wanted to feel her hands on him again so he didn’t say anything.