by Paige Tyler
Kurt took a long swig of beer, concentrating on the cold liquid as it slid down his throat and hoping it would help cool down his sex drive at least a little, because he was in serious danger of overheating right now. And all they’d done so far was eat dinner. If he ever kissed Melissa, he’d probably burst into flames.
He stifled a groan and picked up his fork again as his cock stirred against the front of his pants. The food here was always good, but he could have been eating sawdust and probably enjoyed it because Melissa was so mesmerizing. She was funny, never at a loss for words, and when she smiled at him, his heart practically skipped a beat. She was sexy as hell, and he doubted she even realized it.
Despite how fantastic the date was going, Kurt’s gut told him this thing with Melissa probably wasn’t going to work out. While she hadn’t said it in so many words, she’d clearly hated growing up as a Navy brat. Between the constant moving from school to school and seeing her mom deal with the stress of raising a family pretty much on her own, her brothers and sisters had taken off for parts unknown as soon as they were old enough to leave. In her experience, the Navy was the worst thing ever, so why would she want to get involved with him?
That realization was like a kick in the balls.
But he was a SEAL and SEALs didn’t give up that easily.
So he forced himself to forget about Melissa’s hang-ups about where his paycheck came from and focused on having fun with her. Who knew? If he was charming enough, maybe she’d forget he wore a uniform to work and did a dangerous job for a living.
They were still laughing when they left the restaurant two hours later. Considering they’d just about shut the place down, Kurt wasn’t surprised the parking lot was nearly empty.
He was so focused on Melissa that he almost missed the three guys who came around the black SUV parked near his truck. Shorter and stockier than Kurt, they didn’t necessarily look like they were up to no good, but he’d spent years in combat trusting his gut, and right now his gut told him that something was about to go down.
Without a word, he took Melissa’s hand and gently pushed her behind him. She seemed confused for a moment, but when she saw the way he was eyeing the three men, fear flashed in her eyes.
Before Kurt could ask what the trio wanted, two of the men yanked cheap revolvers out from behind their backs and pointed them at him and Melissa.
“Don’t be a hero, dude,” the third guy warned. “Just fork over the keys to the truck.”
Kurt didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that this guy was the leader of this little group of losers, since he was doing the talking while his buddies stood there trying to look menacing. Kurt had seen menacing before and these lowlifes didn’t cut it. The term dumbass punks was the description he was leaning toward instead. But then he quickly quashed that thought. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to pull a trigger.
One of the armed men—the largest of the three guys—moved closer, putting his snub nose .38 in Kurt’s face. “He told you to give him the fucking keys!”
The guy probably figured he could cow him into submission by shouting and getting up close and personal like he was doing. It didn’t work. Kurt had been more worried in Melissa’s classroom this morning than he was right now. If the situation had been different, he would have immediately launched himself at the jerk who’d been stupid enough to get close to him. But he couldn’t risk it, not with Melissa here. He couldn’t take the chance she might get hurt.
Kurt held up his hands in a show of surrender. “Okay, just chill out.”
Keeping his eyes on the men, he slowly reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys. Unfortunately, his apartment keys were on the same ring as the one for his truck, along with a handful of work keys. There was also all kinds of stuff in his truck he wasn’t thrilled about these assholes getting their hands on, but it was all replaceable—even if it burned like hell to let them have it.
He calmly tossed his keys to the unarmed man. The guy leaped to catch them, barely keeping them off the ground.
The two guys with the guns began backing away, clearly ready to get out of there, but their leader didn’t follow. Instead, he moved closer to Kurt and Melissa, twirling the keys on his finger.
Behind him, Kurt felt Melissa tremble.
“You got what you wanted,” Kurt said. “If I were you, I’d quit while I were ahead.”
“But you ain’t me.” The man smirked. “And that fancy truck of yours isn’t all I want.”
Kurt’s gut clenched. He already knew where this was going—and it wasn’t anyplace good. “Take the truck and call it a night. That’s all you’re getting.”
The guy threw a quick glance at his buddies. “Looks like someone wants to impress his cute little girlfriend. Make her think he’s all tough and shit. How about we take your girl with us? Show her what it’s like to be with some real men.”
That caught his friends’ attention. Their eyes locked on Melissa, hungry expressions on their faces as they walked back over to join Big Mouth. As one, they spread out to circle around Kurt and Melissa.
Kurt had had about enough of this shit. Everything in him demanded he put all three men down, but he forced himself to wait until they were in perfect position.
Big Mouth must have taken his silence for acquiescence because he snickered. “Don’t worry. We’ll get her back to you in one piece—for the most part. Hell, she might like it so much, she won’t want to go back to you at all.”
The bigger of the two armed guys suddenly shoved his gun in his waistband and caught Melissa’s arm, pulling her toward him. She threw a panicked look at Kurt. He’d been in a lot of fights with men trying to kill him, but seeing Melissa this terrified made him want to stomp on this asswipe’s balls until they turned to potted meat.
Kurt grabbed the man’s wrist with his right hand, then slammed the heel of his left into the underside of the man’s elbow. There was a crunch as the joint bent in the direction opposite to the one it was designed to go.
The man immediately howled in pain and started going down. But that wasn’t the same thing as being down. Kurt couldn’t risk leaving a guy this big behind when he went after the other two. So he kicked out with his foot, connecting with the outside of the man’s knee. There was another crunch, and this time the would-be-carjacker-slash-rapist dropped like a rock.
Ignoring the wail he let out, Kurt ripped the weapon out of the guy’s waistband and tossed it aside, then grabbed Melissa’s hand and pulled her away from the action. Once she was safe, he turned and closed on the other guy with the gun.
The moron looked at him in confusion for a moment, as if he’d only just realized that the night’s fun had gone terribly wrong. He lifted his revolver, but it was too late. Kurt was already on him. He grabbed the man’s shooting hand, keeping it pointed down as he slammed the heel of his hand repeatedly into the guy’s face. As soon as the guy’s knees started going wobbly, Kurt reversed his grip on the man’s hand, twisting the weapon out of his grip as he tossed him over his hip and put him on the ground.
Kurt kept the gun this time, aiming first at the guys on the ground, just to make sure they stayed there. Once he’d confirmed neither of them were getting up, he spun and advanced on Big Mouth.
The urge to shoot the jackass who’d been going to take Melissa from him was stronger than anything he’d ever felt in his life, but Kurt resisted. While shooting this asshole might feel good as hell, it wasn’t the smart thing to do. Or necessary. Instead, he kneed the guy in the balls as hard as he could, then did the same to the son of a bitch’s ugly mug when the guy fell forward.
Kurt spun around before the man even hit the ground, checking to make sure his buddies still hadn’t gotten up. One was still rolling around in pain. The other was out cold.
Carefully setting the revolver on the ground, he finally turned to Melissa. She was standing in the exact same place he’d left her, shaking, scared, and on the verge of freaking out.
Kurt’s fir
st instinct was to run to her and wrap her in his arms, but he forced himself to move slowly. Not only had Melissa been held at gunpoint by three lowlifes who’d intended to rape her, she’d also just seen him take them down with what was almost certainly more violence than she’d ever experienced in her life. It was going to take her a while to process all that.
So instead, he walked over to her slowly, his arms open wide. She ran into them, burying her face in his chest as he wrapped them around her. Then she began to cry softly, like she didn’t want him to hear. But he did, and the sound tore at his heart like nothing he’d ever felt. He hated to hear a woman cry, especially Melissa.
He gently ran a hand over her hair. “Shh. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Kurt knew he should probably call the cops, but he didn’t want to let Melissa go long enough to do it. Not yet.
It turned out he didn’t have to. Just then, four men came running out of the restaurant, one armed with a baseball bat, and the others with big kitchen knives. They skidded to a stop when they saw Kurt and Melissa and the three guys lying broken at their feet.
“They tried to jump us,” Kurt said. “Can one of you call the police?”
The man with the baseball bat didn’t take his eyes off the men. “We already did. You and the lady okay?”
Kurt nodded. “Yeah. We’re fine.”
He was still holding Melissa when two patrol cars pulled into the parking lots, lights flashing and sirens blaring. He wasn’t looking forward to what came next. There’d be lots of questions, followed by lots of phone calls, maybe even an arrest. He might have been defending Melissa and himself when he took down those assholes, but that didn’t mean the police wouldn’t haul him in anyway, simply so the district attorney could figure out how to handle everything.
Not exactly the best way to end a first date.
CHAPTER FOUR
THINGS HADN’T GONE as smoothly with the police as Kurt would have liked. They had a hard time believing an unarmed Navy guy could take down three men, two of whom had weapons. Some of that might have been Kurt’s fault. He deliberately left out the part about him being a SEAL. If that tidbit of information showed up on the police plotters, the media would be on the story in a flash. That wasn’t good for the Navy or SEAL Team 5. Luckily, the people who worked in the restaurant had seen enough of what had happened to support his and Melissa’s stories.
On the downside, they’d spent more than two hours giving their statements to four different cops—both together and separately. Melissa hadn’t said a word since.
Kurt hoped that was because she was simply exhausted, but part of him worried it was because she was in shock.
He pulled the truck into the parking lot of her apartment complex and found a space, then cut the engine.
Beside him, Melissa didn’t move.
“We’re here,” Kurt said softly.
She gave a little start, blinking as she looked around. “Oh.”
Kurt jumped out and hurried around to her side of the truck to open the door. She let him help her out, but released his hand the moment her feet touched the ground. For some reason, that stung way more than it should have.
They walked upstairs in silence, then down the hallway to her apartment. When they got there, she opened her purse to dig around for her keys, but it slipped out of her hand. Melissa mumbled something and moved to pick everything up, but Kurt got there first. He scooped up her lipstick, brush, wallet, and keys, shoving them back in her purse.
“Which apartment is Veronica’s?” he asked as he as he stood up.
“What? Why?”
“I don’t think you should be alone right now.”
And while he definitely wouldn’t have minded sleeping on her couch, he didn’t think she’d go for it.
She frowned. “It’s late. I don’t want to wake her up at this time of the night. I’m fine. Really.”
Kurt might have believed her if she wasn’t as white as a ghost and her hands weren’t shaking.
“Melissa, you’ve had one hell of a night and I don’t want you to be alone after something like that. So you’re either going to tell me which apartment is Veronica’s, or I’m going to start knocking on doors.”
He thought Melissa was going to fight him over it, but after a moment, she sighed. “It’s right across from mine.”
“Thank you.”
Kurt placed his hand on her back and urged her in that direction, then knocked on the door. Hopefully Veronica was a light sleeper.
The door opened immediately to reveal a surprisingly wide-awake Veronica. Her smile disappeared the minute she set eyes on her friend. She quickly stepped forward to wrap her arm around Melissa.
“Honey, are you okay?” When Melissa didn’t answer fast enough for her liking, she shot a questioning look at Kurt. “What happened?”
“Some guys jumped us as we were leaving the restaurant,” he said.
Veronica’s eyes widened. “Oh my God! Did they hurt either of you?”
He shook his head. “No, but I’d feel a lot better if Melissa wasn’t alone tonight.”
“Of course,” Veronica murmured.
Kurt wanted to hang around to make sure Melissa was okay, but something told him that she needed Veronica right now more than she needed him.
“I’m sorry the night didn’t turn out differently,” he said, leaning forward to press his lips to Melissa’s forehead. He would have preferred to end the date with another kind of kiss, but he figured that would be a bad idea. “For what it’s worth, I really did have a good time with you.”
Melissa nodded. “Are you going to be okay alone tonight? After what happened, I mean?”
He gave her a small smile as he trailed his fingers down her arm. “Yeah. Sad to say, but the stuff that happened tonight is something I’m kind of used to.”
She caught his hand as he stepped back, holding onto it for the briefest of moments before releasing it. Just like that, the connection between them was broken, making him wonder whether there was ever one to begin with.
Kurt wanted to say that he’d call her, but he didn’t. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he was pretty sure she didn’t want him to.
So instead, he gave her a nod then he turned and headed for the stairwell, refusing to let himself look back. It was scary how much it hurt to walk away from Melissa. Just another indication of how good things could have been if only fate had been kinder to them.
* * *
Melissa refused to move from Veronica’s doorstep until Kurt stepped into the stairwell and disappeared from sight. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was hoping he’d turn around and come back, or because she was trying to work up the courage to run after him.
Neither of those things happened.
Letting out a sigh, she walked into Veronica’s apartment and straight over to the leather couch, then collapsed onto it. Her friend flopped down beside her.
“Do you want a glass of water?” Veronica asked. “Some tea maybe?”
Melissa shook her head. “No, thanks. Were you waiting up for me?”
“Yeah. I wanted to see how your date with Kurt went.” Veronica half turned on the couch, tucking one leg under her. “So, how was the date? Other than the part where those jerks tried to jump the two of you, I mean.”
Yeah, she’d rather not think about that part.
“It was fun.” Lips curving, Melissa shifted on the couch, mirroring Veronica’s position. “We went to this barbecue place that was really good. Not that I was paying much attention to the food with Kurt there.”
Veronica grinned. “I knew you were hot for him!”
“I never said I wasn’t. Kurt’s gorgeous, funny, and smart, not to mention the most charming guy I think I’ve ever been around.” She frowned. “I almost forgot he was a SEAL until those three guys showed up.”
“What do you mean?”
Melissa didn’t want to talk about what had happened in the parking lot. She got the shakes ju
st thinking about those men and what they’d planned to do to her. But it hadn’t only been the attack that had turned her knees to jelly and kept her silent the whole ride home. Seeing Kurt do what he’d done had kind of freaked her out, too.
She grabbed the throw pillow from behind her and hugged it, wishing it was Kurt she was holding on to. “At first they only wanted Kurt’s truck, but after he gave them the keys, they decided they wanted me, too.”
“Oh, God,” Veronica breathed.
Melissa shuddered at the memory. The image of those men staring at her like she was a piece of meat would be etched in her mind forever.
“When one of the guys reached out and grabbed me, Kurt went… crazy.” She shook her head. “Just between you and me, I’m not sure what scared me more—what those men had been planning to do to me, or watching what Kurt did to them.”
Veronica looked confused again. “I don’t understand.”
Melissa didn’t look at Veronica as she played with the tassel on the edge of the pillow. “All through dinner, Kurt went out of his way not to mention the Navy or what he does as a SEAL. I’m not naïve. I know what SEALs do for a living and that they sometimes have to resort to violence. For a little while there though, I completely forgot he was a SEAL.”
“And then?” Veronica prodded when Melissa hesitated.
She sighed, not sure how to put it into words without sounding ungrateful. “Then those jerks attacked us, and the sweet guy I’d had dinner with disappeared to be replaced with a man I barely recognized. I don’t know how to explain it. Kurt put those three men down like it was nothing. It was so cold and calculating. I feel horrible admitting it, but it kind of scared me.”