Page 8 of Savage Protector

He snickered, but briefly, shaking his head. “Here, on this property. I’m not going to ask to take you anywhere else. That way, you know you’re safe.”

He had thought this out. Now, something began to build in my stomach like dread—tight, cold, and unsettled. “Why?” It was the question at the forefront of my mind, ringing out over suspicion.

“We can talk about it when we sit down over coffee. When is your break?”

The impulse to lie was strong. Funny how close I was to doing it without giving it much thought. I didn’t owe him anything.

But I did because things would have gone much differently if it hadn’t been for him. I didn’t want to think about how differently or painful it would have been, but when I recalled how terrified I was in those moments before this man rescued me, a cup of coffee seemed like nothing in return. “My break is in a half hour. We can go to the café, but I only get thirty minutes,” I warned. “So we’ll need to make it fast.”

“I can be fast. Thank you… Sarah.” His gaze lingered on my name tag.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Oh, of course.” Extending a hand, he said, “Grayson. Grayson Daniels.”

I was very much aware of what he was capable of doing with his hands when I shook his, watching as it engulfed mine while I remembered the strength behind it. The hair on the back of my neck lifted. He wouldn’t hurt me, right? How would I know?

I was never so glad for a customer to wave overhead, trying to gain my attention. Normally, I would roll my eyes inwardly and ask myself if they were afraid they would die of thirst before I got to them. Tonight, I hurried over there gladly, putting on a bright smile, doing everything I could to keep the memories at bay and ignore Grayson’s presence.

It just wasn’t possible. As I carried glasses back and forth across the carpeted floor and chatted with a few people familiar to me, even after only a month of working at the casino, part of me was always in the past. The recent past, the distant past, my subconscious trying to pull the pieces together and make sense of how my life had turned out.

Mom always waited for a man to save her. “Honey, this time our ship has come in!” Me, I grew up and realized there was no such thing as a white knight who would magically solve all of my problems. I figured her bouncing from one man to the other, looking for a savior, might have been what got her killed.

Meeting a man one night and repeating her mistakes. Walking into danger with my eyes wide open.

“Sarah!” I was getting better at recognizing the name and reacting right away, my head snapping around when I heard it. My manager, Wally, stood near the pit. “Break time.”

Oh, dammit. Had a half hour passed that quickly? I nodded in acknowledgment and glanced at the clock. Sure enough, I had lost track of time in all that rushing. Maybe Grayson had left. I couldn’t believe how much I hoped he had left.

No such luck. He sat exactly where I left him in front of the same slot machine I wasn’t sure he had actually played. Two middle-aged women passed him, both looking back over their shoulders to check him out before elbowing each other suggestively. They weren’t wrong. He was definitely gorgeous.

And he only had eyes for me. How flattering that would be under different circumstances, and if I hadn’t already been burned beyond belief.

I lifted my chin in acknowledgment, and he stood, surprisingly graceful for someone of his size. He moved fluidly, a man completely at home in his skin. There was no glancing around to see if anyone noticed him, no attempt at catching anyone’s eye to flirt or intimidate. In other words, he was completely beyond the sort of men I was used to.

That wasn’t enough to get me to trust him, though, because he still had those powerful fists and didn’t mind using them. Men with hair-trigger tempers were not to be taken lightly, no matter how handsome or self-assured they seemed to be.

“I hope this doesn’t cause any trouble for you with your boss,” he offered as we stepped off the casino floor and followed signs leading to a small café that served coffee and pastries around the clock. Stressful situations made me want to eat, meaning the sight of luscious chocolate-studded brownies in the display case made my mouth water.

“Please, let me treat you,” I offered as we approached the counter. “It’s the least I can do.” He dipped his chin before asking the girl behind the counter for an iced coffee, an order which I doubled before asking for a brownie. Ordinarily, I would have been thrilled to be seen with a man like him, reveling in the silent opinions of other women. What a shame my nerves had to go and ruin that.

Once we were seated at a small table close to the counter, I checked the time. “The clock is ticking. What can I do for you?” Because I needed to manage this. He was not the one in control here. I was through giving up my control to men, even gorgeous men with killer bodies who had a habit of staring at my mouth when I spoke and holding my gaze long enough to make my insides go fluttery.

A gentle smile touched the corners of his mouth, and humor sparkled in his eyes—eyes I could’ve drowned in and a smile that made me lose my breath. I wanted to like him. It wasn’t fair. “Right to the point. I was curious about you. I observed a few times the other night when I was first here that people called your name, but you didn’t answer them like you never noticed.”

There I was, proud of myself for getting better at that too. “Oh, really?” Now, I didn’t feel like eating a single bite of the concoction in front of me, but I did anyway, breaking off a piece and popping it in my mouth. Chewing gave me an excuse to stay quiet while I silently flailed around for an excuse. “So you were watching me?”

“I was.” I didn’t know what was more unnerving—his intense stare or his absolute frankness. He didn’t even try to flirt his way through it. He just came out with the truth.

“Why?”

With a smirk, he replied, “I thought I was the one asking questions,” before sipping his coffee. He took it black. Clearly psycho.

This was not the time for irritation to flare up, but it did, and it left me retorting, “I guess I was very busy. Don’t you ever get busy? Distracted, lost in thought? Is there anything wrong with not being able to hear everything everyone says in a busy casino?”

Now, he was going to tell me not to bite his head off. His eyes certainly narrowed like he was about to. Hopefully, he would decide I wasn’t worth the time. “I am always busy,” he murmured, the ghost of a smirk still floating over his handsome face. “How long have you worked out here?”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Wow, I did my best not to get defensive, but I only lasted roughly two minutes. Folding my shaking hands in my lap, I asked, “Please, can you tell me what this is all about? Because I would like to freshen up before I return to the floor.”