Page 9 of Savage Protector

A shadow passed over him, stiffening his posture, tightening his jaw. “Fine. Have it your way.” Nudging aside the cup with the casino’s logo printed on the side, he folded his hands on the table. It took every ounce of my concentration not to stare at them, remembering the sickening crunch of bones and the alarming but very real thrill of watching someone who hurt me get what he deserved. “An old friend of mine came to me recently and asked for my help. He told me someone he cares about left him because they learned more than they should have about his business.”

Oh my God. I suspected this, didn’t I? Deep down inside, I knew there could only be one reason why a perfect stranger would take this kind of an interest in me. It was why I didn’t want to trust him, after all.

But hearing him say it? There was a difference between suspicion and having no room for doubt. My stomach turned and sent coffee and chocolate rushing into my throat, making me grip the table and close my eyes in a desperate attempt to hold on until the wave passed.

“I’m sorry if I shocked you.” He didn’t sound sorry, did he? No, he was all business. “But I’m here on a job.”

“A job,” I choked, still battling the nausea that had me in its grips. “I’m glad you think that’s all it is.”

“You think you’re getting away from me? You will never get away from me because you belong to me.” I almost gagged at the memory but fought it back, rising to my feet, swaying but somehow managing to stay upright as I held onto the table for support. “Get out of here before I have security take you out,” I whispered, opening my eyes to find him looking up at me with a surprising lack of alarm. He might have been a man staring up at the clouds, silently observing without a hint of what he was thinking.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said like that made a damn bit of difference.

“I don’t care,” I insisted in a whisper. “Go.”

“Hear me out.” That was when he made the biggest mistake of all. When he reached out and touched my hand, the shockwave that flew up my arm made me shudder, or was that my imagination? It would have been so easy to trust him or at least convince myself to. His touch was electric yet somehow comforting.

Which made it dangerous.

Comfort was an illusion, after all.

And I’d be damned if I let myself forget it.

Yanking my hand back broke the connection. It was a good thing, no matter how completely alone I felt in its absence. “Get out of here,” I urged in a whisper. I didn’t bother waiting to see if he would because I couldn’t stay still. I had to go, now, far away. Just as far as I could go. What was I thinking stopping in Primm? I should have gone to Mexico or maybe East, instead. I should have kept driving and not stopped until the car broke down. And even then, I could’ve walked.

I wasn’t thinking. Panic was too strong to let anything like rational thought take control. Stumbling almost blindly, I somehow made it to the locker room and pulled out my purse. “Sarah? What are you doing?” somebody asked when I took off my name tag and tossed it into the locker. There was no finding the words to explain, so I didn’t bother. If anybody tried to stop me, I would tell them I was sick. I felt sick, so it wasn’t a lie.

He found me. He fucking found me. There I was, hoping Dominic was bluffing. But no, he hired somebody to look for me. Shit, did he already know I was found? Why hadn’t I asked Grayson?

Grayson Daniels. I needed to remember the name. I needed to look him up and find out who he was, but that’s only one item out of a long list I could handle it later.

Right now? I had to go.

I had to keep going as far as my meager savings could take me.

5

GRAYSON

And when I opened my eyes in a bright, sunshine-filled room, one thought rang out in my mind like a gong.

I fucked up.

How badly had I fucked up? Badly enough that instead of going home last night, I had rented a room in a nearby motel. There was no sense in making the near-hour drive back to Vegas when I knew I would only come this way again. I had to. I had to make things right somehow.

The only problem was I didn’t have the first clue what that looked like, making it right. I had terrified her by being too blunt and forward. I’d gone into it telling myself to tread lightly, but there was no tiptoeing around shit with a person who demanded truth they only thought they wanted to hear.

Yet another reason to suspect Dominic had more to do with her running away than he wanted to let on.

Sitting up in bed, my back protested after hours spent tossing and turning in a vain attempt at getting comfortable. I might as well have slept on the floor. A few stretches helped, and after a stop in the small but clean bathroom, I went through a series of push-ups and crunches to get my blood flowing and my brain clicking.

Dammit, I had fumbled the ball, but what was I supposed to do? It was obvious the girl was guarded, wounded, afraid. She must have left the casino after leaving me in that little café since I stuck around another hour and never saw her again.

By the time I finished my brief workout, it was clear whatever she had seen or been through was enough to scare her shitless. Instead of blaming myself for scaring her off, I needed to start thinking about what would make her run from me.

Not that it was my problem. The realization and the truth behind it made me uncomfortable, but it changed nothing. I had been sent here on a job. I had found my subject. All that was left was reporting back to Dominic. He could take it from there.

I told myself that. I did. And it was the truth.