Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 124140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Yes, motherfucker!
His hold on her loosened, and she dropped to her feet. She set off, but that’s where her luck ran out. A big guy stepped out of the shadows and grabbed her. Who the fuck was he? She opened her mouth to scream again, but that’s when Vince stepped up behind her and wrapped something around her mouth.
A fucking gag. Fucking bastard.
“Thanks, Ronnie. Keep an eye out for me while I have a bit of fun with this cunt.”
She tried to swing out at the bastard, but he pinned her back against the wall of the restaurant. She drove her leg up, but she didn’t have enough room and he easily subdued her.
A sob escaped. This couldn’t be happening.
Her hands were pinned above her head as he pawed at her. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Go somewhere safe.
Somewhere this isn’t happening.
There was a flash of lights, but she didn’t pay them much attention. A car couldn’t fit down this narrow side alley.
There was a thud and then suddenly, to her shock, Vince was ripped away from her with a roar.
Confused, she slumped to the ground as she saw someone throw Vince down. They descended on him, arms moving in a blur that she could barely follow as they punched him over and over.
Finally, her protector stilled. Then, he turned to her, and she shied back with a cry. She couldn’t . . . she couldn’t have anyone else touch her.
She heaved for breath.
What was that noise? It sounded terrible.
“Shh. Shh, Pequeña. You’re all right.”
That voice was familiar.
“See? It’s me. I won’t hurt you. No, no, don’t flinch back. You’re all right. I’m going to help you.” He drew out a phone. “Cairn, come down the alley. I have two packages that need removing.”
She looked behind him to where Vince lay on the ground, removing the gag from around her mouth.
“D-did you k-kill him?”
“He’s still alive. How long he stays that way is debatable.”
The dark note in his voice had her shivering for a different reason.
“You hurt him to save me,” she whispered. “Why?”
“I do not abide by men hurting women like that.”
Oh. That was admirable, she guessed. And she wasn’t disappointed by the fact that he didn’t do it for her.
That it was something he’d do it for any woman he came across.
Because that would be stupid.
Alejandro moved closer and she shied back again, unable to help herself.
“Do not move away from me like that, Pequeña. Do not look so scared. I am holding on by a thread here, and you looking so frightened is nearly sending me over the edge.”
Huh?
She wasn’t certain that she understood what he was saying. But she nodded woodenly.
No being scared of him.
Right. She’d get onto that.
He muttered something to himself that she couldn’t understand.
“I’m a hard man. I don’t have soft words for you. I don’t know what to say to make it all okay.” He sounded angry about that. Why was he angry?
Probably because he had to rescue you.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Why would you say you’re sorry?” he asked as two men approached from the small parking lot behind the restaurant.
She yelled. “Watch out.”
He whirled.
“Just us, Boss.”
It was dark out here. There should have been a security light, but it wasn’t working. So it took her a moment to realize one of the men was a bodyguard from the other night. Not The Scot, the other one.
She sucked in a shallow breath, then another, trying to curl herself into a small ball. She didn’t want anyone looking at her.
“Grab those two,” Alejandro ordered. She sensed him moving and she wanted to grab hold of him. To tell him to stay with her.
But he wasn’t hers to cling to like a buoy in the storm.
You should be tougher than this, Cat.
She’d thought she was. She’d always thought she’d be able to hold off anyone who attacked her. Whenever she left the apartment, she usually always had her stun gun and pepper spray. But they were in her locker, useless. And everything Sampson had tried to teach her about self-defense had flown out of her head in her panic.
So much for being tough and street-smart.
Someone bigger and scarier had grabbed her and she’d froze.
She let out a squeak of fear as Alejandro approached her.
“Easy, Pequeña. He tucked his suit jacket around her. He turned his head back. “Stop staring at her and get a move on. She is not your business.”
She glanced up at his harsh words to find the second man who’d come into the alley, moving his gaze hastily away from her.
Great. Now she was a freak show.
She placed her head on her knees. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. It shouldn’t have happened.”
“No, it shouldn’t have happened,” Alejandro agreed. “Look at me.”
She wanted to ignore the order. Heck, she wanted to forget everything that had happened. All she wanted was her bed, Snuggly, and Roger.