Page 8 of His Sassy Little

“Follow him?”

“Follow him.”

Putting the car in drive, the pair pulled out behind Brian Preston. They followed him across town where he parked his car but didn’t get out. Arabella was just wondering what he was doing, when Tanner cursed and pulled out his phone.

“What’s going on?” Arabella asked him before he had a chance to call.

“See that motel over there?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the hotel where Diana and her bodyguard are.”

Oh, shit.

“So, he found her? How?”

“I don’t know, but I need to let them know to get out now.”

As Tanner pressed the call button on his phone, Arabella prayed for the first time in years. She prayed for the safety of a woman she didn’t know and yet, knew all too well.

“Blade, he found y’all. Get the hell out of there ASAP.”

There was a pause where she assumed Blade was talking before Tanner spoke again.

“I don’t know, man, as far as I could see, he hasn’t left his apartment this whole time. The first time he goes out, he comes straight to y’all. At this point, who cares how the hell he found her, just get her the fuck out, man.”

Another few moments of silence passed before Tanner said, “On it” and reached for the door handle.

Facing her, he ordered, “Stay,” like she was some kind of puppy, then headed straight for the car of the scumbag.

Like hell was she going to “stay”. If the goal was to distract the man like she assumed, she knew exactly how to do it. Nothing distracted a woman-beating douche canoe more than another woman.

She had the advantage over Tanner, since she wasn’t trying to be stealthy. She sauntered right up to Brian Preston’s window and tapped. As she suspected, it didn’t take long for him to roll it down.

“Can I do somethin’ for ya, Doll?”

Arabella shuddered. What was it with the pricks and calling women “Doll”? When James had first started calling her that, she’d found it cute, now it made her sick. She did her best to disguise her reaction and pasted on a smile she was far from feeling.

“Well, I was wondering if you might be willing to point me in the right direction? I was on my way to a meeting, but I can’t seem to find the coffee shop I was supposed to meet them at.”

Arabella wove a bullshit story for the man and listened intently to the directions he liberally peppered with flirtations, all the while watching as a woman and a big man disappeared around a corner. When she was pretty sure the coast was clear, she thanked the man in the car and headed back in the direction she came.

She was congratulating herself on a job well done when she ran straight into a brick wall. At least, it felt like one. When she looked up, though, she met the very angry gaze of Tanner Dawson. There was none of the usual tenderness in his eyes. No, they were filled with the fire of an irate Daddy.

Fuck.

Chapter Seven

Tanner had reached out to try and stop Arabella when she’d breezed past him, but the determined woman rushed by so fast, he couldn’t reach her in time. She fucking sauntered up to a man he knew to be dangerous and initiated conversation. He’d told her to stay!

Did the woman listen? Hell no!

Now, Arabella was smack dab in the middle of the kind of situation he least wanted her to be in. He’d known bringing her along was a bad idea. She had the bastard occupied, though, so Tanner sent the signal to Blade. He’d watched until they had made it to safety.

Apparently, his Little Hurricane had also been watching, she’d ended her conversation and came back his way. Tanner crossed his arms and stepped directly into her path. In her rush to get away, she wasn’t paying attention and ran right into him.

He uncrossed his arms and reached out to steady her. When she looked up at him, his face must have conveyed his anger, along with his worry. She paled and began to stammer. Tanner was going to have to think of some pain-free alternative punishments because this Little wasn’t ready for any kind of impact. He couldn’t think of a single little he knew who was asking for punishment more than this little imp.

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