Page 7 of Securing His Heart

All she wanted was to get home and get out of these clothes. Try and forget what had happened to her.

Regret that she hadn’t gone home straight after work slammed into her, quickly followed by remorse at the thought. If Lindy had gone home, she wouldn’t have met the man standing next to her.

Was it really a good idea to remain close to him? He wasn’t from Perth. His accent proved that. Chris was passing through and if they did indulge in something that night, it wouldn’t go anywhere.

“I don’t think the police will be able to do anything. He wore a mask so I can’t really give them a description of him.”

A shudder rippled through her as she recalled the vehemence in his voice. The way he’d snarled at her and said, “This is only the start, bitch.”

A strong arm curled around her shoulders then her face was pressed into a hard chest. As Chris’s other arm encircled her, Lindy became aware her whole body was now shaking.

“I’ve got you, Lindy. You’re safe now.”

How long they stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms in the middle of the sidewalk, she couldn’t guess. She did indeed feel safe, and she hadn’t felt that way in a long time.

Two hours later, Lindy and Chris walked into the foyer of his hotel. The fact she didn’t have keys to get into her house and her mother was almost three hours away, the police recommended that she stay in a hotel for the night, and get the locks changed on her house the next day.

Once she got inside her house, she could get the spare key for her car. At least that was safely locked in the garage beneath the building where she worked. The second the police suggested that course of action, Chris had immediately informed them that she would be staying with him.

They’d seemed happy with that and Lindy was too exhausted to put up too much of a fight. Call her weak, instead of the independent woman she always was, but even she could admit she didn’t want to spend the rest of the night alone. Still, she didn’t need to let Chris know that she’d liked his suggestion an awful lot.

“This is totally unnecessary; I can go back to my building and sleep in my office. It’s got a bathroom and everything else I need.”

“And how many times have I told you that’s not happening.” His voice was firm and unbending.

“Fine.”

Lindy hoped guilt wasn’t driving him to make the decision to let her stay in his hotel room.

The elevator arrived and she was grateful that they were the only two occupants. She headed for the corner and leaned against the cool glass, letting her eyes drift shut.

Lindy sensed, rather than heard Chris move to stand beside her, her silent bodyguard.

None of the men she’d ever gone out with had gone out of their way to make her feel as cherished as this man had done in the few hours they’d spent in each other’s company. Not even Skip, her husband, had treated her as if she was his most precious possession. No, he’d treated her as a means to an end and she’d been too naïve to see it.

Was she making the same mistake with Chris as she’d made with Skip?

Trusting her ex the second she’d met him had proven to be the mistake of a lifetime.

The ding indicating they’d arrived at Chris’s floor, had her opening her eyes and standing straight. Her gaze immediately met his.

Had he been watching her while she’d been lost in thought?

When the doors opened, he swiveled with the precision of someone who had done the action a lot and stepped to the edge of the cart.

Lindy went to follow, but he held up his hand.

“Wait a second.” He poked his head out and looked in each direction before giving a quick nod as if assuring himself of…what? “Okay, we’re good to go.”

Exhaustion was seeping into Lindy, and as much as she wanted to question him as to why he’d done what he’d just done, she kept her lips closed and followed him down the quiet hallway.

They reached a door and Chris tapped his room card against the reader, the click of the lock disengaging distinctive.

The sound triggered nerves inside of her, she was about to go into a strange man’s room.

When had she lost her sense?

What if Chris had been working with the person who’d stolen her bag? What if this was a scam that they pulled often on unsuspecting women? What if he gave her a drug laced drink and then she woke up some place that wasn’t Perth?

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