Page 7 of Billionaire Boss's One Night Stand

Regardless, I tucked my hair behind my ear and sighed.

Maybe I should just go back to the apartment and?—

“Hey there, sexy,” a man said, easing up close to me. Too close. He knocked against my shoulder, hard, as if he was too drunk to stand and needed to collapse on me as a buffer on his way to the floor.

“Damn, you’re short.” He hiccupped, smiling goofily, before bringing his drink to his lips. “Sexy, short stuff.”

Like I hadn’t heard that before.

Well, not thesexypart.

“Um. Hi,” I replied, trying to retreat a step. He was in my space, bringing his beer breath in my face. Even worse, the rank odor of cigarette smoke wafted off his shirt to dirty me. The urge to gag built up within me.

“Hey, no. Don’t go.” He grabbed hold of my wrist, surprisingly strong with his grip. He was drunk, but with power.

Panic washed over me. Never before had I dealt with a handsy, drunk stranger. Partly because I never saw strangers. Back home, everyone knew everyone else. No one in Hamming would ever grab a woman’s hand like this. Or if they did, I knew who it was and could mostly guess at their intentions.

My naivety had never been so clear. I was clueless how to get out of this situation, too nice to ever cause a scene. I wasn’t built tough like that business woman who sneered at me. I lacked the gumption to tell this man off like the bartender who ranted at me in the first bar.

Sure, I took a self-defense class at the YMCA back home, but none of what I learned that day came back to me now.

Instinct had me flinching and cringing, trying to free my hand.Shit.He wouldn’t release me. His fingers dug into my flesh. I was trapped, and a need to survive and run away took over as he stared me up and down. His sleazy gaze lingered on my breasts, and I resisted a pathetic whimper.

My God. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

“Please let me go.”

He laughed, snickering immaturely. “Oh. So polite, too.” He yanked on my arm, hauling me close. “I’m going to?—”

“No.” That still worked in a big city, didn’t it?Nomeantno, but maybe that was an urban legend outside of small towns.

I didn’t want to hear what he planned. I wanted nothing to do with him. “No. Let me go.” I tugged hard, desperate to get out of his grip. I just wanted one drink to celebrate, and here, all I’d found was trouble.

Nothing gave way. His fingers remained locked on me like manacles.

I had no business thinking I could handle going out on my own, without any backup. I hadn’t even told Hailey where I was, so if this jerk was going to drag me off somewhere, no one would ever find out what happened to me.

Paranoia set in. Worst-case scenarios flooded my mind, and I pushed at his arm, trying to pry his fingers off mine.

“Let me—” I grunted, surprised when a man stepped between us. He was tall, and even the push of his side against my arm showed how muscled and hard he was. Cursed with my shortness, I always had to look up to face people, but this guy was almost a head taller than the pervy drunk who’d targeted me.

“There you are.” His deep voice was firm and full of command, suggesting not many argued back and lived to tell the tale. “I was looking for you.”

That was a lie, but I didn’t correct him. Wedging up close like this had broken that man’s hold on me. And with tall, dark, and handsome not budging from the slight space between the stools, he was a bulwark, a wall of defense.

The drunk protested, trying to see me around the taller stranger with the darkest blue eyes I’d ever seen. “Hey, man, I was just?—”

“You were just harassing my date,” the stranger stated. He almost sounded bored, dully reporting a grievance that he didn’t have patience for.

“Your what? No, man. She was standing here all alone. She ain’t with anyone.”

I swallowed quickly, my mouth suddenly so dry with the panic. This sexy man wasn’t waiting for me. I wasn’t his date. There was no way he could even know who I was, but I wasn’t that damn slow to catch on.

I had no way to explain it, but I just knew he wasn’t another creep, preying on me. He—whoever the hell he was and wherever he’d come from—was here to help me.

Unbelievably, thereweresome good people out there in the world yet.

“Yeah.” I forced another swallow and cleared my throat before trying to speak up loud enough again. “Yeah.” I grabbed the stranger’s hand. “I’m with him.”

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