Page 76 of An Indecent Longing

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Ian wasn’t asleep when his phone rang. Nowhere close.

When he saw Ben’s name pop up on the screen, he almost swiped it into his voicemail.

Grow a set, asshole.

“Ben, what’s up?”

“Someone just tried to snatch Dorrie.”

“What the fuck?”

Already on his feet, Ian took the stairs two at a time for his bedroom. He needed to be dressed if he was going out. “What happened?”

“We’re at Dorrie’s.” Ben’s voice dropped, as if he didn’t want Dorrie to hear him. “I’m not sure if someone tried to grab her deliberately or if she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. But Ian…it didn’t seem random.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen.”

He threw on jeans and a t-shirt and shoved his feet into combat boots. An old habit but one that’d served him well. Whatever the situation, combat boots were necessary to kick ass.

When he parked in front of her building twelve minutes later, he had to wait several teeth-grinding seconds for the guard to call up and verify his admittance with Dorrie.

He couldn’t hear her voice through the phone line, but finally the doorman hung up and nodded to him. Ian was already on his way to the elevator.

As he watched the numbers descend, he seriously considered just taking the stairs but some part of his brain realized that was stupid.

He hadn’t let himself think too much about what had happened, didn’t want to let his imagination get away from him. But the knot in his stomach wouldn’t ease.

When he finally got to her door, he barely had to knock. Ben had obviously been waiting for him.

They exchanged a quick glance then Ian slipped through the door and searched for Dorrie.

Huddled on one end of an overstuffed, deep purple velvet couch, she had her knees drawn up against her chest and one arm wrapped around them while her free hand held a glass perched on top of one knee.

He reined himself in enough to calmly ask, “Are you hurt?”

Her gaze had locked on to him the second he’d walked into the room but now she blinked as if coming out of a haze.

“No. I’m not hurt.”

“What happened?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess…they were going to try to get me into their van. Until Ben kicked the shit out of them.”

Her smile was fleeting but allowed him to take a deep breath for the first time since Ben had called.

Now he turned back to his cousin and nodded toward the kitchen he could see toward the back of the apartment.

But Ben shook his head. “I don’t think it was random. The guys looked professional and they fought like they were trained. If they’d had another guy, I might not have been able to fight them off.”

Ian saw Dorrie suck in a deep breath then take a healthy swallow of whatever she was drinking. “Ben, let’s—”

“No.” Dorrie’s head popped up and her voice held an edge. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to come in here and take over.”

His jaw set and he had to tamp down his immediate response, which was to tell her she’d do what he told her and she’d be safe. Apparently Ben was smarter than he was.

Ian caught Ben’s smirk and shook his head.

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