Page 17 of Safe and Sound

Slapping my palms against his chest, I shouted, “I said no!”

“Don’t be that way, baby. I can make you feel real good.”

While panic rose in my throat, I kept my wits. Reaching back into my mind, I focused on the self-defense tactics I’d been taught. My father had paid for me and all his granddaughters to attend self-defense courses at the local YMCA.

Just as I started to enact the SING method and go for Chris’s solar plexus, he was forcefully jerked away from me, sending me spinning. When I whirled back around, I gasped at the sight before me.

A tall, dark-haired man had Chris by the throat. The expression on his handsome face was pure menace. “Are you hard of hearing, mate?” he questioned, his voice cold and lethal.

When Chris furiously shook his head, the man narrowed his eyes. “You sure as fuck must be because the lady saidno.”

Clawing at the man’s hands, Chris fought to breathe. After staring him down, the man shoved him away. “Get the fuck out of here, and don’t ever come back.”

After watching Chris sprint away, I turned my attention back to the man. The venom had drained from his expression. In itsplace was a panty or thong-melting smirk. As he strode over to me, I could tell he thought he was the master of the universe, and his heroics were sure to induce me to swoon.

Just as I opened my mouth to tell him I wasn’t interested in him, he held up his hand. “No need to thank me, gorgeous.”

“Good. Because I wasn’t going to.”

His dark brows shot up in surprise. “Excuse me?”

Sweeping my hands to my hips, I scowled at him. “Do you have a savior complex or something?”

“Not that I know of.”

“I had the situation handled.”

He had the audacity to smirk at me. “Sure you did, sweetheart.”

“You didnotjust condescend me.”

Crossing his arms over his broad chest, the man said, “That guy had four inches and about a hundred and fifty pounds on you.”

“I still could’ve taken him.”

The man chuckled. “You’ve got fire. I’ll give you that.”

“And you’re a condescending bastard!”

As I started past him, he winked. “Even if you won’t say it, you’re welcome.”

My temper then got the better of me. Once again I reached into the recesses of my mind to pull out a self-defense move. I kicked the backs of his knees before reaching around to closeline him at the waist. Although it took everything within me, his legs popped out from under him, causing him to fall onto his back.

As the man gazed up at me with a look of utter and complete disbelief, I gleefully remarked, “Like I said,sweetheart, I didn’t need your help.”

A commotion behind me caused me to whirl around. When two enormous men rushed at me, I realized I’d made a serious mistake. “Fuck,” I muttered.

Chapter Four: Dare

As I stared up at the club ceiling, I blinked my eyes in a stupor. What the fuck had just happened? One minute I was vertical and the next horizontal on the floor. But as a stacked brunette smirked down at me, it all came rushing back.

With a cheeky little smile, she said, “Like I said,sweetheart, I didn’t need your help.”

I was a sick fuck because those words coupled with the glorious shot up her dress got me rock hard. Just as I was about to open my mouth to demand her name and number, Niall and Thomas came barreling through the crowd. “Whoa, wait!” I commanded.

But they didn’t hear me over the music. When their hands roughly grasped the woman’s upper arms, she shrieked in pain. “Get your hands off me!” she bellowed.

“Lig di dul!” I shouted. They froze before staring at me in surprise. “I said, let her go!”

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