Page 113 of Exposé

"Did you get a look at him?"

I exhaled through my nose. "He came in from behind."

"Did you call the cops?"

"No." My breath hitched in my throat. "He told me he'd kill me if I did."

Nate's jaw clenched, the muscle pulsing as he released me. "Shit. Okay. I know you don't like the bike, but that's all I have."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tucked in closer to him. "I'll make due. Thanks for coming."

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" He cupped my cheeks and pressed a kiss to my forehead, then walked me out of the bakery, leaving the cupcake behind, the jitters falling off of me with his arm wrapped around my shoulder.

I will not fall for him.

I will not fall for him.

Nate's head moved side to side as if scanning the area around us as we stopped at his bike. He took the passenger helmet off and handed it to me, then put his helmet over his head and buckled it in.

"I don't know how to use one of these."

He laughed and swiped my hands away, his fingers moving with confidence, tightening the full-face mask under my chin.

"Where do I sit?"

"Right here." He patted the small rectangle he called a seat, then swung his leg over the side and held his hand out for me. "We'll go slow."

Pulling the strap on my bag tighter, I swung my leg over the side of the bike, thanking God I wore pants, and tucked in tight against his back as he started the quiet machine.

"Put your arms around me."

"What?" I leaned in against him, and he reached behind with both hands, grabbed my wrists, and wrapped them around his body, pinning my flattened hands to his tightly muscled stomach.

"Hold on tight, and don't let go."

Nate revved the engine, and we took off down the street, my thighs shaking against his, my chest warming against his back.

An odd security washed over me as though we were untouchable. I snuggled into his back, laid my helmet against him, and let him take me away.

22

Ava

My shaking body leaned against the outside wall, the sweat slicking my skin as my eyes darted around the floor.

What the hell was happening?

"Apartment is clear." Nate walked out of my little studio flat, glanced both ways down the hall, and brought me inside—my ass plunking on the couch. He sat across from me, his biceps seemingly larger than in the last couple of hours I'd seen him. "Do you know why he attacked you? Did he rob you? Try anything else?"

I shuddered, my shoulders hunched as I punted my shoes off and tucked my legs underneath me, throwing a blanket over my lower half for good measure.

The man had every opportunity to make things ten times worse, but he'd stuck to his mission—trying to scare me.

Mission accomplished.

"He threatened me."

"How so?"

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