Page 40 of Reckless Temptation

Those men weren’t supposed to be there.

Sabrina was supposed to be stranded with her car not starting, but that was it.

Those thugs showing up wasn’t part of the plan. Tiffany put me on the spot this morning and demanded that I disable Sabrina’s car out here. But that was supposed to be it. The three gangsters surrounding her and making her look so scared weren’t part of the plan at all.

Fuck!

Just the idea of those men pawing at her and bothering her pissed me off. Sabrina was mine to bother and make uncomfortable. She was my target. She was the object ofmyattention.

No one else’s.

It would’ve felt like getting even to give her a chance to experience real terror with those men encroaching on herpersonal space. Yet as I drove along the parking lot’s perimeter to find the entrance, I knew I couldn’t leave her. Stranding her out here was the goal. My stepsister put me up to it, all so Sabrina would miss the dinner at the house tonight.

Not like this, though. I didn’t care if she pissed me off. I didn’t care if she was the target and that I was supposed to ruin her.

Not like this.

The idea of her actually being hurt wasn’t happening, not on my watch.

Speeding up more, I circled the lot until I found the gates to enter. I zoomed through the gates before the arms fully raised, and I didn’t care about parking very neatly. Stopping in the space next to her car, I killed the engine and got off.

I had their attention. From the second I walked toward them, murder on my face, they had to know they’d trespassed on another man’s property. Sabrina couldn’t be mine when my mission was to ruin her. But this possessiveness over her wasn’t so clean cut anymore.

I stalked toward them, letting them see the utter rage on my face.

“Nick,” Sabrina said. She spoke it with surprise, gratitude, and confusion in her tone. The fact that she recognized me by name did the trick. The three thugs got the hint that someone she knew was with her. She was no longer alone, no longer vulnerable for them to act so predatory.

“Is there a problem here, Sabrina?” I asked. Keeping my voice level but lethal, I gave those fuckers another hint to back the hell off.

“No, no problem,” the thinnest thug said.

For all they could tell, I was armed. I wasn’t, but I knew how menacing I could look. The long hair, the tats, the anger at the world that I couldn’t mask. They would be fools to think they could win just because they outnumbered me. The closer I got, the more I realized they were very young. Teenagers, even. They were bigger than Sabrina, and that served to scare her, but they wouldn’t dare fuck with me.

“Come on.” One of the guys pushed at his buddy, the stupid one who’d dared to grab Sabrina’s wrist. He released her, and as one, the group backed up, not taking their eyes off me until they were far enough away to turn and run.

I didn’t move, staring in the direction that they escaped. If they thought to come back, if they had another idea to bother her, they’d regret it. I’d make sure of it.

For a long moment, we just stood there, me and Sabrina, just the two of us under the hot, humid sunshine that scorched us on this mostly empty end of the parking lot.

Being near her again felt like the equilibrium I had no business wanting. She settled me at the same time she excited me. Her presence was a complicated force that I didn’t know how to handle anymore.

Her silence ate at me.

The lack of eye contact intrigued me.

She was too sweet, too good not to thank me for helping her.

Athankswas due from her stubborn lips, but as I waited and waited for it, I fought the urge to cringe. It was because of me that she was stranded in the first place. Yet, I wanted her to thank me for getting those guys to leave her alone, too.

“Well?” I asked, walking the few steps closer until the soft hints of her jasmine scent reached my nose. Propping my butt on the edge of the car, I leaned back and crossed my ankles.

Now that I was in front of her, she had to look at me. “Well, what?” she asked, skeptical and still on edge.

“You can tell methank youany second now.” I smiled a little at her scowl.

“Sure. Thanks.” Her cool demeanor gnawed at me.

“That’s it?” I stood, tilting my head to the side.

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