Page 8 of Forbidden Harmony

“Uh, the game is almost over. Can you giveme half an hour?” Brad said without taking his eyes off the screen. “Oh, comethe fuck on! You call that a fucking strike? What kind of ump is this guy?”

“A shit one,” Jesse said, one of the otherfirefighters sitting at the table with them.

“It’s late and it’s dark out. It’ll onlytake us a few minutes to walk to the car and back. I’m not comfortable walkingin the parking lot by myself,” Addison said.

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Brad said. “Thisis Harmony Falls. Nothing bad ever happens here.”

She waited another few seconds before standingand heading toward the door. Brad was right. She didn’t need an escort. Shewas just being a silly little girl.

She made her way to the front door of thepub as there was another round of cheers from the people watching the game.She pushed the door open, stepped into the warm night air, and breathed deeply.

She rubbed at her temples as she leanedagainst the brick exterior for a moment. God, what was wrong with her? Whydid she have such a need to be protected? Being a helpless female was sooutdated and she should be ashamed that she even wanted Brad to act like herhero. She needed to be her own hero. Needed to take care of herself for achange.

She’d been so used to having Harrison ather side that some days it seemed overwhelming to be on her own.

Still rubbing at her temples, she walkedacross the dark parking lot to her car. She opened the car and rummagedthrough the glovebox, breathing a sigh of relief when she found the Advil.Clutching it, she slid out of the car and locked it before walking toward the pub.She would feel better and more like herself when this horrible headache was –

“Well, hi there, pretty lady.”

She turned and stared at the four men whowere trailing behind her. She had no idea where they’d come from and herheadache surged into almost unbearable pain as a rush of adrenaline wentthrough her.

“Whatcha’ doin’ out here all by yourself?”The biggest of the men drawled.

Fear spiking in her veins, she backed awayas the men wandered a little closer. “Just grabbing something from my car.”

Her mouth was cotton-dry, and her legs wereshaking as her body went into flight or fight mode. Predictably it choseflight but before she could even turn and take off, the leader shook his head.

“You thinking about running, little lady?Guarantee you, we’re faster than you.”

More adrenaline surged through her as sheslipped out of her heels. No one else was around and the noise in the pub wastoo loud for anyone to hear her scream. Grace didn’t know where she’d gone,and Brad was completely absorbed in the baseball game and wouldn’t notice ifshe was gone too long. Her only chance was to run.

The men watched her in amusement as shetook a few deep breaths and calculated in her head the distance to the pub. Sheran track in high school. She could beat them. She just had to keep a levelhead and not look back.

“Looks like we got ourselves a runner,boys,” the leader said with a cold grin. “Truth be told – we like it when yourun. We like the -”

She turned and fled. She could hear themen chasing after her and she’d taken maybe a dozen steps when a large bodystepped out from behind a truck. She ran face-first into a wall of hard andunforgiving muscle, and she screamed piercingly when an arm wrapped around herwaist and held her immobile.

* * *

Preacher had no idea why the littleschoolteacher was leaving the pub on her own, but he didn’t like it. She waslittle, and it was late and dark outside. Where the hell was her dickheadfiancé, anyway? Sure as shit, if Preacher had a woman like her, he wouldn’tlet her be sitting at a table full of firefighters who kept looking her over likeshe was a piece of meat. He swallowed down the last of his whiskey, pushed hischair back, and stood.

Nolan looked away from the televisionscreen. “You leaving?”

“Just hittin’ the head,” he grunted.

He bypassed the bathroom and headed straightfor the exit. He stepped out of the pub. The schoolteacher was walking acrossthe parking lot and he eyed her firm ass as he leaned against the wall.

He watched the schoolteacher slide into thepassenger side of her crappy little car. He was too far away, and it was toodark for him to see what she was doing but he kept watching her anyway.

He wondered idly what she looked like underthose prim and proper dresses she was always wearing. She was a real lady.The kind who would never have anything to do with him, but it didn’t stop himfrom imagining her naked in his bed. She smelled so fucking good that day atthe school. Jesus, he’d forgotten just how good a woman like her smelled. Thewomen he took to his bed couldn’t afford fancy perfume. Fuck, half the time hewasn’t even sure they showered on a daily basis.

The little schoolteacher though, he bet shehad a big tub in her place, one of those fancy ones with jets. He bet she tooka bath every night, maybe even let her small-dicked fiancé fuck her in it. Thethought sent jealousy shooting through him and he shook it off.

So the pretty lady with more class in herbaby finger than any of the women he’d been with had been nice to him. Didn’tmean she wanted to fuck him. She was nice to everyone, that was apparent. Niceand sweet and polite.

What he wouldn’t fucking do to see her withher neat and tidy hair messed up from his hands, her perfectly applied lipsticksmeared from his kisses, and her pale slender thighs spread wide around his hips.He’d fuck her until her politeness was gone, until she was pounding on his backand begging him to fuck her harder.

The schoolteacher slammed her car door andstarted walking across the parking lot. His gaze had dropped to her tits sowhen she suddenly stopped and swung around, he blinked in surprise. He staredat the four men standing behind her before spitting out a curse. His angerrising, he walked toward the schoolteacher, his long strides eating up thedistance.

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