Page 32 of Mountain Protector

I’m about to lock it when I notice Spike’s heat lamp flickering in his terrarium near the front window. Then the lamp goes out completely.

“Damn it,” I mutter. I need to move him to the backup terrarium in the back room before I lock up. I carefully lift his enclosure, balancing it in my arms as I head toward the back office where I keep his spare setup.

It takes me a few minutes to get Spike settled with his working heat lamp. “There you go, buddy,” I whisper, making sure he’s comfortable before heading back to the front to lock the door as Clay instructed.

As I turn toward the front door to lock it, I freeze.

A tall man with close-cropped hair stands just inside the entrance, sunglasses hiding his eyes despite the dim studio lighting. Something about his posture makes my skin prickle. He must have slipped in while I was tending to Spike.

Unease crawls up my spine. “James Miller?” I ask.

His smile doesn’t reach his eyes as he removes his sunglasses. “That’s not my name. But Holloway sends his regards.”

My blood turns to ice.

I back away, reaching for anything I can use as a weapon. The man advances slowly, like a predator confident his prey can’t escape.

“Don’t make this difficult, sweetheart.” His voice is eerily calm. “Mr. Holloway just wants to have a conversation with you about your father.”

“My dad and I aren’t exactly close,” I reply, trying to keep my voice steady as I edge toward the back office where my phone is. “I’m not the leverage you think I am.”

A second man appears in the doorway behind him, larger and more menacing. “Car’s ready out back. Let’s go.”

My hand hands close around a pair of scissors on my workstation. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

The first man sighs. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice.”

“I choose neither,” I say, and throw the scissors at the first man’s face with all my strength.

He dodges, but not completely. The blades catch his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. His expression darkens from calm to furious in an instant.

He growls, lunging toward me. “Hard way it is, then.”

ChapterEight

CLAY

I frownas I circle the perimeter of Fit Mountain Ink for the third time. My instincts are humming, that familiar sixth sense that kept me alive through three combat tours.

The air feels charged, like the calm before a firefight.

As I circle around the back for my final check, my thoughts keep drifting back to Ruby. How her skin felt against mine this morning, how those three words had almost slipped out before I caught them.

When this protection detail ends and Holloway is back behind bars where he belongs, I’m telling her. No more holding back. No more pretending this is just physical attraction or professional concern. She needs to know that she’s it for me. That I’m not walking away.

My phone vibrates with an update from my FBI contact. They’re closing in on Holloway’s location. Good. The sooner this threat is eliminated, the sooner Ruby can stop looking over her shoulder. The sooner we can start whatever comes next.

I complete my circuit around the building, I pause at the back entrance, and my hand freezes on the back door handle. It’s unlocked.

Shit.

Instantly, my body shifts into combat mode as adrenaline floods my system.

I draw my weapon and enter the tattoo shop silently. The back hallway is clear, but I hear three male voices I don’t recognize. I peer around the corner. Three men have Ruby backed against the front counter. And one of the men is Vincent Holloway. He’s pressing a knife against Ruby’s throat while his men ransack the shop.

Fuck.

“Your father will pay handsomely to get you back,” Holloway sneers. “Though I might keep you a while first, just to teach him a lesson about consequences.”

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