Page 9 of Protection for Rowan

“It sucked. The only reason the cops didn’t charge me is my neighbor was outside and saw it all. They said I had no choice. The neighbor said he heard my mom’s husband say he was going to kill me.”

“You did the right thing.”

“Still, it weighs on me.”

“I’m sure it does. But you weren’t at fault.”

She let go of a heavy sigh that sounded like she was releasing the weight of the world. "I've never told anyone that story. Well, a therapist, but no one else."

“Thank you for telling me.”

She blew out another breath that sounded like relief. “I was worried.”

“I think we both have things in our pasts we wish had gone differently.”

“You can say that again. My mom didn’t forgive me until last year. She was pissed that I killed him. Didn’t care that he was coming after me with a bat and tried to rape me.”

Anger slid through him. He wished he could tell her mother that she was totally wrong about the situation. Rowan had done the only thing she could in that situation.

“What changed her mind?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, when I see you, I’m going to give you an extra-long hug. What you did took strength.”

He wanted to see her soon. When he did get together with her, he really hoped they clicked because he wanted this to work. She seemed like the type of person he could really be with. He hoped his instinct was right. He wanted Rowan in his life for a long time.

Chapter 6

Rowan couldn't believeshe'd told Shine what had happened with her mom's husband. She didn't like talking about that terrible day because way too many people thought she had done something wrong and that it must have been at least partly her fault that a grown man who was married to her mother had attacked her. She hadn't wanted to kill the guy, but in the moment, when he'd been standing above her with the baseball bat raised to hit her, threatening to beat her senseless, she'd had no other options.

Before Shine ended the call, they'd set up a time to get together on Saturday. They were going to go to the zoo and then have lunch. They both thought the zoo would be a good place to hang out and get to know each other since they could stop and talk, and there would be no rush.

Work was normal, and no one showed up in the parking lot acting weird. Maybe the guy she’d given the bad report on had given up. It would have been grossly negligent of her to approve him for working in an environment like air traffic control. She wasn’t sure how he’dgotten the job in the first place. Maybe he’d had something that drastically altered his thoughts. She hated to condemn the work of others, but if the man had been in his current frame of mind when he’d first began working, the psychologist hadn’t done their job.

The rest of the week passed by quickly and on Saturday morning, excitement filled her. She dressed carefully, putting on a green shirt that wasn’t too tight, but still showed off her assets and a pair of shorts. She thought she looked good, or at least good enough.

Her body had a little extra padding and there were a few lines under her eyes. She wasn't a teenager, but also, she wasn't a teenager which meant they could be together. Shine had changed, too, but for some reason change on men was always acceptable. Though she knew societal standards of beauty were harmful, that didn't mean she wouldn't be judged.

They were meeting outside the entry gates so she stood in the shade, wondering if she’d shown up too early. She was the type of person to be habitually on time, almost to a fault. One guy she dated had been angry that she was always on time. That hadn’t lasted.

Her stomach twisted in knots as she waited for Shine to arrive. She wanted this day to be special, but what if it wasn't? What if they didn't get along, or what if there was no spark? It would be okay if they were just friends, but she'd had fantasies about this man. Logically, she knew he wouldn't live up to what she'd dreamt up, but she had high hopes and didn’t want to be disappointed.

"Hey, Rowan," Shine said behind her, and she spun around, taking in how good he looked in his blue T-shirt and shorts. The shirt wasn't tight, so his muscles weren't being shown off, but he looked good.

Her lips spread into a smile as she took a step toward him, wondering if he was goingto stop before they hugged. She didn't have to wait as he pulled her close. They held onto each other, her breathing in his fresh, clean scent while he had his nose buried in her hair.

After a moment, she leaned back. She had intended to say something about how good it was to see him, but the look in his eyes silenced her. Heat rolled through her, spiking her desire.

Shine lowered his head, his lips hovering close to hers. She could step back, but she didn't want to. Her fingers curled into the cloth of his T-shirt, holding him close. Two more seconds ticked past before he pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was just a gentle brush of his lips against hers, but it was so sensual she had to squeeze her legs together as need pulsed through her.

When he pulled away, he didn't go far. His gaze stayed on her as his fingers trailed over her shoulders and up to her neck.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you again for well over a decade. I’ve dreamt of it and fantasized how it would be, but that was better than anything I could dream up.”

She had little doubt her cheeks were deep red, but his words were exactly what she was thinking. She'd wanted to kiss him, too. "I've had dreams about you. Of course, you have better muscles than I ever thought you would have."

He threw his head back, laughter spilling out. “I like it. But I will say it’s good that we’re in public because if you’d come to my place, I’d be begging you for more. We need to get to know each other again.”

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