Page 1 of When He Fights
Prologue
One.One motel room.One bed.One massive bodyguard who had been her protective shadow for the last month.Following her every move.Watching her with his intense, glittering, hazel eyes.Sharing her meals.Learning her secrets.Talking with her in that deep, sexy, rumbling voice that made her knees weak.
And this was it.Her night.Their night.Heronechance to?—
“All the other rooms were taken.Sorry, there’s only one bed.”
Ah.Yes.There it was again.The voice that made her quiver in ways that she should not.Because her life was on the line.Danger surrounded her.Sex should be the absolute last thing on her mind.
Exhaling slowly, Anastasia Patrick turned to face the utterly protective badass who’d followed her into the motel room.He’d kicked the door closed.Locked it.Now Kane Harte stood in front of that door like the massively immovable object that he was.
Anastasia swallowed.He wore a black t-shirt.One that stretched and struggled to fit around his truly massive shoulders and biceps.A valiant battle.Kane always wore t-shirts.And she did not object.How could she?Why on earth would she?
The tight t-shirts just make him look hotter.
Dammit.She was not supposed to be lusting after her bodyguard.She was not supposed to be fantasizing about him.She was not supposed to be…falling hard for him.
Yet she was.Oh, she was.
And tonight, this was going to be heronenight to make her move.Because maybe the attraction that threatened to rip her apart wasn’t one sided.Maybe Kane felt the same intense, almost insanely powerful attraction, too.Maybe it wasn’t just adrenaline and fear fueling her.Maybe for the first time in her life, she wasn’t falling for the bad guy.
She was going for the hero.
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Kane added.He strode past her.Dropped their bags to said floor.“No big deal.”
“Uh…you don’t have to do that.”Her words sounded way too high.And sharp.
He glanced over at her with a frown.Stubble lined his hard jaw, and Kane had his battered baseball cap pulled over his head.Beneath that cap, thick, dark hair waited.Gorgeous hair.
Not that Kane wasgorgeous.Not exactly.He was far too big and bold and dangerous-looking to be described as gorgeous.The man was truly massive in size.She figured he had to be an easy six-foot-four.And she couldn’t even guess at his weight.Every ounce of the man was pure muscle.
He towered over her own five-foot-four height, and the first time she’d met him, his size had made her nervous.Unsure.Now, though, it just made her feel safe.Correction, Kane made her feel safe.
Hard, square jaw.Sharp, slanting cheekbones.A long blade of a nose.And the most intense hazel eyes she’d ever seen…all of those features added up todangerously attractive.Drop-dead sexy.But not gorgeous in the traditional sense.
Then again, who cared about the traditional sense?Kane is hot.I would love to climb him like the mountain he is.
“Ana?”
Oh, but she did adore it when he said the shortened version of her name.The name rolled and rumbled and almost sounded like an endearment.
And she realized she should be saying something.Oh, right.The bed.“You can share with me,” Anastasia blurted.
If possible, his face tensed even more.But, in that one moment, she saw desire—no, lust—flash in his eyes.A primitive, almost savage desire.
Yes, please.Her breath caught.
“I don’t think…that’s a good idea,” he gritted out.
Oh.Well… “Why not?”Whoops.Maybe she shouldn’t have asked but…Dammit, why not?“Honestly, it seems like a great idea to me.It’s a king-size bed.Obviously, it was designed for two people, and it has to be way more comfortable than the floor.”A floor that did not look particularly clean.Not like they were at a five-star resort.They were on the run, staying at hole-in-the-wall locations as Kane tried to keep her out of sight.
Hiding was necessary because…
Her ex wanted her dead.
Her ex.A man who she’d discovered—much to her horror—just happened to be a powerful mob enforcer.And a hitman.
She’d rushed to the FBI with her discovery.They’d wanted her to wear a wire, to go back in and get evidence.They’d promised her a new life.Promised her safety if she worked with them.
