Page 17 of Combust
“You didwhat?” Maggie yelped in shock. Her face flaming with embarrassment, she glared at her dad. “Howcouldyou?”
Before Dane could respond, Cade cleared his throat. “I do sincerely apologize for my behavior yesterday evening. But I had reason to believe that you were in danger.”
Maggie drew a deep breath, trying to think through the surge of her visceral reaction to the new foreman.
Okay, Dad and that guy both assumed that Andrew was going to do something bad to me,she thought.
She realized that she was rubbing her upper arm.
Last night, before she’d gone to bed, she’d discovered five finger-shaped bruises there. Thanks to her accelerated shifter healing abilities, they had already faded to green-yellow marks this morning.
“Is that where the asshole grabbed you?” Cade growled, right as Dane asked, in an equally menacing voice, “Did Andrewhurtyou?”
“I…um…” Maggie’s chest tightened.
She’d spent all of last night and this morning so far trying to deny the truth. Now it rushed in on her, and she couldn’t push it away any longer.
She had grown up protected by her brother, dad, and other male relatives, and confident in her own shifter strength and speed.
Last night had shaken her to the core. Andrew had treated her like a predator treated its prey. Nothing she said to him would have helped her. He’d decided what he wanted, and he didn’t care about her objections. He’d been stronger than her, and willing to use that strength to impose his will and his desires on her.
In the aftermath, all she wanted to do was to put the whole ugly, humiliating mess behind her, and forget it ever happened.
But Dad was clearly unwilling to let her do that. And Cade’s presence was an inescapable reminder.
She fought to regain her composure. It wasn’t easy with both men scowling down at her, radiating protectiveness and righteous anger.
“No, not really,” she said, at last. “Andrew just…well, the way he behaved—it was like he turned into a whole different person. It threw me for a loop. But nothing bad actually happened,” she added.
Cade nodded slowly. Dad was still looking at her, his scowl easing into an expectant expression.
Oh. Right,she thought.
With an effort, she shifted her gaze back to the burning blue of Cade’s eyes.
“Mr. Hunter,” she began.
“Call me Cade,” he interrupted. “Please.”
“Cade,” she began again. “I apologize for being so rude to you earlier. I was really shaken up—” She interrupted herself, and shook her head. “But that’s no excuse. It was wrong of me to react like I did.” She expected it would be difficult to speak the next words, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy. “Thank you for stopping Andrew from—from doing whatever he was planning to do. He scared the ever-living daylights out of me, and I haven’t been handling it very well. I’m sorry.”
She hadn’t wanted to admit being terrified, much less say that part out loud, especially to Cade. Her already-heated face rose to approximately the same temperature as one of the bakery’s ovens.
To her surprise, Cade’s tanned, weathered cheeks darkened beneath the layer of heavy dark stubble. With an expression of deep discomfort, he looked down at his big feet, which were shod only in flip-flops, exposing the dark-furred tops of his toes.
“No need to apologize,” he rumbled. “I was just happy to help.”
“Dane, back so soon?” Mom asked as she breezed through the swinging door that connected the bakery with the retail side. She paused when she spotted Dad’s guest. “And you must be Cade!”
“Cade, this is my mate, Annabeth,” said Dad.
“Pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Cade acknowledged, looking up. His current soft-spoken, polite demeanor was completely at odds with his feral appearance and the primal violence he’d displayed last night.
“And thank you for the fine breakfast,” he added. “Officer Tringstad mentioned you sent it over to the station for us.”
Annabeth bestowed a dimpled smile on him. “Only the one meal, and only foryou. As far as I’m concerned, Andrew Brunborn could be starving to death and I wouldn’t toss him a crumb!”
And that was as close as Mom ever came to cussing anyone out.
