Page 27 of Black Bay Protector

Page List

Font Size:

When several mournful nods followed that little tidbit, Paige felt a pang of sympathy. These poor guys. She hadn’t been around them long, but they seemed nice, even sweet. They hadn’t asked to be different. It had to be rough to have people look at them with fear in their eyes.

Determined, she made a point to meet each of their eyes when she said, “Well, you can ask me anything you want to know. I’ll do my best to answer.”

Lark quietly chuckled. “You may regret that.”

The questions came fast and furious after that, the men closing into a tight knot around her as they talked over each other, competing to be heard. Most of the questions centered around how to approach a woman and the best ways to impress them. It was hard to keep up and Paige was just about to tell them to slow down, keep it one at a time, when she was forestalled by a vicious-sounding snarl that had every little hair on her body standing on end in primal warning.

One moment, she was sitting on the bench, and the next, she was grabbed, lifted, and shoved behind a very familiar muscular body. One that was tense, and by the looks of that posture, about to attack.

Jace snarled another warning, showing his teeth and glaring as he watched the men slowly back up.They better back up. Paige was his.

“Was one of them going to attack me?”

That nervous whisper at his back had him blinking as his mind cleared of the haze of primal aggression that had fallen over it. He looked around at the others. All of them were looking at him like he’d lost his mind. Maybe he had. But when he’d seen all of them, half-dressed, pressing in around his woman, something inside of him had snapped.

“Was I in danger?”

Her scent came to him and he nearly growled. Fear. And it hadn’t been there until he’d made an ass out of himself with that absurd display of possessiveness. What was wrong with him? Oh, right. Half-naked men around his female. He should have remembered that the guys liked to exercise outside, and preferred to do it shirtless. The sight was commonplace, he’d just never considered when he’d brought Paige here, what his reaction would be to her seeing his brethren thus. He also hadn’t thought of how they’d react to her. Paige was gorgeous and the men at Black Bay outnumbered the women by an insane degree. These were all healthy males with healthy sexual appetites. Of course, they’d want to approach her. The thought had him wanting to snarl again but he swallowed it down. He’d already scared her, it was probably best not to make it worse.

Straightening from his aggressive crouch, he turned and looked sheepishly at her. “Er, no. You weren’t in danger.”

Her eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Then why am I back here?”

Lark, having no sympathy for the plight of man, threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, this I’ve got to hear.”

“I was protecting you?” It came out sounding like a question.

Paige shot him a pointed look. “From all the no danger?”

A big paw of a hand clapped him hard on the back and nearly sent him stumbling as Kong guffawed. “Give it up, Jace. You made an ass of yourself. Accept it. Feed your woman chocolates and kiss her naughty bits in apology.”

Jace shot a glare at the grinning giant. Not that the advice was bad… And maybe a change of venue was a good thing. He was still agitated by all the skin on display in front of his woman.

Clearing his throat, he asked Paige, “Do you want to see where we’ll be sleeping?”

When she nodded, Jace quickly took her hand to lead her off, while Kong, ever so helpful, called behind them, “If she’s sleeping you’re doing it wrong,” evoking hoots and laughter from the others.

Assholes.

Chapter Fourteen

Paigestillwasn’tsurewhat had happened back there, but she let the matter drop since Jace looked embarrassed. Wordlessly, he led her to an open Jeep and started the engine. Whoever had driven it last had left the radio on. Heavy rock music blared from the speakers as they sped through the streets of Black Bay. With the music playing, the tang of saltwater in the air, and the wind blowing through her hair, Paige couldn’t help but smile with nostalgia. This reminded her of summers in Cape Cod with her family and her brother’s best friend who had gone pretty much everywhere with them. They’d driven to the beach every day in an open vehicle not too different from this one and once there, she’d built sand castles with her parents while Grady and Graham had spent their time in the water seeing who could hold their breath the longest…

Her chest clenched and her throat tightened so she pushed away the memory. While it was a good one, it was also laced with pain.

Clearing her throat, Paige called out to be heard over the wind and the music, “So are you in trouble?” That general guy had not looked happy, and she hated the thought of Jace being yelled at because he’d brought her here.

Jace reached over and lowered the volume. “Naw. Like I said. A lot of bluster but we’re good.”

Paige nodded, relieved, but since her brother had once again been in her thoughts, she asked, “And the files? Did they find anything?”

“Lark managed to decrypt them. Now it’s a matter of going through them.” He reached out and laid his hand on her thigh. “We’ll find what we need.”

His confidence was encouraging.

Slowing to a stop in front of a gate, Jace entered a code on a keypad and the barrier slid open. Beyond were buildings not dissimilar from the one she’d lived in so briefly after accepting the job at Bellock. Made primarily of brick and stucco, these were each three stories high and private balconies jutted out at intervals from the exterior. Surrounding the buildings were small wrought iron fences, green spaces with small trees, and paved walkways that gave the area the appearance of a quaint little neighborhood.

“This is nice,” Paige remarked, admiring a statue of what looked like a pelican on the lawn.