Page 60 of Only for the Moment
No. No matter what happened, she would face it on her feet, not cowering in a corner.
They came to Cris’s car first. When her friend would’ve kept walking, Jess cleared her throat.
Cris heaved a sigh. “Really?”
“Really.”
Cris faced her, looking ready to argue, but Jess wasn’t having it. “Move it before you make me late for work,”she said, her tone softened by the knowledge that Cris only wanted her safe.
Her friend’s good-bye was a warm bear hug that avoided Jess’s still-sore ribs. “Call me when you get home tonight.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Cris’s chuckle was watered down a bit by the tears glazing her eyes, but it was there nonetheless. “Hey, I’m not the one you want spanking you.”
Jess didn’t encourage her by replying. Besides,Cris didn’t need to know the idea of a man spanking her turned her stomach. She didn’t think she’d be considering erotic games like that for a long while, even in fantasy. She stepped to the side, waiting while Cris started her sporty yellow Nissan. When the car didn’t back out, Jess jerked her phone out of her pocket.
Would you go already!she texted.
A smiley face sticking its tongue out poppedup on the screen, and then Cris reversed, blew Jess an apologetic kiss, and drove toward the exit. Jess walked a few spaces down to her car, still shaking her head as she fingered the Open button on her key fob.
“Well well well, look what the cat finally dragged out.”
Jess whipped around, pain shooting through her hip as it collided with the side-view mirror of the car next to hers. Speak ofthe freakin’ devil. Clearing her heart from her suddenly tight throat, she forced out, “Where did you come from?”
Did it matter? For God’s sake, the man who’d tried to kill her—and gotten away with it—was standing between her and freedom. But the thought was all her adrenaline-addled brain could produce.
Brit pushed his blond curls back off his forehead. That was how he’d taken her in, thoseinnocent curls and bright blue eyes. Something Dr. Jekyll-ish would’ve been more accurate.
“Come on, Jess. Didn’t you miss me?” His perfectly polished John Lobb’s clicked on the pavement as he stepped closer. Jess backed up, wishing she was anywhere but stuck between two cars and an asshole. When said asshole’s eyes lit up, she winced.Never run from the cat,she reminded herself, but her legsweren’t listening. They took her backward again and again until the thick bushes lining the parking lot poked through her thin summer skirt.
Brit flashed that bright white smile she’d come to hate. “I’m just checking on you, Jess. Making sure you’re all right. Come here and give your fiancé a proper greeting.”
Like a kick in the balls?“You were not my fiancé. I would never marry you. Stay awayfrom me.” She fumbled with her cell. “I’m calling the police right now.”
The smile went wide, but Brit’s eyes went dark. He clucked in mocking disappointment. “Go ahead, love.”
The sound of a car slowing behind her, readying to enter the parking lot, drew her attention. She glanced over her shoulder as an APD cruiser crawled by. Hope flared for the tiniest second in her knotted stomach. Shenearly sagged in relief…until she faced Brit.
He was waving at the squad car. Unconcerned. Smiling that smile.
And why shouldn’t he be? They’d let him go before, right? It was his well-backed word against hers, and no one had believed hers. She doubted they’d even bothered to investigate his alibi. Her grip on the phone tightened until she could hear the plastic creak.
Brit took another smallstep forward. “Come here, Jess.”
The words were low, aroused. He wet his lips, and Jess shuddered.
It was broad daylight, for Christ’s sake. Why wasn’t anyone helping? “No way in hell. Leave me alone.”
The last word rose beyond her control as she watched Brit’s muscles tense, watched him prepare to lunge. She drew a breath, ready to scream.
“Jess, com—”
“Everything all right over here?”
The words were rough, hard. Strong. Standing at the opposite side of her bumper from Brit, facing the other man down like they were gunfighters at the O. K. Corral, was her biker. Her fantasy. She blinked, told herself she was crazy, but when her eyes opened, he still stood there. For one second she wanted badly, hysterically, to do something completely girlie like swoon. Too bad there wasn’t roomin the tiny space between cars for her to fall flat out, but getting on her knees to thank God wasn’t beyond possibility.
“I think I asked you a question,” the man said.
