Page 41 of The Agent
And the chief had taken the threats to Natalie seriously. Tully had made sure of that.
“Chief Borland is a good guy.” She took another sip of her drink. “But he admitted that he doesn’t have the resources to track down a stalker.”
“But I do.” He put every ounce of his determination into his voice to reassure her. The latest email had taken this situation to a whole new level of bad. He was clearing his calendar so he could catch this bastard.
“You know, I feel sorry for Regina Van Houten, out there all alone, terrified that her husband will find her and drag her back.” Natalie opened her eyes and angled her head to meet his gaze. “While I have all your strength and expertise guarding me. I’m very lucky.”
He would be flattered except that her eyes swam with unshed tears and her words were the smallest bit slurred. “Just doing my job.”
“No, you’re doing far more than your job.” She searched his face, her brows drawn down in a tiny frown. “Pam could handle things. She’s very good ... but you already know that, of course. Why have you taken such an interest in my problem? And don’t tell me it’s for sex. You could get that on your own. I know that for a fact.”
He snorted. “You give me way too much credit.” Okay, she wasn’t wrong if she meant one-night stands or women who were turned on by his bank account. He’d lost interest in those kinds of liaisons, though. He was old enough to want something real and that was Natalie. The real deal. He wasn’t even sure what he meant by that, but he knew in his gut it was true.
And she had no intention of ever marrying again, so that fit right in with his life plans.
“Never mind that,” she said. “Why are you helping me?”
He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “Because you need help.” Because he admired her grit and her integrity and her sexy little smile. “I hate stalkers. They’re psychopathic bullies, preying on innocent people who don’t have the weapons to fight back.”
“Sort of like the big guy beating up the little guy in the schoolyard. Did you ride to the rescue back then too?”
“Maybe.” He’d been in his share of fights as a kid, but not all of them were for noble causes.
She curved her hand against his cheek, sending a ripple of awareness down to his belly. “You are a very good man, Tully. The knight on his white charger.”
“You have a rose-colored vision of me,” he said. “I do it because I like to, not because I’m noble.”
He was an addict like everyone in his family, except his particular addiction was the adrenaline rush of kicking ass. He’d just learned to channel it into kicking the ass of bad guys.
A tear rolled down her face. He stopped himself from licking it off, using his thumb to brush away the warm liquid instead. “That’s the alcohol hitting you. We need to get you some food.”
He eased his arm from behind her to stack a slice of cheese on a cracker. When he offered it to her, she surprised him by leaning forward to bite into the morsel as he held it, her lips grazing his fingertips so he could feel the chill of the Manhattan on them. The contact was like cold fire on his skin.
He waited for her to swallow before he lifted the remainder of the cracker to her mouth again. This time her tongue flicked out to touch his thumb.
As much as he wanted what she was offering, he couldn’t take it when she was so vulnerable. “Sweetheart, you’ve had a rough day. Let me order us some Chinese and then you can go to sleep.”
“Sleep?” Her face turned bleak and she shook her head. “If I don’t have something else to think about, all I can see is that horrible photograph. I won’t be sleeping without some help.” She gave him a seductive smile and skimmed her index finger down the center of his chest.
He seized her hand and lifted it to his mouth, kissing her small, warm palm. “After you eat, we’ll see how you feel.” But her words and touch had brought his cock to full attention. He adjusted his position to ease the pressure.
Her gaze dropped below his waist and her smile grew even more scorching. “I can see howyoufeel.”
“Yeah, but the advantage of being a mature male is that I know better than to act on it right now.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “What’s your favorite Chinese restaurant that delivers?”
She let out an exaggerated sigh. “I guess I’m not as irresistible as I thought.”
He twisted to kiss her chilled lips in a way that warmed them right up. When she made an eager little noise in the back of her throat, he nearly lost his grip on his good intentions. Pulling away, he said, “My resistance is very short term. After dinner, I will ravish you thoroughly.”
“That’s more like it,” she said, peeking at him sideways through her eyelashes. “Look up Zhang Wei for dinner. The tangerine beef is excellent.”
Natalie had to admit that dinner had improved her mood. She was embarrassed at how weepy she’d been earlier. She’d sworn off needing a man for comfort ... or for anything other than sex. They were useful for that.
And for not thinking about things she was trying to avoid.
She put her chopsticks down beside her empty dish. “You never told me who you went to scare this morning.”
“I’m not sure you want to know,” he said, scooping more food onto his plate. “You’re right about this tangerine beef. It’s damn good.”
