Page 7 of Deadly Protector
He laughed lightly as he opened the passenger door of his SUV for her. “No. I want to know about you and your life, all of it. Not just the curated parts.”
She shoved out a sigh, and for the first time since he’d met her he saw a spark of real lust when her gaze landed on his mouth. Oh, hell yes. He hadn’t been certain before, but her look now was clear.
She definitely wanted him.
Well, the feeling was mutual.
Taking a chance, he half leaned over her and strapped her in. She smelled like the beach, a wild ocean scent that rolled over him. And when her gaze fell to his mouth again, he slowly leaned in and brushed his lips over hers, testing the waters. He’d been fantasizing about this since the moment he’d met her.
She made a soft moaning sound as she leaned into him, grabbing onto the front of his shirt. A shudder rolled through him—he hadn’t been sure she would welcome this. As he tasted her, he forgot to think and breathe as her tongue flicked against his. He deepened the kiss, his body reacting immediately to the feel of her hands sliding up his chest, the taste of her…and he had to force himself to pull back before he lost his head fully. It was one of the hardest things he’d had to do.
Zamira blinked up at him as he looked down at her, her eyes dilated. “So this is definitely a date,” she murmured.
Despite being rock-hard right now, he let out a laugh. “Definitely a date.” He’d thought that was clear.
Her cheeks, which had flushed slightly, went even pinker. He forced more distance between them, had to make himself step back and shut the door. Because something told him if they kissed again, they might not make it to dinner.
That wasn’t a bad thing at all, but he wanted to do things right with her. He didn’t want casual with her. No, he’d done casual, usually preferred it, but with Zamira he wanted a lot more. He didn’t want to simply jump into bed with her, and he hoped that wasn’t all she wanted either.
Dimitri wantedto smack the little shit waiting on them—who couldn’t keep his eyes off Zamira.
“Did you need a refill on anything?” The young man, who was maybe twenty, stared at Zamira as he asked.
“We’re good,” Dimitri said with more force than he’d intended. He’d never been rude to waitstaff but this guy was pushing his limits. “We’d just like some privacy,” he added.
“Of course.” The man hurried off, but not before giving Zamira puppy-dog eyes.
“If I was a betting man, I’d say he’s going to give you his phone number by the end of the night.”
She snickered as she took a sip of her white wine. “He’s not very subtle, is he?” Then she looked around the restaurant again in a way that put him on edge. He knew she wasn’t nervous around him, but she’d been looking around, as if searching for someone. On alert.
His protective instincts lit up. “Is everything okay?”
Nodding, she pulled her sweater off the back of her chair and slid it on. “Yes. I…okay, this is probably too much information for a first date, so…” She bit her bottom lip in a way that had his cock wanting to stand at attention. Everything she did seemed to have that effect.
“What is it?”
“It’s probably nothing, but at the beach today this man showed up wanting to talk. Ah…he was friends with my husband, but I didn’t really know him. He just got out of prison and he rattled me, demanding that I talk to him. He scared me, if I’m being honest. Sorry, I know this is probably a very odd thing to talk about on a first date. I just…thought I saw him earlier by the hostess stand when our waiter brought our drinks out. I was afraid he might have followed me from the beach earlier, but that’s ridiculous. I’m just being paranoid. I shouldn’t have said anything.” She took another sip of wine, her hand trembling slightly.
Anger spiked through him at some asshole harassing her. She didn’t strike him as a paranoid person, but he decided not to push. Too much. He needed to know she was safe. “Is that why you agreed to go out with me? You were afraid to stay home tonight?” That…was a hit to his ego. But if she was in danger, he wanted to keep her safe.
“No,” she said quickly. “I mean…I definitely wanted to go out with you. But you called at the right time, if I’m being honest. Oh my God, I’m mucking this all up. I’m so happy to be here tonight.”
He reached across the table, took one of her hands in his. “And I’m happy you’re here too. If you’re worried about anything, I can have someone run this guy’s info, dig into him a bit.” He’d do it himself if he could convince her to give him the guy’s name.
“No, it’s fine. Let’s talk about something else. Anything else. Juan mentioned you’ve been picking up more contract jobs with Red Stone. How’s that working out?”
If Juan had mentioned him, maybe she’d been asking about him? Dimitri could hope. “It’s challenging and I enjoy it. I still keep tabs on my stores, but I have good managers in place at all of them. It allows me to take on more contracts for Red Stone.” He’d been surprised when they’d first reached out to him.
Red Stone Security had a reputation for being “Boy Scouts” as his friend Viktor liked to say. And Dimitri definitely was not one. He’d only been caught breaking into a place once, when he’d been eighteen, but the owners of Red Stone weren’t stupid. And they employed some of the best hackers in the country—they would know he’d worked on the wrong side of the law for a very long time. Now he was a successful owner of hardware stores all across Miami and Homestead.
“Can I ask how you got tapped by them, I guess is the right phrase? Because Juan made it very clear that it’s difficult to get hired to do contract work for them. Or difficult to get hired by them at all—he’s a big fan of yours, by the way.”
Okay so he was definitely buying Juan a drink next time he saw him. Or paying the guy back somehow. Dimitri lifted a shoulder. “Ah, they started a new division a few years ago and the woman who runs it thinks outside the box. She reached out to me because we had mutual contacts and wanted to know if I’d like to try something new.”
“So, you’re paid by companies to break in and steal from them? How exactly does that work? It seems really different from running a bunch of hardware stores.” She paused as their waiter delivered their salads.
Thankfully the guy didn’t loiter this time, just gave her that same puppy-dog look and left.
