Page 14 of After The Storm

That feeling of anonymity had always been one of the greatest things her city offered. To others, it might make them feel lost and meaningless, but not to her. The mixture of eccentric and bizarre lived right at home with the ordinary in New Orleans, and she loved that.

Roman hurried toward Canal Street in silence, making Kate feel like she needed to fill the silence between them with something. She wasn’t used to being this close to someone and not talking. It made her nervous.

“Is this your first time in New Orleans? If it is, you should definitely check out the Quarter at night. Also, I’m told those cemetery tours are interesting for people visiting the city,” she said, instantly feeling foolish.

She wanted to fill the space, not sound like some pushy tour guide.

He turned his head and looked at her like she was an idiot. Now she felt uncomfortable and irritated. This guy had quite an effect on her, and most of it couldn’t be worse. At least he was attractive. She couldn’t deny that.

Focusing on that as they walked toward the major chain hotel down near the waterfront, she took her first good look at the man who said his job was to protect her but refused to give her his last name. Tall, with short hair that made him look like a cop or some kind of military guy, he definitely had a pure Alpha male thing going. Looking down at where his hand sat wrapped around her forearm, she liked what she saw.

Strong and powerful, his hand held her just tight enough to keep her next to him.

He had a protective nature to him Kate had to admit she liked too. She suspected all the men he worked with had that same way about them since they’d signed up to willingly put themselves in danger to help women in need.

Kate thought about that and how honorable it sounded. As they walked toward the main entrance to the hotel, she asked, “Are all the men who work for this Project Artemis like you?”

He shook his head. “Yes and no.”

She wondered if he worked at being intriguing like that or if it came naturally, but before she could ask him which it was, he pushed her away from the building and began walking much faster. She tried to keep up, but he made it difficult by nearly running down the sidewalk.

“Why aren’t we going in there?” she asked, suddenly worried that the man she’d set her hopes on helping her wasn’t there to protect her but instead to do exactly what she’d believed he would when he walked into her motel room nearly an hour before.

Roman didn’t answer but kept walking so fast she felt like at any minute her feet would leave the ground and she’d take flight like a kite behind him. His hold on her arm began to hurt, but when she tried to pull away, he clamped down tighter, squeezing her skin.

“You’re hurting me! Slow down! I can’t keep up,” she cried out, hoping he’d do as she’d demanded.

Not that she expected it. Alpha males rarely listened to others, a trait she distinctly disliked in them.

When he didn’t slow down even a little, she tugged as hard as she could and yanked her arm from his hold. Tiny shoots of pain radiated up toward her elbow, so she stopped and rubbed her skin.

Roman stopped a few feet ahead on the sidewalk and glared back at her, but she saw fear in his eyes too. What had happened back there in front of that hotel?

“What’s going on? Why couldn’t we go in? Where are you taking me?” she asked, each question rattled off in succession as her own fear grew by the second that Roman wasn’t the honorable protector he’d claimed to be.

He took a single step toward her and stopped without saying a word to answer anything she’d asked. Glancing around, he took another step until he stood less than a foot away, still glaring but now so close she could practically feel his emotions coming off him.

But were they borne of fear or anger? She couldn’t tell and he didn’t seem to be willing to even speak to her now.

“Why have you suddenly gone mute? Can you please tell me what’s going on?”

Roman grimaced like he was in pain and looked over her head back toward the hotel they’d just run away from. “We couldn’t go into that hotel because there were two cops standing at the check-in desk. I’m trying to figure out where we can go now, so that’s why I’m not answering the thousand and one questions you feel the need to throw at me.”

So he believed her about the cops. Maybe he was on her side and trying to protect her after all.

Kate’s mind raced with ideas about what other hotel they could go to. There were dozens in the area within walking, or in their case, running distance, but which would get them out of view quickly? Then she remembered Jonas telling her about a lawyer get-together he’d gone to last Christmas at the Allton Hotel located just a block away from where they stood.

Now she grabbed Roman’s arm, her hand getting nowhere close to making it all the way around it, and tugged him down the street. “Come on. I have someplace I think can work. It’s a beautiful hotel. Even better than that one back there. It’s just on St. Louis Street right down here.”

He resisted her taking the lead for a few moments but then relented and caught up with her. “Let’s just hope the cops aren’t there too.”

She hoped that too. After the night she’d had, she needed somewhere nice to rest and clean the grime from that awful place off. A mint on her pillow would be a nice touch too.

They turned onto St. Louis Street, and Kate saw the Allton Hotels sign above the main entrance. “There! My boss attended a party there once and told me it was gorgeous.”

“I don’t need gorgeous so much as Wi-Fi, something to eat, and a place to start working,” Roman answered as they walked toward the grey building with black wrought iron railings so typical to the French Quarter.

“I’m sure they’ll have all that and more. You said five star, and this is it.”

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