Page 5 of His Own Heaven

“All right, gentlemen,” the lady running the speed dating said. “If you could move to a table and take a seat. And ladies, good luck!”

Everyone moved at once, and instead of sneaking out as intended, Lucy somehow got dragged farther in, carried away on the sea of hormonally driven singles as they sought their next conquest.

And that’s when it happened.

As Lucy attempted to escape her fate, she was shoved from behind and stumbled into a kid in his twenties, who instantly recoiled from her. “Whoa there, ugly,” he said, exaggerating his show of horror. “A little early for Halloween, isn’t it? What are you supposed to be anyway? A zombie hooker?”

The guy standing next to him pretended to cough to hide his laughter. He wore a T-shirt that read “bearded for her pleasure”, the words fashioned in the shape of a thick mountain-man style beard. She assumed he wore it as a joke, as he had no beard to speak of. Two girls who looked barely old enough to drink stood behind them, giggling into their vodka cruisers.

Instead of telling them off, Lucy bit her tongue and offered the little shits her very best resting bitch face, because the last thing she wanted when she was trying to make a run for it was to draw even more attention to her situation by causing a scene. But before she could turn and walk away, a large hand rested on her shoulder.

“Apologise to the lady.” Tobias Bennett’s deep voice vibrated through her, setting every one of her nerve endings on fire and making her body tingle with awareness in all the best places.Oh holy crap.

So much for the quick getaway.

“Now.” Another hand, accompanied by an equally deep voice, landed on her other shoulder.

Glancing up at her boss, she watched the muscles tick in his jaw as he glared at the arsehole who’d made fun of her. A quick look at his friend and she came face-to-face with a pair of crystalline blue eyes almost identical to Tobias’s and an easy smile stretched across his impossibly handsome face.

“Evening, beautiful,” he said with a wink.

Beautiful?Lucy did a double take, and the jerk-off twenty-something snorted. She bristled at the dismissive sound and gritted her teeth, tamping down the urge to say something and make the situation worse. But it seemed Tobias had no such reluctance. He stepped forwards and folded his thick arms across his impressive chest, causing the dark blue cotton of his button-up shirt to pull tight around his biceps.

The big man’s less-than-subtle power move made her insides clench with need, and Lucy suppressed a whimper as she wondered what it would feel like to be held in those strong arms.

“I said apologise to the lady,” Tobias growled again, glaring down at them like they were shit on the sole of his shoe. “Now.”

The jerk’s friend paled, as if he’d only just realised exactly how huge her rescuer was. To be fair, the man made Lucy feel small, and she stood at just a smidge under six feet tall, even when she wasn’t wearing five-inch-high follow-me-home-and-fuck-me shoes.

The jerk scoffed again, as if the whole situation was so beneath him, then rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, okay? It was a joke. Jesus.” Then he shook his head and muttered under his breath, “Bitch.”

Lucy sighed. “Wow, okay. You know what, I was prepared to let it slide, but you just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” She leaned closer, invaded the ignorant little twat’s personal space and turned her scars towards him. “Take a good look, junior,” she said quietly, smiling grimly as the jerk visibly stiffened. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a firefighter. I’mugly, as you put it, because I put my life on the line to save a four-year-old kid from a burning house. But I’m guessing from your expensive-looking haircut and clothes and, what, the Mercedes in the car park”—the jerk nodded and swallowed hard—“that you’ve never sacrificed anything for anyone in your life. But sure, you go ahead and call me names if it makes you feel like a big man.” She let her gaze travel deliberately, disdainfully up and down the arrogant brat. “You in your skinny jeans and ironic T-shirts, playing at grown-ups in Daddy’s car as you bang impressionable schoolgirls you have zero intention of calling after you shove them in the back of the taxi you so very predictably have on speed dial, you sad little boy. So yeah, I just may be the ugliest bitch you’ll ever meet, but at least I’m only ugly on the outside.”

Face flushed with what she hoped was embarrassment—and maybe a little fear—and eyes darting to the side, the jerk stammered, “I’m… I’m sorry.” Only this time it was said with a modicum of contrition.

“Get out of my face,” Lucy growled, then sighed softly as the jerk and his friends scurried away to join the dating pool. The lady in charge caught her eye, pressed her lips into a thin line, and shook her head. Lucy had been there often enough to know what that meant. Good ol’ rule number three: “harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.” Except what they really meant was “harassment of any kind towards people we deem socially acceptable will not be tolerated. Freak show rejects need not apply.” Which explained why Skinny Jeans McGee wasn’t receiving the same glare of disapproval currently pointed at her. He may have been an arsehole, but at least he was a good-looking arsehole.

Lucy nodded towards the door. “I’ll just go.”

“Do. Please. And take your friends with you.”

Lucy frowned. “Friends?”

Behind her, someone cleared their throat, a hint of amusement enriching the deep timbre.

She stiffened. Somehow, while she was ranting at the jerk, she’d forgotten Tobias and his friend were still standing there like two enormous sentinels, watching over her even as she made a fool of herself in front of her new employer.

Hands clenched into fists to hide her anxiety, she pasted on a smile and slowly turned to face them. “So, am I fired?” she asked, only half joking.

Perfectly carved eyebrows arched over fathomless blue eyes, and the sexiest grin she’d ever seen on a man tugged at the corners of his full lips. “No.”

He turned to his friend, and they seemed to talk to each other without actually saying anything at all, just a few raised brows and nods in her direction. Then they bumped their fists together and the whole world turned upside down as Lucy found herself being tossed over Tobias Bennett’s shoulder and carried out of the pub.

“What the hell?”

One strong arm banded around her legs, holding her in place so she couldn’t kick—or perhaps fall from an extreme height—while his other hand landed on her arse.Smack!

Lucy gasped at the sharp sting, then rubbed her thighs together and moaned as a glorious ache began to throb between her legs.Fuck.

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