Page 25 of Second First Kiss

R. J. wiped the corners of his mouth with his hand and whistled low in his throat. “I wish Tessa was this mouthy.”

Her body froze at the mention of her sister’s name. Oh no he didn’t!

Kat stepped into him, craning her neck to let him see the whites of her eyes and menacing scowl. “My sister is off-limits. Understand?”

“That’s up to her, now isn’t it.” And Kat realized her mistake. She’d just made her sister a challenge, one that R. J. had readily accepted.

“She’s seventeen, you’re twenty-one. Jailbait is the word that comes to mind. So find someone your own age instead of sniffing around the high school like a has-been.”

R. J. stood once again, so close he was invading her personal space bubble. And Kat didn’t like people in her bubble. Especially cocky, disrespectful, misogynistic pricks. “You offering to take her place?”

R. J. slid his hands around Kat’s waist and tugged her roughly. Fear lodged painfully in her ribs. She knew guys like R. J. They were rich, spoiled, untouchable. Kat could handle herself, she had to as a kid. With a mom whose mood fluctuated between maternal and ambivalent, it was like calling open season on her. So she’d grown up tough. And while R. J. wasn’t any tougher, he played dirty.

Kat scanned the room for Eli. He was watching the scene play out but hadn’t taken a step toward the impending action, leaving Kat in a place to fend for herself. A place that Kat had been her entire life.

“Get your hands off me.”

R. J. looked at his buddies and they both laughed. “Make me.”

“Your call.” Kat put her palms on R. J.’s chest and shoved with a force strong enough to send him stumbling into a chair. R. J.’s face went red with embarrassment and vengeance, and before Kat knew it she was being thrust backward with enough force to knock her into the bar. She caught herself on a barstool, but not before smacking her cheekbone on the edge of the bar top and—pow!

Pain shot through her skull, but she immediately righted herself and braced herself for the next blow. But when she looked at R. J., he appeared stunned, like he hadn’t meant to shove her so hard. Didn’t matter, a bully was a bully.

Finally everyone jumped into action and before she knew what was happening, Tim was over the bar and Jax appeared out of nowhere, the two of them shoving R. J. against the wall.

She felt the bar close in around her, regulars and friends closing ranks, defusing the fight, having her back. But she couldn’t let it go. Kat shook off the ringing in her head and used some swift fist action—landing a blow straight to R. J.’s jaw.

It was a cheap shot and she knew it, but there wasn’t a rule book when it came to protecting her sister. She went after him again but was brought up short as two hands clamped around her waist like a vice. She tried to jerk free and couldn’t. He was too strong. And she knew it was a he by the testosterone filling the space. Testosterone and fury.

Lifting up a leg and kicking backward, Kat landed a hard blow to a shin that was so solid her foot ricocheted. Fear laced through her like a shot of whiskey, disorienting her for a moment.

“Let me go or I swear I will unalive you.”

She reared back with her elbow pointed at her assailant, but he dodged the blow. She tried to hit him again, but he said, “It’s it just me, Kitten.”

Nolan.

At that low, assured voice, her body sagged with the release of fear and exhaustion. For the first time in days, she felt as if she weren’t in this crazy world alone. Which was stupid because his actions the other night had sent her world spiraling into chaos.

“I got you,” he whispered. “I got you.”

There was so much conviction in his voice. She wanted to believe him, wanted to let him take the weight for a moment, but history told her not to go there.

Protective hands turned her in his arms and when her eyes met his, all the emotions and adrenaline of the past few seconds flooded her veins. He was still in his uniform, gun strapped to his belt, looking big and bad-ass and like a hero-for-hire.

I don’t need a hero, her brain insisted. But she let herself pretend for just a moment that she did and one had actually shown up—for her.

He reached out to … she wasn’t sure, but—call it habit or scars from her youth—she flinched. Not enough for other people to notice. But he noticed because his hand stilled mid-air.

“Did he hit you?” Nolan whispered, and that’s when she realized he hadn’t seen the whole ordeal.

Slowly, so as not to spook her, he touched her cheek and she shied away again. Which pissed her off. She’d promised herself she’d never flinch beneath someone’s hand again.

She saw worry turn to rage as he slowly dropped his hand. Man, she must have looked as bad as she felt because his eyes narrowed into two furious slits and his gaze went over her head to R. J.

“You son of a bitch.” He took a single, purposeful step forward and she put herself between him and what she knew could cost him his job.

“Let it go.”

---