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Chapter One
I braced myself for an impact that never came. Even though he’d been the one to shove me to the ground, Jasper somehow still caught me in midair and rolled, cushioning my fall and covering me with his body. My lungs were on fire as I instinctively held my breath, waiting for what came next.
Adrenaline pumped through me, and after what felt like ten minutes but was probably only one, I pressed my hands against his chest, needing to see what the hell had just happened.
“Damn it, Cari. Stay down!” No matter how much pressure I applied, those massive arms remained, a cage around my face. It would likely have been smart to stay there, to let him do his job, but I’d never liked small spaces, and pressed beneath him as I was, it was hard to catch a breath.
“Please.” I huffed and pushed again. “Can’t…breathe.”
Irritation glittered in his eyes, and as I blinked up at him, I realized that this wasn’t a man I’d met yet. The Jasper I’d spent the day—and night—with was stern, with a facade that would crack if you wedged yourself in there just right. The person acting as a shield for my body as the last of the glass tinkled down around us?
If I hadn’t just seen that he would do whatever it took to keep me safe, I might have been afraid. Whoever had just shattered this glass, I didn’t want to be in their shoes.
Anger was fire in my veins, evaporating the fear. I shouldn’t need a bodyguard. I shouldn’t be scared in my own damn room when all I’d done was my job.
“Let me out.” After a moment’s hesitation, during which I would have bet my soul that he was assessing the remaining threat, he rolled enough for me to get free. I crawled to my feet, wincing as I became aware of a thousand tiny cuts, bee stings that would probably hurt like hell tomorrow.
Right now, I didn’t care about these little cuts. Right now, I’d been pushed from mildly concerned about the vandalism to furious that I was being targeted.
I was a good person. Hell, most of the time I couldn’t even stand up for myself. What had I done to deserve this?
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He cast a sidelong glance at me, most of his attention fixed on the icy shards of glass jutting out of the window frame like the teeth in a jack-o-lantern.
“Standing up for myself.” Careful not to step on any glass, I snagged my dress from the floor. I cursed when I saw the straps that had been sliced clean through with his knife, but I tugged the remains of the garment over my head anyway.
My legs shaky, I wobbled on the high heels that I still wore.
I gasped once I’d smoothed the fabric back over my body, holding it to my chest with my hands. He’d pulled his pants up and moved, quiet as a big cat, and was standing a mere whisper away, still angling himself between me and the broken window. “If you think you’re going out there, think again.”
“Excuse me?” I could feel the vertebrae in my spine snapping into place as I straightened, incredulous. “It was Daly. You know it was Daly. He’s a chauvinistic redneck pig who’ll keep pushing until someone pushes back. I shouldn’t have to be scared. I shouldn’t need to have you.”
“And what are you planning to do?” He stepped back the tiniest bit, and his gaze swept over me, reminding me that I was in a skimpy, torn dress, high heels, and that I was missing panties. This, I’m sure, was his point. “Slay him with your vicious rhetoric?”
He had a point, but I couldn’t just stay here—couldn’t just take this. I’d worked damn hard to get where I was—the schooling, the doctorate, the show. Now, with fear a jagged blade sawing at my success, I felt as though it could all be snatched away.
I wasn’t going to have it. Gathering all the little bits of bravery that I could manage, I raised my chin into the air. “You can’t stop me.”
“I can.” He arched an eyebrow. “And I’ll enjoy it.”
I guessed his intention moments before he moved, and my eyes widened. I choked out a breath as he lifted me straight off my feet, hoisting me up and over his shoulder.
“Jasper!” He was not going to carry me out of here caveman-style…except that, with his arms acting as steel bands around me, I found that I had little say in the matter. I cursed as his boots ground the shards of glass into a powder, white sand that glinted up at me as I hung upside down.
“Stay quiet.”
I was about to tell him exactly what I thought of that, but the words caught in my throat when I realized that at some point he’d pulled out his gun. The black metal gleamed in the low light that filtered in from a streetlamp outside, and the bitter taste of fear, undiluted, spread over my tongue.
If that gun was out, then he thought there was real danger. I couldn’t hold back the slight shudder that vibrated through me, and instead of fighting Jasper, I found myself digging my fingers into his muscle. I pressed my face against his shoulder, eyes squeezed tight as he slowly, quietly opened the door to my room. Backing out, blocking me with his body, he craned his neck, grunted with satisfaction, and swung fast into the hall, his massive frame curled in, enclosing me in its shell.
I remained curled into a ball, having finally realized that what I saw as standing up for myself was really just making his job more difficult. I heard the sound of a lock opening and the thud of a door swinging open, and then I was being set down. My eyes flew open as my feet touched the ground.
“Whose room is this?” I watched, wide-eyed, as Jasper closed the door with the heel of his boot, then tucked his gun into the waistband of his pants. When he looked at me again, that stranger was still visible in the lines of his face. He was cold, hard—ready to do whatever it took to get the job done.
“Mine.” Methodically, he checked every inch of the room, which was identical to mine. Finally, he nodded with satisfaction, turning to leave. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Wait!” My muscles locked as that very real fear turned them to ice. He looked back over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “I’m not staying here alone!”
That pale green of his eyes softened, deepened, and I expected… I don’t know what, exactly. That he’d say he would stay?