Chances Are - By Christy Reece Page 0,34
at a park bench, she propped her foot on the back and needlessly readjusted her thigh-high stockings. Her dress was already short and with her leg up like this, she revealed several more inches of skin.
A deep male voice growled in her ear, “What the hell are you doing?”
“Just adding enticement.”
“And making it damn obvious you’re wanting to attract attention,” he snapped. “Get your ass moving again. Now.”
Her first reaction was anger at his autocratic, abrupt tone. An instant later, she realized he was right. She dropped her foot and took off again. She wasn’t out to attract every deviant, just one in particular. Jake was probably going to chew her out. She had made a rookie mistake and she was sure he would be happy to point that out. It didn’t help to know that she deserved the reprimand.
She passed a young couple so wrapped up in each other they didn’t notice her. The only other person she passed, an elderly man with a cane, barely glanced at her. She was almost at the apartment and though she knew attracting the killer her first night out hadn’t been likely, she couldn’t help but feel a little let down.
“Why are you slowing down? Keep moving.”
Angela sped up and almost ran the last few steps to the apartment building. Inserting the key into the lock, she was inside in seconds. Not bothering to wait for the elevator, she sped up the stairs as if she were being chased. She heard the door slam behind her and knew that Jake had entered the building.
Racing down the hallway, she stopped at her door and then looked behind her. Jake wasn’t there. Where was he? He had come in right after her. Hadn’t he? Where had—
A large hand covered her mouth as a long, muscular arm snaked around her torso pressing her against a hard male body. “If I had been the killer, you’d already be drugged and I’d be taking you away.”
The familiar voice growling in her ear jump-started a thousand emotions at once. Fear, frustration, anger, desire, need and so many more feelings culminated into an explosive reaction. Angela waited until he had loosened his hold and then acted in one smooth, continuous attack. She bit the hand covering her mouth, slammed her head back against him, then whirled and gave him a one-two punch, one in the face, the other in the gut.
It all happened so quickly, she barely let herself think of the consequences. It was when she saw the blood that she realized she’d gone too far. Jake was bent double, holding his stomach while blood poured from his nose.
Cursing herself, she quickly opened her apartment door and ran to the bathroom for towels. In seconds she was back. Jake had apparently regained his breath. He was inside the apartment, leaning against the closed door and holding his nose to prevent more blood loss.
Remorse filling her, she held out the towel to him and whispered, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I never—”
Jake shook his head as he took the towel and held it to his face. “Don’t you dare apologize. You did exactly what you should have done. I deserved that for scaring you. My only criticism is that you should never have let me sneak up on you in the first place. You counted on me being behind you and you hesitated. Don’t hesitate. The instant you feel threatened, you act.”
“Yes, but I knew it was you when I did that.”
Though his face was half covered with the towel, she could see that he was smiling. “Yeah, you were pissed. And I don’t blame you. If anyone did that to me, I would have reacted the same way.”
“Why didn’t you stop me?”
“For one thing, I think you underestimate your skill. You move damn fast.”
“And the other thing?”
He shrugged and moved further into the room. “I deserved the hit.”
“Maybe so, but I could have held back on the punch.”
“No, don’t ever hold back. You can always apologize later if you made a mistake. But when someone grabs you from behind, you have every right to react the way you did.”
“How bad is it?”
He lowered the towel and Angela wanted to cry. The lower half of his face was a bloody mess.
Whirling around, she ran to the bathroom again, dampened a washcloth and turned. Jake was standing behind her.
She put the lid down on the toilet and said, “Sit down and let me see how