Never Gonna Happen - Cynthia Eden Page 0,16

Ever so slowly. Carefully. Tenderly?

She swallowed.

“It’s late,” Sebastian told her.

It was. He kept mentioning that fact.

“I know it’s been a rough night for you,” he added in that deep, low voice of his. He eased a little closer to her.

Maybe she should have stepped back, but retreating from Sebastian had never been an option for her. Alyssa held her ground. “It was my first time to have someone shoot at me.” She considered the situation. “Hopefully, my first and last time.”

“The bastard called you.”

Yes, about that… “How did you get his phone?” Her teeth bit into her lower lip as she waited for—

“Don’t hurt yourself. It would be a fucking sin to hurt lips as sexy as yours.”

She let go of her lower lip. His eyes were on her mouth. She was definitely seeing lust in his gaze. Lust—directed at her?

“He left the phone in my limo. Probably his idea of some taunt. I gave the phone to Winston. He’s working the case, and he’ll let us know what he turns up.”

Winston. Detective Lewis. Her shoulders relaxed a bit. She liked him. As a detective, he was top notch. As a man, he was one of the real good guys out there.

“Winston said you could get police protection.” His eyes were still on her mouth.

“Do I need police protection?” This was way out of her league. Things like this didn’t happen to her. She lived a quiet, easy life. She designed custom jewelry pieces, and she sold them on her website. She volunteered at the local animal shelter, she went out on occasional dates, and she hung out with her friends. Drama had never been her drug of choice.

Quiet and easy. Quiet and—

“I told him you didn’t need police protection because you have me.”

But I don’t have you.

“This place has the best security system in the world. Got my buddy Eric Wilde to wire the home for me after it was built. And I have guards outside. If you stay here with me tonight, you’ll be safe.”

“Is it…” Her stomach had just dropped. “Is it really that serious?” What was she even saying? Bullets were fired. God, she was in some sort of frightened denial. Time to face facts. “It wasn’t random.” It couldn’t have been random if the shooter had called her. “I wanted it to be a mistake.” She had to blink because her vision had just gotten a little blurry.

Sebastian’s eyes weren’t on her mouth. They’d snapped up to meet her own gaze. He swore and then he—he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against his body.

“What are you doing?” Alyssa’s voice was muffled against him.

“Comforting you.” His hold tightened.

“Why?” Again, muffled. But, damn, he smelled good. And he felt good. All warm and strong and solid. Her arms lifted. Snaked up and curled around his waist.

His body hardened even more. “Because I don’t like it when tears are in your eyes.”

“I didn’t cry.” She hadn’t. She’d blinked away the tears. It was just—she squeezed her eyes shut a moment and held him. “Why would someone want to hurt me?”

“I’ll stop him. Don’t worry.”

She was worried. She was also holding fiercely to Sebastian. “It doesn’t make sense. What could I have done?”

“Nothing. You haven’t done anything.”

Her eyes opened. She pulled away and stared up at him. There had been something about his voice… “Sebastian?”

He looked down at her.

Wow. They hadn’t been this close to each other since…

Well, the limo. When he’d been sprawled on top of her. And when he’d made that whole joke—had to be a joke—about her kissing him as a thank you. But this was different. This was…

“Stay the night.” His words were a sexy rumble that sent a shiver over her. “I’ll keep you safe. Tomorrow, we can figure everything else out.”

Now she was the one staring at his mouth. She’d often wondered about how he kissed. How it would feel to have his mouth on hers. She’d wondered that, you know, when she wasn’t busy hating him.

Such a liar. You’ve never hated him. Even when she probably should have hated Sebastian.

So, no, she hadn’t been lying earlier when she’d told Sebastian that she didn’t hate him.

When it came to Sebastian, her emotions were far more complex than that. Hate would be easy. It was the other stuff that was hard.

“Just stay, Alyssa. You can have any guest room you want. I won’t bother you at all.”

What if I want you to bother me? Because damn if her traitorous toes