Never Gonna Happen - Cynthia Eden Page 0,21

Her faith.

He knew precisely how precious the gift was. He would not let her down.

***

“The neighbors didn’t see anything,” Winston announced as the detective paced in Sebastian’s den. “I’m betting the perp came by under the cover of night. Got in, got out, and no one was the wiser.”

“What if she’d been there?” The thought made Sebastian want to drive his fist into a wall.

Winston stopped pacing. “She wasn’t.”

“She wanted to go home last night. I was basically a dick, and I insisted she stay here. She wanted to leave—”

“Then she owes you. Consider this a solid point for Operation—”

“Stop,” he snapped.

Winston frowned at him. “She’s all right, man. Take a breath. The woman is upstairs right now. She’s changing into some of the clothes I brought over. She is safe.” He edged closer to Sebastian. “I’ve never seen you like this. Usually you’re rock steady.”

Sebastian yanked a hand through his hair. “Yeah, well, usually, Alyssa is safe.” I will kill you. “He was in her house. In her bedroom. If she’d been alone—”

“Stop it,” Winston ordered as his voice roughened. “There is never any good that comes from playing the ‘What if’ game. You will only drive yourself crazy as you imagine every bad situation that could go down.”

He’d already imagined plenty. His body burned with rage. In her home. In her bedroom.

“Alyssa is safe,” Winston repeated. “You have her.”

Sebastian’s head moved in a jerky nod. “Damn right I do.”

“And I’m guessing you’re keeping her?”

“Ahem.”

He’d heard Alyssa’s approach. The soft tread of her steps. But Sebastian had kept his head averted because he didn’t want her to see the blazing fury on his face. But when she cleared her throat and made her very deliberate ahem—

His head swiveled toward her.

She’d dressed in white tennis shoes, jeans that hugged her hips, and a sexy white top that exposed part of her midriff and made him want to drop to his knees, put his mouth on that sweet skin and—

“I’m not his to keep.”

Oh, the fuck you aren’t—

Her gaze locked with Sebastian’s. “I’m not yours.”

But I’ve always wanted you to be.

He couldn’t quite manage speech. He mostly wanted to growl and snarl and carry her back upstairs so that he could lock her in the guest room and keep her safe from whoever the hell wanted to hurt her. Maybe he could get locked in that room with her and explore every inch of her tempting body.

“So…” Winston cleared his throat. “How are you doing, Alyssa?”

“I’ve been better. A lot better.”

On the days when someone wasn’t terrorizing her.

Sebastian tried mentally counting. Maybe that would calm his ass down. He got to ten and realized, nope, not helping.

“Why is someone doing this to me?” Alyssa asked. Her voice was strained.

Winston headed toward her and gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. “I’m not sure, but I will find out.”

Sebastian didn’t move, even though he wanted to be the one comforting Alyssa. He wanted to pull her into his arms and never let go.

Probably not the best plan at the moment.

“Do you have any enemies?” Winston asked her. “Anyone you can think of who might want you hurt?”

“No. I mean, I’m not a saint or anything, but I can’t think of anyone I’ve pissed off so much that the person wants to kill me!”

“No exes who couldn’t let go? No one who gave you trouble and made you feel nervous?”

Sebastian lurched forward.

“No.” Alyssa shook her head. “I haven’t dated anyone seriously for a while.”

Winston pulled out a small notebook from his pocket. The guy liked to be old school with his little notebooks. “What about Isaac Swain? You were with him at the theater, weren’t you?”

“Yes, but that was our first date.”

“First and last,” Sebastian clarified.

Winston frowned at him.

“What?” Sebastian demanded defensively. “She didn’t like him. Guy got on her nerves. She was glad when I showed up. I could see the relief on Alyssa’s face.”

Winston’s attention shifted back to Alyssa.

She rolled one shoulder. “Yes, I might have been glad. But then Sebastian told me that he’d gotten some text saying I was being targeted.” She hurried toward Sebastian. “Why contact you first? That keeps bugging me. Why go to you and say that I’m in danger? I don’t mean anything to you.”

“You’re wrong.” You mean everything.

She wrapped her arms around her stomach as she stood less than a foot away from him. “I tried to call my brother last night. I couldn’t get hold of him.”

Yeah, about that…

Winston lifted a brow