Sassy Blonde - Stacey Kennedy Page 0,26

task, she was startled when a low voice sounded very close behind her. “Hey.”

She whirled around, finding the guy with the charming smile. He stood close enough that she could smell beer and cigarettes on his breath. “Hey.” A slight chill shivered over her as she looked for Hayes. He was still gone, and when she looked back into the dark, glazed brown eyes in front of her, she got the feeling this guy had waited for exactly that. She slid away from him and settled in front of her booth.

The guy followed her. His voice was low, seductive. “You should ditch that guy and we can go somewhere.”

“Thanks, but no. It’s been a long day.” She scanned the area again, finding most of the booths had packed up and left, only a few stranglers on the other side, like her, who worked at their own speeds.

The guy stepped even closer now. Too close. “Ah, come on, sexy,” he purred. “You’d have a fun time, I promise.”

She noticed his crew of guys were moving in their direction, and suddenly, what seemed like flirting became something different. Coldness crawled up her spine like an icy spider. “Listen, it was nice to meet you, and thanks for the interest in the beer, but in case you can’t take the hint, I’m not interested.”

She went to move away, but he latched onto her arm, his fingers pinching. “Ah, don’t be like that, beautiful.”

She winced against the brutal hold. “Ow. Let—”

His hand was ripped away and the guy suddenly went soaring, landing on his ass. Hard.

She jerked her gaze to Hayes, his feet planted wide, his stance at the ready. His snarl was nothing she’d ever heard from him before. “Does that help you understand she’s not fucking interested?”

Maisie blinked. Blood poured from the guy’s nose. “Fuck,” he growled, cupping his face. “You broke my fucking nose.”

Another blink, and the guy’s friends were rushing over. Maisie took in Hayes’s corded neck, the lifting of shoulders as if readying for a fight. “Do not even think about it,” she said, pointing at him. “There is only one of you and four of them.”

Hayes’s gaze flared. “I’d say I’m sorry I’m not going to listen to you, but we both know I’m not.”

Then he charged into the group of angry, drunk men.

5

“That was stupid,” Maisie said, dabbing the small cut under Hayes’s right eye. He sat on the end of one of the double beds in the Durango Lodge, the budget-friendly motel with mountain views. Silence was a hard find. The water gurgled within the pipes and half-heard conversations spilled in from people passing by the door. But the place was clean, and the television worked.

Another dab of the cloth had Hayes fighting a flinch. That small cut was the only evidence of the fight that hadn’t lasted long. Nor was it a fair fight, and Hayes knew that when he charged forward. Being a trained cop, in both self-defense and some martial arts, he allowed himself one punch to the bastard who’d put his hands on Maisie. The others in the group he’d taken down easily since they all were drunk. Security had swarmed in quickly, kicking everyone out, including him and Maisie. His only regret: he hoped Clara didn’t get wind of it. But protecting Maisie, defending her, he didn’t regret that.

Maisie removed the cloth and said firmly to him, “For future reference, I really don’t need you guarding me and going all Captain America on assholes.”

He chuckled. “Captain America?”

Using the soft washcloth, she dabbed again and gave him that cute smile back. “You flattened their asses like some Marvel character. Seriously, where did you learn how to fight like that?”

She thought he kicked ass. Fine by him. But… “One, none of them knew how to fight. Two, they were all drunk. Three, they’re cowards. It was hardly a fight.” He pointed to his cheek. “That was a sucker punch.”

She made a noise in the back of her throat and continued to dab the wound.

Hayes liked this. Her attention. It had been so long since a woman had taken care of him. He’d forgotten how nice the sweet touch of a woman felt. To not have to exist alone. To have someone else to depend on. Yeah, he liked that.

“I’ve got no doubt you can handle yourself,” he explained, “but that doesn’t mean that when some dickhead puts his hands on you and you flinch in pain, I won’t fix it.”

Her smile stopped Hayes’s