Tempt Me - By Shiloh Walker Page 0,35

Once she did that, she’d call the cops.

Wine. Chocolate. Flowers. All accounted for. Cole was going to swing by the shop first, make sure she wasn’t there. Part of him kind of hoped she was, and part of him—the very perverted, very male part of him—was wondering if he could talk her into modeling a few pieces she had in her store...for him. It was a fantasy he’d been living with all damn week.

Although he realized that might be sort of rushing things.

He couldn’t stop thinking about her, though.

All the time—she was in his head, all the time. Could you fall in love that fast? Was it healthy to even think he could have fallen in love that fast? He was just a couple of weeks out of a break-up, and although it hadn’t been a bad one on his part, he realized he should maybe take things slower with Rocki.

Be patient.

Make sure he wasn’t just reacting to Rocki because of some latent issues with Mara—

His phone rang.

And the ringtone had him swearing.

Speak of the devil...or the Wicked Witch of High Street.

He almost ignored it. But he figured he might as well see what she wanted so he wasn’t ignoring phone calls every ten minutes for the rest of the night. Parking in front of Rocki’s store, he answered the phone.

Dwayne was still damn fast, a fact that Rocki figured out only seconds before she would have been in her car. She saw him coming and darted away, refusing to be caught between him and any object, even if it was her car.

“You need to leave me alone,” she warned him, her voice shaking. He needed to leave her alone, and he needed to do it now because damn it, that look in his eyes was terrifying.

Damned terrifying.

“Do I?” He sneered and made another grab for her. This time, thick, strong fingers caught the sleeve of her coat.

With a desperate jerk, she tore away from him, stumbling a little before she caught her balance. “Stop it, Dwayne. You think you’re not going to get caught, you fucking idiot? You’ll be the first person they look at.”

He only laughed. This time, when he came after her, he moved too fast. She hit him—something in her hand snapped—she felt it, the hot, vicious pain so bright and hot. Blood fountained from his nose and spilled all over her as he took her down.

The air exploded out of her lungs and seconds later, she was struggling to breathe at all as he shoved his forearm against her throat, using his other hand to tear at the busk of her corset. “Bitch. My fucking bitch and you won’t forget it this time.”

Black dots swirled in front of her. Pain, ugly and clawing, tore through her. Couldn’t black out—couldn’t. Her right hand was useless. But she’d be damned if she would let this happen to her again. A sweet gust of air rushed into her lungs as he lifted his weight just a little, still struggling to loosen the corset—

The absurd, foolishness of those actions might have made her laugh hysterically if she could have spared the breath. There was no way he’d get her out of it that easily. But between his weight crushing her, and the corset itself, she couldn’t laugh at the futility of it—he might as well have been trying to tie his shoes using his teeth.

It cleared her brain just a bit, though. Enough for her to flex her left hand, still laying curled and free on the ground beside her. He thought she wouldn’t fight. Bastard. Brushing her hand along the ground, she searched for something—anything. When her hand touched something round, cold and smooth, she gripped it. A bottle—all the bottles that littered the back parking lot. They usually pissed her off.

Just then, she could have kissed the litterbug.

Curling her hand around it, she lifted it. “Dwayne...”

Chapter Nine

The sound of a scream froze his blood.

Forgetting about Mara’s whining demand for answers, forgetting about everything, Cole took off running up the narrow alley that ran between Rocki’s store and the building next door. As he ran, he called 9-1-1.

He tore into the back parking lot just in time to see her bringing something down on a man’s head.

She was pinned beneath him—pale, struggling.

Cole exploded.

With a roar, he dove for the other man, taking him down.

The next few seconds passed in a blur, yet some parts were insanely clear. He could remember shoving the bastard to the pavement, could remember