Vixen (Dark Protectors #11.5) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,11

wheel, Evan jerked again, this time aiming for the left front of Richard’s car. He spun them both into the metal fencing of another industrial complex.

His airbag exploded into his face, and he shook his head, jumping out of the vehicle while grabbing for his weapon.

The white BMW skidded to a halt next to him, and Tabi was out and running for him. “Evan!”

He grabbed her arm and pushed her behind him, trying to see through the steam hissing from the front of his Jeep. “Stay down.” Then he crept to the side, his gun at ready, pointed at the innocuous black car. “Put your hands outside the vehicle. Now!” he yelled.

Nothing.

He crept closer, looking for movement.

Tabi came up on his side. “He’s gone.”

Evan’s ears rang, and he shook his head, leaning down to confirm that the car was vacant. He levered up, looking around the area. “Where did he go?” There wasn’t even any sound.

“Heck if I know.” She sighed, sounding more put out than frightened.

Evan turned to face her. “What the hell is going on?” He’d just wrecked an official vehicle, and he hadn’t even called it in.

Tabi looked him over, her eye gleaming through the darkness. “Are you all right?”

No. His brain was fried. None of this made a lick of sense, and that included his own actions. “Tabi—” he started.

She ran for him, jumping and wrapping her arms and legs around him. “You tried to save me.” Then her mouth was on his. Soft and sweet, her tongue slipping inside his mouth with the taste of strawberries.

He clamped his hands on her tight ass and took over the kiss, going deep with no thought. For the briefest of moments, there were no thoughts, no fears, no pain. He forced himself to reclaim reality and leaned back, when all he wanted to do was bend her over the car and take what she was offering. “I have to call this in,” he said, his voice gruff.

She smiled and leaned in to nip his bottom lip. “You’ll never find him, and who the heck cares? Don’t you want to take whatever pleasure you can right now? Just one night? You and me?”

His left leg began to tremble, and he shifted his weight to keep her aloft. A year ago, he would’ve said no. Even a month ago would’ve been a different situation. Fuck it. If he was going to die, he was going to have this night. “My place or yours?”

The trill of sirens jerked him out of the fantasy he was already living. Lights came into view—red and blue and swirling. He let her slide to the ground.

She put her hands on her hips. “Somebody must’ve seen us speeding.”

“Right,” he said, turning and rubbing the back of his neck. Yeah, he was going to get fired for this. No question about it.

“You didn’t have time to get to your radio. It all happened so fast,” she said, facing the oncoming lights.

He glanced down at her calm face. Just who the hell was Tabitha Rusko?

Chapter 5

Tabi stormed out of the police station after giving her statement for the third time to a detective who didn’t seem to understand English. Either he would arrest her or not, and she’d made enough of a threat about her lawyers that she’d probably bought herself some time. It was a good bluff, anyway. She could find lawyers if she needed them. Either way, she was clear that the car chase and wreck had been the blond stranger’s fault and not Detective O’Connell’s.

Hence her shock when she ran into him right outside the brick building, and he was holding a box of his possessions. “Oh, they did not fire you,” she exploded.

Evan turned toward her, his eyes dark. “Yeah, the sheriff has been looking for a way to get rid of me for a while.” He jerked his head toward her BMW in the lot. “Why don’t you give me a ride home, and you can tell me what’s going on and exactly who this Richard is.”

Heat nearly blew steam out of her ears. “Why are you taking this so calmly? Get in there and fight, Evan.” She could see he was a fighter—especially with the bruises now down his neck from the wreck.

He turned to walk to her car and waited for her to unlock it before shoving his box in the back seat and settling into the front.

She slipped into the driver’s seat and turned toward him. “Evan?”

He rested his head