unceremoniously dragged toward a beige stone building. Yelping in shock and fear, I tried to wriggle free. But the man dressed in the dark pinstripe suit was too strong.
“Let go of me,” I yelled.
Panic pulsing thick in my veins, I wildly kicked his shins and punched his shoulders.
“Shhh.” He flashed an ugly, lurid grin, then yanked my arms above my head and pinned them in one meaty fist against the unforgiving stone.
My heart was pounding like a jackhammer, and the air in my lungs seized.
“Since it doesn’t look like Ross is around, I’ll gladly take his place and give you what you need, sweet thing.”
He licked his lips and thrust his hips, grinding his erection against me.
Panic spiked higher. I continued screaming for help while kicking and thrashing. The hard stone bit into my shoulder blades as I pressed myself against the building and tried to knee him in the balls. But his strong body held me in place.
Like acid, terror sped through my veins while I begged the people on the sidewalk to help me. To my dismay, they didn’t even look at me. It was as if someone being forcibly assaulted under their noses was an everyday occurrence.
“Help! Please, someone…anyone… Help me!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Shut up, cunt. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want a taste.”
He leaned in toward my mouth.
His wet breath wafted over my face.
Panic surged and my stomach pitched.
Bile burned the back of my throat.
Jerking my head to the side, I pinched my eyes shut.
As he cupped my breast and squeezed, I screamed out a long, petrified sob.
A feral roar pierced the cacophony of blood thumping in my ears, and a split second later, the wretched man let out a strangled cry and released me.
I’m free. He let me go.
Blinking my eyes open, I found Ross gripping the man by the throat. As he lifted the man off the ground, the big drummer’s biceps bulged and rippled. His powerful legs, parted and planted in place, flexed. Nostrils flaring, he pulled the stunned man in close to his snarling face.
“You don’t get to touch her,” he growled, then tossed the creep like a rag doll, onto the hood of a taxi parked at the curb.
Relief flooded my veins as the guy landed with a heavy thud and a guttural cry.
Wearing his command like a well-tailored suit, Ross clutched my hand—sending electricity humming up my arm—before tugging me toward the hotel.
The crushing combination of fury and fear rolling off him melded with my own terror and sent a cluster of quakes shuddering through me.
I hadn’t even stopped trembling when a barrage of what-ifs began pelting my brain.
What if Ross hadn’t heard my screams?
What if he had decided not to turn around?
What would that horrible man have done to me?
The last question sent gruesome, violent visuals whipping through me.
Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t keep up with Ross’s long, powerful strides.
Tugging on his wide, calloused hand, I dug my heels into the concrete and desperately panted, “Stop!”
Spinning to face me, his mouth was pressed in a tight, angry line. His brows were slashed in a fierce frown. “What?”
“Can you slow down…please?” I gasped. “My legs aren’t as long as yours.”
Starting at my toes, he dragged a stare—that felt like the rough stroke of his big hands—up my body. The next shiver that assaulted me had nothing to do with fear or being attacked or what might have happened if… No, the heightened awareness skating through me was because of Ross…all Ross.
Though he was massive, intimidating, and downright scary when he tossed that creep onto the cab, Ross was also ruggedly gorgeous. His physical beauty, masculine smell, and the commanding power in his presence unleashed a primal, feminine ache within me. The man overwhelmed me in every way. So much so that I wanted to run to…and from him all at once.
Exhaling a heavy sigh, he dropped his chin. His expression had softened, and there was now a ravenous need in his eyes that bored through me. No man had ever looked at me that way before. My skin tingled and my stomach twisted. Not from fear but from desire.
“Yeah, sure. Are you all right?”
If fighting the urge to wrap my arms around his chiseled muscles and soak his dark tee in my tears while I bled the fear and adrenaline from my system was all right, then yeah, I was fine. And if fighting the desire to drag my tongue over every