Saving Rose Red - Maggie Dallen Page 0,4

notice that he’d stopped listening, or that he was watching her camera like it might run off on its own.

He had to get his hands on that photo before Anthony did.

The puzzle pieces clicked into place and he bit back a groan. Of course. He should have seen it instantly. That was why Anthony had come in here. That was why he’d hit on Andie.

Anthony wanted the photo. He must have seen her taking pictures and was rightfully worried that she’d snapped one of him with Cisco.

He looked down at the blithely ignorant beauty and resisted the nearly overwhelming urge to hoist her over his shoulder and take her somewhere safe. Where they’d be alone. Together…

Focus. He had to get the camera from her, first and foremost, and then worry about how to keep her safe. Maybe Eddie could get some officers to watch her for a while.

“Here they are.” Andie pushed the camera back into his hands and he looked down to see a rose pattern that he was most likely supposed to be commenting on. He couldn’t even begin to think about tattoos and roses. Not now when she was in danger. Moving over to the window he took a quick look outside. Anthony and his friend were nowhere to be seen but he wanted her out of here and out of this neighborhood before they came back.

“Do you live around here?” he asked.

His abrupt change of topic didn’t seem to faze her. “No. I used to, but then I found my mom and I’ve been staying with her. She wants to get to know me—”

“So you live with your mom?” He let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t live alone. That was a good start. Hopefully her mom lived far away from Brooklyn.

“Sort of. I was staying with her but then she married my birth father—they have this on-again off-again relationship. It’s weird. Anyway, she’s moving in with him when she gets back from her honeymoon. She’ll probably sell her place, but in the meantime I’m staying there. Jenna, that’s my sister, she said—”

“So you’re staying alone.”

She blinked up at him. Perhaps not surprisingly, she seemed surprised by his interest. If she had any sense, she’d be slightly terrified by his interest. But either she had no sense or she was altogether far too trusting of strangers.

“Yeah, for the next month, at least. Why, you need a place to crash?” She was smiling. Teasing. Yet, there was genuine concern there. Like…if he actually needed a place to stay, she was offering.

Didn’t this woman have any sense of self-preservation? He was tempted to take her up on the offer just to make sure no one else did. But then his brain took off on another tangent. His mind conjured up delicious images of what exactly it would mean to share a place with this woman with her lavender scent and her slender figure. How she’d look coming out of her bedroom in the morning, all tousled and sexy. In a nightie that just skimmed those thighs…

And there he went again. If this woman could glimpse where his mind kept wandering, she’d run out of there. Which would be for the best, actually. But he couldn’t have her running away, not while she still had the camera in her possession.

So instead of telling her his dirty thoughts, he got down to business, shoving a book filled with graphics in her direction as he worked on a rough sketch. After a few minutes she ditched the book and came over to where he was standing to watch him work.

He’d always hated it when people watched him draw. It was personal. But as her clean, untouchably perfect scent wrapped around him and he heard the sound of her quiet breathing, he found he didn’t mind. When she murmured how much she loved the final image, he may have even liked having such an appreciative audience.

They made arrangements for her to come back later in the week when they both had time for the actual tattoo. When she was getting ready to leave, he moved closer, ready to strike. She slung the camera and her bag over one shoulder and picked up her jacket. It had been a long time since he’d picked a pocket or stolen a purse, but it turned out robbery was like riding a bike.

He moved close to her as if he was escorting her out. Very gentlemanly move. Then, right as she reached the door, he