Vixen (Dark Protectors #11.5) - Rebecca Zanetti
Chapter 1
Robbing a bank shouldn’t take this much work.
Especially since said bank was in the middle of a podunk town in the middle of freaking nowhere. Tabitha Rusko stepped out of her souped-up BMW and into the darkness of night, having waited too many days for a cloudy evening. The moon over this part of the world was often over-bright, and it had taken forever for stormy weather to finally arrive.
As a demonness, she should be able to control the weather, darn it. Thunder growled across the sky as if in perfect agreement.
She tugged a black rope from the back seat and shut her door, winding the heavy nylon around her shoulder. Then she fetched the grappling hook from the trunk along with the compact drill.
This was ridiculous.
She took a deep breath and ran across the quiet street toward the silent building.
“Going somewhere?” a deep voice asked.
She jumped and bit back a yelp, swinging around to make out a figure leaning against a maple tree by the front door of the bank. Oh, crap. “Detective O’Connell,” she breathed, her heartbeat ramming into a cadence that might kill her. “What are you doing here?” There was no way he’d followed her, because she’d driven all over the town to make sure she was clear. This was a bank robbery, for Pete’s sake.
He pushed off from the tree, striding in the casual lope that screamed bad boy sexy—even for a human. “I had the oddest feeling you were up to something after seeing you drive by this bank so many times the last week, and considering you desperately want the recording I have secured inside, I went with my instincts.” He reached her, and his unique scent of smoked honey wafted her way.
That smell had chased her through dreams until she could finally identify it. Why it was so blatantly masculine, she’d never understand. “You’ve been watching me? Stalking me?” When all else fails, attack.
“No. My office is just down the street,” he said, his tone dry. He wore a dark T-shirt and faded jeans with a gun strapped to his thigh and a badge at his belt. He was about six-two with thick brown hair, matching beard, and blue eyes that seemed to see through her without much effort.
If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was something beyond human. But he wasn’t. Even now, she could sense the illness in him. One he thought he could hide. Yet another thing that had kept her up at night. “I’m not doing anything wrong.”
He looked down at her rope, drill, and grappling hook. “Attempted robbery of a bank is a felony.”
“I haven’t attempted anything.” She kept her feet on the sidewalk. “I’m not even on the bank’s property.” Yet. Of course, the cop knew that fact. Why had he stopped her before she’d at least trespassed? He seemed to rescue everyone, or rather, every woman around who needed help. “Do you keep a bunch of dogs and cats, too?” she blurted before she could help herself.
He cocked his head to the side. “Two dogs and no cats. Okay, one cat, but he just stops by when the weather is bad or he’s really hungry.” Evan stuck his hand in his jeans pocket. “Maybe two cats.”
The guy was a natural rescuer. Also a pain in the butt. “If you’re such a great guy, why won’t you give me that recording you have of me?” She fluttered her eyelashes in an age-old move.
He sighed and took her arm, his grip firm. “I promise you’ll get the video the second you graduate from anger management. You have to understand that you could’ve killed those guys, and while they probably deserved it for harassing you, I can’t just let you off the hook. You do seem to have anger issues.”
Oh, he had no idea. She’d been innocently minding her own business and the punks had accosted her, so she’d kicked their butts. It was too bad the whole situation had been caught on camera, and since one of the kids was the sheriff’s son, she had been charged. Evan had helped her, though. She dug in her heels and stopped them both.
He stiffened and turned to face her. “How are you so strong?” Releasing her, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Or maybe I’ve just lost my strength.” He sighed, his broad chest moving with the effort. “What was your plan tonight?” He sounded merely curious.
She couldn’t tell him, and she really had to get a