“Mrs. Fairly, you should go inside.” Fear strangled her words, and she wondered if Mrs. Fairly could hear her.
She heard footsteps behind her. She was not going down without a fight. No fucking way had she survived this long only to be killed in front of her sweet landlord in this rundown neighborhood. With trembling hands, she gripped her keys in her palm, the longest sticking out between her knuckles. It wasn’t much, but it was all she had. She clenched her eyes shut and spun around as she swung her arm back, ready to strike, and prayed that her brain wouldn’t go blank the way it had behind the bar.
“Whoa!”
A strong hand gripped her wrist as her knee came up and clipped him in the groin. Her eyes flew open as Logan doubled over in pain.
“Oh no. Logan!”
“Stormy? Why?” Mrs. Fairly peered down at her in horror.
“I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else. Oh God. I’m sorry.” Fear made her shake as she apologized to Logan repeatedly and tried to reassure Mrs. Fairly.
“He’s teaching me self-defense. It’s all in fun,” she said to Mrs. Fairly, hoping she’d buy the explanation.
Logan grimaced as he waved to Mrs. Fairly.
Mrs. Fairly shook her head. “You kids have strange ways of having fun.”
After Mrs. Fairly went inside, Logan turned pained eyes toward Stormy. “Why didn’t you do that to the attacker last night?”
“I don’t…I…” Tears stung her eyes as she tried to pull herself together.
The muscle in Logan’s jaw bunched. He drew her into his strong arms and held her tight.
“It’s okay. You did good,” he assured her through his obvious discomfort.
“Good? I probably broke something down there.”
“Well, there is one way to find out.”
She couldn’t help but smile at the tease. “What are you doing here? I thought you were Kutcher.” She cringed. She didn’t mean to say his name, and by the way Logan’s hand had stilled on her back, she knew he didn’t miss a beat.
Still a little shaky, she pushed from his arms and tried to distract him from what she’d said. “Why are you here? You scared the crap out of me.”
“I came to take you to work.” The pain in his eyes receded, giving way to the seductive pools of blue she’d fallen into last night.
She looked at his white button-down and cleanly pressed jeans. The cowboy boots he wore were curious, after his polished businessman image of the night before. Come for us. Her body heated with the memory. She couldn’t do this, couldn’t bring him into the nightmare that was her life.
“I can walk.”
“Stormy.” He followed her out front. “All right, then I’ll walk you to work. I want to talk to you.”
“We talked last night.” What was with him? Why was he zeroing in on her?
He moved closer, placed a hand on her back. “We did more than talk, darlin’. That’s not what I had in mind for the way to work, but now that you bring it up...”
“Tsk.” She bit the insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing and stopped short of the corner, planting her hands on her hips and staring at too-damn-handsome-for-his-own-good Logan. He really was beautiful. Her mother would call him a real panty-dropper. She’d be right about that. He hadn’t shaved, and the thick stubble that had abraded her thighs in the most delicious way last night had grown even thicker. She unleashed the insides of her cheeks and let her smile roll with the memory.
“What?” He cocked a brow, and she could tell he was enjoying teasing her just as much as she was enjoying being teased. When you’re hiding from the world, teasing didn’t come around often, and when it did, it was usually met with fear. His teasing was met with a fluttering in her stomach that she was trying hard to ignore.
“That was a onetime thing.” She was pleased that she sounded serious even though she didn’t feel it.
“Uh-huh.” He guided her across the street.
“What’s with the cowboy boots?” Did he really intend to walk her to work like a sixth grader carrying her books?
“Going back to my mama’s roots.” Mischief filled his baby blues.
When they reached the main road, the sidewalks were crowded. Stella scanned the crowd, looking for Kutcher. Would she ever be free from his threat? She stole a glance at Logan and realized he was scanning the crowd as closely as she was.
“So your mom is from out West?” His hand felt like it had seared his brand into her skin.
“Colorado. Where are you from?”
“Mysti—” She stopped herself from revealing the town she was from. Unfortunately, the glimmer in his eyes told her she wasn’t quick enough. She blew out a frustrated breath as they waited for the next light to change, and lowered her voice.
“Look, Logan, I’m not really a one-night-stand girl, but aren’t they supposed to be one night? I don’t get why you showed up at my house, or why you’re walking me to work. Shouldn’t you be out doing important PI stuff?”