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“Get the fuck out of my store!” he growls, blue eyes harsh. “Who the fuck are you?”
The man stares at John, gnashing his teeth. John gnashes right back, forming fists with his hand.
“Who the hell are you?”
My boss merely glowers.
“I own this store, fuckwad, so get the fuck out. Who the hell talks to women like that? Get out,” he hisses.
Scared now, the man trembles and mumbles something incoherent.
“What was that?” John hisses again, his blue eyes like lethal laser beams.
“Nothing,” the man whimpers before pulling his raincoat so close that only his mask is visible. We can’t even see his eyes anymore. Then, he scurries out of the store, somehow reduced to the size of a mouse.
I fall against the counter, tears pooling in my eyes. I’m trembling from the encounter because I don’t do well with confrontation.
John comes around the counter and pulls me into his strong arms. I take a deep, shuddering breath, and then bury my head in his shoulder and allow myself to cry heavily.
Why did that happen? What did I do to deserve such awful treatment? Was that man just a misogynist out to hurt random women? Nothing like this has ever happened to me before and the experience makes me shudder like a leaf. I’m lucky John was here. What would the man have done if my boss hadn’t come out to save me?
Slowly, my sobs die down a bit and my boss pulls back to look into my eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asks gently.
I swallow hard, tears still coursing down my cheeks.
“How did you know he was here? Did you hear what he was saying?”
John strokes my back. “I saw everything on one of the cameras.”
I gulp. Of course ShopMore has cameras everywhere. Every store does.
“I’m glad you looked at the monitor. I don’t know what that man would’ve done…”
“Shh, don’t think about that right now. I would never let anything happen to you, Britney.”
I press my face against John’s button-down shirt again. There’s already a huge wet spot from my tears, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He strokes my hair and hushes me, letting me lean against his massive bulk for strength. I sigh again as he radiates heat, the warmth so comforting. This man smells like the woods, and I breathe in the masculine spice. I could stay in his arms forever. I’m still shivering from the stranger’s awful comments, but John is holding me tight and keeping me safe.
“I’m so sorry that happened,” John whispers into my ear, his breath hot. I shiver uncontrollably. “I promise that will never happen again.”
“It’s not your fault,” I respond. I reluctantly pull back so that I can look in his eyes, and the blue gaze is filled with concern. “He was just a sexist jerk. I’m sure he came in here looking for a fight, and got me instead.”
John’s gaze grows sharp.
“If he had gotten physical, I would’ve kicked his ass.”
I have no doubt about that. There’s still a protective fire in my boss’s glance, and I’ve seen a similar emotion in Joey’s eyes before, but this is different. There’s something more behind John’s concern. There’s something lethal about it, like he’d be willing to commit murder in order to protect me.
I won’t let myself go down that rabbit hole, though. John doesn’t have feelings for me because he’s a CEO whereas I’m a high school senior. His family owns a company, while my family owns absolutely nothing. A relationship between us would never work out.
Yet I feel a connection. I’ve never had such strong feelings for anyone before. I’ve had a couple of boyfriends in the past, but they never lasted very long. Maybe it’s because they weren’t right for me, but it’s never been like this before. The man in front of me causes my heart to pound, even as he pulls me against his chest again, stroking my hair.
“Are you okay?” he whispers tenderly.
I take another deep shuddering breath. “I think so. Thank you again for saving me.”
He steps back and glances around the store. “Why don’t we go sit in my office?” he suggests. “I’ll keep an eye on the monitors, and see if that asshole comes back. Although if he does, he’ll be hurting a lot more this time.” The look on that handsome face is pure menace, and I shudder a bit.
“Okay, sure. Thank you.”
He walks me to the back, one strong arm tucked securely around my waist, and I take a seat in one of chairs. To my surprise, the gorgeous CEO sits down next to me instead of behind his desk, stretching his long legs out. My body tingles. I want to be closer to him, but I can’t do that without being obvious so I merely shift a bit in my seat, pressing my thighs together. He shoots me a lazy smile.
