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“Just watch your heart, girlfriend,” Gia warned. “I’m not so worried about tales reaching D.C. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Well, what happens in Barcelona didn’t happen, ya know?”
Yeah, she pretty much got that idea.
“Sebastian and Shane are pretty rough around the edges. The women love them. But they never stick with one for more than a few nights. Don’t go pinning dreams on them, girlfriend.”
“I understand,” Alyssa assured her with a confidence she didn’t feel.
Thankfully, Gia dropped the subject as they neared the crowd. Collecting a glass of wine, Alyssa moved to the outskirts of the slowly growing throng, the number increasing as the night wore on and the wine loosened inhibitions. The beach party was becoming a bit wilder than she’d expected. So much so that she found herself retreating farther into the shadows as the night wore on.
No doubt she would have not been hiding in the dark had Shane and Sebastian been there. Of course, if they had been there, she’d be having more fun either way.
A little more than an hour or two into the party Alyssa began slipping away. Things were becoming just a little too wild to suit her. The flagrant sexual exhibitionism already beginning was enough to make her uncomfortable. Damn, sometimes being that good girl virgin could be a hell of a drawback.
“Hey, leaving?” The swarthy Mediterranean suddenly blocking her way as she began to step onto the sidewalk from the beach had her heart jumping in her throat.
Where the hell had he come from?
“Excuse me, my friends are waiting—”
“What friends?” He snickered, staying in the shadows but continuing to keep her from passing as she tried to get to her apartment. “Baby, there’s no one here but me and you.”
“You’re wrong.” She was normally quite good at bluffing. “And you don’t want to make them angry. Trust me.”
“Stuck-up bitch.” Grabbing her arm, he jerked her to him, despite her instinctive attempt to jerk back. “Too good for me, are you?”
As the words left his lips she found herself suddenly free.
“Actually, she is.” The icy threat in Shane’s voice sent a chill down her spine. “Now, do you want us to prove to you how much better she is than the likes of you?”
“You’re giving him an option?” If Shane’s voice was lethal, then Sebastian’s was pure, black vengeance.
Before Alyssa could fully comprehend everything that was going on Sebastian had one hand wrapped around the thick neck of the younger man and he was slowly wilting, trying to claw at Sebastian’s hands, fighting for air.
“Stop. Stop this now.” Rushing for Sebastian, she gripped his arm, glaring up at him “I won’t have it.”
The man dropped, gasping, freed from a grip guaranteed to choke the life from him.
Scrambling while spewing curses, he scuttled back, made it to his feet, and raced around the apartment building. Not that Alyssa had a chance to make certain he left. In the next breath she was thrown over Sebastian’s shoulder as he walked rather calmly up the steps.
“What are you doing?” Bracing her arms against his lower back, she struggled to lift herself enough to gain some leverage to break his hold. “Let me go!”
A swift little slap to her rear had her freezing in outrage a second before he stepped into the apartment, bent, and deposited her on her feet.
“How dare you!” Shaking, glaring up at him, she adjusted the snug top she felt like stomping her feet in anger.
“How dare I?” His head lowered, eyes as black as coal and glittering with fury suddenly only inches from hers. “Let me tell you how I dare, Alyssa. I dare because that son of a cocksucker thought he could put his damned hands on you. That he could take what you most likely would refuse to allow him to touch. That is how I dare. And if he makes the attempt again, don’t even bother demanding I let him go. You won’t have time. I’ll break his fucking neck.”
Shock exploded through her. This wasn’t the goof he pretended to be. He was stone cold. Hard. Vengeful.
Alyssa stepped back from him slowly.
“’Bastian, easy,” Shane murmured, coming to stand next to Alyssa. “She’s scared enough.”
“Easy, my ass.” Straightening, he shot Shane a fulminating glare. “She could influence me to many things, Shane. God knows I’m so fucking enchanted with her I let that bastard go before I realized I was obeying her,” he snarled, obviously quite put out. “But some things are better understood from the beginning. I’ll kill anyone stupid enough to attempt to hurt her. And God help them if they actually succeed.”
Alyssa stared up at him with wide eyes.
All this fury for her? Because someone had frightened her in the dark? Okay, so maybe he’d terrified her. But all this protectiveness, even as arrogant and irritating as it was, was something so new, such an alien concept to her, that she could only stare up at Sebastian, fascinated and confused.
