Page 23 of Direct Action

His arm went around my waist, he pulled me close, and he belatedly asked, “Are you hurt?”

I was not proud when my voice came out breathy. But seriously, there was only so much a woman could take—and a man getting in another man’s face in an effort to protect your honor and maybe even physical safety was enough to make any woman weak in the knees. But it was more than that, it was concern that bleached out the anger. It was the way he had his chin angled down, looking me straight in the eyes. It was the way he was staring at me that stated plain he’d strangle the life out of Mr. Jacknut if my answer wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

“I’m fine.”

He nodded.

“Do you have Triple A?”

“Huh?”

“You need a tow truck, Chloe.”

Oh right.

My car.

“I haven’t gotten that far.”

“Get on that, baby, then we’ll deal with the police.”

We’ll deal with the police.

We?

Oh no. Hell no. I was on Ryan overload. I needed him to leave. Which begged the question . . .

“Why are you here?”

Something unreadable flashed across his face. It was there, then gone, and all that was left was the concern.

“We’ll talk about why after you get your car sorted.”

Nope.

I’d changed my mind; I didn’t want to talk about why.

So, I moved on to different question. “How’d you know where I was?”

I hadn’t told Grace exactly where I’d gotten into the accident, just that I was close to work and I’d be there as soon as I could.

“We’ll talk about that after too.”

“After, I’ll be at—”

“Make your call, Chloe.”

And there was that shiver again.

Damn him for rumbling my name all sexy-like with a hefty dose of authority mingled with a richness I only heard while he stared in my . . .

“Baby, if you keep looking at me like that, I won’t be responsible for what I do next.”

“How am I looking at you?”

Ryan leaned closer, his forehead gently touched mine, and I’d swear to it under penalty of perjury that alone made my pussy clench. But when he said, “You know exactly how you’re looking at me, Chloe. And it’s about damn time we stop dancing around it,” it was the husky rumble that made me clench tighter. But it was the words that had embarrassment washing through me. “Now make your calls.”

He pulled away.