Page 9 of Ruthless Protector

He growled, a full on, from the throat, animal growl. The man wasn’t just not happy, he was pissed. Oh God, he was going to kick us out. What the hell would I do, where would we go? What would I…

“That’s why you called my office?” he said in a low, rough way that lifted the hair on the back of my neck.

A little shiver slid through me at that roughness, a shiver that was not at all bad, despite the direction the conversation was going. “Well…yes.”

“Fuck,” he said even lower. “You didn’t think to just leave a message on my cell?”

“Ummm,” I said, seriously starting to think I’d made some kind of mistake.

“Woman, I told you to call that number if you were worried about something; that something being an asshole banging on your fucking door. I’m working a kidnapping case right now, so yeah, I’m a little busy to talk about your rent,” he clipped out.

“A kidnapping case?”

“Christ,” he muttered.

I heard another voice, low as well, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Got to go.” Then he ended the call.

Oh shit. I’d messed up. Badly. My surly landlord was working a freaking kidnapping case, and I’d pulled him away from it to talk about my rent. How the hell was I supposed to know? He said to call if I was worried about anything. Yes, but I assumed that meant other things…like late rent. I cringed, even as another shiver fired through me. His job was obviously dangerous. Did he have a gun? Did he beat the shit out of bad guys and rescue people in danger? It was easy to imagine Jude doing all of those things.

I cursed. He was definitely going to kick us out now, there was no doubt in my mind. Only a week ago, he’d been called because of Trent showing up, and now this.

Tilly cried out, so I did my best to shove it all aside and rushed back to my niece.

* * *

It was ten o’clock, Tilly had gone back to sleep, and I’d just checked on her.

She was in my bed, so I could keep an eye on her during the night. She seemed a lot better, but she liked to be close to me when she was unwell.

I needed a cup of tea. My nerves were shot and tea had always been my mother’s solution to everything. Unfortunately, tea wouldn’t do jack shit to help my current situation.

I was coming down the stairs when there was a knock at the front door.

I froze.

Was Trent back? No way could I deal with him tonight.

“It’s me,” a deep voice said, muffled through the door. “Jude.”

The lights were on in the living room, and the TV was going. No point in pretending I was already in bed. As much as I wanted to, there was no ignoring him. Crap.

I walked to the door, straightened my spine, planted a hand on my hip, and yanked the door open. “It’s a little late for an inspection, don’t you think, Mr. Landlord?”

His brown eyes took me in and a muscle in his jaw jumped. “Attitude? That’s what you’re going with?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Woman, I’ve had a prick of a day. I’m not in the mood to take shit from you.”

Um, what now?

His eyes moved over me again and that muscle jumped for the second time.

I glanced down at myself. I was wearing white shorts and a black ribbed tank top. Nothing special, definitely not sexy. I looked back up and his eyes were on my tits, which I also didn’t get. I barely had tits. I had a handful at most, well, for an average man. Jude's big hands would swallow my modest B-cups and…

Stop. Why are you thinking about your landlord’s hands on your tits?