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Instead of raising his glass, he took hers and put it down in the center of the table, his intense gaze burning right through her. "You don't always have to pretend."
She slid her hand from his grasp, missing his heat the moment her fingers cleared his. "And what exactly am I pretending?"
"That you are as cold as you want people to think you are."
"But I am." She'd worked too damned hard to let that safety net of an image go now.
"If that was the case, then you wouldn't be willing to walk away from everything to save the life of a girl you hardly know, even if she is your niece."
"You're not going to change my mind." She balled up her napkin and laid it on her plate, using more care than was necessary to give her an extra few seconds to get rid of the tightness in her throat. "If there's even a single, small percent of a chance that Jarrod knows where I am, it's too much of a risk."
"The B-Squad can protect you," he said, never once looking away from her. "I can protect you."
"Forever? Because that's what it would be. Essie's safe once she turns eighteen and he can't force her to return to Idaho and marry to consolidate his power. But me? I'm on the run for the long haul. Despite the Bible he holds up, Jarrod doesn't forget, forgive, or turn the other cheek. He'll never stop hunting me."
The reality of it slapped her in the face. It was true, even if she'd never said the words out loud before. This was her future. Every bit of resentment, frustration and anger on Jarrod's part would point like a laser beam right at her. He might try to sell his daughter off, if at all possible, but he'd never hurt Essie. He wouldn't give Tamara the same accommodation.
Isaac gave her a considering look. He had more to say, but something over her shoulder caught his attention and his jaw hardened. Glancing over her shoulder, unease creeping up her spine, the only thing she could spot was their waiter, serving a plate of sushi to a couple seated in front of the restaurant's big bay window. In that hyper-aware way waiters had, he looked up and gave Isaac a discrete nod. No doubt their check was on the way. She turned back to the table to find Isaac's attention square on her as he tucked a stack of cash under the corner of his plate.
"You're safe with me." It was a promise tempered with steel—everything she wanted to hear and something she couldn't listen to.
"Oh no, you're trouble of a whole other sort. The kind I like a little too much. And on that note." She pushed her chair back and stood up. "I think it's time to take me back to the garage so I can go home and pack what I need."
He walked beside her toward the door, that large hand of his soft on her lower back, sending little shockwaves of electricity across her skin that teased her with the impossible promise this man offered.
"You're heading out tomorrow morning?" he asked as they walked out into the night, his big body between hers and the street.
"What? No trying to talk me out of it again?" Against her better judgement, she kind of wished he'd try.
"Would it help?" His tone was teasing and he had his trademark grin curling one side of his lips, but he wasn't looking at her. His focus was on the Devil's Dip Gym on the corner, half a block away.
"No. As long as I’m at least one step in front of Jarrod, I'm keeping that lead intact. I really appreciate that yo—"
Before she could finish the thought, Isaac whipped her around and into an alcove in front of a bakery that was closed for the night. The glass door pressed against her back as he eliminated the space between them, dipping his mouth close to hers but not touching. Heart hammering against her ribs, she meant to push against his hard chest but ended up fisting his shirt instead.
"What the hell?" she managed to get out.
"Three guys," he whispered against her overheated skin, his gaze trained on something he could see behind her in the reflection of the bakery's glass window. "They're outside the garage. Don't look. They aren't the usual suspects who hang around outside the gym. I've never seen them before."
Adrenaline raced through her body, putting every nerve ending on high alert. "Jarrod's men."
"Maybe." He pulled her hair back into a ponytail at the base of her neck tight enough to tug her head back so her neck was exposed while her face was turned toward the shadows.
Blood rushed in her ears but couldn't silence the recriminations screaming in her head. She shouldn't have stayed this long. As soon as the bounty hunter had come for her at the engagement party, she should have hit the road. Now it was too late—and she wouldn't be the only one to pay the price, Isaac would too.
"They're coming this way." He stepped closer so that he covered nearly every inch of her. "Take my lead."
"Isaac I—"
His mouth crashed down on hers, blasting away any coherent thought of what she was going to say next. She tightened her grip on his shirt as he gripped her hips, molding her to him even as he kept his heavy-lidded gaze zeroed in on the men reflected in the glass.
Chapter 9
Isaac
Okay, silencing Tamara with a kiss that sent a lightning bolt of lust straight to his balls hadn't been his smartest plan, but circumstance hadn't exactly given him a lot of options.
After spotting the same guy walk past Satchiko's front window three times in the past hour, he couldn't silence the warning buzz making his fingers tingle. As soon as they'd walked out of the restaurant, he'd spotted the same guy in the blue T-shirt lurking across the street, his attention focused on the Devil's Dip Gym. A quick scan of the area revealed a second unknown with a scraggly-ass beard on the opposite corner. The third was slouched down behind the wheel of a sedan parked at the end of the block.
