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The problem was, as soon as she was ten feet away from him, he was calling after her. “Hey. Let me give you a ride.”
She turned to face him. “Thank you, Rafe. But I have this.”
He chuckled low. “So, is now a good time to tell you you’re walking in the wrong direction?”
And then he saw it, the telltale quiver of her bottom lip. Shit. She was about to cry. He strode up to her and wrapped her in his arms. There was a reason he kept his life simple. There was a reason he stayed alone. The problem was this girl slid under all his defenses. He knew he shouldn’t take her home. But she clearly needed help. Besides, it wasn’t like he didn’t have the best security in the world. She was one tiny girl. How much damage could she really do?
“Look, something tells me you’re in trouble.”
“I am not in trouble. I just need somewhere to lay low for a while.”
He sighed. “Fair enough. Come with me. Although, if you’re going to crash in my spare room, I should probably know your name.”
She blinked wide, dark eyes up at him. “It’s Diana. Diana Renquist.”
Had it really been that easy?
Granted, considering Diana had dragged herself through mud and had nearly gotten hypothermia from the chilly rain, it hadn’t exactly been easy.
But Rafe had done exactly as predicted. Months of watching him had paid off. And now she was in the den of a killer.
How evil can he be? He stopped to help a total stranger. She shut that shit right down. That was her traitor of a vagina talking.
Of course she knew how good-looking he was. But it was nothing compared to having him wrapped around her as he held her in the harness and lifted them out of the ravine. His scent still lingered on her, sending tingles to parts of her body she refused to think with.
What she hadn’t expected was for him to bring her home… to his house. The plan had been to get him to take her to a hotel, give him the cover story, compel him to come back and check on her, and snare him with her feminine wiles. Whatever the fuck those were. But he’d taken her home.
Who does that? She could be a serial killer for all he knew.
Her rib still hurt like hell. The pain radiated down her side. Every now and again, she’d turn too quickly and send searing pain all the way down to her hip.
She sensed Rafe before he spoke and turned to face him as he entered the bedroom he’d given her.
“You feel better after the shower?”
Diana nodded. “Yes. Thank you. I didn’t realize how cold I was. If I’d thought it through properly, I probably should have grabbed my coat from the car when I scrambled out.” More like she’d tossed it when she heard him coming for her. This is a mistake. No. Desperate times called for desperate measures. He’d killed her father.
“Do you have any idea how fortunate you are? I mean, you could’ve died on impact. Not to mention that I came along when I did on such a desolate stretch of road. You must have one hell of a lucky charm.”
“I’m not really a lucky kind of girl.” She dropped her gaze to her hands. She deliberately didn’t look up at him until he spoke again. She had to work hard to pull off the wary, downtrodden thing. She’d learned a long time ago it was better to meet men’s gazes directly. They were less likely to fuck with you if you did. But this is not you. This was Diana Renquist. She needed to put on that persona like a suit.
He held out a T-shirt and a pair of shorts for her. “These should do for now. I just put your clothes in the wash so you’ll have them for tomorrow at least. In the morning, we’ll figure out what your next steps will be.”
She took the clothes from him. “Thank you for this. I know I was kind of a pain in the ass. I’m just not used to people helping me.”
Rafe nodded, then turned his back. There was an awkward pause before Diana figured out he was giving her some privacy to change, although he didn’t leave the room. Quickly she scrambled into the clothes, hissing slightly as she pulled the shirt down.
He whipped around at the sound, just in time to catch her as she pulled the edge of the T-shirt past her ribs.
His brows dropped into an immediate scowl. “That bruise from the crash?”
She lowered her gaze. That would certainly explain it, but what if he knew about injuries and shit? Would the lie pass muster? And well, if he thought someone did it to her, it would certainly tie in to her cover story.
When she didn’t respond, his voice dropped an octave, but somehow instead of going warm and flowing over her like liquid, it went icy and deadly. “Did someone do that to you?”
Oh, protective are you? Where was this protective instinct with my father? She licked her lips. “It’s not a big deal.”
“The hell it isn’t. Who did that to you? Is that the reason you were trying to walk to the city?”
