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There she was.
The brave woman I’d met a couple of weeks ago who didn’t let anyone tell her what to do. Damn, she was sexy as fuck when she took charge.
The sleaze in front of me edged sideways, putting more distance between us. “Why isn’t he picking up?” He put his phone in his pocket. “Dr. Wilders. Get away from him.”
Coward.
If he was truly worried about Lila, he’d have manned up and faced me. I didn’t blame him, though. Few people dared to stand up to me. Pretty much no one. Except for the beauty by my side, who was glaring at me.
She was like a kitten facing off against a dragon. Clueless to the threat that was right in front of her. She should have had more sense than this. And why was she so frightened of the cowardly doc when I was the most dangerous thing to cross her path?
“Security!” the sleaze yelled. “Where the fuck are they? I’m gonna fire them all if they don’t get here within the next thirty seconds.”
Some passersby nervously gave us a wide berth, averting their eyes.
“Dr. Rothwell, please keep your voice down. You’re making the clients nervous. We don’t want to cause a scene and have it affect your clinic, now do we?” she said softly as if she was soothing a child. “There’s no need for security. This gentleman is no threat. He made a mistake. That’s all. He thought he was helping someone in trouble.”
Lila’s fingers dug into my arm as a warning when she spoke through gritted teeth, “Isn’t that right, Mister…?”
Did she want me to make excuses for defending her?
No way.
Never.
“Helping someone in trouble?” Sleazeball’s mouth gaped open like a moron, looking at me, then at Lila. “Unbelievable. Are you implying I was doing something to you and you needed someone to protect you?”
“No, of course not. I meant this gentleman wrongly assumed that and tried to come to my aid.”
The sleaze fixed his eyes on my arm, where Lila’s grip still clutched. Something about her holding me back must have given him some courage because he straightened up and plastered a cocky look on his face. “Who in their right mind would believe that? I’m a respectable plastic surgeon. Are you trying to spread rumors about me?”
He waggled a finger at Lila. “I’m warning you. First, this ugly fucker assaults me.” He eyed me nervously and took another step away, then brought his attention back to Lila. “Now you’re trying to slander me.”
This guy was an idiot. That wasn’t what she was saying at all. I was kicking myself for not breaking his arm in the first place, but I hadn’t wanted Lila to see my savage side.
She let out a deep, heavy sigh. The way women did when they were dealing with someone with an IQ of an earthworm but trying with every inch of their patience to stay polite. “I only meant—”
“Enough of this bullshit,” I snapped. No way would I let this guy make Lila humiliate herself by groveling to him.
And especially not for me. “You know what you did, you prick. And this conversation ends withthisfinal warning. Don’t. Ever. Touch. Her. Again.”
I resisted the urge to get in his face and intimidate him with more than words, but I couldn’t bring myself to tear my arm away from Lila’s warm hand.
He stammered.
I didn’t bother listening to his legal threats. Instead, I turned to face Lila and gazed into her big round eyes filled with shock. A guy could lose himself for an eternity staring into those beautiful eyes.
But I couldn’t linger like this any longer. It was too big a risk. To a stranger looking on, I was a good Samaritan helping a woman out. But to someone who knew me, well, they’d know better. I was paying far too much attention to her. The whole point of booking a real therapy session was to have a decoy for my ultimate goal of running into her.
But here I was acting out of character, and that would raise suspicion in an onlooker from my world. I was not a knight in shining armor, rising to defend the damsel in distress. And the people in my circle knew that.
Sure, I had a code. Never hurt an innocent. Children and animals. And most women, unless they were the enemy. My crew upheld the code, and the entire underworld knew I lived by this code.
But sticking my nose in a minor sexual harassment situation, nearly breaking a guy’s arm in front of dozens of people. That was not me. For starters, I was never sloppy to the point of having witnesses. And never impulsive enough to jump in without planning out my attack first. And my retreat.
And I sure as shit never stuck my nose in other people’s business if it had nothing to do with mine. Might as well stick a flashing neon sign above my head pointing at Lila that read: sucker’s weakness.
If luck was on my side, no one I knew was here today. At least not the ones who posed a threat. But always assume an enemy was somewhere close. Watching. Even in a place like this, although, hopefully, unlikely.
