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Hawk gripped her arm and moved her away from the door. “Call nine-one-one and report a break in.” He stepped forward and pulled the door open slowly.
A frightened twist in her gut almost doubled her over and sweat broke out across her skin. She wanted to let him go in and check the shop, but it was her responsibility. She couldn’t let him take that kind of a risk for her. She didn’t even know him. “You’re not going without me,” she said as she moved in close to him.
He shot her a quick glance, but he was more focused on entering the shop than on what she was doing.
“Stay behind me,” he said in a quiet voice as he entered the shop.
She wanted to argue but she was, in fact, a small woman, and if the intruder was large, well, it wouldn’t go well for her. Maybe letting this guy lead the way wasn’t such a bad idea, but she’d stay close on his heels.
Hawk moved silently and took the steps cautiously. He walked past the counter toward the back room. A flash out of the corner of her eye made Remy yelp, and she whipped around to see a book sailing through the air directly at her face.
Hawk stepped in front of her and knocked down the book with his hand, sending it crashing to the ground. Then someone wearing a ski mask came flying out from one of the aisles of books. With a yell, he threw another book that glanced off Hawk’s shoulder. Hawk rushed forward, and he and the masked man crashed together in the middle of the aisle.
As they struggled, Remy looked around wildly for a weapon, anything to stop this guy. What the hell was he doing in her shop? Her gaze landed on a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary. She heaved the heavy tome off the shelf and held it up in the air. The two men were still struggling. Hawk was facing her now, and the masked man had his back to her. She let out a piercing yell and brought the book down with all her might.
The masked intruder turned at the last second, and the book ended up clipping Hawk’s ear and crashing down on his shoulder. He swore and let go of the man. The guy pivoted and pushed her with both hands, sending her sprawling into the shelves. She lost her footing and ended up on the floor with several books falling on top of her. She tried to get to her feet, but by the time she got herself untangled, the intruder was gone.
She leaned back against the shelves and took deep breaths to steady herself. She was woozy. She must have hit her head as she fell. She glanced over at Hawk, who was leaning on the shelves almost opposite of her, holding his hand to his ear. When he dropped his hand, it was red with blood.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes,” His scowl told her he wasn’t happy. After a deep breath, he asked, “Are you okay?”
She nodded but then regretted it when the room swam for a second. Her head started throbbing and she lifted a hand and winced as she prodded a small knot forming on the back of her skull. At this point, she couldn’t be sure whether the injury came from falling against the shelf or from the falling books, but she suspected it was a result of both. Her hand shook as she reached for the shelf to steady herself.
Hawk had pressed a tissue against his ear to stop the bleeding. “Perhaps, in the future, you could call nine-one-one rather than try to help. Safer for both of us.”
And just like that, the camel’s back broke. She’d had enough. Her day had turned to shit, and now she had a big-ass headache. She glared at him. “I distinctly remember telling you thank you for your assistance and you could go home. You chose to stay.”
He looked over at her and cocked an eyebrow.
She was being unreasonable and she knew it, but goddamn it, she’d had a hell of a day. If she felt like being unreasonable she’d goddamn indulgethat.
Immediately contrite, she let out a long breath. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. He was only there to help her, and she’d gotten him attacked by a masked guy and beaned him with the OED. Truthfully, he had every right to be pissed.
There was a crash at the door of the shop. Hawk immediately jumped in front of her and stuck his head out of the aisle. She peeked around his shoulder to see what was going on. It was the two uniform cops from earlier. They were standing there, hunched down, guns drawn.
“Fuck,” she mumbled. Somehow her night had gone from bad to horrendous in the blink of an eye.
CHAPTERTHREE
Hawk leaned back against the shelves and cursed silently.Fucking idiot. He should have left when he’d had the chance. Just walked her to the door and said, “We’ll be in touch.” Instead, he had taken one look inside the store and knew instinctively something was wrong. When he’d been a SEAL, his team used to tease him about being psychic. It hadn’t taken long for him to become the first one sent in to suss out a situation. If he said it was all good, they believed him. More often than not, he could tell when there was going to be a problem.
He’d tried to play his instincts off as mere luck. Like he’d seen something that had given away the booby-trap or some such, but his team were fucking SEALS…they caught on quick. Hisskillstopped being a joke and became something they relied on, more than he was comfortable with, if truth be told. It was one of the reasons he left the SEALs. He was burnt out, and he was afraid his sixth sense would fail him and lead them all to disaster. He couldn’t have lived with himself if that had happened. It was better to get while the gettin’ was good.
But standing in front of that store, he had known in his bones that someone was inside. Someone who shouldn’t have been there. No way in hell could he leave Remy to face that alone. It went against his nature. It didn’t hurt that she was attractive, and her big gray eyes intrigued him. If only she’d listened, then he wouldn’t be standing there with a stinging cut on his ear, a raging ache in his shoulder, and nothing to show for it.
“No, I didn’t see his face,” he said for what seemed like the fifth time. Officer Harrison narrowed his eyes at Hawk’s tone, but he really didn’t give a fuck. This rookie cop needed to finish up because Hawk was fucking done. He wanted to go home, put his feet up on the coffee table, and have a large scotch.
“How did you know the guy was inside?” Harrison asked again, conveniently forgetting Hawk’s answer from the first three times he’d asked.
Hawk released an exasperated sigh. “As I said before, I saw the door move slightly. I was here when Ms. Tanger locked it, so I knew something had happened, and now it was open.” He caught Remy looking at him over the shoulder of the cop questioning her. She frowned. She knew he was lying, but at least she was holding her tongue, not ratting him out.
He turned back to the cop. “Officer Harrison, I think we’re done here. I’ve answered all your questions and so has Ms. Tanger.” He straightened from leaning against the bookcase and took the cloth away from his ear. “Ms. Tanger will get you a list of anything that’s missing, and we’ll both be happy to come down the station tomorrow and sign the report but right now, I think it’s time for you to go.”
Harrison shifted his weight and exchanged glances with his partner. “So, you’re refusing to answer any more questions?”
“I’m calling it a night for all of us. We’ll be happy to answer whatever other questions you might have in the morning. How does ten o’clock sound?”
