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“Are you crazy? It’s miles to Manhattan.”
She squared her shoulders. “So? I’m strong. Thank you very much for your rescue or whatever. But I can take it from here.”
I stared down at her. She was tiny. At least compared to me. “You’re insane if you think I’m going to let you walk. And have you not noticed that you’re barefoot?”
She looked at her feet and wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m fine. I don’t need your help. I’ll just call an Uber or something.”
I stared at her empty hands pointedly. “Oh yeah? With what phone?”
She narrowed her gaze at me but stayed silent. When she turned her back and started walking in the wrong direction, I fought an inner battle with myself. The fact that she didn’t want medical attention and was insistent on walking away from this told me she was in trouble. And the last thing I needed was trouble in my life.
The problem was, as soon as she was ten feet away, I was calling after her. “Hey. Let me give you a ride.”
She turned to face me. “Thank you, Rafe. But I have this.”
I chuckled. “So, is now a good time to tell you you’re walking in the wrong direction?”
And then I saw it, the telltale quiver of her bottom lip.Shit. She was about to cry.
I strode up to her and wrapped her in my arms. There was a reason I kept my life simple. There was a reason I stayed alone. The problem was this girl slid under all my defenses. I knew I shouldn’t take her home. But she clearly needed help. Besides, it wasn’t like I 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.”
I 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 me. “It’s Diana. Diana Renquist.”
* * *
Diana
Had it really been that easy?
Granted, considering I had dragged myself through mud and had nearly gotten hypothermia from the chilly rain, it hadn’t exactly beeneasy.
But Rafe had done exactly as predicted. Months of watching him had paid off. And now I was in the den of a killer.
How evil can he be? He stopped to help a total stranger.
I shut that shit right down. That was my traitor of a vagina talking.
Of course I knew how good-looking he was. But it was nothing compared to having him wrapped around me as he held us in the harness and lifted us out of the ravine. His scent still lingered on me, sending tingles to parts of my body I refused to think with.
What I hadn’t expected was for him to bring me home… to his house. The plan had been to get him to take me to a hotel, give him the cover story, compel him to come back and check on me, and snare him with my feminine wiles. Whatever the fuck those were. But he’d taken me home.
Who does that?I could be a serial killer for all he knew.
My rib still hurt like hell. The pain radiated down my side. Every now and again, I’d turn too quickly and send searing pain all the way down to my hip.
I sensed Rafe before he spoke and turned to face him as he entered the bedroom he’d given me.
“You feel better after the shower?”
I 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.”
