AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Not much,” she whispered.
He tipped her chin up and stared down into her eyes.“What the hell happened?”
Chapter2
Lucas had waitedin the barroom, his gaze on the dimly lit hallway where the bathrooms were located.He was determined to buy the pretty florist a drink and hopefully get to know her better.
He’d purchased half a dozen flower arrangements at her shop, hoping to strike up a conversation with her, only to be greeted by her assistant each time.That tactic wasn’t working.Finding her at the Crawdad Hole seemed a perfect opportunity to take his game to the next level.
A man in a black leather jacket sprang up from a chair in the corner with a cell phone pressed to his ear.He listened for a moment, then shoved the phone into his pocket and walked quickly toward the bathroom hallway.
Lucas’s gut knotted.Something about the man’s face didn’t sit right with him.His expression was too intense for a man coming to a bar for a casual drink.The guy entered the hallway where Felina had gone a few moments earlier.
Lucas followed, concerned for Felina.
By the time Lucas entered the hallway, the man had broken into a run.He hit the back exit door hard, sending it crashing open.The man rushed out, and the door swung closed behind him.
Lucas started to follow but remembered Felina had gone to the latrine.
He paused in front of the ladies’ restroom door and knocked.“Felina?”
A brunette opened the door.Not the pretty strawberry-blond florist he’d expected.
She stood in the doorframe and ran her gaze from the top of Lucas’s head to the tips of his boots.“Mmm.I’m not Felina, but you can call me Felina, Deloris, Maggie or Jane.As long as you call me.”She winked.“Want my number?”
Lucas shook his head and looked past her through the open door.“Felina?”he called out.
“I was the only one in there.”She stepped past him.“If you change your mind about my number, I’ll be at the bar.”
Lucas backed away, spun and ran to the exit.
He pushed through the door and stepped out of the building.That was when he’d found Felina standing in the gravel parking lot, looking down at her hands.
Now, with her pressed close to his chest, Lucas’s pulse pounded hard against his ribs.“What the hell happened?”
“That man...”she said.
“The one who left through the rear door before me?”
She nodded.“He grabbed me, felt me up and then shoved me hard.I fell off the step and landed in the gravel.”
Anger ripped through Lucas.He glanced around, looking for the man.“Where did he go?”
Felina turned her head toward the corner of the building.“A dark SUV drove up, and a big man got out and pushed the man into the back seat.They went that way.”She tilted her chin toward the side of the building.“I don’t think he wanted to go with them.I tried to get a license plate number, but the SUV didn’t have one.”
Lucas wished he could get his hands on the man who’d roughed up the pretty florist.He leaned back and looked into her face, the light shining over the door glancing off her irises.“Are you hurt?”
She held out her hands, palms up.“Just some scrapes on my hands and knees where I landed.”
“Let’s get you inside where we can clean those wounds.”
“I’m okay,” she insisted, her body trembling.
“You’re not okay.”He slipped his arm around her and guided her to the back door.When he tried the handle, it wouldn’t open.
“It locks automatically,” Felina explained.“You can leave through the back door but can’t enter through it without a key.”
“Then we’ll go around the front.”
