Текст книги "His Lover to Protect"

Автор книги: Katee Robert

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Текущая страница: 1 (всего у книги 11 страниц)

He’s never met a challenge he couldn’t take…

Alexis Yeung did everything right....only to watch everything go horribly, horribly wrong. Broken and angry, Alexis high-tails it to Europe, determined to face the world on her own terms and without consequence. Which includes a mind-blowing night with a sexy, scarred stranger.

Except, embittered former pararescuer Luke Jackson isn’t exactly a stranger. He’s supposed to keep an eye on Alexis without her knowing. Ending up in bed together was definitely not the plan. Now he’s chasing her (admittedly hot) ass across Europe, a game of cat and mouse that always ends with the two of them tangled up in the sheets.

Something in their scarred, damaged souls calls to each other. And God help them, the sex is unbelievably hot. But if Alexis discovers who Luke really is, he’ll lose the one thing that makes him feel whole...

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

About the Author

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Betting on Fate

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Katee Robert. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

2614 South Timberline Road

Suite 109

Fort Collins, CO 80525

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

Brazen is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC. For more information on our titles, visit www.brazenbooks.com.

Edited by Heather Howland

Cover design by Heather Howland

Cover art from Shutterstock

ISBN 978-1-63375-367-9

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition September 2015

Chapter One

The woman in front of him ducked into an alley, and it was everything Luke Jackson could do not to curse. If he didn’t have this blasted bum leg, he’d have had no problem keeping up with her—or remaining undetected. Another glance at the photo his ex–squad mate Flannery sent him three days ago, and he gritted his teeth and picked up his pace. Every stride sent a dull pain from his knee. It had been replaced almost two years ago after being shot out on what was supposed to be a routine search-and-rescue. The doc said he’d made a startling recovery. She’d called him a miracle. He sure as hell didn’t feel like a miracle when they were serving him his walking papers.

But there was no use thinking about what he lost.

He was here to keep Ryan Flannery’s idiot childhood friend safe. She was the reason he’d been camping out in Cork and ghosting around Blarney Castle for the last forty-eight hours. Her sister was sure that she’d go here first, so this was where he’d shown up to pick up the trail.

What kind of woman just up and left her life behind to backpack through Europe alone?

Obviously not a smart one.

It was because of her impulsive decision to take off with only a text message as good-bye that he’d been sitting in the rain for so goddamn long, he was in danger of never getting warm again. It was worse in a way, because it’d just been a fine mist all day, rather than a torrential downpour that would make it easier to justify staying indoors. If he and Flannery hadn’t been in the PJs together and fought their way through hell and back more times than he could count, he wouldn’t be in this goddamn country, camped out because he couldn’t guarantee that this woman wouldn’t make an appearance.

Sure enough, she’d waltzed up around lunchtime, and now here they were.

He reached the alley entrance. With his luck, the woman was going to get jumped before he could catch her. He hadn’t expected her to hike back to Cork from Blarney Castle, and he hadn’t been able to risk a cab for fear that she’d get into trouble while he wasn’t watching her.

He never should have agreed to this favor.

Luke turned the corner—and got kicked in the face.

He hit the wall hard enough to bruise, and barely got his hands up in time to deflect the next blow. He managed to block her next few punches, his body going through the motions like it had a thousand times before. He glimpsed a flash of hazel eyes and a determined expression, and then Alexis Yeung zeroed in on his damaged knee. Pain exploded behind his eyelids, but even that wouldn’t have normally slowed him down. No, it was the damn knee giving out and sending him tumbling to the ground that did him in.

Luke rolled onto his back just in time to catch sight of a can that looked suspiciously like pepper spray. Fuck that. “What the hell?” He lurched up and grabbed her wrist, shoving her arm wide so the spray hit the ground next to him instead of his face.

“Why are you following me?” She tried to jerk away, but he wasn’t letting her go anywhere until he had control of the canister.

He squeezed the pressure point in her wrist and snatched the can as it fell from her hand. It was only then that he registered her question. “What?”

“Why are you following me?” She scrambled back a few steps, but her voice was low and calm despite the circumstances. “You know what? Don’t bother answering that. I’m calling the police.”

Shit. That was the last thing he needed. As he climbed to his feet, Luke searched for something to say that would make her pause enough to listen to reason. He couldn’t tell her the truth—Flannery had been pretty damn clear on that. If she knew her friends and sister back home didn’t trust her, Alexis would never forgive any of them. Which sounded pretty damn juvenile, but it was the least of his concerns right now. If she called the Garda, he would have no choice but to come clean. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been following me ever since I left the castle. I might be a tourist, but I’m not stupid.”

If he didn’t have a bum knee, she never would have known he was there. The failure burned his throat almost worse than the pepper spray would have. “You’re crazy. It was a nice day so I wanted to walk.”

“Even with that limp? In the rain?”

Well, hell. She’d noticed a lot more than he would have given her credit for, even with his staying well back on the road. “I’m not a cripple.” Though when he compared his limits now to what they’d been before his injury, he sure as hell felt like one. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “And you obviously thought it was a nice enough day for a walk in the rain. Pot, meet kettle.”

She paused, clearly taking him in. Alexis Yeung, nurse and apparently sufferer of a mental breakdown when her perfect life didn’t go exactly as planned. Really, she was just throwing a temper tantrum by jetting off to Europe to find herself or whatever it was that high-maintenance women did.

She didn’t look like much. Oh, sure, she was beautiful in a very busty Asian-babes way, but what kind of woman spent the day hiking down a road and managed to look so perfectly put together? It wasn’t natural. Her jeans were rolled up to show off her hiking boots, and her white T-shirt didn’t have a smudge of dirt on it. He tried not to notice how the fabric strained over her breasts, and failed.

“Stop staring at my chest.”

“Woman, you just attacked me for no reason. The least I deserve is to check you out.” She crossed her arms under breasts, and he raised his eyebrows. “You’re not exactly helping my concentration, darlin’.”

“You’re a pig.” The woman had a stare on her that made him think of his auntie. He shoved the comparison away. Aunt Rose wasn’t anything like Alexis. She didn’t run from her problems—or other people’s problems, for that matter—not even when they were literally knocking on her door. This woman obviously did, or he wouldn’t be in a back alley in Cork getting grilled.

Alexis looked like she wanted to kick him again. “Why did you turn down the alley?”

This, at least, he had an answer for. “You’re a woman alone. I thought you might be in danger.”

“So you came riding to my rescue on your white horse?” And now she was laughing at him.

He coughed, hating the slow heat of embarrassment working its way through him. He wasn’t the one in the wrong here. “Only an idiot wanders down a dark alley alone.”

“I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”

A fact Flannery had left out in his description of her, which made Luke wonder what else he’d left out. “Against a man with a bum leg.” Which hurt like a bitch after the combination of the hike and the beating she’d given it.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.” She paused. “Give me back my pepper spray.”

“Not a chance.” There was nothing to guarantee she wouldn’t try to spray him again, and he’d suffered through enough shit today.

“It’s mine.”

“Yeah, well, you lost the right to it when you attacked me.” He sounded like a grumpy old man, but her very presence pushed buttons he didn’t know he had.

No, that was a goddamn lie. He knew every single one. Hell, he was more button than man these days.

She glared. “I’m leaving now. If you try to follow me again, we’ll go another round and I’ll come out on top. Again.”

If there wasn’t the slightest wavering in her voice, he might actually believe she was an international badass like she seemed to think. Then again, if this little slip of nothing could get the drop on him, then he’d fallen even further than he could have guessed. Humiliation tore through him, demanding he win back some of his damaged pride. “Darlin’, you got the drop on me once. It wouldn’t happen again.”

“Right. Because you’re not following me.”

“Nope.” Though he kind of wanted to douse her in cold water for how smug she sounded. Luke shrugged out of his pack. He heard more than saw her tense. “Relax, Rambo. I’m just tucking this away for now for safekeeping.” He shoved the pepper spray into his pack, needing to do something to keep her from taking off. He didn’t know how much more jaunting around he could take today. Add in the bonus of not knowing where the hell she was staying—or where she was going next—and he had to do something drastic. “The least you can do is buy me a drink after attacking me.”

“Attacking you? That’s rich. Maybe you shouldn’t be creeping into alleys after lone women. When you’re acting like a predator, expect to be treated like one.”

She had a point, which only served to annoy him more. Luke shifted and tried to hold back a wince when his knee protested. “Buy me a drink and we’ll call it even.” At least that would give her crazy ass a reason to sit still for a little while. If he could get her talking, maybe he could figure out her next step to self-discovery or whatever the hell she was trying to accomplish over here in Europe. Her sister and Flannery hadn’t been the least bit helpful on that note.

“That’s funny. You should be a comedian.” She shook her head. “If anything, you should buy me a drink for scaring me half to death.”

It was a seriously perverse joy to throw her own words back into her face. “You can take care of yourself.”

She threw up her hands. “Forget this. You’re obviously not suffering from any issues besides being an ass. Have a nice life.”

Damn it. He’d let his mouth get away with him—again—and fucked this all up. Luke limped after her. “Hey.”

Alexis paused at the mouth of the alley. “You reconsider that drink?”

He didn’t want to. Buying her a drink was all but admitting that she was right. But his pride couldn’t hold up to the throbbing in his knee. He took a deep breath and tried to wrestle down his anger. It wasn’t completely her fault. If he weren’t damaged goods, they wouldn’t be in this position to begin with. “First round’s on me.”

Alexis Yeung wasn’t sure whether to be proud of herself or feel bad for taking out some stranger who apparently was only following her to save her from some imagined bad guy. It was almost enough to make her feel guilty for attacking him, especially when he was blatantly trying not to favor his knee because of the hit she’d gotten in. Great job, Alexis. The guy is trying to be a Good Samaritan and you knock him on his ass.

But every time he opened his mouth, the guilt threatening dissolved a bit more. This guy was no different from the ones back home—totally sure he knew better than the helpless little woman that she was. He was just like her ex-fiancé Eric—the kind of man whose masculinity revolved around being the strongest, smartest, best person in the room. Anyone who threatened that was taken down a few notches with pointed comments and, if that failed, all-out bullying.

She pegged this particular man as one who skipped the rest of the steps and jumped straight to being a bully.

It would be smart to tell him where to stick his crappy attitude, and head back to the hostel to shower and search out food in a less hostile environment, but she was tired and hungry, and passing up a free drink would be silly. Plus, she was capable of spending a little more time with this guy, if only to assure herself that she really was growing and stronger than she’d been when she left Wellingford. That was the whole point of this journey she’d started, and she wasn’t going to be doing any emotional growing while hiding in her hostel room.

She’d lived her entire life by the rules. Now it was time to take chances—just not stupid ones. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. Her one kick alone wouldn’t cause him lasting harm. If he turns out to be a creep, I can outrun him with no problem. Or take out that knee again, and then run.

Satisfied she wasn’t making a stupid decision in the name of being strong, she said, “There’s a little pub down this street. Sin É.”

“I know it.”

Of course he did. She bet he just knew everything. How a Southern boy—and there was no mistaking that accent—knew his way around Cork was a mystery. Even if he was a world traveler, he seemed more the type to immerse himself in Dublin’s frenetic energy and partying than the slightly calmer western half of the country. Then again, it was Ireland. Drinking was practically the national pastime. This guy probably fit right in.

Which reminded her—she had no idea what his name was. Alexis turned around as they stepped back onto the street and nearly gasped out loud. She’d caught glimpses of him on the road back from Blarney Castle, but they’d been just enough to place the tall, lumbering blond who seemed to cart around a chip on his shoulder. And then, when he’d come around the corner of the alley, she’d been more concerned with fighting for her life than checking him out.

Now…now, she was forced to admit that he was attractive in a rumpled, roguish sort of way. His shaggy blond hair and almost-beard made him look like he’d be more at home wearing flannel and chopping wood than globe-trotting, but who was she to judge? She almost laughed. Who was she kidding? She was judging the hell out of him. He wore faded jeans and boots that looked like they’d seen some use. Against her better judgment, she lifted her gaze to the black T-shirt hugging his shoulders and biceps, highlighting the tattoos crawling down his arms. Only one side was finished, though, but he moved before she could pinpoint exactly what the tattoos depicted.

“Why don’t you whip out your smartphone and take a picture? It’ll last longer.”

She didn’t bother to correct him. Alexis had very specifically left her cell back in Pennsylvania when she left. She didn’t want her sister, Avery, or any of their friends to have a way to track her down. This trip was something she had to do for herself, and that meant stepping away from her pregnant sister and the overprotective Flannery brothers. They’d only become more protective since Avery and Drew got engaged. She wasn’t anywhere near as close to them as her sister, but they were still like stand-in older brothers when it suited them. She had a feeling it would suit them just fine in this situation. It had been annoying when she was a teenager. Now, with Ryan an experienced pararescuer and Drew the town sheriff… Yeah, it had passed beyond annoying and into the downright ridiculous. The fallout when she got home was going to be a nightmare, but maybe then she’d finally feel centered enough to deal with it.

In the meantime, she had this guy to deal with. “What’s your name?”

He hesitated, and she wondered if maybe he’d tell her to screw off. Getting a drink with him wasn’t mandatory by any means, but she refused to do it while considering him “that guy” in her head. Finally, he sighed as if resigning himself to something—probably her company for however long it took to down a drink. “Luke. My name is Luke.”

It seemed too clean-cut a name for him. He looked like someone who would be called Jake, or Murphy, or Adonis. She bit her lip. No, not Adonis. He was attractive, but he wasn’t that attractive.

Sure. Just keep telling yourself that.

“I’m Alexis.” Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she turned left toward the corner where she could already hear strains of a jaunty fiddle coming out of the pub.

Chapter Two

Alexis could feel him at her back all the way down the street and through the pub door, and she wasn’t a fan of how crowded the bar suddenly seemed as soon as Luke followed her in. He wasn’t one of those massive meatheads, but he took up more than his fair share of space. He wasn’t touching her, but his presence made it hard to draw a full breath.

Probably because he was such a pushy ass.

As if her thinking it was his cue, he shouldered past her and led the way to two stools tucked into the back corner of the bar. She spared a look around as she followed, taking in the Christmas lights strung across the ceiling and the band huddled around a tiny table, playing music and singing in such thick accents, she could barely understand the words. But, God, it was beautiful music. It simultaneously tore at her heart and made her toe want to tap in time. She spared them a smile as she took the seat beside Luke.

He glowered at everyone, and even the grizzled old bartender seemed hesitant to approach. Alexis sighed, already regretting agreeing to this drink. She was going to end up stuck here for hours because he was scaring off the locals. “Hey, you, tone down the He-Man menace.”

“He-Man was the good guy.”

She eyed him. It just figured that he’d know that. He’s probably a Superman fan, too, if the hero complex that made him chase me into an alley is anything to go by. “That doesn’t make him less scary to your average joe—and if you don’t knock off the bitch face, we’re never going to get drinks.”

He blinked, drawing her attention to the fact she could actually tell his eye color now. It aggravated her for absolutely no reason that they weren’t anything as mundane as blue or brown or even her own hazel. No, this ass had a green so light, it could almost be termed sea-green. Luke’s brows dropped, which didn’t do a single thing to help his angry expression. “What the hell is ‘bitch face’?”

“You should know. It seems to be your permanent expression.” And what did he have to be so angry about? They were in a beautiful city, rich with history and lore and a thousand other things. She’d been here only two days and she already felt a little lighter on her feet—something she would have thought impossible even a month ago.

Except she had just kicked the hell out of his knee. If it was as she suspected, and he had an old injury there, that would certainly explain some of the nasty attitude he was throwing her way.

That, and the fact that he’d shown up to save her, and she hadn’t needed saving in the first place. Something like that would piss off her ex something fierce. She glanced down at the bar. Damn it, I came here to move into the future, not dredge up the past. “Have you ever tried being nice to people?

“We can’t all be dancing through the tulips and breaking into song with whatever animal happens to be closest.”

Alexis blinked. “Did you just compare me to a Disney princess?”

His grin shouldn’t have sent a spark through her, but she rationalized that it was anger making her perk up—not anything so stupid as desire. Luke propped his elbow on the bar and leaned against it. “If the glass slipper fits.”

He looked so incredibly smug, she wanted to grab the nearest drink and throw it in his face. He really thought he had her number. She wasn’t sure why she was surprised. Sometimes it seemed like everyone she came into contact with, from her judgmental grandparents all the way down to the waitress at her favorite diner back home, thought they knew all there was to know about her. Why would this man be any different? “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

“I know enough.” Luke’s gaze raked over her, seeming to take her in and dismiss her in one smooth move. She hated him for it. People had been doing the same thing for most of her life—looking at her for what she could bring to the table, or what she could do for them. All found her disappointing. They never cared enough to look beyond the surface.

“What are you running from, princess?”

Everything.

But she didn’t have to come halfway across the world to cry her heart out to some man who no doubt couldn’t care less. She wasn’t looking to be saved, or for outside fulfillment. She wanted to get right inside her own head.

He wouldn’t understand that, though, and it was definitely too deep for bar talk. “I’m here to be a tourist. Same as anyone else.”

He snorted. “Whatever you have to tell yourself.”

Good God, the man was pricklier than a cactus. She was already tired of being on the pointed end of his questions—especially when every answer she gave was met with a response like that. “What about you? You don’t strike me as the type to enjoy historical monuments.”

“Now who’s throwing stones?” The bartender finally got up the courage to approach, and Luke ordered two beers without even asking her. Before she could correct him, the man was gone. High-handed much?

Luke turned his attention back on her. “Maybe I went up to kiss the Blarney Stone.”

Her gaze dropped to his mouth. She could almost imagine those wickedly curved lips pressing against the cool stone…and other things. His mouth twitched up, and she jumped. Crap, had she really just been checking him out? And worse, he’d caught her. Alexis tried to push down her ridiculous reaction. “If you did, the gift of gab didn’t take.”

“So quick to kick me while I’m down.” His tone dropped a full octave and took on a downright sinful edge. The anger didn’t go away, exactly, but it focused in on her like a laser. “It makes a man think unforgivable thoughts.”

She couldn’t get over how… Alexis had a hard time putting it into words. How male he was. He took up that stool like he owned it, as if he’d never been unsure of his place in the world. And that accent—she’d bet he could charm the birds from the trees if he got that stick out of his ass long enough to do it. But she couldn’t afford to forget just how little he obviously thought of her. Strange attraction or not, she wasn’t going to touch him with a ten-foot pole. “Do they involve a hacksaw and a pig farm?”

That was what she thought of him? A goddamn serial killer? Luke growled. So maybe he deserved the judgment, but that didn’t make it stick in his throat any less. He’d been an ass and he damn well knew it, but there was something about Alexis that got under his skin—like an itch he couldn’t reach. “That’s rich coming from a woman who goes around attacking innocent bystanders.”

“Oh, please. There’s nothing innocent about you, and we both know it.”

Yeah, he did. He wouldn’t be over here in Ireland in the first place if he didn’t have ulterior motives. The fact that they weren’t his ulterior motives didn’t change a damn thing. He owed Flannery his life a couple times over. A man didn’t forget a debt like that. So when Flannery called, Luke didn’t hesitate to drop everything and hop the first plane over here, no questions asked.

Last time he was in Wellingford, Luke had met Alexis’s sister, Avery. The sisters shared some superficial similarities—both Chinese and beautiful—but it ended there. Avery might be brash, but she didn’t have the ability to hit below the belt like Alexis did. And Alexis…she looked like she’d wandered out of a fairy tale, yet there was none of the inherent sweetness of those princesses he compared her to. But when push came to shove, she’d seen as little of the horrors of life as they had. It must be nice to sit on her golden throne and look down her nose at broken men like him.

And yet… He wanted her.

Luke paid the bartender and took a long pull of his beer while he dealt with that unwelcome realization. He hadn’t had the time for or interest in women since his nearly full recovery from the IED hit. No, that wasn’t the truth. He’d tried, that single time, with the woman he met at his local watering hole. Anger and shame burned through him all over again as he remembered the disgusted look on her face right before she hightailed it out of his room.

It would be his shitty luck that his cock would perk up in the presence of this haughty woman who didn’t hesitate to hit him where it hurt—physically and otherwise. He couldn’t deny that she was gorgeous, with her long black hair and her body that just wouldn’t stop. But then she opened her mouth and shot it all to hell.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

He should back off. Poking at her was just going to make the animosity between them grow, and he was supposed to be keeping track of her until she got the bug out of her ass and went back stateside. Until then, like it or not, they were stuck with each other—even if she didn’t know it.

Considering the runaround she’d given him over the last few days, he’d have to be a damn fool to complicate things further. Even if she were interested, she’d react the same way the last mistake had. Pretty princesses were looking for knights in shining armor to ride out and save them from their problems.

He was a battle-scarred old wolf, far more likely to eat her whole than give her the sweet kind of sex she craved. But he couldn’t stop himself from leaning a little closer and crowding her. “Like what?”

“Like you’re about to start a brawl or…” She hesitated, licking her lips. There was definite interest sparking in those hazel eyes. So the princess liked to play on the dark side? She wasn’t stupid—in the middle of some kind of quarter-life crisis, sure, but not dumb. She knew he couldn’t give her the sunshine and rainbows that another man could.

Let it go. He couldn’t. “Or?”

Another swipe of her tongue over those pale pink lips that he’d been doing his damnedest not to stare at since she sat down next to him. Alexis looked away, seemed to gather herself, and met his eyes. “Or drag some woman out of here by her hair.”

Just like that, he could picture hauling her ass out of here. Not by her hair, no. He wasn’t that much of a savage. But it was all too easy to imagine dragging her behind him and pinning her against the nearest wall to teach that mouth of hers some manners.

Christ, he was in serious trouble. He’d bet the last thing Flannery had intended when he called Luke was for him to get into a compromising position with Alexis. But the brakes were gone, and he was dangerously close to losing control. “Who said I’m not planning on doing just that?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Well, it’d certainly be in character, wouldn’t it? You’re not exactly a bundle of surprises at this point.”

This woman had taken one look at him and acted as judge, jury, and executioner. It made him twitch, though hell if he could decide if he wanted to toss her out on her ass or kiss her until she got off her high horse—or just got off. Thoughts he couldn’t afford to be thinking, especially about her, but Luke couldn’t let it rest. There was something about this woman that scraped at his control, and he’d be damned before he let her get the last word. “Says the woman who’s one giant cliché after another.”

“Excuse me?”

“Look at you.” He waved a hand in her direction and somehow managed not to focus on her breasts again. “You have no connection to reality. I bet you just woke up one day and thought it’d be a lovely idea to jaunt halfway across the world and see some of Europe.”

“I had my reasons.”

Warning bells went off in his head, but he was too far gone to shut up now. “So you’re running from something—in the most cliché way possible. What, did you read Eat, Pray, Love and figure that if it worked for her, it’d work for you, too?”

Alexis’s mouth went tight. “Please. You should listen to that old saying about throwing stones from glass houses. You have ‘runner’ written all over you.” Her eyes dropped to his knee and then rose to his face. “Though I doubt you could outrun a turtle at this point.”

He wanted to shake her until some degree of sense popped into that gorgeous head of hers. His injury had been life-ending, even if he’d kept right on breathing through the worst of it. There were days, dark days he didn’t like to think about, where he wondered if maybe it was all a mistake. If whatever passed for a God in this world had lost interest for the few seconds it took for the doctors to pull him back from the edge and patch him up. Aunt Rose would whup his ass to know he thought like that, so he didn’t tell her. He didn’t tell anyone.