Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 27182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Those sexy eyes are locked on me as he nods. “I’ll be there my next night off. If I can sit in your section.”
I brush my hair behind my ear, wondering if I’m reading these signs right. Maybe he doesn’t have a girlfriend after all.
Oh, come on, Lucy. There’s no way no girl has gotten her hooks into a man this sexy. Be realistic.
He straightens up as he stares me down. “I don’t know what things were like where you’re from, Lucy. But you’re in my town now. No one is going to hurt you.”
I want to believe him. It’s just… Angelo seems pretty determined to make me pay for what I took from him.
Emmanuel must sense my hesitation because he doubles down, staring at me with a fierce protectiveness that seizes my soul.
“You working tonight?” he asks.
“Yeah. I tried to take it off in case Angelo came back, but my manager wouldn’t let me switch my shift.”
“It’s okay. I’m working tonight too. I’ll watch after you.”
Relief washes through me, but it doesn’t last long. Angelo is a killer. I don’t want this man getting hurt over me.
“But, what if they come?” I whisper.
His entire expression changes. The warmth vanishes, replaced by something darker. Something meaner. The air around him seems to shift, suddenly charged with something dangerous. His eyes narrow just slightly, and then he growls, actually growls—
“I’m hoping they do.”
“Oh,” I whisper as I watch his jaw clenching.
A shiver runs down my spine. My mouth goes dry. Every part of me is suddenly hyper-aware—of the weight of his gaze, the warmth between us, and the way the room feels smaller with him in it.
This is what I needed.
A fierce protector like him.
I’m just not sure if I can handle someone this… manly.
Oh boy.
I’m in trouble.
Big, muscle-bound, hot cop trouble.
CHAPTER FIVE
Lucy
“Why do you keep looking out the window?” Jenny asks, scaring me half to death as she comes out of nowhere and pops her head on my shoulder.
I gasp and slink away, holding my pounding heart.
It’s a Monday night and the restaurant is pretty dead. I only have two tables, but I don’t mind because it allows me to stare all I want at the hot protective cop parked across the street.
“Are you looking for those guys who were asking about you?” she says, following me into the back. “Who were they?”
I love Jenny, but she’s the town gossip. If I tell her about Angelo, she’s going to let the whole town know about it. There’s no way a gossip of her caliber would ever keep a juicy story like that a secret. She’d never be able to resist letting everyone know that the new girl in town is being chased by hardened criminals for stealing their dog.
“I was just looking at that cop,” I say as I grab a rack of clean coffee mugs to put away. “He’s cute.”
I might as well use her talents to my benefit. She probably knows everything about Emmanuel and I have a lot of questions for her. I want to know everything about him.
“That’s Emmanuel,” she says, fanning herself. “He’s so hot.”
I get a little jealous at her reaction. I don’t want anyone putting their eyes on my crush but me.
“Is he single?”
I hold my breath as I wait for her answer. It’s the question I’ve been dying to know the answer to since this morning. I even looked him up on all the socials, but I couldn’t find a profile anywhere. He probably has better mountain man things to do than stare at a screen, like chopping wood shirtless or swimming naked in a cold lake.
“Oh yeah,” she says with a sad little sigh. “I’ve known him since we were kids and he’s never had a girlfriend. None that I know of anyway and trust me, I would know.”
I don’t doubt that.
“All the girls in high school tried to snag him,” she goes on, “but none of us had any luck.”
“Why not?”
She rolls her eyes. “He’s one of those.”
“Those what?”
“Those guys who wait for their soul mates,” she says, clearly annoyed that she wasn’t the one he was waiting for. “They’re only interested in the girl who was made for them and all the rest of us are chopped liver.”
“Oh,” I say, glancing at the window.
“Ridiculous, right?”
I don’t think so. I’m getting tingly all over thinking of Emmanuel like that, with so many options, who chooses to remain loyal to his soul mate.
“I think it’s kind of romantic.”
Jenny scoffs. “I think it’s a waste. A body that hot and he doesn’t want to share it. That’s a crime against nature.”
I can’t help but chuckle as she heads to the kitchen window where her plates are coming up.
“So, he’s from here?” I ask as I grab one while she grabs the other two.