I always parked under the single flickering light that sat in parking lot and almost groaned out loud when I saw that tonight was the night it had decided to give up the ghost and burn out. The parking lot was dark and the walk to my car looked like it was a thousand miles instead of a few steps. My tummy started to churn and goose bumps broke out over my exposed skin. Taking a deep breath, I shored up the reserves and practically sprinted to where the BMW was parked. I put a hand on the door handle with a sigh and shrieked bloody murder when a heavy hand fell on my shoulder from behind.
Without stopping to think, I screamed at the top of my lungs, threw my head back until I felt it connect with something hard, and whirled around with my knee already rising into position to do the most damage. My assailant slapped a heavy hand across my mouth, clamped a rock-hard arm across my chest as I turned, and shoved me into the side of the car. I was still screaming behind the hand and my chest was heaving, but when familiar green eyes glared down at me, some of my panic started to subside. I wrapped my hands around the wrist of the arm that was covering my mouth and slumped against the car.
“What in the holy fuck was that?” Race pushed off of me and lifted a hand to rub the edge of his chin where the back of my skull had connected.
I put both of my shaking hands to my mouth and shook my head back and forth. I wanted to apologize, but the words were lodged in my throat.
“Didn’t Dovie tell you I was gonna swing by after your shift?”
He sounded irritated, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Sorry. I’m jumpy in the parking lot this late.”
He looked up at the broken light and then back at me and scowled. “Why are you out here this late alone in the first place?”
“Everyone was busy trying to close for the night. You know how it goes, everyone is in a rush to head home after closing time.”
The look that crossed his handsome face said he didn’t like that very much at all. Race always looked regal, like a king, all golden and elegant. Tonight, in the harsh shadow of the broken light and with the cracked asphalt under his feet, he looked more like a Nordic warrior, both fierce and unhappy. It wasn’t a look I would have ever figured he could pull off, but intimidation was right at home on those too-pretty features. When he didn’t like something, he was going to do something about it, and I could see it brewing in his eyes.
I reached out a hand and clamped it on his thick wrist.
“Don’t worry about it, Race. I really just need you to help me with the computer, or else I’m totally screwed.”
He considered me silently, obviously trying to decide which matter he found more pressing, my safety or my current electronic crisis. Thank God the computer won out, but his voice was gruff and scratchy when he told me, “Not the end of this conversation, Bry.”
I nodded stiffly and bent over to get my laptop out from under the seat where I’d stashed it. When I turned back around, I felt heat rush into my face because bent over like that, I had clearly given Race the opportunity to check my ass out at its best. The green in his eyes had turned to something much darker, and I gulped nervously.
“What’s wrong with the computer?”
I held it protectively against my chest while his eyes rolled over me. It was unnerving to be the sole focus of a guy like Race. I felt like he was trying to get a look inside me, like he was systematically trying to figure out all the bits and pieces that made me tick.
“I don’t know. I turned it on and the screen was just blue. I know it’s bad, but everything I need for school is in there, so I have to do something.”
He lifted a sandy brow and reached for the laptop. “You don’t back anything up on an external drive or on an outside database, like Google Drive?”
I groaned and shoved my palms into my eye sockets. “Really, Race? If I was smart enough to do that, do you think I would be praying that you can fix it? Nothing is ever that easy in my life.”
He just watched me, his mouth turning down in a little frown. I much preferred that look on his exquisite face to the one he wore when he was flashing that sexy dimple at me. It was easier to resist.
“When do you need it back by?”
“I have a paper on there that is due tomorrow, but the teacher is pretty cool and will let me slide until Monday if I explain the situation. What I really need are my Math Theory notes. I have an evil TA who’s got it in for me because I turned him down when he asked me out. I’m barely passing the class, and without the notes, I’m beyond screwed.”
His eyes sank even further into midnight and his frown got even tighter. His broad chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
His eyebrows dipped low over those dark eyes, and his voice was even rougher than normal when he asked me, “What is going on with you, Brysen? Why does every single thing you’ve said to me tonight make me want to hurt things and various people?”
I gulped a little and shivered as we just watched each other silently.
“Life isn’t always fun and games, Race. You have to know that better than most people.”
He shook his blond head and took a step back from me. I really, really wanted to reach out and snatch him back. He was so bad for my self-control.
“No, it’s not, but you’re a good girl and too pretty for words. Things shouldn’t be that hard for you.”
Well, they were that hard, and I was just going to have to live with it.
“Do you think you can save it?”
He took another step back and grinned. I swear everything that made me female melted and turned liquid when that dimple indented his cheek.