by Sennah Tate
She felt comforted by Psy’s warmth and strength. Snuggling up against him was the safest she’d felt in a very long time. She hated herself for being so easy to please. Maybe Greg had just broken her down so far that she was eager to latch on to the very first eligible person to show up at her doorstep. But there did seem to be something different about Psy. It was like he was trying to woo her from the moment they met. He came into her store without any purpose other than talking to her. He offered to help her and when she called him on a whim he was at her door in moments.
Surely a bad guy wouldn’t do all of that, would he? She had to trust him. She had to trust someone and it might as well be the sexy man that could actually protect her from Greg.
The cool wind stung her cheeks when she tried to pick her head up, so she quickly nuzzled back into Psy’s muscular back, clinging for dear life.
In another moment they were at the hardware store and Psy dismounted the bike like it was second-nature to him. He held Sera’s hand as she tried to do the same thing, but much less gracefully.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” he said with a chuckle before taking off his helmet.
Heat rushed to her face, but she didn’t think he’d be able to notice since her cheeks were already pink from the wind. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice, at least. She removed her helmet and tried to tame her hair which was now sticking in every direction.
A sudden realization hit Sera and she gave Psy a horrified look.
“I forgot my wallet at home, we’ll have to go back.”
“Why? I offered to fix it; I planned to pay for it.”
She couldn’t hide her surprise. He didn’t even know her, why would he want to pay to fix her door?
“You really don’t have to do that…” she murmured.
“Shh, it’ll give me peace of mind and that’s priceless.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a side hug for reassurance.
She wanted to say something. She wanted to thank him for his generosity, but he seemed like the kind of person that wouldn’t appreciate his kindness being put in the spotlight.
Chapter 5
They entered the store and a familiar face stood behind the register. It was an old friend of her grandfather’s who still tried to run his store despite his failing health and advanced age.
She could tell by the look on his face that he recognized her but he didn’t know from where. Maybe he was going senile. That was a sad thought. He was always such a nice old man; it was depressing to think of people that she knew and loved slipping away little by little. Regardless, she couldn’t focus on that right now.
Psy steered her through the narrow aisles, mulling over the options in locks and dead bolts. He finally opted for the one that he thought would have the best security. Cost be damned. He didn’t want to see anything else happen to Sera.
Sera wandered the store, looking at the different things for sale without much interest. The store smelled of wood shavings and paint. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell, but it was very distinctive. She’d never spent much time in the hardware store before. Despite having lived on her own for most of her life, she wasn’t very handy and most things when they broke, stayed broken.
Thankfully, that wouldn’t be the case with her door. She would never be able to sleep at home if the door was busted. While it was a small enough town that she wasn’t worried about anyone breaking in or robbing her, she was still very worried about Greg coming back.
Psy made the purchases and asked to rent the necessary power tools for the job. The old man handed them over and told him not to worry about the rental fee; obviously, he could tell that something was up and wanted to do what he could to help.
The ride back to her house was short and Sera felt a little more comfortable on the bike than she had the first time around, but she still wasn’t quite able to rein in her anxiousness about being on such a powerful piece of machinery with minimal protection.
Psy was an excellent chauffeur though, and managed to steer and accelerate carefully enough as to not spook her. She couldn’t believe that he was able to see how tense she was without saying anything at all. He seemed to be really in tune with her emotions and needs which was disconcerting to say the least.
Sera didn’t want to start entertaining any ideas about the bad boy, even if he was a sweetheart. She couldn’t afford to get wrapped up with another man when she was still trying to overcome the effects of the last one. She just needed to remember to keep her distance. She could be grateful for his assistance without swooning over him, right?
He set to work right away taking out the old lock and cutting the proper holes for the new one. He was fast and efficient and Sera couldn’t stop herself from watching the way his hands moved. His large knuckles flexed and she could see the tendons stretching and moving underneath his tanned and tattooed skin. She thought about the things that those long masterful fingers could do and felt herself blush. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she get sex off of her mind when she was around this man?
It had been so long since she’d been with anyone. Greg kind of ruined her in that sense. She was terrified to get involved with anyone and even more frightened to be vulnerable enough for sex with someone. She was so scared of being hurt again that she just avoided everyone.
As Psy worked on her door, Sera decided it was probably best to call her best friend to fill her in on all the details of the day.
As expected, Darla freaked out about Sera’s encounter with Greg. She demanded his head, threatened to have her brother’s gang loosed on him and again, tried to get Sera to stay with her.
“I’m fine, really. Someone is fixing my door as we speak and these locks are much stronger, I promise.”
Darla sighed.
“Wait, who’s fixing your door?” She knew that Sera couldn’t afford a repair man and was prepared to offer to help with the costs.
“Uh… a… friend?”
“Oooooh, a friend huh? What’s his name? Is he cute?”
Sera rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face.
“I’m not going to talk about that right now, but yes. Very.”
“Mmm. That’s exactly what you need, babe. A nice big hunky man to kick Greg’s ass from here to Timbuktu.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at her best friend. Leave it to Darla to make something more out of it when it was totally and completely innocent.
“It’s not like that… well, I mean he offered, but I don’t want to get anyone else involved.”
“Sweetie, we’re already involved. I care about you and this guy obviously does too. Why don’t you let him help you? It could do you some good to be with a decent man for a change.”
Sera cringed at the subtle jab. She knew her friend didn’t mean anything bad by it, but she’d had such a long string of terrible relationships with deadbeats and criminals that it was kind of a running gag. Sera knew better now than to trust her judgment with men. Even though Psy seemed like the perfect gentleman, she was sure that he had something somewhere. There was always a ‘but’. As in: “He’s great, but he can’t keep a job.” Or “He’s really sweet, but he drinks too much.”
There was always a but. She didn’t know what Psy’s but was, but she knew there had to be one. Speaking of which… She watched him crouch down on the ground to screw in part of the lock and she was awarded with a perfect view of his rear end.
After about an hour’s worth of work, Psy stood up and dusted off his hands, admiring his handiwork. Sera’s door now sported a shiny new lock, a dead bolt and a chain. He tested everything out, double and triple checking that the keys worked and that the locks held against all of his weight.
Finally satisfied that she would be safe from that door, he turned back to Sera.
“Do all of your windows have locks?”
She nodded and made a mental note to make sure they were all locked.
“What about your back door? We don’t want anyon
e getting in there.”
He said it seriously, but Sera’s mind was still focused on sex and she couldn’t stop the pink that crept up the back of her neck. He didn’t mean that back door.
“Um, it’s actually glass,” she answered with a frown.
Psy’s concerned look returned, knowing that he couldn’t do much for that.
“Are you sure there isn’t someone else you can stay with? I really don’t trust this bastard to not smash his way in.”
She shook her head, even if she could, she wouldn’t.
“And you’re sure you won’t come stay with me? I have a pretty big place. You can have the bedroom all to yourself, I won’t bother you, I promise.”
“I just couldn’t. If he scares me out of my house than he’s won.”
“Sera, there’s a fine line between standing your ground and being foolhardy. What if I just stayed here with you to keep an eye on things?”
She thought it over. She wanted to say no right away, but the idea had some merit. She certainly wouldn’t mind having some more of his company and she would feel much safer with him there than without him.
But he was a stranger! She didn’t know anything about him. He could be even worse than Greg for all she knew… well, probably not.
She nibbled on her bottom lip, lost in her internal debate. Her eyes stared straight through Psy as she tried to come up with an excuse not to let him stay. No matter what angle she tried to take, she couldn’t seem to find a valid reason to deny him.
“Well… I guess that would be okay,” she answered finally.
“Oh, good. Will you be okay here while I go home and round up a few things?”
She didn’t know what he meant by that. Maybe he needed his toothbrush or something. Regardless, she figured she would be secure enough for the short time he would be gone, now that her door was repaired.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, I’ll be back before you know it.” He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving her home.
Chapter 6
She was more than a little surprised by the intimacy of the action. She knew that she felt a connection to him, but it seemed strange that they’d spent so little time together and already felt so close. Things weren’t really supposed to happen that way, were they? She’d heard of love at first sight and that kind of thing before, but she never really believed it.
All of her past relationships were born out of friendship first until she realized that the guy was a total douche. Somehow, that was all she ever seemed to attract, but was Psy different? Her past experiences would say that he couldn’t be. Every time she thought a man was different, he turned out to be just as bad – or worse – than all of the others. As much as she wanted to think that Psy was the exception to the rule, she knew how naive it was to think that way.
If she had any hope of self-preservation, she would just accept his protection for the night and figure things out with Greg the next day. If he showed up and Psy was there, maybe he would be scared off for good. At the very least, she would have a better chance of getting a hold of the police with Psy there. Though, the police hadn’t been exceptionally helpful up to that point. If they’d done their job, Greg would still be in jail and she wouldn’t have to be dealing with any of this.
It seemed like no time had passed at all when Psy returned with a small duffel bag in tow.
They spent most of the day in silence. Sera zoned out watching TV while Psy paced back and forth, looking through the blinds every now and then. He was on high alert; in other circumstances, it might make her uneasy, but in this case it made her feel like she could finally relax while he was on guard. It was a nice reprieve from always being on edge.
The sun was beginning to set when Psy tensed at his post by the window.
“Stay there,” he instructed, pointing at her,”someone just parked in front of your house.”
Sera’s heart jumped into her throat at his announcement. Was Greg coming back for her already? She didn’t know if she was prepared to handle that confrontation. She still thought she had so much time.
Psy stood by the door, staying out of sight from the window; he couldn’t see out, but no one would be able to see him either. He readied himself for a fight and hoped that it would be over quickly so he could put this whole thing behind him and move on.
There was a soft knock at the door and Sera sighed. That wasn’t Greg. He never knocked like that. She jumped up to answer the door and Psy stopped her in her tracks, throwing out his massive arm to block her.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Answering my door,” she replied with more than a hint of defiance. She may be a victim, but she wasn’t a child. No one needed to tell her what to do.
She pushed past him and he hovered behind her with a scowl plastered on his face and his arms crossed in front of his chest.
She opened the door to see her best friend on the other side. Darla’s cherubic face surrounded by golden ringlets was exactly the happy sight Sera needed.
“What are you doing here?” She asked with a huge smile and a big hug.
“Well, I thought maybe we would have a sleepover since you wouldn’t come to my place…” she trailed off, eying the hulking man behind Sera with an appreciative eye.
“But I see you already had the same idea… and you weren’t wrong.” She finished her appraisal of the stranger with a little purr and laughed at Sera’s horrified expression.
“I just wanted to check on you, sweetie,” Darla added, turning Sera’s face side to side to look at the nasty bruise covering half of it.
“Are you sure you won’t let my brother kill him?”
“Positive. That’s the last thing you need.”
The blond pouted and sighed.
“Well, okay… I guess you don’t need me here, huh?”
Sera gave her a look that very clearly said ‘I can’t believe you just said that!’ without saying anything at all. They knew each other’s looks well enough to nearly read the other’s mind. Darla knew what she was saying, she just didn’t care; she thought it was amusing to see her best friend all wrapped up over a guy. It had been far too long since Serabelle last let herself enjoy the company of someone else. She hadn’t even really been very open with Darla lately which only added to the blonde’s concerns. It was nice to see that Sera’s attitude might be changing in that regard. She needed to heal from all of the damage that Greg did to her.
Darla waggled her eyebrows at her friend suggestively before waving at Psy.
“Nice to meet you!” She said brightly.
Psy didn’t respond. His scowl didn’t budge. His arms were tense as he clenched his fists unconsciously.
“Well, call me if you need anything sweetie, and let me know what’s going on, okay?”
Sera nodded.
“I will.”
“Okay, I love you,” she finished with a tight hug.
“I love you, too.” She didn’t know why tears sprang to her eyes at that very minute. It was so touching that she had a friend that cared about her so much. She knew that some people went their entire lives without having the kind of friendship that she and Darla shared. It was special and she was so grateful for it. She just hoped that she wasn’t being an idiot for turning down the offer for help.
Darla left and Psy still glowered at Sera without a word.
After twenty minutes of this behavior, Sera finally had to say something.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
His jaw twitched with barely contained rage and she suddenly knew what it felt like to be the target of his anger, something that she hoped to never know.
“I’m here to protect you, Sera. I can’t fucking do that if you just open the door for everyone that comes by.”
She frowned. She could see his point, but he didn’t know Greg like she did.
“But that wasn’t Greg. I know his knock…” she tried defending herself, bu
t it came out more apologetic than anything.
“What if he sent someone else over here to check on you? What if he was using someone else to get inside? Did you think about that?”
“Well… no… I didn’t think…”
“You’re right, you didn’t think. You jumped right in with no regards to your safety. You have to let me protect you Sera. It’s what I do and I can’t do that if you won’t let me.” How did he turn this around to make it her fault? She frowned and nodded.
“I’m sorry, you’re right, I should have let you open the door.”
He instantly felt guilty when he saw the defeated look on her face. She’d been beaten down enough, he didn’t need to make things worse. He locked the door back up quickly and then pulled her to his chest in a tight hug.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten angry with you. I was just worried and didn’t want to see anything happen to you.”
She sobbed silently against him, clinging to him as if her life depended on it.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’m not going to let anything happen, Sera,” he soothed, petting her silky soft hair with gentle even strokes. She needed comforting, not reprimanding.
She looked up to him with watery eyes and he wanted more than ever to make all of those tears go away. He couldn’t believe how easily he’d become attached to this fragile little woman. It was unsettling. But he had a job to do and couldn’t let his blossoming feelings for her interfere with that.
She was irresistible. He couldn’t say no to her upturned face and wide open eyes begging for any kind of comfort. His lips descended on hers, meeting them in a tender embrace. He hadn’t meant to do it. He didn’t know what came over him. It was completely counter-productive to his aims, but there was no denying her allure.
Her face showed a hint of surprise at first, but she quickly melted into him. It was so nice to have someone show her kindness. It was nice to have a positive physical experience with a man as opposed to all of the nightmarish ones she had now. Her hands clung to his shoulders and pulled him in further into her tempting clutches.
