The Alpha Male Romance Boxed Set

by Terry Towers

  "I guess I'll just have a large coffee, black." He nodded, pleased with his selection and shifted his eyes to meet hers.

  Lily felt a shiver run down her spine as his eyes locked onto hers which immediately ignited a pulsing between her legs. After the span of several beats she broke eye contact and set to work on his coffee as he leaned over, rested his elbows on the counter, laced his fingers in front of him and watched her intently.

  "Have you worked here long?"

  Setting the coffee pot back onto the burner she snapped the plastic cover onto the paper cup and passed it to him. "A couple of months."

  Straightening up he reached into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a handful of change. As he sorted through the various coins, a quarter slipped from his fingers and he bent to retrieve it.

  At the same moment that he bent over, something warm and fast whizzed by Lily's face, grazing her cheek and seconds later the glass door of the microwave behind her imploded.

  Mouth agape, Lily jumped at the sound of the microwave's glass door shattering, not even paying any notice to the wound across her cheek. Her eyes whipped back to the front of the store to see a small hole in the glass, which was now cracked, but had yet to actually break.

  "Get down!"

  Everything seemed to happen so fast. Lily had no idea what was happening, but briefly glimpsed the customer as he leapt over the counter towards her with the grace and speed of a panther, and tackled her to the floor.

  She grunted as she hit the ceramic floor - hard, with his large, heavy frame covering her tiny one. The sound of glass shattering came from the front of the store, followed by a light thumping sound as something embedded itself in the wall above the back counter.

  "Come on!" The man was already off her and onto his feet, crouching behind the counter.

  As her eyes focused on him, they immediately noticed the gun he now held in his hand. She gasped and attempted to stand to run.

  "Holy fuck woman, do you want to die? Stay down and follow me," he ordered in a hushed, but firm tone.

  Lily gulped down the lump which was rapidly forming in her throat and nodded. Her heart was racing so quickly, she could actually feel it throbbing within her chest.

  Standing, the customer fired the pistol several times out into the parking lot, each shot felt like a major explosion in her ears leaving her head reeling from the unexpected sound. Reaching down, he grabbed her hand and pulled the dazed and confused Lily to her feet and into the back kitchen with him.

  "Wh…what's going on?" Slightly disoriented, she started to walk towards the doorway which led to the front of the store, but he grasped her forearm tightly, jerking her back to him. He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around so she was facing him.

  "We don't have much time, so you need to listen to me." His voice was eerily calm, as though whatever was going on was an everyday occurrence to him.

  Lily nodded, but her eyes seemed to want to look back out into the dining room.

  He gave her a light shake and she snapped her eyes back to meet his. "Do you have a car?"

  Lily nodded. "It's out back. Why? What's…?"

  "Good. Give me the keys. Hurry up."

  She hesitated for a moment and then rushed over to her purse sitting on the small round plastic staff table. Digging into her black handbag, she produced the keys to her ancient Dodge Neon and deposited them into his outstretched hand.

  He gave her a friendly smile, which just slightly helped calm her frazzled nerves. "Okay, you need to listen carefully."

  Lily nodded.

  "There are some very bad men out there and they're going to come in here after us, so we need to leave. Now!"

  Lily shook her head and took a step back from him. "No, I can't leave. Who are you? What's going on?" So many questions were racing through her head that she was having a difficult time thinking clearly. Was she in shock? She gave her head a slight shake trying to clear the fuzziness.

  "I'll explain later, come on." He gave her hand a tug, but she remained rooted to the spot.

  "Are you a cop or something?" He certainly didn't look like a cop, but that didn't mean he wasn't one.

  He ran a nervous hand through his dark hair, gave her a lopsided grin and nodded. "Or something. Come on." He gave her hand another tug, but again she remained where she was.

  "What does that mean, or something?"

  The man huffed and rolled his eyes at her. "Listen, maybe I didn't make myself clear a moment ago. We need to go now... if we don't then those bad men will come in here and kill you and me."

  When she didn't respond. He shrugged. "Suit yourself." Dropping her hand from his he raced toward the back door his three quarter length black leather jacket flapping out behind him as he ran.

  Panic overtook Lily. As scared as she was to go with the sexy stranger, she was even more terrified that he might be telling the truth. "Wait!" she cried out as she ran after him just as he was exiting through the back door.

  By the time she was out into the cool night air, her customer was already at the Neon. Panic gripped her. "Wait!" she screamed to him, bursting into a sprint and heading for him and her little car.

  His head snapped over to her direction, but then proceeded to unlock the car and hop in. She made it to the passenger side and was opening the door as the car roared to life.

  "Hurry." he urged, shifting the car into gear.

  She slipped in and hadn't even gotten the door shut behind her when the car tires squealed and they sped out onto the road. The sudden forward jolt succeeded in shutting the door for her. She ran a shaky hand through her long hair as she watched the stranger from the corner of her eye weave her little car in and out of traffic as though he was a racing car driver and her Neon a Ferrari.

  Why had she gotten into the car with him? She groaned inwardly. She didn't even know the man. For all she knew he was the bad guy. She'd just ask him to drive her home. Simple, right? She'd ask him nicely to take her home. Hell, she'd drop him off anywhere he wanted and just drive herself home, and then she'd have a much needed sleep and everything would make sense in the morning.

  She took a couple of deep breaths in and released them slowly. Once she was certain her nerves had settled sufficiently for her to speak coherently, she focused her full attention on him.

  "So is there someplace I can drop you off?"

  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and shot her a grin. "Nah, that's okay. I have it under control."

  What did he mean by that? She chewed at her lower lip for a moment before trying again. "Well, I think that I should be going home so I think that dropping you somewhere would be the best idea." When he didn't respond she added, "I won't tell anyone, not the police, not anyone. I promise."

  He chuckled, turned his head and locked gazes with her, his forest green eyes on her sapphire blue ones. "You can't go home. Sorry."

  Lily's frown deepened. "What? Why? I have to go home. I demand you take me home. This is my car, my rules."

  His chuckling stopped and he shook his head. "Sorry. Can't happen. Not right now, anyway."

  She tried to remain calm, but a bad feeling washed over her. Was she a hostage? Was he kidnapping her? She took another deep breath in then exhaled loudly. And even more importantly, why in hell was he so calm? If he could be believed and they were running for their lives; she would have thought he'd be showing a little bit of panic in his demeanour.

  "Who are you?" It was a fair enough question as far as she was concerned; he could at least give her a straight answer on that.

  Slowing the car, the customer turned off the highway and onto a road Lily was not familiar with, though considering how frazzled her nerves were and the fact that it was the middle of the night, she doubted she'd have known their location even if she'd been on that road dozens of times before.

  "Oh, I'm so terribly sorry. That was so rude of me, just with being shot at and then escaping in a Dodge Neon, no offence, but not my first choice o
f a getaway vehicle…" When she huffed at him, he glanced over at her and shrugged with a slight smile touching his lips, "It slipped my mind." He extended his hand to her, while keeping his eyes glued to the two lane road they were traveling down. "I'm Scott."

  When Lily hesitated in taking his offered hand, he took his eyes off the road long enough to read her nametag. "Ahhh, Lily. That's a beautiful name. My grandmother's name was Lily."

  Her brow furrowed as she looked over at him in disbelief. Talk about a Jekyll and Hyde attitude change. Maybe he's psychotic?Oh-my-God, that must be it and I'm stuck in a car with him! She took his hand briefly and then snatched hers from his grip equally as quickly, though not quickly enough to avoid the warm sensation that flowed through her at his touch. She growled at herself for feeling attraction towards someone who was - quite possibly - mentally unstable.

  "Well Scott, who are you really? And why were people shooting at you?"

  Chapter 2

  Scott took another glance at the young woman sitting in the passenger seat and sighed. It was unfortunate that she was being pulled into the madness of his life. It certainly wasn't his intention, but... as the saying goes, ‘shit happens’.

  What was he going to do with her? He had no idea. What did he want to do with her? He snickered at the thought; even in that hideous uniform she was a stunning woman. Her long blonde hair begged him to reach over and stroke it. Her bright blue eyes were the type that a man could lose himself looking into and her figure was nothing short of amazing; a nice little hourglass figure in compact form.

  "Who are you really?" she pressed when Scott didn't respond straight away.

  "I'm a freelancer," he shot her a smile that usually melted the ladies. To his dismay, it didn't with her. "Of sorts."

  "Of sorts?" she raised a sceptical brow at him. "What kind of freelancer carries a gun and gets shot at in coffee shops?"

  Damn. He didn't want to scare her by telling her the truth, but considering she might be with him for a while, he didn't see that he had much choice. "Well. I sort of..." Again, he shot her his patented Scott Redding ‘guaranteed to make women melt’ smile and again she seemed unimpressed. "I sort of... kill people for a living." When her mouth dropped open, he held his hand up signalling her to hear him out. "But only really bad people."

  "You kill people?"

  "Bad people. I kill really bad people." he felt the need to emphasise that point.

  "So you work for the government?"

  Scott couldn't control the bout of laughter that overtook him as Lily watched him in shock and disbelief. Once the amusement of her question wore off he shot her another smile. "Not for a few years. Fuck politics and fuck the politicians. Working for the government is so dishonest."

  Lily's frown deepened and she shook her head. "You're kidding right? This has to be some sort of joke. This has to be. I want to go home, take me home, Scott!" Her eyes narrowed at him, "If that's even your real name."

  He shot her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I can't take you home."

  She remained silent next to him, as he turned the car off the road they'd been traveling and onto an even more secluded gravel road. Thick forest lined both sides of the road and the only light was the dim glow of the car’s headlights.

  The silence lasted all of five minutes before she started up again.

  "Stop the car Scott. I want out! Stop the car," she demanded. Whatever fear and disbelief that had held her captive since the beginning of the fiasco seemed to lose its grip of her and be replaced by anger.

  "I assure you Lily. This is for your own good. If you want to stay alive you're stuck with me."

  She shook her head quickly, her blonde hair flying out around her. "No. No, I want out! I want out now."

  He reached over and patted her knee, which she jerked out of his grasp as if his hand were on fire. "Look. I promise once we get where we're going I'll explain things a little better. You’ll just have to trust me.'

  "Where are we going?" She turned in her seat to face him fully, her blue eyes shooting daggers into his.

  "Some place secure. I promise you'll be safe."

  She huffed and settled herself back in the seat; her arms crossed over her chest and she stared out into the darkened forest ahead of them.

  All things considered, she seemed to be taking things about as well as he could have expected. He hadn't expected Herrera's men to have found him so fast. The men who'd tracked him to the coffee shop were good, a little too good for his comfort, which meant they weren't Herrera's usual goons. He'd hired assassins -assassins just like Scott. He muttered a curse under his breath at the realization.

  It was close to an hour since they left the coffee shop and he would have bet that by now, they'd discovered who it was that was working that night and had already ransacked her home and left a man or two there keeping watch over the place - just in case. Yes, there was no way he could let her leave him now, not in good conscience.

  ****

  When he stops the car, I can make a run for it! Looking around her, the darkened forest looked menacing. Make a run for it and go where? She sighed. She'd end up getting herself lost in the wilderness, and mauled by a bear, or worse. Lily snuck a look over at Scott, who seemed to be content with not speaking for the moment. A freelance killer? So what he was telling her was that he was a hit man?

  She frowned. Wasn't it the hit men who did the killing, not the ones doing the running? Perhaps she'd watched too many spy movies in her lifetime, it's not like she had ever met an actual killer before. Which led her to the question of what in the hell had he done to make himself a mark? An even more important question followed. Did she really want to be with him when they caught up with him again?

  "Where are we going?"

  Scott made a left turn onto a dirt road that she hadn't even seen until they were on it. After traveling for close to ten more minutes, he finally began to slow the car. "We're here," he announced as they came up to a small cabin nestled deep in the woods.

  "Whose place is this?"

  Scott waved a dismissive hand at her. "Home. Like I said before, it's safe."

  Her eyes narrowed as she watched him slide from the driver's seat and slam the door shut behind him. With a heavy sigh, she grabbed her purse, which she was grateful she'd had enough sense to snatch as they rushed from the restaurant, and followed suit.

  She found herself amazed at how quiet it was outside, aside from the rustling of leaves and the faint sounds of crickets chirping somewhere out in the night.

  She turned her attention to Scott and watched as he strode up to the front door, removed his jacket, covered his fist with it and smashed out the lower pane of the door window. What in the hell?

  "Why did you just break out the window, Scott?"

  He carefully removed the remaining shards of glass from the window pane, reached through the broken pane and unlocked the door from the inside. He glanced over at her looking unperturbed by her suspicious tone. "So we could get in."

  Planting her fists on her hips she glared at him. "I thought you said you were the owner. If you are, then why are you breaking in?"

  He pulled his hand from the window and opened the door wide. "If you must know I happen to have lost the key a few weeks ago." he motioned impatiently for her to enter. "Come on, and watch out for the glass on the floor."

  She hesitated a moment, but a growl which she suspected was a bear pushed her body into action as she rushed past him and into the pitch black cabin.

  "There's a generator out back, I'll turn in on and be right back." He spun around and hurried around the corner of the cabin.

  What? Whoa. Hell no, he's not going to leave me alone here, not even for a minute! "Scott?"

  The darkened cabin sent a chill of fear through Lily. Born and raised in the city, she had never had exposure to the ‘great outdoors’, had never been camping, or even spent a night away at a cabin like this one so the forest seemed monstrous and intimidating. She was tempted to cha
se after him, but another low growl sounded from somewhere in the forest causing her to rush back into the darkness of the cabin, firmly closing the door behind her.

  A shot of relief rushed through Lily when the sound of the generator roared to life and a number of overhead lamps burst into life displaying the interior of the four room cabin for her. When the lights came on she found herself in the kitchen area, to her immediate right was the living room which was sparsely furnished with a futon and plain wooden coffee table.

  Walking across the kitchen which had a wood stove, a sink, pantry and a small table with two chairs, she peered into the bathroom. Again, simple in nature with a toilet, and old style claw foot cast iron bathtub and large closet; no shower. The bedroom was located off the living room and again was simply furnished, with a bed, a dresser and an end table. The walls of all the rooms were varnished pine and the floors covered with short brown industrial type carpet. It was what she'd expect a hunting cabin to look like.

  It was far from the Ritz, but she supposed considering they had no other place to go, it would have to do. For someone who might enjoy ‘roughing it’ she figured it could be considered quite a desirable little forest getaway.

  "It's not much, I know."

  Lily jumped and yelped at the sound of Scott's voice as he spoke close to her ear, so close that his breath tickled her neck and send a shiver running down her spine.

  She spun around to face him and, as her eyes swept over the length of his body, she fully appreciated just how large his frame was in comparison to her. His shoulders were wide and powerful, his chest broad and torso lean. Her eyes dipped to his groin and she took notice of the crease his cock made in his jeans. She looked away hastily for fear he'd notice her eyeing his dick, though she couldn't stop the flush that she could feel coloring her cheeks. "I...um…It's great."

  He cocked his head and his eyes lazily worked their way down and then back up the length of her body, causing her blush to deepen. When his eyes finally met hers she saw they held amusement in them. "How old are you? Nineteen, twenty perhaps?"