Colton Nursery Hideout
Page 25
Wes could’ve reasoned with the guy. Could’ve threatened the guy with legal action for taking advantage of a defenseless woman. Could’ve accused him of drugging Jessica and assaulting her and called the police.
But it was a hundred times more satisfying to punch the guy in the nose with all of his considerable strength.
“Sonofa—” the guy roared, holding his bloody face. The guy came up swinging, and Wes danced back from the larger man, who was faster than he looked and not nearly as drunk as Wes had hoped he might be. “I’ll kill you,” the big man growled. “She’s mine, and you can’t have her.”
For some reason, the assertion that Jessica belonged to this jackass infuriated Wes beyond all reason.
The guy charged Wes, coming shoulder first like a football player. Crap. This guy was going to be fully as strong as his bulk suggested.
But Wes had both righteous fury and a burning need to protect Jessica on his side. His rage transformed in a blink of the eye, becoming an icy calm that focused his senses and distilled his purpose into a single pinpoint to make this man pay for what he’d intended to do—hell, had nearly done—to Jessica.
The fight was brutal and one-sided. Despite the other man having easily fifty pounds on him, Wes was a combat-trained and battle-hardened Marine. And he was pissed.
By the time the bouncers heard the commotion, made their way past the mosh pit and finally pulled Wes off the guy, Jessica’s assailant looked more like hamburger than human.
Wes, still in the grips of adrenaline-enhanced strength, pulled away from the bouncers who had him by the arms and rushed over to kneel in front of Jessica where she’d slid down the wall and was now huddled on the concrete floor, hugging her knees.
“Jess?” he murmured. “Are you okay?”
She looked up, mascara streaking her porcelain skin. She launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck with a sob of relief. He stood, taking her with him, and her slender body plastered against his, trembling. Her head lolled against his shoulder and renewed fury coursed through him.
He held her close, doing his damnedest to make her feel safe and protected. Her legs gave out, but he supported her weight easily with an arm around her waist. Lord, he’d forgotten how good she felt in his arms. She tended more toward lean and angular than round and lush, but her body was soft in comparison to his, and she had all the curves he needed.
“You...came,” she mumbled against his neck. He felt wetness through his shirt. She was crying.
Holy Mother of God. Jessica Blankenship, force of nature and formidable femme fatale, was crying?
“I’ve got you, babe,” he murmured, comforting her as best as he could.
Hands grabbed at him, tugging him away from her. He fought as hard as he could, but there were a lot of hands, and they were collectively stronger than him. People were shouting about police coming, patrons ran in every direction and the chaos was incredible. In the middle of it, a pair of bouncers pulled him away from Jessica.
Wes locked stares with her, and she looked at him in fearful entreaty as the bouncers dragged him, still struggling violently, away from her.
He reached out for her, and her hands came up to reach for him. Then something cracked him painfully across the skull, and everything went black.
Copyright © 2021 by Cynthia Dees
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ISBN-13: 9781488071409
Colton Nursery Hideout
Copyright © 2021 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Dana Nussio for her contribution to The Coltons of Grave Gulch miniseries.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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