The color deepened in Clay’s cheeks and his lips formed a thin line. “Fine. I’m sorry,” he said, his tone measured, softer this time, but just as tight, the anger simmering between the surface.
Big Guy stepped back.
Clay rolled over, pushed to his hands and knees and staggered to an upright position, glaring at the man. “Who the hell are you anyway? And don’t give me that crap about being my worst nightmare. What makes you think you can get in between me and my wife?”
“Ex-wife,” Sierra repeated. “The divorce has been final for months. I have the signed copy to prove it.”
“Not in my mind.” Clay turned toward Sierra, his gaze boring into hers, his hands tightening into fists. “I never would have signed that paper if the judge hadn’t threatened to throw me in jail.”
Sierra planted her fists on her hips. “Yeah, well, it’s done, legal and final. I’m not going back to you. I have a life now. And it doesn’t include you.”
Clay shot a look at Big Guy. “But it includes him? What? Is he your new boyfriend?”
Sierra lifted her chin. “If he was, it’s none of your business.”
Clay’s eyes narrowed and he studied Big Guy. “So, you ditched me to hop in bed with him?”
“If she did, it has nothing to do with you.” Big Guy crossed his arms over his massive chest and stood with his feet braced slightly apart, like a conquering warrior. “What she does is her own business.”
Sierra’s heart fluttered. By all appearances, Big Guy was a man’s man. He didn’t need to push a woman around to make himself feel big. He was larger than life and, at that moment, a hero in her eyes.
“Yeah, well, you can’t be everywhere she is.” Clay faced her. “I’ll see you when your boyfriend isn’t around.”
Sierra’s cheeks heated at Clay’s reference to the stranger being her boyfriend. She figured now wasn’t the time to correct him. Perhaps if Clay thought the guy who’d kicked his butt was her boyfriend, he’d be less likely to target her. “Just leave me alone, Clay.”
“You belong to me,” her ex said. “No hulking ape takes what’s mine.”
“Okay, buddy.” Big Guy gripped Clay’s arm and marched him toward his truck. “I can take a man swinging at me and I can take some verbal abuse, but when you start calling me a hulking ape, I draw the line.” He opened the door and shoved Clay into the driver’s seat. “Leave my girlfriend alone, or you’ll be reckoning with me.” Then he slammed the door and stepped clear of the truck.
Sierra held her breath, fully expecting Clay to push the truck into gear and run Big Guy over.
Clay lowered his window and yelled, “It ain’t over.”
“Oh, yes, it is.” Brenda Larson stepped out of the building with a phone in her hands. “The sheriff is on his way.”
Clay slammed his truck into Reverse and backed up so fast, his tires spit up gravel. He swung around and left the parking lot and Sierra in stunned silence.
Brenda waved. “Gotta get back to my babies.”
“Go. I’ll get the kids inside.” Sierra waved toward her friend. Brenda ducked back inside, leaving Sierra with Big Guy and the thirteen crying children, clutching her legs.
“Are you all right?” her hero asked, turning his full attention to her. He had reddish-brown hair, cut high and tight like a military man, and his eyes could have been brown or green depending on the way he turned his head toward the sunshine.
Sierra gulped and tried to remember his question. “Uh, yes. I’m okay.” She rubbed her arm absently.
“Did he hurt you? You know, you can file a report.” The man closed the distance between them and took her hand, his face darkening. “He did hurt you.”
Sierra stared down at the bruises forming on her arm. She pulled against his grip. “I’m fine. Right now, I need to get these children calm and inside.”
Eloisa sobbed against her leg, clutching Sierra so tightly, she couldn’t move without knocking the little girl over.
Several of the children who couldn’t get close enough to Sierra turned to Big Guy and wrapped their arms around his legs, crying.
Sierra laughed and gulped back a ready sob. “I’m sorry. But it seems we are trapped by a handful of toddlers.” She held out her hand, forcing herself to sound normal and upbeat, putting a game face on for the children. “I’m Sierra Daniels. And you are?”
“Apparently, I’m your boyfriend.” His lips curled into a sexy smile that nearly bowled her over. “Rex Trainor. My friends call me T-Rex.”
Sierra raised her brows. “As in the dinosaur?”
He nodded. “That’s right.” He engulfed her hand with his big one.
Warmth flowed all the way up her arm and into her chest. “Thank you for coming to my rescue... T-Rex.” She glanced down at the toddlers. “Okay, gang, the show’s over and everybody’s okay. Let’s go play in the gym.”
“I want my mommy,” Eloisa wailed. Sierra lifted her small body and settled the redhead on her hip.
Several other children joined in the chorus.
“Who wants a ride into the gym?” T-Rex reached down and lifted a little boy named Nathan and settled him on his shoulders.
At first the little boy’s lip trembled, and then he gripped T-Rex’s hair, grinned and giggled.
“Who else?” T-Rex asked. With Nathan clinging to his hair, Sierra’s hero scooped up a little girl and a boy in his arms. “Follow me!” he called out in the best impression of a drill sergeant’s tone Sierra had heard in a long time.
Without hesitation, the rest of the toddlers lined up behind T-Rex and marched with him into the community center.
Sierra hugged Eloisa against her chest and followed. This must have been what it felt like to follow the Pied Piper. She didn’t know this man, but she trusted him with her life and those of the toddlers in her care.
And if he had hazel eyes that she could fall into and dark, reddish-brown hair she’d like to run her fingers through, that shouldn’t matter in the least. He’d come to her rescue. That made him a hero in her eyes and the eyes of the children.
Her heart beat faster and butterflies fluttered their wings inside her belly. Her day was looking up. And all because of a stranger who’d arrived in time to save the day. Talk about heroes.
Chapter Four
T-Rex entered through a side door that led into an open gymnasium with brick walls and basketball goals on either end.
A woman stood in one of the open doorways off the side of the gym, a baby in her arms. “Oh!” She blinked several times. “I was expecting Sierra. Who are you?”
His lips twisted into an ironic grin. “Apparently, I’m Sierra’s boyfriend.”
“He’s kidding.” The woman he’d rescued from her ex-husband entered behind him, carrying a tiny red-haired girl. Sierra’s cheeks were rosy and her blue eyes bright. “Clay assumed he was my boyfriend.” She shrugged. “I didn’t disavow him of that assumption.”
“Like I said. I’m her new boyfriend.”
Sierra’s friend stared at him, her eyes narrowing. “Wait. You’re one of the new guys in town working with Kevin Garner, aren’t you?”
T-Rex nodded and set down the children in his arms and then swung the little boy off his shoulders to his screaming delight.
As soon as he set him on the ground, the boy reached up. “Do it again! Do it again! Please?”
T-Rex lifted the boy high into the air and swung him back to the ground.
The other toddlers all raised their hands, shouting, “My turn!” at the top of their lungs.
“Okay, children,” Sierra called out over the commotion. “Mr. Trainor isn’t here to entertain all of you. Let him go about his business. Go on and play.” She set the red-haired girl on her feet and shooed her and the others toward the tumbling mats scattered across a corner of the gym. Once the children had moved away, Sierra held out her hand. “Thank you so much for coming to my rescue.”
He gripped her small hand in his, and a shock of electricity raced up his arm. His gaze connected with hers. Had she felt it? Her eyes widened for a second, but other than that little bit of motion, she didn’t indicate recognition.
Her lips curled upward in a smile. “Are you done with my hand?”
T-Rex immediately released her and jammed his hand into his pocket. “My pleasure.”
“Seriously, Sierra,” the woman with the baby on her hip said. “You haven’t met the men from the team of military guys who helped save us when the bus was hijacked?”
She shook her head. “Actually, I haven’t. You remember. When that happened, I was out with the flu.”
“You’re the one they called T-Rex, right?” The woman walked forward. “You might not remember me, but I’m Brenda Larson. We met in front of the Lucky Lou Mine a few days ago, after the showdown with the Vanders boys.”
T-Rex shook her hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember.”
“I can understand. There was a lot going on.” Brenda’s lips thinned and she glanced at Sierra. “Be glad you were sick that day. I still have nightmares.”