Rogue's Passion(12)

He held his breath. If she bolted, he was as good as dead. He didn’t know how long he could continue to refuse medical treatment, but he sure as hell couldn’t get out of here under his own power. At some point, someone would take pity and force him to go to the hospital. And if that happened, they’d do a background check and discover his papers were bogus. It would be only a matter of time until they discovered he wasn’t from this world.
Come, lass. Come to me. I promise not to hurt you.
He was a predator, trying to seduce his prey.
After a moment’s hesitation, she headed straight toward him.
Relief raced through his body.
He would get her to heal him. And if she refused or tried to deny that she could, he’d threaten to expose her.
    







 
    Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance by Jennifer Ashley, Alyssa Day, Felicity Heaton, Erin Kellison, Laurie London, Erin Quinn, Bonnie Vanak and Caris Roane
    
 


 
CHAPTER 4
Olivia’s cowboy boots turned to lead as she slogged her way back to what was left of the Grape and Bean. Though it couldn’t be more than ten or twelve steps, it felt like a mile. She was so exhausted she could hardly see straight. Healing the woman who was almost dead had drained her of all her energy. She hardly had anything left. She needed to grab her things and get out of here as quickly as possible.
The man—Asher—stood in what used to be the doorway, staring at her with an intensity that made her stomach do a couple of backflips. Gorgeous guys came into the wine shop all the time, so what was the big deal about this one? Well, for one thing, she told herself as she noted his scuffed motorcycle boots and the skull ring on his pinkie, he wasn’t pretty-boy good-looking. He had an untamed quality about him that suggested an uncontrollable side. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had a few tattoos and a piercing or two.
Oh God, why do I always seem to find the bad boys so attractive? She seriously needed to employ the trick she played on herself in order not to eat fattening food.
Rough, rugged, badass guys with swagger are unhealthy for my well-being.
No. Wait. Who the hell cares if something is unhealthy if it’s tasty? She needed to frame it up differently.
Rough, rugged, badass guys with swagger make me nauseous and sick to my stomach.
There. Maybe if she said it enough times, she’d start to believe it.
“What are you still doing here?” She honestly thought he’d be gone by now. Hurt or not, he seemed like a take-charge kind of guy. The kind who made things happen, who didn’t wait around for things to happen to him.
“What did you just do?” His eyebrows were two fierce slashes above his eyes.
“Excuse me?”
“To that woman?”
She looked at him warily. What was he getting at? He couldn’t possibly know what she had done. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was bone dry. “I did what they told me to do. That’s all. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She took a step forward, hoping he’d move out of her way, but he didn’t. He just stood there like a brick wall in front of her. A big, huge, muscle-y one.
Thankfully, the plate glass window next to the door had been completely blown out. Taking care not to cut herself, she stepped up and over the sill. There. She was going to get her things and get the hell out of here.
But before she could move toward the office in the back, he grabbed her arm. Even through the heavy fireman’s coat she still wore, she felt the strength of his hand.
“I saw you,” he said, his voice low and menacing, “so don’t try to deny what you did.”
Her heart banged around in her chest like a jarred moth looking for a way to escape. This was not good. “Let go of me.” She tried to pull away from his grasp, but his hand was like an iron wrench.Two seconds ago, she thought she would die from exhaustion, but now she felt as if she could run a marathon.#p#分页标题#e#
“Weren’t you watching?” she asked. “I helped stop an injured woman’s bleeding until an ambulance became available and took her to the hospital. That’s all.” One quick jerk and she was free of him. She had a feeling she wouldn’t have been able to do that if he hadn’t been hurt.
His gray eyes bore into her as she took a few steps back. She could tell he didn’t believe her. “Don’t bullshit me. You healed that woman.”
She wanted to clamp a hand over his mouth. Despite the chill in the night air, a bead of sweat trickled down the middle of her back.
Think, Olivia! Think!
As he stood there, waiting for a reply, her brain finally came up with a few options:
(1) Laugh. Make it seem as if what he’d said was the funniest, most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. But given what was going on around them and the fact that her employer’s dead body wasn’t very far away, laughing would be a terrible response. Scratch that.