Her back was pressed against the wall. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The man Griff assumed was Jeffrey Sutton stood beside her. He raised one hand and Griff realized the other held Chelsie against her will. He cursed the time he’d spent outside her apartment.
“Chelsie.” She jerked her head towards the sound of his voice, wincing as she did so. Her ex-husband turned to see who had interrupted. Griff took one step forward, but Chelsie moved faster. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she smashed her hand against the back of the other man’s head. He staggered away from her with a loud moan.
She looked down at her hand in stunned silence. Griff watched as one of her crystal treasures fell from her fingers. She followed, sliding to the floor in relief.
Griff grabbed the man by the back of his suit collar, thrusting him up against the same wall where he’d cornered Chelsie. Rage filled him. This man had laid his hands on Chelsie again. Blood rushed to his head and pounded in his veins. So easy, he thought. He could kill Jeffrey Sutton without a second thought.
“How does it feel to be cornered?” Griff asked.
The other man remained silent.
“You’re not so brave against someone your own size.” Griff raised his fist. “One good blow could do a lot of damage. Then again, jail could do a lot more.”
The man turned white beneath an obviously fake tan.
“Griff, don’t.” Chelsie’s low voice penetrated the throbbing anger that heated his body.
“Press charges, Chelsie.”
Her gaze swung back and forth between the two men, but she remained silent. Griff knew she might be in shock. Dealing with the police could come later. She no longer had to face Jeffrey Sutton alone.
He turned to the man Chelsie had once called her husband. “You’re a lawyer, so understand this. From now on, you’d better act like a restraining order has already been issued. Stay the hell away from Chelsie and Amanda.”
Chelsie emitted a startled cry. Griff turned towards her, unwittingly loosening his hold on the man he’d had pinned to the wall. Jeff darted around Griff and out the door without looking back.
Chelsie ran straight into his arms. Half an hour passed in which Griff did nothing but hold on tight. When the adrenaline pumping through his veins subsided, concern for Chelsie filled the void. The questions came next
“I take back every rotten thing I ever thought about those animals,” he said.
“They did come in useful.” She leaned her head against his shoulder before pulling away and wrapping her arms around her legs. Her chin rested on her knees and she gazed at him from beneath thick lashes. She appeared pale, but composed. If he’d arrived any later, if her ex-husband had seriously hurt her...
“He didn’t hurt me. Not really,” she said, rubbing her scalp. Her insight into his private thoughts didn’t surprise him. “But...”
“What?”
“This is going to sound ridiculous.” She averted her gaze.
“Let me be the judge of that. What’s on your mind?”
“He touched me.” Her hand went to her cheek. “As if he still had the right.”
Griff drew a steadying breath. “He didn’t...” Griff couldn’t finish the thought.
She shook her head. “But this place has always been untouched by him. And being here, I could pretend it never happened, but now I feel so violated.”
“It’s not ridiculous.” Grasping her hand, he squeezed once for reassurance before pulling her to her feet. “And I have the perfect solution.”
Menial tasks like pouring bath water and finding towels helped him keep his mind off everything he’d overheard. Everything he’d like to forget.
Settled in a warm bubble bath, Chelsie looked up at Griff and smiled. The serene expression did more than anything else to assure him that her ex-husband’s damage had been minimal.
“I stood up to him, didn’t I?” she asked.
“Yeah. You did.” Not enough, since he’d like to see the bastard behind bars, but she’d made a start. He’d never been so proud and so damned frightened in his entire life. This woman made him feel things that were foreign to him. Feelings that went beyond sexual and bordered on love. But borders changed on a whim. His feelings for Chelsie were cemented on a more solid foundation. Not that he discounted the sexual attraction. He couldn’t. The only reason he was able to sit on the edge of the tub and maintain a coherent conversation was because bubbles surrounded her otherwise naked body.
She lifted a handful of soap and blew in his direction. She’d caught him drifting. “This whole experience has me rattled, too,” he said.