Dark Tide. Susan Sleeman

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СКАЧАТЬ the moisture-laden air from a streetlight in the distance, but nothing moved. He chanced a longer look, and once he was confident he wouldn’t be ambushed, he flattened his back against the wall again and eased toward the Dumpster.

      Toward Gina.

      A few more steps took him to the back side of the metal container angled against the building. In the corner, large, terrified eyes peered up at him. Eyes he’d stared into for two years in college and once figured he spend his life looking into.

      Gina.

      She cowered in the corner, a sleeping baby clutched to her chest.

      “Derrick,” she whispered, her voice trembling.

      She wasn’t faking her terror. Someone was after her, and she needed him.

      Correction. She needs your help, not you.

      The thought helped him steel himself for her touch, and he offered his hand. As he’d expected, when she slipped soft fingers into his, it burned all the way to his heart. Their eyes met and held. He suddenly wanted to let go of common sense, of their past, the pain and heartache, and draw her into a comforting hug to erase the misery from her eyes.

      She shivered violently, pulling her gaze free, breaking the intensity of the moment and bringing him back to his senses. She wore only a heavy sweater and jeans. Shrugging out of his jacket, he settled it over her shoulders. She burrowed into the fleece lining without a word.

      “Are you okay?” he asked.

      “It’s a long story. Can we get out of here before I explain?”

      He opened his mouth to agree, but something rustled behind him and he spun to search the area. Darkness met his gaze—he saw no one. But then heavy footsteps pulled his focus to the distance. They pounded nearer, their cadence laden with caution.

      The killer? Of course. Who else would it be on a night like this and after the mall has closed?

      “He’s coming. We have to move.” Derrick scanned the alley for an escape route. Nothing presented itself without leaving them exposed. If the footsteps belonged to the man trailing Gina, they were trapped.

      Derrick needed a plan and needed one fast. He grabbed Gina’s arm and pulled her from behind the Dumpster, a surefire death trap if the killer caught them back here. He looked around, his mind waffling as he decided what to do.

      The footfalls neared, echoing into the night before disappearing.

      Derrick had to act. Now! Even if he failed.

      He drew Gina down the alley then moved her into an alcove and settled her back against the wall. He stepped in front of her, hiding her from the attacker’s view, his back to the killer. He didn’t like exposing his back, but what else could he do? He had to protect her and the baby from the killer. At any cost. Even his life.

      “Lower the baby and put her between us,” he whispered, wondering how Gina was going to take the next part of his makeshift plan.

      Her eyes wide and darkening with fear, she complied, hugging her child to her chest without taking her focus from him.

      He was tempted to lift his hand and cup her face—to comfort her—but that would lead his emotions in a direction he couldn’t go. Wouldn’t go, especially when he needed to stay focused. He had to keep his mind on the man pursuing her. “I’m going to kiss you and hope this guy thinks we’re having a little fun back here.”

      “But—” She tried to ease away.

      Footsteps closed in on them, now only a few yards away. Derrick held his gun at the ready while sliding his other hand into the soft silkiness of her hair to stop her from squirming away. Keeping enough distance between them so the baby could breath, he lowered his head. Gina closed her eyes, the long lashes settling on high cheekbones.

      At the touch of their lips, years melted away and he was instantly back at Southern Oregon University the night before she’d left in their senior year. Her citrus scent wrapped around him, and it took everything he was made of not to deepen the kiss.

      With sheer force of will, he pulled his mind from her and watched out of the corner of his eye. A figure emerged from the fog yet hung back in the building’s shadows. Tall and bulky, he stilled his feet at the sight of them, darkness fully cloaking his face.

      Derrick felt the man’s eyes linger on them. He gripped his gun tighter, his finger on the trigger, ready to use. His muscles tensed as he waited for a bullet to fly through the night. But he stayed his course, even when a crash of adrenaline urged him to flee.

      Suddenly the man huffed out of the shadows. Six-two, maybe three, he wore an oversize jacket, his hood up. He focused on his feet as he walked and pulled the hood tighter to his face, preventing Derrick from catching any identifying features. He hurried past them and down the alley.

      If Derrick was alone he’d go after the man, but he had Gina and a baby to think of. Gina. She was here now. In front of him. Connected to him.

      He lifted his head. When her eyes fluttered open, he stared into the warm brown color and wondered what to do next. The danger of a gunshot may have passed, but it had taken only one kiss to expose his heart to a danger he’d barely survived once and wasn’t sure he’d survive again.

      TWO

      Shaken, Gina let Derrick hurry her through the spitting rain to his SUV.

      “Normally I’d wait for the police to arrive,” he said as he opened the passenger door. “But your attacker is still in the area, and it’s better to move you to a safe location.”

      She climbed in and settled Sophia on her lap. Her hands trembled as she tightened the Pooh blanket around the sleeping child.

      She’d opened her eyes in time to see Lilly’s killer in the alley. He’d come close—too close. The sight of him had frightened her enough to close her eyes again and lean farther into the man shielding her. If not for Derrick...

      A shudder claimed her body and she forced the thought away. He had responded and he was here now. That was all that mattered.

      She watched him run around the front of his vehicle, the streetlight highlighting his sandy-blond hair. He carried himself with more confidence than she remembered, and when the creep had closed in on them, she’d seen an internal strength Derrick hadn’t possessed in college.

      Jaw clamped tight, he slid behind the wheel and jerked his door closed with a resounding thud. He was angry or irritated or both. He didn’t say a word but cranked the engine and shifted into gear. Sophia stirred and Gina stroked her back. How close Gina had come to losing her.

      She bowed her head. Thank You for keeping her safe, Father. Please keep watching over her. Over us.

      Derrick clicked on the signal, drawing her attention.

      She looked around. “Where are we going?”

      “We’ll start by driving around to make sure we’ve lost him. Then head to my place to regroup.” He turned onto a major street.

      Gina suddenly realized Sophia wasn’t in a car seat. СКАЧАТЬ