Battle Tested. Janie Crouch

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СКАЧАТЬ wasn’t wearing some flirty skirt or shorts and tank top or any of the modes of dress that bespoke enjoying herself on a Florida beach in mid-May. Not that there was anything wrong with how she was dressed: khaki pants and a blue button-down shirt. No flip-flops for this black-haired beauty, or any other type of sandals. Instead she wore athletic shoes. Plain. White.

      Her bag was also too large for a casual outing or catching a couple of beers for an hour or two. And clutched too tightly to her.

      This woman looked ready to run. From what or to what, Steve had no idea.

      Steve had been out of active agent duty for the last ten years. His job now was behind a desk on most days. A big desk, an important one. But a desk nonetheless. He didn’t need to be an agent in the field to know the most important thing about the woman who’d just walked into the bar: she was trouble.

      Since trouble was the very thing he was trying to get away from here in flip-flop Florida, Steve turned back to his beer and wings. Back to the game.

      But as he finished his food, he found his eyes floating back to her.

      She was obviously over twenty-one, so it was legal for her to be here. If she wanted to take off in a hurry—with her oversize tote-type bag—as long as she wasn’t doing anything illegal, it was her own business.

      She didn’t want to buy a drink—he noticed that first. But as the storm lingered, then grew worse, she obviously knew she’d have to or else go back out in it. She ordered a soda.

      She sat with her back to the wall.

      She tried not to draw attention to herself in any way.

      She was scared.

      Steve finished one beer and started another. He flexed his flip-flop-enclosed toes.

      Not his monkeys. Not his circus.

      This woman was not his problem, but he still couldn’t stop glancing her way every once in a while. She barely moved. Unfortunately, Steve wasn’t the only one whose attention she had caught. Just about every guy in the place was aware of her presence.

      At first men waited and watched. Was she meeting someone? A husband? Boyfriend? When it became obvious she wasn’t, they slowly began circling. Maybe not literally but definitely in their minds.

      Then some began circling literally.

      A couple of local boys who had been here since before Steve arrived—and had been tossing beers back the whole time—worked their nerve up to go sit next to the woman. She didn’t give much indication that she was interested, but that didn’t deter them.

      Since the baseball game was over, someone turned on the jukebox and a few couples were dancing to some Jimmy Buffett song. One of the guys stood and asked the woman to dance but she shook her head no. He reached down and grabbed her hands and tried to pull her to a standing position, obviously thinking she was playing hard to get.

      Steve could read her tension from all the way across the bar, but the guys talking to her obviously couldn’t.

      He should leave now. He knew he should just walk away. The boys weren’t going to get too out of hand. As soon as the woman put them down hard, they would leave her alone.

      She was trouble. He knew it. He should go.

      He sighed as he put money on the bar for his meal and began to walk toward the woman and the two men who were now both trying to get her to dance. He hadn’t become the director of one of the most elite law enforcement groups in the country by walking away from trouble.

      He stepped close to the first local guy, deliberately invading his space. The way the guy was invading the woman’s.

      “Excuse me, fellas. The lady doesn’t want to dance.”

      “How do you know?” The other guy snickered. “Are you her dad?”

      The woman’s eyes—a beautiful shade of blue that stood out in sharp juxtaposition against her dark hair—flew to Steve’s. She winced in apology at the crack about his age.

      Steve was probably fifteen years older than the woman. Not quite old enough to be her father, but probably too old to be anything else to her.

      “No, not her father. Just someone old enough and sober enough to realize when a woman is uncomfortable.”

      “She’s not—” The guy stopped and really looked at the woman then—the way she was clutching her bag, discomfiture clear on her face.

      “The lady doesn’t want to dance,” Steve said again.

      The local guy and his buddy released the woman, murmuring apologies. Steve stepped back relieved he wasn’t going to have to make some show of strength. He could’ve. Could’ve had both men unconscious on the ground before they were even aware what sort of trouble they were facing. But the guys hadn’t meant any harm.

      Steve nodded at the woman as the locals walked away. He didn’t step any closer or try to talk to her. His flirting skills were rusty at best and this lady obviously wasn’t here to scope out men. Steve turned to make his way back to his seat only to find someone had already taken his place.

      Looked like it was time to go.

      That was fine. It wasn’t like Steve had any grand plans for his evening here in the tiki bar. He began walking toward the door.

      “Thank you.”

      He heard her soft voice as the black-haired beauty’s hand touched his arm. Steve stopped and turned toward her.

      He smiled. It felt a little unpracticed. “I don’t think they meant any harm, but it was no problem.”

      “There was a time I would’ve let them both have it, but I just don’t seem to have it in me lately.” She looked a little surprised that she was even talking to him.

      She was skittish, scared. She’d been that way since the moment she’d walked in. It made him want to wrap an arm around her, pull her close and tell her to take a breath. He’d protect her from whatever demons she was trying to fight.

      It surprised him a little that he felt that way. His entire life had been spent helping people, first as an FBI agent, then as he was recruited into Omega Sector. But usually he was more at a distance, less personal.

      He already felt personal with this woman and he didn’t even know her name.

      “I’m sure you could’ve handled them. I just was doing my fatherly duty.”

      She snorted and humor lit her blue eyes. “Father, my ass. You’re what? Thirty-nine? Forty?”

      “Forty-one.”

      “Oh. Well, he should’ve said grandfather, then.”

      Her smile was breathtaking. Steve couldn’t stop himself from taking a step toward her. “I’m Steve Drackett.”

      She shook his outstretched hand. He knew the thought that a flash of heat hit them both as their skin touched was both melodramatic and sentimental. СКАЧАТЬ