cop in him urged to protect, even if she wasn’t the type to like being protected.
* * *
Lucy left work a little after nine and headed for her Subaru. It was dark and chilly outside, having rained all afternoon. The temperature had sunk below fifty once the sun had set. She dug into her purse for her keys. Reaching her car, she unlocked it just as she heard a car door open behind her.
Someone had parked in the space beside hers. She turned and saw Cam get out of a black Honda Accord.
Alarm snapped her heart into a frantic shudder.
He held up his hand. “Before you go ballistic, let me say that I just came to talk to you.”
“I was going to call you,” she said, not really sure if she would have. She wasn’t the type of woman who blew people off to avoid confrontation, but she may have become one temporarily because there seemed to be something peculiar about him.
“I couldn’t wait. You still going to volunteer at your literacy program tomorrow night?” He took a step toward her.
Lucy moved back against her car. “Yes.”
He controlled his disappointment but it flashed across his eyes for a second. “Are you free the following night?”
She was, but she wasn’t going to see him again. “Cam...”
Brushing the lapels of his suit jacket aside, he put his hands on his hips, looking belligerent and on the verge of losing his temper. “What did I do to make you change your mind about me?”
“It’s not something I can itemize.” Not without offending him. “It’s just a feeling.” That you’re a jerk—a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde jerk. She’d stay far away from a man like that. “Sometimes it just doesn’t work out between two people.”
“Why isn’t it working with me anymore? We hit it off when we first met.”
“Yes, we did.” But then I got to know you a little. “But then something changed. I’m not interested in you anymore.” Even more so now.
“Why won’t you tell me why?”
Plain English wasn’t working on him. “Look, I don’t have to tell you a damn thing. All you need to know is I’m not interested. I’m not going to date you. I’m not going to talk to you. We aren’t friends. So, stop calling me. Stop texting me. I can’t make it any clearer for you!” Turning, she opened her car door.
A meaty hand clamped around her upper arm and spun her around.
“Nobody talks to me like that.”
She yanked her arm free and shoved him. He only stepped back a foot or so, anger storming his blond brow.
“Keep your hands off me!” she shouted, turning for her car again.
“Who do you think you are?” He yanked her around as before, scowling like a whining six-year-old who wasn’t getting his way. “You pretend to like me and now you’re turning on me?”
Lucy tried to wrench her arm free. His grip was painful. “I never pretended to like you. I don’t even know you. The only thing I know is that I never want to see you or hear from you ever again!” If she had a shred of doubt before, she had none now.
“You are interested.” He looked down at his hand on her arm as though only then realizing he held it and then let go. “We just talked about some things that should have waited. You’re interested.”
No didn’t mean no to this man. “If I ever see you outside this hospital again—or anywhere near me—I’m calling the cops!” She turned to her Subaru once more.
“Don’t you turn your back on me,” he growled, pure evil spitting from him.
She began to get scared. This situation was beginning to feel as if it was headed toward becoming a crime. She prepared herself for a fight, ready for him to grab her again, vowing to slap or punch him, only he didn’t get the chance. She heard him grunt. Looking back, she saw Thad pushing him against his car, slamming his back over the rim of the back window.
“I’m only going to say this once. If you don’t leave now and stay away from her, I’ll have you arrested.” Thad’s tone was calm but ferocious as he leaned over Cam, a good three inches taller than him.
“Who the hell are you?” Cam grabbed ahold of Thad’s wrist that clamped over his throat.
“Someone you don’t want to mess with,” he answered.
“He’s a cop,” Lucy said, happy to provide that piece of information.
That got Cam’s attention. He stopped struggling to be free and stared at him. Thad let him go, and Cam smoothed his suit jacket.
Then he looked at Lucy. “If we could just talk sometime...”
He kept saying that. And tonight he’d attacked her. “What makes you think I’d ever want to talk to you again?”
“You know. We really do have something special. I don’t understand why you’re fighting it. We just have a misunderstanding. We can get past this. I promise. You won’t regret it.” His sick, pleading face unnerved her.
“You’re the one with the misunderstanding.” Thad reached out and shoved Cam, jabbing his fingers on the man’s chest. “She doesn’t want to see you anymore. Didn’t you hear her? She should only have to say it once. How many times has she told you now?”
“This is none of your business.” Cam’s lightning temper flared again. It didn’t take much.
“It is now.” Thad moved closer, intimidating and fearless.
“I don’t have to take this from you.” Cam took a swing at him.
Thad easily deflected that and slammed his fist to Cam’s jaw. Then another punch drove into his sternum.
Cam gasped for air as he went down onto his knees.
“That’s it. You’re under arrest for assaulting an officer of the law.”
Lucy put her hand on his shoulder. “No, Thad. Let him go.” This was bad enough. Arresting him would only escalate things and prolong her dealings with Cam.
Leaning down, Thad pushed Cam’s head back, forcing him to look up at him. “Leave her alone or I’ll make you.”
Cam met Thad’s fierce eyes and didn’t say anything—for once. Finally, he was forced to accept that he could not control this situation, that he could not control Lucy, a woman he’d imagined in his crazed mind belonged with him.
Giving Cam’s head a harder shove that sent it banging back against the Honda, Thad rose and stepped back.
Cam glared at Thad as he stumbled to his feet. Thad had given him one more chance than he deserved.
Standing up, Cam walked around the front of the black car. Over the hood of the Honda, he looked at Lucy with such resentment
