and her children’s from a controlling, abusive monster. The last thing she wanted was to become involved with another man. Especially one whose prowess in the boxing ring she’d witnessed herself. He could be lethal if he chose. So why did Jonah’s gentle hands and warm eyes turn her insides to goo and scramble her sense of reason?
Turning, she forced a fleeting smile. “Nothing’s wrong. I just … need to get home now. My kids …”
His steady probing gaze flustered her, and she snatched up her purse without finishing the excuse. Clearly, he knew she was lying.
“We’ve barely started. There’s more you need to know. Important tactics—”
“No. I can’t stay. I—”
“You need to protect yourself.” He crossed the room, stopping her as she tried to sidle out the door. “Some other time then? I’ll be here again tomorrow. Same time.”
She shook her head, avoiding the unnerving intensity of his dark eyes. “I have to work.”
“Then you pick the day. I’ll be here.”
“I don’t think so. I—I’ll get some pepper spray and … I’ll be fine.” She edged closer to the door, raising her head only long enough to slant him a quick smile. “Thanks, though.”
He placed his hand on her arm, and her pulse jumped. His touch scorched her skin and weakened her knees.
“Annie, you’re in the middle of a bad situation at the diner. I don’t know what’s going to happen now that Hardin’s money was stolen, but you need to take precautions. I don’t mean to frighten you, but—”
“But you are.” She sighed and forced the starch back into her bones as she lifted her gaze to his. “I am frightened. But not just because of everything you’ve said tonight. I’m scared of a lot of things. I’m afraid I won’t have enough paycheck to feed my kids through the end of the week. I’m scared I’ll tick Hardin off and lose my job. I’m scared that while I’m working sixty-hour weeks at the diner, I’ll miss seeing my kids grow up. Haley lost a tooth today, her first, and I missed it!” Tears thickened her voice, but she plowed on. Once her vent started, she couldn’t stop the tide of frustration and pain. “And most of all, I’m terrified that some ignorant parole board will let my ex-husband out of prison, that I’ll have to go into hiding again so he can’t kill me!”
Jonah straightened his spine and firmed his mouth as if satisfied to have his suspicions confirmed. But the hard edge in his expression softened and compassion warmed his eyes.
In a quieter, more ragged voice, she whispered, “So yeah, I’m frightened, and your talk of money laundering and goons coming after me to shut me up doesn’t help. All I want is to raise my children in peace. I never wanted—”
She choked on a sob, and Jonah tugged her into his arms, holding her against his wide chest.
Annie dug her fingers into his T-shirt and rested her forehead under his chin. She hadn’t meant to spill so much of her personal life at his feet. But the damage was done now. He knew more than anyone else from the diner. More than anyone other than her women’s center counselor, Ginny.
“I’ve seen what you’ve seen.”
“It wasn’t easy to tell anyone my dad was a mean drunk …”
Could Jonah actually understand something of the horror she’d been through? The possibility caused a hard tug in her chest. The comfort and protection of his embrace tempted her to lose herself for a few precious minutes. To lower her guard and let him into her heart.
But relying on Jonah for her safety meant falling back into the traps that had imprisoned her in a violent marriage. Depending on any man for anything, whether security or shelter or her identity, would be a step backward. Wouldn’t it?
Her kids were counting on her to be strong, to be self-reliant.
She swiped at her runny nose with the back of her hand and shoved out of his arms. “I have to go. I’ve already stayed too long.”
“Annie, if you’d—”
Before he could finish, she jerked open the door and fled.
“Annie, wait!” Jonah’s voice boomed through the cavernous gym, chasing her out to the street. Without looking, she knew he was behind her, that he’d follow her home as he had the night before.
Just as she knew the feel of his embrace and warm breath in her ear were sweet sensations she wouldn’t soon forget.
Chapter 7
The next morning as Annie left for work, she paused at the edge of the parking lot and turned to wave at Haley, who watched from the apartment window. Her goodbye ritual, which Haley insisted on, took an ominous turn when she glimpsed a man for a split second before he darted behind a tree.
Her heart fluttering erratically, Annie smiled and lifted a wave to her daughter, while keeping an eye on the large live oak tree where the man had disappeared.
Jonah? Probably.
For some reason she couldn’t fathom, he’d appointed himself her guardian. As she’d expected, he’d walked her home last night, having caught up to her several blocks from the boxing gym. She’d refused his offer to drive her, not wanting to be alone with him in the narrow confines of his front seat. Yet even outside, an arm’s-length away, walking the city streets back toward her apartment, he’d crowded her. His presence on her walk home had compounded the conflicting feelings her self-defense lesson had stirred. If Jonah was correct about the danger she was in, she appreciated his efforts to keep her safe. Yet the idea of needing a man’s protection nettled her, especially now when she was supposed to be making an independent stand.
He had at least granted her wish for quiet, not bothering to make meaningless conversation. He’d only warned her to lock up when she got inside and bid her a good night at the foot of the stairs to her apartment.
So why, if he’d walked with her last night, was he being so furtive this morning? Sighing her irritation, Annie spun back around and marched toward the bus stop. She didn’t see him get on her bus when it arrived, yet the sense of being watched, being followed, stayed with her all the way to the diner. Annoying, cloying, unsettling.
By the time she reached work, she’d grown edgy and waspish, and she planned to give him a piece of her mind. What was he doing tailing her like some pervert when his warnings of danger already had her jumpy and looking over her shoulder? The nerve of him!
Annie stormed through the diner’s front door and slammed her purse under the front counter with a huff.
“Whoa,” a familiar male voice said. “I was going to say good morning, but obviously yours hasn’t been so far, if your mood is any indication.”
She snapped her gaze up to the smiling man sitting at the lunch counter.
Jonah. With a half-eaten plate of eggs and grits in front of him.
Her pulse scampered as her pique morphed to dismay. “You’re here.”
The corner of his
