“Oh, my God, Levi!” Sarah rushed around the front counter, her face pale and her eyes wide with fear as she reached him. “He shot you. Are you okay?”
He secured his weapon in his holster and glanced down at the gaping hole in his ballistic vest and the slug buried in the Kevlar fibers. “Jesus,” he muttered, shocked by the realization that yeah, he’d been shot. Which was quickly followed by gratitude for the armor that had most likely saved his life.
“I’ll be okay,” he said as he looked Sarah over thoroughly to make sure she wasn’t injured in any way. “Did he hurt you at all?”
“No, I’m fine,” she assured him, her quivering voice not as confident as her words. “Just shaken up.”
His first instinct was to take care of Sarah, to get her out of this fucking convenience store that she shouldn’t be working at in the first place, but he didn’t have that luxury. He now had a crime scene to process, and knowing that Sarah was okay, his job was a priority.
“I know that was scary as hell, but I need you to stay behind the counter while we arrest the suspect and collect evidence,” he told her as he heard Nick calling for EMT assistance on his shoulder mic. “And don’t touch anything, okay?”
She nodded in understanding and did as Levi asked, giving him the ability to focus on the situation at hand. Within minutes, backup arrived, and the store was filled with police activity. The suspect was read his rights and taken out to one of the ambulances that had arrived to transport him to the hospital for treatment. Afterwards, he’d be taken to jail.
Levi started the paperwork part of the investigation.
“Hey, Ironman. In case it escaped your notice, you were shot,” his partner said gruffly. “Despite the vest, you need to have the paramedics take a look and make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m good,” he lied, deliberately ignoring the throbbing pain in his left side whenever he inhaled a deep breath. “I can still see the back end of the bullet, so I’m not dealing with an open wound.” Besides, the sooner they wrapped up the crime scene and investigation, the sooner he could get Sarah out of here, since the two employees who worked the graveyard shift at the convenience mart had arrived. “Let’s get this done and then I’ll have the EMT check it out.”
While Levi handled the crime scene and log, collected and recorded evidence, and had one of the other employees give him a copy of the surveillance video, Nick interviewed Sarah and wrote down her statement. An hour later, all the paperwork was complete, the area cleaned up, and Sarah was still exactly where Levi had told her to stay—sitting on the stool behind the front counter.
Levi walked around the counter. As he approached, he realized how exhausted she looked—and again, he experienced that inexplicable urge to take care of her—because she just looked so damn vulnerable after being held up at gunpoint.
All his life, he’d been surrounded by some form of violence—from childhood to the military to being in law enforcement—and a part of him was immune to most of the brutal
ity in the world around him. But he was pretty damn sure that Sarah wasn’t used to having her life threatened with a gun pointed at her head, and he hated that some doped-up asshole had changed all that for her.
He stopped right in front of the knees she’d pressed so primly together, and it was harder than hell not to push them apart so he could step even closer. “You ready to get out of here?” he asked.
She nodded eagerly, her expression grateful that she was finally being released. “Yes. Are you done with me?”
He allowed a sexy smile to curve his lips. Touching his fingers under her chin, he tipped her face up so he was looking directly into her wide eyes.
“Sweet, sweet Sarah. What a silly question,” he chastised in a soft murmur so only she could hear. “You should know by now that I’m not even close to being done with you.”
Chapter Two
Sarah stared into Levi’s light green eyes, mesmerized by the way they gradually darkened with desire. With nothing more than his gentle touch, he’d managed to diffuse her anxiety, but his softly spoken words—I’m not even close to being done with you—made her all too aware of him as a man. A sexy, gorgeous man who’d literally saved her life.
“Thank you,” she whispered, knowing things could have ended very differently tonight if he hadn’t stopped by the store.
“For?” he asked as he let his hand fall away.
“Protecting me.” The only man who’d ever made her feel safe had been her father, and as a child, she’d been devastated when he’d died. The foster homes she’d lived in had taught her that the only person she could trust and rely on was herself. And the men she’d allowed into her life over the years since had only reinforced that realization.
“I’m just glad that I was here when it all went down,” he said in a low, gruff voice.
“Me, too,” she admitted. She shuddered to think what might have happened if she’d been alone.
“Kincaid!” Nick called out impatiently, causing Levi to look over his shoulder at his partner, who was standing just inside the store’s double doors. “Get your ass out here. The EMT can’t leave or sign off on your release until they examine you.”
“Be right there.” Levi glanced back at Sarah and rolled his eyes, his gaze filled with annoyance. “He’s such a pain in the ass.”
She laughed, then grew more serious. “I’m going to have to agree with him. You really need to make sure that you’re okay.”
“The shot probably caused nothing more than a bruise,” he grumbled like a typical man, even as he gingerly touched the area where the bullet was still lodged in his vest.
“Then it shouldn’t be an issue for you to let a paramedic look you over,” she insisted. “And it would make me feel better, too.”