Kenzie laughed, appreciating the topic change. “Do tell, what’s my style?” Then she sipped her latte.
“Hip. Edgy. Sweet.”
She nearly choked on her coffee. “I don’t think anyone has ever called me sweet.”
Porter gave her a quick look before focusing back on the road. “Maybe you’ve never let anyone see that side of you.” The corner of his mouth arched. “Maybe that’s what makes me so lucky.”
She didn’t have words to reply to that statement, and when he pulled the car over to the curb by the bookstore, Kenzie’s lips parted to say something to his declaration, but something caught her eye. Her muscles tensed in that very instant and she pointed. “That’s the guy who…”
Whatever Porter saw in her expression snapped his attention to the man striding toward her building. “Do not get out of this car.”
Her voice came out as a squeak of protest as he rushed from the car, slamming and locking the door behind him. She had thought Porter would approach danger with a cautious edge. Apparently, she was wrong. He charged toward it, ready to battle, and appearing more lethal than he ever had.
He looked like a man protecting what belonged to him.
—
Porter only got out “Motherfucker” and one solid punch before the large man spun on his heels, running away like the coward Porter thought he was. Porter considered chasing him down, but Kenzie was waiting in his car. He wouldn’t leave her behind. Nor would he take the chance that quite possibly it was a ploy to get Kenzie alone.
His muscles vibrated, fists clenching with the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He zeroed in on the man as he jumped into a Cadillac Escalade, and Porter spotted the license plate. Luck was on his side, as the streetlight illuminated it. Keeping the plate number in his mind, he rushed back to his car and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket.
Once he dropped into the driver’s seat, he dialed Sawyer and interrupted his greeting with “We’ve got the guy who attacked Kenzie. Run this plate.” He rattled off the number.
“Got it,” Sawyer replied. “Is Kenzie all right?”
“She’s safe.” Porter ran a hand over his face, so damn sick of all this tension burning through him. He hated knowing she had been attacked before, but he outright rejected the thought that it could happen again. “The fucker ran after I approached him.”
Humor sounded rich in Sawyer’s voice. “All you did was approach him?”
“When he looks in the mirror tomorrow, he’ll remember me.”
“Good on you,” Sawyer mused. “Let me dig a bit, and I’ll send whatever I find out to Chloe.”
“Perfect. Thanks.” Porter briskly ended the call and said to Kenzie, “We’ll know his identity soon.”
She frowned. “Great.”
Porter shifted on his seat, turning to face her. She didn’t seem as rattled as he’d expected, but maybe that was because he was there and she felt safe around him. He liked that thought. “You’re not happy that we’ve found out this information?”
“That depends,” she said with a shrug. “What are you going to do with that information?”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “Kenzie, he attacked you.”
She sighed, exiting the car. The warm air brushed across him as he got out, too, watching her over the hood of his car. She looked angelic beneath the streetlight. All curls and curves. Before she got too far away, he called, “He should be arrested.”
“I know that,” she replied, heading into her bookstore.
He followed her in and she locked it behind him and then typed the code into the alarm box. Porter didn’t like how quiet Kenzie stayed as he walked through the dark store and up the stairs to her apartment. In fact, he hated it enough that when he entered the apartment, he reached for her hand and tugged her to him. “Talk to me.”
She tilted her head back with a soft expression. “I’m…”
“Scared?” he offered, knowing she’d never say that word aloud.
She shrugged again, even if fear rested heavy in the depths of her eyes. “What if we arrest him for the attack on me and then it only adds fuel to an already burning fire?”
Her sweet body pressed against his, and he liked her there. Safe. “I understand why that worries you, of course I do.” He trailed a finger over her cheek, not blind to how she leaned in to his hold. “But to make this go away, we need to take action against them all.”
“Can we take that action after we’ve dealt with Adrik?” Her voice cracked a little, reflecting how afraid she was. “I mean, do I need to do it right now?”