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CHAPTER 7

There was mistrust and fear in those green eyes. He strongly suspected he knew what Hoby was taunting her with. There was only one thing a man like Hoby would torment a young woman like Brooke with.

It would involve something sexual; he had no doubt about that.

The bastard.

Brooke was young enough to be Hoby’s daughter, obviously a little shy, and the man had done what he could to frighten her. Was the jerk riding a power trip knowing he had a woman afraid of him tonight? Well, Houston would fix that himself. “Stay close to me. We’ll get through tonight. And then…we’ll deal with Hoby. Together.”

“And do what? I know the laws, Houston. He can say all he wants to me. Harass me. Follow me home, again?—”

“Wait a minute. He followed you home?”

She bit her bottom lip. She had gorgeous lips. Lips that made a man want to taste them. “Yes. Last night. I saw him. He usually just bothers me here. But…Dad’s out of town. He has been for a few days. I think Dwight knows.”

And she lived with her father, in a mansion in Hughes’ Heights. A gated community. “Did he get into the gates?”

“No. He parked right outside the gates. But our house is the first one on our street. I can see the gatehouse from our front window. And…I think he waved. But it was so dark, I couldn’t be sure.”

“When will your dad be back?” He found Wade Jacobs to be intense, forceful, and arrogant. The man would slaughter someone who got too close to his only daughter. Of that, Houston was absolutely certain.

“He’s…supposed to be coming home tonight. But, I think he’ll wait out the storm. I’ve tried calling him, but…it went to voice mail.”

And he heard the fear there, too.

Her father was all the family she had in the city, he’d heard before. She was all alone.

With a man who kept harassing her, terrifying her. With just Houston to stand between them now.

He hooked his hands under her arms and turned her. Until she was practically laying pressed to his chest. “I promise he will not hurt you. Not on my watch. You have my word.”

He’d protect this woman, no matter what. Just like he’d want someone to protect his baby sister, A.J., if this ever happened to her. He could just imagine that happening to A.J. How afraid she’d be.

How she’d try to put on a confident front. So…the man wouldn’t be able to see how terrified she actually was.

No. Brooke wasn’t going to deal with Hoby alone. Not even for a moment.

To his shock, Brooke threw her arms around his neck and clung. Changing his perception of her completely. Forever.

His fingers cupped the back of her head, tangling into all the red, and he just held her. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. I promise.”

He meant every word.