Page 18 of Tainted Obsession 1

I heave out a relieved breath when he appears at the mouth of the alley, stunning blue eyes piercing the darkness to find mine. My thoughts are scrambled, disjointed. Everything is too much to process: George’s traitorous conversation, having a gun trained on my heart, and the swift, brutal fight.

George.Where is he?

The alley is silent behind my savior. Someone had screamed…

“George.” I manage to squeak his name as I struggle to stand.

My savior’s eyes narrow, his square jaw ticking. “He ran.”

Strong arms close around me, lifting me as though I weigh nothing. The scent of leather and amber enfolds me, and I find myself tucked close against his broad chest.

“What are you doing?” I gasp, but I don’t struggle. I trust this dark stranger—he just saved my life.

I can’t untangle my thoughts to wonder how he’s here at the right time. The vague notion that he might work with the DEA flits around the edges of my mind. He was at the bar, after all.

But fear still drenches my senses, sapping my ability to think clearly.

“I’m getting you out of here,” he rumbles in reply. “They might have friends nearby.”

He carries me across the street in a few long, sure strides. A motorcycle waits at the curb, and he carefully sets me down so that I’m straddling the seat. A helmet lowers over my head.

I don’t protest. My heart slams against my ribcage, everything in me driving me to flight. So, I allow the stranger to help me. He’s protected me twice now. He jumped in front of a bullet for me.

He must work with law enforcement to be so coolheaded in the face of mortal danger. He’ll take me somewhere safe, probably the police station. George will meet us there. Maybe my instincts were wrong. He might be working undercover.

He ran,the stranger had said.

The sound of those retreating footsteps echoes through my mind, and I shake them away.

George must have pursued the man who fled the scene. He wouldn’t just leave me when an armed criminal was threatening my life.

If I’d tried to save her, they would’ve killed me too.

The memory of his awful frown and the cold disapproval in his eyes fill my mind, the terrible moment playing over and over again in a sickening loop. The two men in the alley with him work for the cartel. One of them had pulled a gun on me, and George had done nothing.

My tangled thoughts consume me, but my savior doesn’t seem afflicted by the same distractions.

“Hold on to me,” he barks over the sound of the growling engine.

My arms wrap around him, and my fingers knot in his soft cotton shirt. I mold my body tightly against his back, clinging to him like he’s my lifeline. He tenses as I squeeze his ribs, and his chest rumbles on a low grunt. The half-feral sound is swallowed by the roar of the motorcycle as we speed off into the night.

We wind our way through the city, dodging traffic far too fast on the busier streets. I shut my eyes tight, but the dark stranger seems calm and confident, his breathing only hitching slightly when we make a particularly jarring swerve. The fear that’s making my heart work overtime doesn’t seem to affect him, even though he risked his life to save mine.

And George…

He ran.

I swallow against the acid that burns my throat. I lean into the beautiful stranger, instinctively seeking his protection once again.

Chapter 10

Massimo

Istop the bike in front of the high rise building that Duarte owns in the heart of Mexico City. His enemies won’t be able to touch Evelyn once I get her inside.

Rage tightens my jaw, but otherwise, my body is on autopilot; this isn’t the first time I’ve faced down an armed opponent and won.

Under other circumstances, I’d be completely relaxed in the aftermath of the swift, brutal violence. But that motherfucker tried to kill Evelyn. He would’ve shot her in cold blood, and her piece of shit fiancé didn’t lift a finger to save her.