7. Raine

CHAPTER 7

Raine

H e's like a storm cloud hanging over my shoulder, blocking out my sun and my smile falters just a little when I feel him there. My back sizzles at the heat pouring off of him and my body sways backwards looking for his touch.

"And that's where you can find the best burgers in town. The diner is fantastic. Tell your wife to ask about the strawberry mousse pie too! Oh my god! It's melt in your mouth good!"

The poor man stares over my shoulder and then shoots me a little smile and nervously backs away. "Thanks. I'll look into that. I'm sure she'll be excited about the pie!" Then he turns on his heels and runs.

I whip around and slam a finger into the brick that is Knight's chest. "Did you have to scare that poor man to death? He was just trying to find a good place to eat in town. He and his wife are only here the one night and then they're moving on."

I stalk after her, smirking when she backpedals and her eyes dart back and forth. "What the hell are you doing, Knight?" She hisses at me. "Everyone is watching us."

"Yeah." I lean into the wall behind her and loom over her, deliberately trapping and trying to intimidate the feisty woman. "And they were also watching that creep staring down your shirt while he was supposedly looking for someplace to eat with his wife. Which do you think is going to cause more talk in this town?"

My face blanches and I stare up at him, stunned. "He wasn't…I mean, he couldn't have been."

Knight shakes his head sadly. "You're still such a baby, raindrop. Men are simple critters. We like boobs and sex. Sometimes asses too."

My face heats up at his bald talk. "That's rude as hell, Knight. And surely there's a man out there that might want more in a woman than just boobs and ass?"

"I said sex too."

I roll my eyes and duck under his arms, heading back to my shop. "I find it really disgusting that you think that's all women are good for."

"I said most men, raindrop. I didn't say a damn thing about me."

I slam my way into my door and whip around when he follows me inside.

"So what the hell do you want?" I can't keep the frustration out of my voice. It's bleeding into my entire body and I can't quit thinking about all those fucking sexy dreams about my thighs, his mouth, his hands, my breasts.

"This, raindrop."

His lips slam down on mine, hard and demanding. The minty taste of him slips into my mouth as his tongue pushes inside and licks along my lower lip, my cheek, my teeth.

I groan and sink into him, letting his arms wrap around me, my hands twisting into the soft flannel of his shirt, tugging hard, needing his body as close to me as possible. Heat flares in my belly and pours out of me, turning my bones into jelly.

"Knight?" I whisper as he lifts his lips, his eyes dark and hazy with lust. Gold flares in the irises of his eyes, flashing with his need.

"That's what I want, raindrop. You. Only you."

And he walks away from me, his big hands sinking into his hair and twisting it around his fists. "Why the hell did it have to be you?" He sighs and then turns around, his dark eyes widening.

"Did you lock your fucking doors when you went to meet the sleaze ball?"

"I didn't go to meet him," I growl and struggle to get my brains back online because he does something wicked to every part of my self-control.

"Fine. Whatever. Did you lock your damn door?" He stalks past me and I follow him to the brick wall that usually holds displays of my previous work and the ready-made bouquets of plants that I sell regularly.

Only today they're all lying on the floor in a smashed-up mess. I know they were fine when I left and my heart hammers wildly as I squat down to touch a crushed petal gently. Tears well up in my eyes and I stifle a sob.

"I-I don't know. I wasn't gone that long." I stand up. "How could this have happened?"

"Is there anything else?" I follow his big, comforting figure, not willing to let him out of my sight. But he whips around when he goes into the storage room, his big hands on my shoulders bracing me. "I don't think you should go back there."

I push past him and when I walk into the store room, I feel relief for one brief second. There's no damage in here.

But then I see the red paint on the bare brick wall by the window. My face pales and I sink down to the ground, stunned.

I'm coming to get you, bitch! You're mine! is scrawled on the wall in thick red paint, dripping like blood down the brick.

"You stay there, raindrop. I've got to call your brother. Hopefully this asshole left prints or something. Just don't move. We've already contaminated the crime scene enough as it is."

I hear his words. But I can't respond. All I can do is stare at the wall, the words eating into my soul and tearing at my nerves.

I've never hurt anyone in my life. Why would they want to hurt me?

I must have said it out loud because Knight squats next to me, chafing my ice-cold fingers. "People are strange animals, raindrop. Who's to say why they do what they do."

I nod and gulp but I can't see anything past those words on my wall. And that's when I realize that there is something worse than the way Knight makes me feel.

Fear. Bone-chilling, mind-bending terror that someone out there that you don't know wants to hurt you and you'll never see it coming.