Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

W hat am I doing?

When he'd walked into the bar, or pub as they were called in Australia, the last thing on his mind had been asking a total stranger to dinner.

He didn't do that anymore.

Chris was over forty, the days of picking up women in a bar were behind him. When he'd been young and in the Army, he'd been all for hooking up with nubile women for one-night stands. Hadn't needed the complication of a heavy relationship then. Not with his job as a Delta.

He never knew when he'd be called up to leave and he didn't want a woman clinging to him, begging him not to go. Chris had seen that with a couple of his platoon buddies when they'd received their orders to deploy. It'd been enough to make him know he couldn't put someone through that. That had been way before he'd completed his Delta training. Being a Delta made relationships even more difficult with the secrecy aspect of their job, along with the danger he and his team often found themselves in.

He'd made the decision many years ago, that long term relationships weren't for him while he was on active duty. Now that he'd been out for a couple of years, his chances of finding the one were long gone.

Not that he minded. His current job was almost like he was still on a Delta team. Going here and there on covert missions. Contracting to various Government agencies to do tasks the average person had no idea were being undertaken to keep them safe. The things Chris had seen over the years would scare away any woman he was dating.

Being single kept his life uncomplicated.

The reason he was in Perth was because he'd been to the wedding of a friend whose woman he'd helped save from a sex trafficking ring—what would Lindy Jones think of him if she knew what he did? How tarnished his hands were? How many lives he'd taken that bordered the lines of duty and vigilante.

"Will this table suit? "

"Yep." He didn't need to think about what Lindy thought about his job, because he had no plans to tell her. Chris was going to enjoy this dinner, then he'd go back to his hotel room and wait for his flight back to the United States in a couple of days. "Do you know what's good?" he asked as he looked over the menu for the first time since it had been handed to him.

"Honestly, I don't know. I haven't eaten here before."

Chris peered over the top of his menu to study the woman sitting opposite him. Her golden-brown hair curled around her shoulders and shone in the low bar light. The outfit she was wearing probably cost more than the suit he'd worn to the wedding. There was an air of class surrounding her, with her designer bag, clothes and shoes. The people he'd seen at the wedding wore the type of attire this woman wore.

Had she been at the wedding?

Lindy looked like she'd fit into the people Declan, Cole, Jude and Dominic associated with. The wedding had been large, so it could've been entirely possible she'd been there and he hadn't seen her.

Yes, her frequenting places like this didn't seem as if it was an everyday occurrence for her.

"Do you come here a lot?"

"Is that a pickup line, because we're already eating together." Her eyebrows rose as she laughed. Her whole demeanor changed, the tenseness in her shoulders appeared to disappear out of her. Lindy's blue eyes sparkled and desire slammed him low in the belly. He hadn't had such a visceral reaction to a woman he'd just met in a long time.

"It sounded like a cheesy line, didn't it?" Chris picked up his beer to take a swallow, anything to stop himself from reaching over and touching her fingers as they rested on the bottom of her wine glass.

"Kind of. I occasionally drop in for a glass of wine before going home. Food hasn't been a requirement."

"And tonight, it is?"

This woman sitting opposite intrigued him. Did she wear her designer clothes every day to work and on the days, she frequented this pub? Or did she go home and come back?

"I think I've told you that …"

"Ah yes, today has been quite the day." He raised his glass and was pleased when she clinked her wineglass against his.

"Correct." Lindy took a sip and placed her glass back on the table. The light that had been in her eyes dimmed a little, as if she was thinking about her bad day.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chris swallowed down some beer, hoping it would stop him from saying anymore.

Being touchy feely and asking people about their emotions was one thing he never did. Many times, while on mission, he'd had to close himself off from wanting to help all those who needed it.

He'd hardened his heart so much he worried it would never soften. Then again, fifteen minutes in the company of the woman opposite him, he was asking things he never did.

"Thanks for the offer, but it's too…there's a lot going on."

Chris wanted to push her to talk to him. He wanted to be able to help her. Fix her problems, which again, was out of character for him.

"Offer stands if you want to." He looked at the menu and decided on a burger. The ingredients listed on it he'd never consider putting on one—beetroot and egg—nope, but he was game to try. He liked both the items, so if he had to, he'd remove them and eat them separately.

"Do you know what you're having?" Lindy asked, after silence settled around them—which considering they were in the middle of a pub seemed unobtainable.

"Yeah. You? "

"I think so. I'm still wavering between two things. I'll make my mind up when I go up to order."

"Oh, I didn't know that was how it worked here. I thought someone would come up and take our order." Chris had seen servers deliver drinks and taking orders, why wouldn't they take food ones as well?

"Maybe they do, I just thought it would be easier to go up. Quicker too, probably."

The establishment had filled up. How had he not noticed?

Whenever he was out at packed public places, he was always on alert. Always scoping out the place for the closest exit. Looking for patrons that gave off the vibe that they wanted to do harm. As far as he knew, from his friend Steve and his team at Power Security, Perth didn't have that type of problem.

Oh, they had crime, but not the type he was used to seeing. Where someone walked in and set off a bomb. The people surrounding them tonight were a mix of young and old. People coming in for a drink and something to eat after work. Others who were there to meet friends, catch up and shoot some pool.

It was Thursday night, he could understand that it would get busy. Most places back home always had more customers the closer it got to the weekend.

Lindy was probably right, if they placed their own orders instead of waiting for someone to take it, it would be quicker.

Chris pushed back from the table, picked up his menu and held out his hand for hers. "I'll go place our order. What would you like?"

"I can do mine after you've done yours." Her hand remained firmly on her laminated menu.

Everything about Lindy screamed she was an independent woman. He respected that about her, but at his core, Chris was a protector and a provider, and he'd always pay for his date's meals.

Whoa, hold up, this isn't a date.

They hadn't made arrangements to meet up at this place. It'd been a chance encounter.

Even still, he'd asked her to join him for a meal so it could technically be a date.

What the actual fuck?

He was a forty-two-year-old man, who'd seen more shit than anyone in this pub could see. Things that they couldn't even imagine. Yet, he stood in front of a beautiful woman, acting like he'd never been on a date before.

Clearing his throat, Chris leaned down until his lips almost touched her ear. "I'm sure you can, but I'd like to buy you dinner. Will you let me do that?"

Lindy looked up and their eyes met .

The noise in the room faded until it appeared they were in a bubble of silence. His heart thudded and desire rocketed through his blood stream.

Instant lust was something he was familiar with. Many a time, in his youth, he'd been attracted to women he'd met in a bar and had gone home with them.

This, though, this was different. Chris never seemed to be at a loss to know what to say. Nor had he ever forgotten where he was or lowered his guard so much he wasn't aware of everything going on around him.

He'd been in Lindy's company for half an hour at most and he'd done all of those things.

Her tongue darted out to swipe across her lower lip and he moved a little more, until their lips were almost touching.

The need to kiss her threatened to bring him to his knees and he slammed a hand down on the table, rattling their drinks.

The movement had been enough to break the tension between them.

Lindy's eyes widened. "Umm, I've got to go."

She scooped up her bag and brushed past him before he even had a chance to register that she was moving .

"Damn."

He threw the menu to the table, and strode after her, weaving through the crowd with skill only a seasoned soldier could achieve.

Chris burst through the door, the almost-silence after the noisy bar, jarring. He looked up and down the street and spied Lindy about fifty feet from him, rushing away.

How was she able to walk so quickly in those sky-high heels?

He started toward her, when a figure darted out of the alley she walked past and grabbed her, shoving her until she lost her balance.

The assailant stood over her for a fraction of a second before snatching her bag and rushing off down the alley they'd appeared out of.

Chris reached her within seconds, his breathing ragged, as if he'd run ten miles with a full pack on his back, and not fifty feet. He squatted down beside Lindy. "Are you okay?"

"I-I think so." She cried out when she went to push off using her left wrist.

He immediately took her wrist in his hands, gently running his fingers over her soft skin. "Does this hurt?" he pressed an area at the base of her wrist.

"Yes," she sucked in a breath .

Chris hated that examining her caused her pain. "I don't think it's broken. I think it's a sprain, but we should take you to get it looked at. After we've spoken to the police about what just happened." He silently cursed himself that he'd let go of his normally iron-clad control and had almost kissed her. If he hadn't done that, then they would still be safely inside the bar and she wouldn't be lying on the pavement nursing a suspected sprained wrist.

He looked toward the alleyway again. Too much time had passed. The chance to chase down the asshole who'd hurt Lindy was long gone.

It didn't matter.

His concern for her was all that mattered.

"It's fine. And I'm not sure what the police can do, it was a simple bag snatch."

"A simple bag snatch?" Chris roared. "You could've been seriously hurt. Or kidnapped. There aren't that many nice people in the world. And even though you may think your city is safe, I think what just happened to you proves that it's not."

He couldn't contain his anger no matter how much he tried.

This beautiful woman could've been seriously hurt, or worse. Not to mention, the fault was his .