Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

T he anger radiating from Chris kept Lindy firmly seated on the ground.

What had he seen in his life to assume the worst?

Or maybe he had a point, when he said that the city wasn't as safe as she'd always thought. Plus, she'd been so caught up with the fact that she'd almost kissed a man she'd known for less than an hour, Lindy hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings. If she had, she might've been able to take evasive action and still have her purse.

"Shit."

"What's wrong?" His anger seemed to switch off as quickly as it had turned on.

"My bag. It had my keys, purse, identification in it. I can't get into my car or my home."

She again tried to stand, this time using her right wrist to lever herself off the ground and not her left. Once she was upright, Lindy brushed down her skirt, grimacing when her fingers caught into a tear in the fabric.

"I'll get you home. But first, we're going to the police and reporting this."

The last thing she wanted to do was prolong the evening.

All she wanted was to get home and get out of these clothes. Try and forget what had happened to her.

Regret that she hadn't gone home straight after work slammed into her, quickly followed by remorse at the thought. If Lindy had gone home, she wouldn't have met the man standing next to her.

Was it really a good idea to remain close to him? He wasn't from Perth. His accent proved that. Chris was passing through and if they did indulge in something that night, it wouldn't go anywhere.

"I don't think the police will be able to do anything. He wore a mask so I can't really give them a description of him."

A shudder rippled through her as she recalled the vehemence in his voice. The way he'd snarled at her and said, " This is only the start, bitch ."

A strong arm curled around her shoulders then her face was pressed into a hard chest. As Chris's other arm encircled her, Lindy became aware her whole body was now shaking.

"I've got you, Lindy. You're safe now."

How long they stood there, wrapped in each other's arms in the middle of the sidewalk, she couldn't guess. She did indeed feel safe, and she hadn't felt that way in a long time.

T wo hours later, Lindy and Chris walked into the foyer of his hotel. The fact she didn't have keys to get into her house and her mother was almost three hours away, the police recommended that she stay in a hotel for the night, and get the locks changed on her house the next day.

Once she got inside her house, she could get the spare key for her car. At least that was safely locked in the garage beneath the building where she worked. The second the police suggested that course of action, Chris had immediately informed them that she would be staying with him.

They'd seemed happy with that and Lindy was too exhausted to put up too much of a fight. Call her weak, instead of the independent woman she always was, but even she could admit she didn't want to spend the rest of the night alone. Still, she didn't need to let Chris know that she'd liked his suggestion an awful lot.

"This is totally unnecessary; I can go back to my building and sleep in my office. It's got a bathroom and everything else I need."

"And how many times have I told you that's not happening." His voice was firm and unbending.

"Fine."

Lindy hoped guilt wasn't driving him to make the decision to let her stay in his hotel room.

The elevator arrived and she was grateful that they were the only two occupants. She headed for the corner and leaned against the cool glass, letting her eyes drift shut.

Lindy sensed, rather than heard Chris move to stand beside her, her silent bodyguard.

None of the men she'd ever gone out with had gone out of their way to make her feel as cherished as this man had done in the few hours they'd spent in each other's company. Not even Skip, her husband, had treated her as if she was his most precious possession. No, he'd treated her as a means to an end and she'd been too na?ve to see it.

Was she making the same mistake with Chris as she'd made with Skip?

Trusting her ex the second she'd met him had proven to be the mistake of a lifetime.

The ding indicating they'd arrived at Chris's floor, had her opening her eyes and standing straight. Her gaze immediately met his.

Had he been watching her while she'd been lost in thought?

When the doors opened, he swiveled with the precision of someone who had done the action a lot and stepped to the edge of the cart.

Lindy went to follow, but he held up his hand.

"Wait a second." He poked his head out and looked in each direction before giving a quick nod as if assuring himself of…what? "Okay, we're good to go."

Exhaustion was seeping into Lindy, and as much as she wanted to question him as to why he'd done what he'd just done, she kept her lips closed and followed him down the quiet hallway.

They reached a door and Chris tapped his room card against the reader, the click of the lock disengaging distinctive .

The sound triggered nerves inside of her, she was about to go into a strange man's room.

When had she lost her sense?

What if Chris had been working with the person who'd stolen her bag? What if this was a scam that they pulled often on unsuspecting women? What if he gave her a drug laced drink and then she woke up some place that wasn't Perth?

So many thoughts swirled through her mind and she needed to go. Get somewhere safe.

"Umm you know what, I'm going to go back to my office." She took two steps back, cradling her wrist which was beginning to hurt again. There had to be some ice cubes in the freezer in the staff kitchen. That would suffice until she had time to go to the doctor and get it looked at.

"Lindy? What's going on?" Chris's voice was full of concern.

How she wanted to believe that he wasn't about to do anything sinister to her.

Yet now that the thoughts had taken root in her mind, she couldn't stop them from growing until they consumed her consciousness.

"I think it'll be best if I go." The panic she was trying to hide crept into her voice and it had risen above her normal pitch .

Chris's eyes widened and he gave another one of those little nods. "Okay, I'll take you to wherever you want to go."

The last thing she'd expected from him was his agreement. "You will?"

"I'll do anything you want. If that's going back to your office. Or getting a room in another hotel makes you happy, then I'll take you." He sighed and leaned against the open door, giving her full view of his room.

Shoes lined the floor in front of the neatly made bed. A jacket was draped over the back of the chair in front of the desk. On top of the wooden surface, sat a laptop and a pile of folders.

The room gave the impression of a businessman but there was still that dangerous edge to Chris.

She'd picked up on it when he'd first sat down on the stool next to her. The second time had been in the fierce look he'd sent into the direction of where her assailant had disappeared with her purse. The third time had been when they'd been at the police station when the questioning had seemed to be going in circles.

This man was complicated.

How could she think he was involved with her bag snatching when he'd been nothing but gentle and caring with her ?

"Lindy?

Her name a whisper in the air and she looked up from where she'd been studying the ground.

"Come in for a minute," he said.

"Okay." Her acquiesce to his request was immediate and instinctive, the total opposite to the flight instinct from a few moments ago. All it had taken was a few words for her to feel comfortable with him again.

"Thank you." Chris lightly touched her arm, as she passed him and she wanted to fall into his embrace.

Lindy headed over to the corner of the room, where a lounge chair was placed to take advantage of whatever the view was behind the heavy curtains.

"Do you want a drink? I can make you a coffee or tea?"

"I don't think I need any caffeine, thanks, but I'll have a water."

He walked over to the mini fridge and pulled a bottle out; he went to reach for a glass.

"The bottle is fine, unless you want to share, then sure, pour some in the glass and have the bottle for yourself." Lindy jammed her lips together to stop herself from saying anything else. Her father had worked with her on her tendency to let her words run together when she was stressed out .

He'd always cautioned her that she couldn't let the people she was meeting with, even if they were on the same page as her, know that she was nervous or concerned about what she was trying to get them to understand.

Confidence is key when negotiating, Lindy. Always keep control of the situation. If you do, it will always work in your favor.

Her dad's voice and advice sounded in her mind and the grief, which she'd done well in forgetting, returned full force and she blinked rapidly against the tears that built behind her eyes. If she let them fall, she was afraid she wouldn't stop.

"Linds, what's going on?" Chris had come up and was now squatting beside her chair. His fingers a few millimeters from her arm.

"I don't even know you and yet you've come to my rescue and now I'm in your hotel room. I don't even know who I am."

Where did that last line come from? It was the truth. Ever since her Dad died, she didn't know who she was.

Her identity had changed with the screech of tires, twisting of metal and shattering of glass. Prior to her father's death she'd known exactly who she was and who she was going to be. Being thrust into the position she was now in, without her father to guide her, was overwhelming.

Chris's fingers closed over her arm, squeezing gently. He raised his other arm, his thumb brushed her cheek, coming away wet from the tears silently trickling down her cheeks. "You know my name is Chris Swanson. Here is my life in a nutshell. I grew up in a small southern town in Mississippi. I joined the Army when I turned eighteen, three days after my high school graduation. I became a Delta the day I turned twenty-one. I served my country until my twenty years were up. Now I do consulting work and I live in Denver, Colorado. I'm in Perth because a friend got married and I was part of the team that rescued his wife from an awful circumstance. And I'm very glad that I walked into the bar tonight and sat next to you."

Lindy stood from the chair and Chris did, too, his expression wary. He probably expected her to run away; after all that was what she'd done when he'd gotten close to her at the pub and what she'd wanted to do when they arrived at his room.

Instead, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. "I'm glad you sat next to me, too."