Straight Flushed (Hot Pursuit #1)(5)

“You sure? I know you like sweets.” I was known to tote a few chocolates around in my pocket at any given time, or steal a Tootsie Roll or two off his secretary’s desk. “You wouldn’t let an old man eat alone, would you?”

I bit my lip, not sure of what to say. Each response I thought of seemed like it would come out rude, or implying that I agreed he was old.

Avery laughed, watching my internal struggle. “I insist you have some.”

“You drive a hard bargain, sir.”

“It’s after hours, Miss Cain, please, call me Avery.”

“Only if you call me Diana.” I smiled.

He nodded. “Deal.” He reached into the cupboard and pulled down two plates. “You think DeLuca would like some?”

“He’s Italian. I think it would be against his nature to turn down food.”

He grabbed a third plate and set it off to the side. He sliced two pieces of the triple layer, chocolate cake filled with fluffy chocolate mousse and covered in rich dark chocolate ganache and slid them onto the two plates. He invited me to sit across from him at the island in the center of the kitchen. I sunk my fork into the dense cake and let the first bite melt over my tongue.

“So, tell me something about you, Diana,” Avery said, sliding a piece cake into his mouth leaving thick streaks of ganache behind on his fork.

I put my hand over my lips while I chewed. “Excuse me?”

“I like to know the people I work with and can’t stand sitting in silence. We may as well enjoy each other’s company. How did you wind up being a bodyguard?” He forked another bite into his mouth.

I thought for a moment of how to sum up my story as quickly as possible. I was proud of being a bodyguard but I wasn’t eager to share the one mistake that had changed the course of my life and landed me the job.

“When I was in college, I got mugged,” I said and hoped that might be enough information so he wouldn’t ask more.

“Oh?” Avery said and his expression invited me to elaborate.

I reached back and lightly loosened my ponytail before continuing. “I’d left my friends at a bar one night and decided to walk home alone. I wasn’t feeling well. It was so stupid.” I shook my head. I’d never stop beating myself up over that mistake. “I heard footsteps shuffling behind me in the piles of dead leaves on the sidewalk.” It had been close to Halloween with a slight nip in the night air. The smell of decaying leaves and stale cigarette smoke wafted under my nose as the memory awakened. “I knew he was there and I was scared, so I walked faster, but he came up behind me and threw me through a row of bushes into the courtyard of an apartment complex. He gave me this.” I ran my finger over a small scar under my right eye. “It all happened so fast, I’m not even sure what cut me.”

He leaned in and studied me. “I never would have noticed if you hadn’t pointed it out.”

I wasn’t surprised. I took care to cover the scar every morning. There’s nothing like wearing a reminder of your biggest mistake on your face. “Thanks.” I smiled.

“I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“It’s okay. It could have been much worse. He just robbed me.” I spared him the details where he tried unsuccessfully to rape me. “A cop happened to be driving by and saw me struggling through the bushes. He hit his siren, and the guy ran off. Unfortunately, they never caught him.” But, I’d never forget his face.

He grunted with disgust. “Despicable. That’s terrible.”

I shrugged. “It bothered me for a while, but had it not been for him, I wouldn’t be here.”

“I’m curious to hear how that situation landed you in my kitchen.”

I grinned. “Well, at the hospital that night, my parents came rushing in. I hated seeing how I’d scared them…what I’d done to them.”

“What you did to them?” he asked, confused.

“It’s kind of messed up, but once my parents found out I was okay, they yelled at me. I won’t lie—I could have used a hug.” I laughed away my discomfort. “Then my dad went on to lecture me. He said the situation I’d found myself in was life taking a bite out of me to see what I was made of.”

“Ouch.”

“They were mad, and terrified.” I shrugged. “And I could see why he’d said it. I deserved the lecture. I shouldn’t have walked home alone and I shouldn’t have put myself in that situation.”

Avery’s confusion turned to shock and he shook his head. “I disagree. Fear cripples people and makes them act rashly. But to err is human, Diana. People make mistakes, especially when they’re young. That’s how we learn. We’re all invincible until something shows us we’re not.”

“Well.” I laughed. “It’s not the way I work anymore. After that night, I enrolled in a self-defense course which led me to a kickboxing class which is where I met up with Vance, again.”

“Again?”

“We went to the same high school.” You couldn’t have not heard of Vance in our high school. He was varsity everything and was only half as handsome then. He was the guy every girl wanted. I admired him from afar because we hung in different circles—and I was two grades below him. He never would have been seen with an underclassman. It wasn’t until I walked into that kickboxing class that I actually got to know the person behind all the rumors, some he lived up to, some he didn’t. “Vance and I became workout partners in that class, and we shared the same obsession with self-defense. He had his reasons for learning them, but I never wanted to be a victim again. Shortly after, I switched my major from Business to Criminal Justice and made this my life. A couple of years later, I read about this Krav Maga self-defense style in a book and wanted to try it. So, I signed up for a local class and of course Vance joined me.”