Claiming Sarah (Ace Security #5)(2)

And she was seeing the same promise in the eyes of the man coming toward her. That was crazy . . . wasn’t it?

“Sarah, right? Sarah Butler?” the man asked as he stopped in front of her.

Sarah nodded.

“I’m Cole Johnson.” He held out his hand.

Sarah looked down at it and swallowed. She didn’t want to do this, but she couldn’t be rude. She uncurled her fingers from around the self-defense weapon and switched it to her left hand. Then she reached out and shook Cole’s hand.

His fingers were warm, and she could feel the calluses on his palm as he gently pumped her hand. “I’m sorry,” he said in a soft tone. “I’m assuming you overheard my conversation with Carrie.”

It wasn’t a question, but Sarah nodded anyway. Cole was still holding her hand, as if he were afraid the second he let go, she’d bolt.

“I’ve told her a million times to make sure my office door is shut when she comes in to talk to me, but obviously she forgot.”

Sarah tugged on her hand and wasn’t sure Cole was going to let go of her for a second. But he finally loosened his hold enough for her to reclaim her hand.

She wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear, so she kept her mouth shut. Mike and Jackson had told her often enough that if she didn’t have anything nice to say, she shouldn’t say anything at all. She’d taken their words to heart and very rarely said the things she was thinking.

Cole apologized again. “I was a dick. I’m sorry. In my defense, my partner has been out of town for the past week, and I’m drowning in administrative stuff that she usually takes care of. I also didn’t know it was you. Carrie didn’t give me your name when she said you were here. That’s not a good excuse, though.”

Sarah pressed her lips together and nodded. He was right, it wasn’t a good excuse. They had an appointment. It wasn’t as if she’d walked off the streets and demanded he spend an hour of his precious time with her.

He winced. “Look, you have a right to be pissed. I want to make it up to you. Come on back to the gym, and we can talk.”

Sarah took a deep breath and found her voice. “It’s okay. You’re busy and don’t have time right now. I’ll just come back some other time.”

Cole regarded her for a long moment before saying astutely, “I have a feeling if I let you go right now, you won’t be back.”

Sarah refused to feel guilty. He was right, she had no plans to come back to Rock Hard Gym for the self-defense lessons she so badly needed. But she wouldn’t lie to him either. So once again, she kept her mouth shut and simply stared back at him.

Cole sighed. “Look, I can’t lie, I’m busy. I’ve got a million things going on, and I double-booked my schedule tonight. But the day I’m too busy to help a woman who needs self-defense lessons to feel safe is the day I might as well quit and find another occupation. Also, I’m the boss, but I suck at delegating. You coming back and talking to me right now will save me from having to do other administrative work I’ve been putting off.”

She eyed him skeptically.

He smiled—and her knees almost gave out from under her. She’d thought he was good-looking before, but when his lips quirked upward in a genuine smile, he was drop-dead gorgeous.

“Please?”

“What about the interview you’ve got set up?”

Cole shrugged. “I’ll have Carrie do it. She’s the one who’ll be working with him. I’ve got the questions I’d planned to ask printed out already, so I’ll just give them to her, and she can conduct the interview. It’ll be fine.”

Sarah hesitated. Her bed called out to her. She wanted nothing more than to go home and bury herself under the covers.

“Please? I’ll feel terrible all week if you don’t let me make this up to you,” Cole begged.

She sighed. “Fine.”

“Great!” Cole exclaimed. He stepped back and held out a hand, indicating the sidewalk behind him. “After you.”

With the oddest feeling that this decision would somehow change her life, Sarah fell into step with the man beside her as they headed back to the gym.



Cole silently blew out a breath of relief. When Carrie had informed him he was off the hook, that his appointment had just walked out the door, he’d panicked. He realized Carrie hadn’t shut his office door when he’d been ranting about not having time to see anyone, and the woman had obviously overheard, gotten offended, and left.

Turning away women who wanted self-defense lessons wasn’t his usual MO. He always went out of his way to help however he could. Especially considering his best friend had been in a situation where she’d been stalked and terrorized for years. Felicity was safe now, and had recently gotten married to Ryder Sinclair, half brother to the Anderson triplets.

Logan Anderson had personally asked Cole to handle Sarah’s lessons, and he’d agreed without hesitation. The thought of her leaving without getting the help she obviously needed was abhorrent.

He hadn’t lied to Carrie; he didn’t have an hour to spend with a new client, but he hadn’t known it was Sarah, and he’d never forgive himself if something happened to the young woman because he’d turned her away. He couldn’t help but notice—and approve of—the brass knuckles she had in her fist. Yeah, they were in the form of a cute little cat, but the points of the ears on the metal gadget would definitely do some harm and give her a chance to get away if it came down to that.