Until I Saw You(7)

“This fuck-wad has been stalking you?” Allen asks, and until he phrases it that way I never really thought of it like that.

“I, well… I don’t… Oh my God! You have been stalking me!” I exclaim—like an idiot.

“That stops now. I even think you are breathing the same air as Jessie, I’ll make you regret it. Are we clear?”

“You don’t have any control if we bump into each other. I live close by. There’s always a chance—”

“Then you need to move.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am deadly serious. You do not get close to Jessie. Not again, because if you do, you won’t like how I deal with it.”

“You’re being ridiculous. There’s nothing you can do.”

“Try me, Troy,” Allen replies, basically daring him. He also makes sure his body is between me and Troy now. Even in my mini-panic at discovering Troy is probably following me around I recognize what he’s doing and I can’t help but like that he’s protecting me. I don’t know if I’ve ever had that in my life. Actually I know I haven’t, not by a man. My mother always did, but this… this is different and it feels different.

“I didn’t realize this was the kind of man you wanted in your life, Jess. It’s so disappointing. You deserve better,” Troy says, giving Allen and me both a look of thinly disguised hate. He turns to walk away and I find myself screaming.

“My name is Jess-ie!”

Troy looks over his shoulder and this time the hate is crystal clear—so much so that it turns my stomach. He doesn’t reply, though, just turns away and keeps walking.

I watch him for a few minutes while I try to suck in my emotions. Allen turns to me, his broad chest filling my vison as his hand circles against the side of my neck. I feel his touch and my pulse leaps, but I don’t move. My eyes concentrate on the faded black color of the jacket he’s wearing. He applies pressure and his thumb moves under my chin as he tilts my head so I’m forced to look at him.

His face is closed off. I can’t tell what he’s thinking for the life of me.

“Hi,” I whisper when it seems the silence has gone on too long.

I get an immediate reward when Allen’s face goes from closed off to a smile…

A really beautiful smile.





6





Allen





“I knew the moment I saw you that you were going to be trouble,” I mumble to myself.

“What?” she asks, her eyes round with surprise.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that you shouldn’t be traveling so late at night alone?”

“I wasn’t traveling, Allen. I was closing my shop,” she argues, annoyance bleeding through her voice.

“You’re cute when you’re pissed off, Mouse.”

“Again with that nickname.”

“You really have something against it?”

“Women would rather be called sexy, babe, beautiful, heck, even sugar.”

“Sugar?” I ask, unable to keep the laughter out of my voice.

“That would be preferable to being called a rodent.”

“Some people love mice so much they keep them as pets.”

“And some feed them to snakes for dinner,” she huffs and that’s the moment I lose it.

I laugh, even when I try not to. Jessie couldn’t understand what a gift that is. She has no idea and I can see—even while laughing—that she doesn’t like it. She’s offended by it. She doesn’t understand the miracle she’s given me.

“Would you really prefer I call you sugar?”

Her nose scrunches up and that looks so cute I need to resist the urge to kiss her.

“Is that my only other option?” she grumbles and again… I laugh.

“Trouble,” I answer her, shaking my head.

“What?”

“You are major trouble, Jessie.”

“That’s not nice,” she says.

“It’s still very true. Where are you parked?”

“At my house,” she answers.

“Excuse me?”

“I live a few streets down, so I just walk to my shop.”

“You walk…”

“Yeah.”

“You walk to work, alone.”

“I believe that’s what I said.”

“What happens if you’re attacked? If some whack-job jumps out of the shadows and grabs you?”

“This is Saint Augustine, Allen. That’s not likely to happen.”

“It’s a highly populated vacation area. It’s more likely to happen here than anywhere,” I growl, not believing that she could be so na?ve.

“I’ve lived here my whole life and it hasn’t happened yet.” She says this while walking down the street. I take the few steps to catch up with her, grab her upper arm and pull her back around to face me.

“You’re not walking home, Jessie.”

“Yes, I am. I’ve had a long day and thanks to that idiot Troy and now you, a stressful one. I’m going home, I’m going to take a shower so hot my skin will melt, then I’m going to cuddle on my couch with Chloe.”