CHAPTER THREE
KURT HAD BEEN attracted to Melissa from the moment he’d set eyes on her that morning in her classroom. It was why he’d asked her out. But when she’d opened the door of her apartment, blushing and flustered because she knew he’d overheard what her friend Veronica had said, he’d been completely mesmerized by her.
Her midnight hair wasn’t in a bun like earlier, but instead fell around her shoulders and down her back in loose waves, framing her beautiful face and giving her the look of a wild woman. Her make-up was different, too. Tonight she was all smoky-eyes and sultry lips.
Then there was the dress she had on. He’d thought the flowing skirt she’d worn today had been sexy, but that was nothing compared to the dress she had on now. It was short enough to show off her shapely legs, and came with a slit up one side that showed off a little more. The simple off-the-shoulder top revealed an exotic expanse of skin that was just begging to be nibbled on. He’d never known he was a neck man, but apparently he was. It was all he could do not to get up and go around the table to press his lips to that creamy skin.
Kurt took a long swig of beer, concentrating on the cold liquid as it slid down his throat and hoping it would help cool down his sex drive at least a little, because he was in serious danger of overheating right now. And all they’d done so far was eat dinner. If he ever kissed Melissa, he’d probably burst into flames.
He stifled a groan and picked up his fork again as his cock stirred against the front of his pants. The food here was always good, but he could have been eating sawdust and probably enjoyed it because Melissa was so mesmerizing. She was funny, never at a loss for words, and when she smiled at him, his heart practically skipped a beat. She was sexy as hell, and he doubted she even realized it.
Despite how fantastic the date was going, Kurt’s gut told him this thing with Melissa probably wasn’t going to work out. While she hadn’t said it in so many words, she’d clearly hated growing up as a Navy brat. Between the constant moving from school to school and seeing her mom deal with the stress of raising a family pretty much on her own, her brothers and sisters had taken off for parts unknown as soon as they were old enough to leave. In her experience, the Navy was the worst thing ever, so why would she want to get involved with him?
That realization was like a kick in the balls.
But he was a SEAL and SEALs didn’t give up that easily.
So he forced himself to forget about Melissa’s hang-ups about where his paycheck came from and focused on having fun with her. Who knew? If he was charming enough, maybe she’d forget he wore a uniform to work and did a dangerous job for a living.
They were still laughing when they left the restaurant two hours later. Considering they’d just about shut the place down, Kurt wasn’t surprised the parking lot was nearly empty.
He was so focused on Melissa that he almost missed the three guys who came around the black SUV parked near his truck. Shorter and stockier than Kurt, they didn’t necessarily look like they were up to no good, but he’d spent years in combat trusting his gut, and right now his gut told him that something was about to go down.
Without a word, he took Melissa’s hand and gently pushed her behind him. She seemed confused for a moment, but when she saw the way he was eyeing the three men, fear flashed in her eyes.
Before Kurt could ask what the trio wanted, two of the men yanked cheap revolvers out from behind their backs and pointed them at him and Melissa.
“Don’t be a hero, dude,” the third guy warned. “Just fork over the keys to the truck.”
Kurt didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that this guy was the leader of this little group of losers, since he was doing the talking while his buddies stood there trying to look menacing. Kurt had seen menacing before and these lowlifes didn’t cut it. The term dumbass punks was the description he was leaning toward instead. But then he quickly quashed that thought. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to pull a trigger.
One of the armed men—the largest of the three guys—moved closer, putting his snub nose .38 in Kurt’s face. “He told you to give him the fucking keys!”
The guy probably figured he could cow him into submission by shouting and getting up close and personal like he was doing. It didn’t work. Kurt had been more worried in Melissa’s classroom this morning than he was right now. If the situation had been different, he would have immediately launched himself at the jerk who’d been stupid enough to get close to him. But he couldn’t risk it, not with Melissa here. He couldn’t take the chance she might get hurt.
Kurt held up his hands in a show of surrender. “Okay, just chill out.”
Keeping his eyes on the men, he slowly reached in his pocket and pulled out his keys. Unfortunately, his apartment keys were on the same ring as the one for his truck, along with a handful of work keys. There was also all kinds of stuff in his truck he wasn’t thrilled about these assholes getting their hands on, but it was all replaceable—even if it burned like hell to let them have it.
He calmly tossed his keys to the unarmed man. The guy leaped to catch them, barely keeping them off the ground.
The two guys with the guns began backing away, clearly ready to get out of there, but their leader didn’t follow. Instead, he moved closer to Kurt and Melissa, twirling the keys on his finger.
Behind him, Kurt felt Melissa tremble.
“You got what you wanted,” Kurt said. “If I were you, I’d quit while I were ahead.”
“But you ain’t me.” The man smirked. “And that fancy truck of yours isn’t all I want.”
Kurt’s gut clenched. He already knew where this was going—and it wasn’t anyplace good. “Take the truck and call it a night. That’s all you’re getting.”
The guy threw a quick glance at his buddies. “Looks like someone wants to impress his cute little girlfriend. Make her think he’s all tough and shit. How about we take your girl with us? Show her what it’s like to be with some real men.”
That caught his friends’ attention. Their eyes locked on Melissa, hungry expressions on their faces as they walked back over to join Big Mouth. As one, they spread out to circle around Kurt and Melissa.
Kurt had had about enough of this shit. Everything in him demanded he put all three men down, but he forced himself to wait until they were in perfect position.
Big Mouth must have taken his silence for acquiescence because he snickered. “Don’t worry. We’ll get her back to you in one piece—for the most part. Hell, she might like it so much, she won’t want to go back to you at all.”
The bigger of the two armed guys suddenly shoved his gun in his waistband and caught Melissa’s arm, pulling her toward him. She threw a panicked look at Kurt. He’d been in a lot of fights with men trying to kill him, but seeing Melissa this terrified made him want to stomp on this asswipe’s balls until they turned to potted meat.
Kurt grabbed the man’s wrist with his right hand, then slammed the heel of his left into the underside of the man’s elbow. There was a crunch as the joint bent in the direction opposite to the one it was designed to go.
The man immediately howled in pain and started going down. But that wasn’t the same thing as being down. Kurt couldn’t risk leaving a guy this big behind when he went after the other two. So he kicked out with his foot, connecting with the outside of the man’s knee. There was another crunch, and this time the would-be-carjacker-slash-rapist dropped like a rock.
Ignoring the wail he let out, Kurt ripped the weapon out of the guy’s waistband and tossed it aside, then grabbed Melissa’s hand and pulled her away from the action. Once she was safe, he turned and closed on the other guy with the gun.
The moron looked at him in confusion for a moment, as if he’d only just realized that the night’s fun had gone terribly wrong. He lifted his revolver, but it was too late. Kurt was already on him. He grabbed the man’s shooting hand, keeping it pointed down as he slammed the heel of his hand repeatedly into the guy’s face. As soon as the guy’s knees started going wobbly, Kurt reversed his grip on the man’s hand, twisting the weapon out of his grip as he tossed him over his hip and put him on the ground.
Kurt kept the gun this time, aiming first at the guys on the ground, just to make sure they stayed there. Once he’d confirmed neither of them were getting up, he spun and advanced on Big Mouth.
The urge to shoot the jackass who’d been going to take Melissa from him was stronger than anything he’d ever felt in his life, but Kurt resisted. While shooting this asshole might feel good as hell, it wasn’t the smart thing to do. Or necessary. Instead, he kneed the guy in the balls as hard as he could, then did the same to the son of a bitch’s ugly mug when the guy fell forward.
Kurt spun around before the man even hit the ground, checking to make sure his buddies still hadn’t gotten up. One was still rolling around in pain. The other was out cold.
Carefully setting the revolver on the ground, he finally turned to Melissa. She was standing in the exact same place he’d left her, shaking, scared, and on the verge of freaking out.
Kurt’s first instinct was to run to her and wrap her in his arms, but he forced himself to move slowly. Not only had Melissa been held at gunpoint by three lowlifes who’d intended to rape her, she’d also just seen him take them down with what was almost certainly more violence than she’d ever experienced in her life. It was going to take her a while to process all that.
So instead, he walked over to her slowly, his arms open wide. She ran into them, burying her face in his chest as he wrapped them around her. Then she began to cry softly, like she didn’t want him to hear. But he did, and the sound tore at his heart like nothing he’d ever felt. He hated to hear a woman cry, especially Melissa.
He gently ran a hand over her hair. “Shh. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Kurt knew he should probably call the cops, but he didn’t want to let Melissa go long enough to do it. Not yet.
It turned out he didn’t have to. Just then, four men came running out of the restaurant, one armed with a baseball bat, and the others with big kitchen knives. They skidded to a stop when they saw Kurt and Melissa and the three guys lying broken at their feet.
“They tried to jump us,” Kurt said. “Can one of you call the police?”
The man with the baseball bat didn’t take his eyes off the men. “We already did. You and the lady okay?”
Kurt nodded. “Yeah. We’re fine.”
He was still holding Melissa when two patrol cars pulled into the parking lots, lights flashing and sirens blaring. He wasn’t looking forward to what came next. There’d be lots of questions, followed by lots of phone calls, maybe even an arrest. He might have been defending Melissa and himself when he took down those assholes, but that didn’t mean the police wouldn’t haul him in anyway, simply so the district attorney could figure out how to handle everything.
Not exactly the best way to end a first date.