James

He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. From the moment she’d walked into the bistro, he’d felt a pull stronger than anything he’d ever known, and one thought — one loud, all-consuming thought — roared in his head: MINE!

She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. An angel, a gloriously sexy angel with long blond hair and big, bright eyes.

He tried, but couldn’t quite make out the color of her eyes as they swept the room as if she was looking for someone.

Better not be a man, he though grinding his teeth as her gaze brushed right past him.             

Not finding what or whom she was searching for, she strolled over to the bar, and stopped in front of one of the stools. Biting her lip, she looked at it for a moment as if it were a problem she needed to tackle. She lay her purse on the bar top, and grabbed the edge for support as she climbed onto the tall stool. Finding her balance, she cautiously loosened her grip on the edge of the bar before relaxing her shoulders.

James felt a smile tug at the corners of is lips as she proceeded with a little shimmy, as if congratulating herself. But that movement also made the curly ends of her long hair sway against the small of her back as if directing his gaze to her ass. An ass so firm and shapely, he had to fight back a groan. His hands itching to–

Jesus fuck…he needed to get himself under control.

John and his troublemaker of a daughter were going to be there soon. He couldn’t very well meet them in his current state. And more importantly, he couldn’t approach her. If he stood right now, with his raging erection pressing so hard against the zipper of his pants it was painful, he would more than likely cause a scene, and quite possibly risk indecent exposure. This was a respectable establishment, someone might actually call the cops.

Okay, maybe that was a tad extreme, but was it worth the risk? No, he needed to be a little subtler in his approach.

His friends would have good laugh though. After all, this was him, Mr. Boy Scout himself. A nicknamed that wasn’t going anywhere after they found out he actually had been a boy scout.

Yes, yes, they could laugh all they wanted, but it had taught him a lot of valuable lessons about thinking ahead, strategizing, being prepared. But he hadn’t seen this coming, her, and he had never felt so unprepared in his life.

Think, man, think!

Just then, a bartender popped up from behind the bar, his sudden appearance startling her and causing her to wobble on her stool.

A surge of protectiveness coursed through him at the sight. He was about to leap out of his chair to come to her rescue—indecency charges be damned—but the bartender beat him to it. He reached across the bar, grabbed her by her upper arms and steadied her before she fell.

James let out a sigh of relief, but that feeling was soon replaced by a different one as he realized the guy was taking full advantage of his newly acquired hero status. His hands slid down her arms and he entwined his fingers with hers.

Son of a bitch.

Once again, James was about to leap out of his chair, but his beautiful angel managed to untangle herself on her own, making her hands busy with her purse.

Good girl.

He had to take a few deep breaths before his heart rate returned to normal. Well, not normal exactly, it had been elevated ever since she’d walked through the door. In a good way, though. It was excitement.

He couldn’t remember ever feeling so excited about a woman. Not even about those he’d been in relationships with. Honestly, he always knew there had been something missing in his relationships, they had all been very…well, tame. You might even say – and this was probably a little sad but – lacking or rather void of emotion and passion.

Well, he was feeling things now. In less than five minutes, she’d made him feel so many things, possessive, protective, jealous, aroused, oh God, so fucking aroused…and she hadn’t even looked at him.

The bartender reappeared with a glass of something transparent and lingered even after she’d paid him and their business was, for all intents and purposes, concluded.

Move it along man.

He needed to lock this down, but the timing and circumstances weren’t in his favor.

John and his daughter would be there any second, and from what John had told him, he was going to have his hands full for the next week or so, but there was no way in hell, he was letting that brat ruin this for him.

And she would try.

He was sure she would find a way to scare his little angel away. The girl just couldn’t help herself. In fact, her destructive behavior was the reason they were meeting here in the first place, instead of at his office across the street like John initially suggested.

James suspected the girl might not be too happy about the arrangement and was likely to make a scene to demonstrate that. And good God, that girl could cause a spectacle like it was nobody’s business. He did not need that. Reed Industries and his family name had been associated with enough of that, but that was in the past, not while he was in charge.

Honestly though, he’d been under the impression that things had changed, that she had gotten her act together. It had been a long time since he’d seen her himself, but John had been speaking very positively about her lately. He’d even been bragging about how well she’d been doing in school. Obviously, the poor guy had just been setting himself up for disappointment.

Because the girl’s mother was horribly unreliably, and the rest of her family wasn’t much better, John had call him for help—at least someone appreciated his sensible nature and didn’t refer to him as a boy scout, as if it were a bad thing.

Anyway, John had asked him to let the girl stay with him while he cleaned up her mess. At the same time, his friend had business out of town and was afraid if he left her alone at his place or God forbid that sorority house where she usually lived, she would find a way to sabotage her own rescue.

James had agreed, but obviously, he didn’t want someone with that kind of track record anywhere near his sweet angel.

Thomas! Yes, of course. He was going to have his driver follow her home and keep an eye on her. Meanwhile, he would take the delinquent home in one of the company cars, and then he would…he would…

Jesus Christ, stalking? This was the grand plan? It was so out of character for him. He’d never done anything like this. Then again, he'd never seen anyone like her before either. She was a mixture of raw sex and pure innocence, and it was drawing him in like a magnet.

There was no way he was letting go of her. So yes, stalking. Sure, it wasn’t ideal, but it was all he could come up with at the moment. Desperate times and all that. He would figure out where to go from there.

He was just about to make the call to Thomas when she turned on her stool. Facing the seating area, she leaned her back against the bar, crossed her legs and scanned the room again.

James held his breath in anticipation as her gaze filtered over the patrons of bistro.

Green.

Her eyes were green. His favorite color he just realized.

Reaching him she did a double take and her eyes locked on him.

That’s right baby, keep them right here.

And then she smiled. The sweetest smile he’d ever seen.

Mine!

Screw subtle. He didn’t want to scare her, and he couldn’t go to her right then, but they would meet again—soon, very soon—but for now, he wasn’t going to leave her in any doubt about how much he wanted her.