Gunfire wasn’t something you got used to. A shot fired, and Annique gave in to her first instinct. She screamed as Montgomery took her to the floor.

As shrieks went, it emerged loudly and found itself echoed as chaos erupted in the restaurant.

A close encounter with the floor showed it wasn’t as clean up close as from afar. The tile pressed coldly against her cheek.

Moving didn’t prove an option with Charming—snicker—lying atop her, his heavy body keeping her pinned. She couldn’t complain, though, not given the chivalry behind the act.

He protected me. Kept on covering her even as she lost her mind in fear. Nothing like flashbacks of the past to ramp your adrenaline to a level that had you one step above a whimpering, sobbing mess.

In between bursts of gunfire, he muttered, “Don’t move, and stay still.”

She had no intention of twitching even a millimeter. She wasn’t stupid. She heard the screams and shouts. She knew what guns were capable of.

Holes oozing blood.

With the screams out of her system, she remained silent and shaking. Don’t draw attention.

If the shooter didn’t focus on her, she’d be all right. This was simply a random act of violence.

Happened all the time.

Nothing to do with the person calling, claiming to be Joel.

The pop-pop-pop of the gunfire paused. Perhaps the person was done.

“Stay down,” Charming whispered.

He slid off her, and she only waited a half-second before getting to her knees and scrambling for the more secure kitchen. Kitchens had exits.

Shrieks still sounded, along with sobs. She mangled her lip rather than cry out as something sharp jabbed her knee. Gunfire erupted again, and the kitchen door ahead of her spat splinters as a bullet impacted it.

She dove sideways into the hall. A moment later, a big body was pushing her deeper as a glaring Montgomery growled, “What happened to staying down?”

“I know what happens to sitting ducks.”

He grunted instead of replying. He peered around the corner, and it was then that she noted the gun in his hand.

She couldn’t stop staring at it. This wasn’t in his file. “Where did you get that gun?”

“My holster.”

“Smartass,” she hissed. “I meant, I didn’t know you carried.” Yet he had told her he liked to shoot them.

“You don’t know because it’s none of anybody’s business.”

“You’d better not shoot it.”

“Why not? A man is allowed to protect himself.” He swung his piercing gaze her way. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those people.”

“What people?”

“The ones who are always yammering on about banning guns.”

“I don’t mind guns,” she muttered. “It’s the morons who use them that are the problem.”

“I agree with you on the morons part. Lucky for you, that’s not me. I scored a one forty-one on my Mensa test.” He peeked around the corner and almost lost an eye as a bullet sheared plaster.

“Good for you, genius. A lot of good brains and a gun will do against a bullet.” She turned away from him and began walking down the hall.

“Where are you going?” he said, having scrambled to his feet to follow.

“Since shooting people sounds messy, and sticking around is hazardous to my health, I am leaving. Getting out of here before the cops arrive and detain me. I have better things to do than answer questions and wait while they fill in a zillion reports.”

“Disobeying the law, Annie?”

“There is no law that says I have to stay and be a witness. And don’t call me Annie.”

“But I like it.”

“I don’t. Now, are you coming?”

“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” he muttered in a low voice.

She ignored him and entered the women’s washroom, which, because of recent fire codes, now had a window large enough to act as an emergency exit.

Crazy person shooting out the restaurant certainly classified as an emergency. She pried the window open and peeked out.

“Do you often sneak out of restaurants?” he asked, having followed her in. “This might be a first for me. I’m not one to dine and dash myself.”

“I’m surprised given a hasty exit is the most common way to ditch a date.”

“I have never ditched my dates. I’ve suffered through to the end.”

“Given your level of mockery, I highly doubt you suffered much.”

“I’m hurt.” He didn’t sound hurt. He seemed amused, probably because she straddled a window.

“Shut up and help me out, would you?” The pop of gunfire had stopped, and distant sirens wailed. But that didn’t mean she wanted to stick around.

“Swing your other leg over and then hold on to my hands. I’ll lower you.”

In short order, her feet hit the ground, and she was brushing herself off when he landed beside her. He grinned.

“Well, that was an interesting lunch.”

She tossed him a side-eye as she trotted for the far end of the alley and the street. The chill air made her wish she’d grabbed her coat, but the only thing she’d managed to keep clutching was her purse. At least it had her keys.

She paused before emerging from the alley and found herself blocked by a broad back.

“What are you doing?”

“Protecting you, even if it’s unlikely the shooter managed to make it around to this side,” he observed aloud.

“Because you know a lot about mass shootings and their perpetrators.” Sarcasm liberally dosed her words.

“I do, as a matter of fact.” At her sharp look, he smiled. “Years of watching guy flicks.”

“Real life isn’t a movie.”

“Obviously, or we’d have an ominous soundtrack right now.” He swept an arm around her shivering upper body. “Come on, we should move before we get boxed in.”

He took off at a quick clip, the slim sidewalk cracked and icy with poorly cleared snow. At least she’d kept her boots on.

“You watch a lot of movies?” she asked. An inane question to help distract from the loudly singing sirens behind them.

“Some.”

“I didn’t take you for a guy who believed in fiction.”

“And yet I hired a dating service offering a happily ever after.”

“Is that what you want?” Because she had to wonder. He seemed rather cynical of the whole romance bit, flirted like a pro, and showed a keen interest in her despite her married status.

“What do I want? A year ago, I would have said nothing. I had it all.”

“What changed?” she asked, noting he had them traveling in such a way as to get her back to the office.

“Nothing you probably haven’t heard before. I had a health scare. A pretty big one, and thought maybe it was time I changed a few things in my life.”

“You didn’t want to die alone.”

He shrugged, and she felt it as she peered up at him, this big man who used his own body to keep hers sheltered from the elements.

“While I was recovering, it occurred to me it might be nice to have someone at home waiting for me,” he admitted quietly.

“With less effort, you could get the same thing with a cat or dog.”

He laughed. “True. But you can’t spoon a pet.”

An odd choice of words given she didn’t take him for the cuddling kind.

As if his own words surprised him, he stiffened. “There’s your building.”

The warmth the inside promised beckoned, but she lingered a moment to look him in the face. “Thank you.”

“For what? You saved yourself.”

She had, but he’d at least attempted to be chivalrous. “I’ll call you in a few days once I’ve gone through our files to select you a new date.”

“I’m surprised. I would have thought our lunch today would have shown you I’m hopeless.”

Far from it. The man was deadly. Attractive. Out of bounds.

“Your perfect match is out there somewhere. I’ll be in touch.”

She walked away, feeling the wide-open space, imagining eyes watching, the scope of a gun tracking.

The incident at the restaurant was random.

Her paranoia had no basis. Joel had not suddenly reappeared in her life. Watery graves didn’t give up their residents.

Whatever reason someone had for shooting up that restaurant, it had nothing to do with her.

A lie that was shattered with the vase of white roses on her desk and the note with just an initial.

~J