Men-of-Action-Seres-04 -Saints and Sinners by Capri Montgomery Page A

step around him, but each time she moved he moved, as if this were some dance he needed to control. She just wanted to get by him, to get back to her bike, back to her home, back to her life—what was left of it.
    “Excuse us,” Sully wrapped his hand around her arm and guided her near him. Harvey stepped away just enough to let her pass, took one more look at Sully and then sulked away. She couldn’t blame Harvey.
    Sully had a way of intimidating just by standing up. She hadn’t realized Sully had come inside until he spoke, but she was glad he had.

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    Alaina walked briskly trying to keep in stride with Sully’s gait. He was taller with longer legs and he seemed to forget her natural pace, though fast, was no match for his.
    They reached the bike; she climbed on and started to put her helmet on before Sully stopped her.
    “You didn’t need gas.”
    “I just wanted to top off. No big deal.” He leaned closer, his chest pressed against her back, his breath warm against her ear. “Don’t do that again,” he said in a voice so low, so seductively arousing that she felt her stomach quiver. She couldn’t want this man, not this one. He went against her type. He seemed to hate her, which meant she had a snowball’s chance in a four alarm fire at even exploring the attraction and she wasn’t ready. She wasn’t ready to move past Troy, to love again, but somewhere, wrapped in those thoughts was the truth she wouldn’t allow herself to see—she wanted to be ready. She was ready.
    “Do what? I didn’t do anything—”
    He ran one finger down the nape of her neck, stopping her protest before he even said, “shh.”
    Now was not the time to be wishing her legs were straddled Sully and not her bike. Hormones, it had to be hormones because there was no other reason she would be thinking about straddling a man who had shot her.

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    “Just drive,” his voice softly rumbled in her ear. She had no fight, no protest, no snappy comeback left in her so she shut up and drove.

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Chapter Seven
    A laina stood with her back to Sully as she strained the pasta in the colander.
    “She’s worried she’ll one day be told her father’s gone too. Can you imagine anything worse for a child?” His voice took her back to her own childhood.
    “Only one thing,” she said absently. Her mind drifted back to that ten year old girl who had lost everything in one instant.
    “You were there when your father died; weren’t you?” Sully probably had some vision of her father dying slowly in a hospital somewhere, but the reality was far worse. “He had come for a teacher’s conference after school.” Mrs. Baker had wanted to discuss enrolling her in an art program for the summer. Alaina had been so excited when her father said yes she forgot her book bag. It wasn’t until Mrs.
    Baker called to her that she remembered.

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    “My bag, Daddy,” she quickly unfastened her seatbelt.
    “Go on,” he had said and she went running across the school yard as he started the car. She was only gone for what felt like mere seconds.
    She was distracted, running for her book bag. She remembered Mrs. Baker looking at her and telling her not to run because she might fall. There was a loud explosion and when she turned around she could see the fire. Mrs.
    Baker struggled to pull Alaina into the building as she tried to break free, tried to get to her dad. She didn’t know what she could have done—nothing she imagined. The car burned hot and fast. By the time the fire crews arrived there wasn’t much left of anything—just pieces here and there. She remembered one of them saying they’d be lucky if they found ashes in that mess. He, of course, hadn’t realized she had been standing right there, praying for a miracle, praying her father was okay. But she knew the prayers wouldn’t be answered. He had been in that car when it exploded and nothing could have