Amelia ambled along the hot pavement, her head already home in her flat or, more precisely, next door to it with Marcus. He had been a gentleman last night when she had wanted to take things further, and while it had irritated her at the time and made her doubt his attraction towards her again, it had taken on a certain appeal as her day had progressed. In the morning when she had gone jogging, she had done so out of frustration at how the night had ended on what could only be described as a very chaste kiss. By the time she had made it to lunch with her friends, she had been replaying their more passionate kisses in her head, so much so that her friends had commented on her unusual silence. She had made her excuses and not mentioned Marcus. Her friends would think she was rebounding.
Did Marcus think that?
She didn’t want him to see himself as just a rebound guy. He was more than that. She couldn’t put her finger on it but there was something different about him. Something that set him apart from the average man.
Amelia had never had a man treat her in such a gentlemanly fashion and wasn’t sure what to make of it. All of her previous boyfriends had been as passionate as she was and at times she wondered if that was part of their appeal. Because of her attraction to Marcus, she had expected him to be similar to the previous men in her life in that respect. That expectation couldn’t have been more wrong.
The moment he had said that he wanted to take things slowly, she had realised that Marcus really was nothing like her exes, and was everything like the man she had always hoped to meet.
Maybe he was right and they should take their time, if only so she could prove to Marcus that he was more than a rebound to her. She really did like him. Her mind had been stuck on him since the night she had paused to take a good look at him and even now she was itching to see him again. She wasn’t good at going slow. Once something seized hold of her, she generally forgot everything else in a passionate pursuit of what she wanted.
In this case, Marcus naked and pressed against her.
He had been hesitant and strangely polite to her after their kiss, and his sweet goodnight played on her mind, filling her head with doubts.
He had kissed her though.
And it had felt good.
Really good.
She could do the softly-softly thing with him any day of the week. She wouldn’t care how slow things went between them if he just kept kissing her like that.
Amelia was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realise that she had gone the wrong way until she heard three men addressing her. She quickly scanned her surroundings, eyes darting around for an avenue of escape in case things took a turn for the worse.
“Lost?†The innocent expression on the face of the man in the middle didn’t fool Amelia.
It wasn’t dark yet but the sun had already set and she had wandered into the quiet side streets behind the apartment buildings. She looked around again, hoping to spot someone other than the three men, but she was alone.
“Not really.†Amelia turned to walk the other way but another man was there.
No, not another man.
The same man. His dark hair hung in messy threads across his eyes, obscuring his face enough that she wouldn’t be able to describe him well to the police if it came down to that. God, she hoped it didn’t. She hurried to get a good look at the other two men. Both around the same height as the first, tall and with slim figures, and both sporting dark jeans and jackets, clothing that seemed far too warm for such a hot summer evening. She was sweltering in her small pale blue dress.
“I don’t want any trouble.†She clutched her leather handbag closer to her, holding it in front of her stomach. Could she use it as a weapon? She kept so much junk in it that it was probably heavy enough to knock someone out if she swung it hard at their head.
Her heart accelerated at the thought of actually trying to fend off these three men. They didn’t look strong, but they had the advantage of numbers and she couldn’t tell from their clothing just how built they were. For all she knew, they could be like Marcus. His build didn’t show when he wore loose clothing like these men were.
She did have one weapon she could use without too much fear and it might be enough to deter them.
Amelia shoved her hand into her black bag, pulled out her mobile phone and flashed it around so all three men got a good look at it.
“I’ll call the police.†Not a tremble touched her voice. Brave Amelia. She held the phone out, standing her ground, unwilling to let these men get the better of her and see her scared.
The two lighter haired men smiled at her, as though her words were more amusing than threatening.
She flipped the slim black phone open and quickly punched 999 but before she could bring the phone up to her ear, she dropped it.
No. Not dropped. It had shot out of her hand and clattered along the ground to the first man, the one she presumed was the gang’s leader.
What the hell?
The dark haired man casually bent down and picked it up. He brought it to his ear, raised an eyebrow, and then snapped the phone in two as though it was made of tinder wood.
Double what the hell?
Amelia spun on the spot when one of the men behind her grabbed her bag. She swung her fist on instinct, smashing it hard into his temple, but he didn’t let go. He didn’t even flinch. Shit. This wasn’t going to go well. She opened her mouth to scream but the sound died when the man who had grabbed her suddenly levitated before her wide eyes.
Not levitating, she realised as she saw the fingers tightly grasping the man’s neck with such bruising force that they dug hard into his flesh. Her heart missed a beat when the man’s attacker threw him to one side.
Marcus stood before her, fury darkening his handsome face and rage burning in his blue eyes.
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