Chapter 8
While it wasn’t strictly necessary for Marisa to accept Alec’s offer of walking her home, a gaffe he’d charmingly stammered over once she reminded him where she lived, her body still buzzed with the excitement of not wanting to leave Alec just yet.
Add in that he’d just witnessed her take down an entire kid’s birthday party’s worth of pizza, thanks to Enzo refilling their table two more times, and still hadn’t made an excuse to leave her for the evening?
Yeah, she had zero problem letting him escort her home, even if the walk was only around the alley that led to the back of the pizzeria, where the separate entrance to her apartment was.
Maybe it was the way her mind still hummed with all the details of their pizza-fueled charade or the image of her mother meeting Alec for the first time, but suddenly, the thought of squaring off with her Aunt Gail’s blue-blooded male birthday offering—freaking ew—didn’t seem so scary.
Not like it had been in the past, at any rate.
Yay for progress.
There was one thing, however, that she couldn’t quite seem to get out of her mind.
The little niggling feeling had sprouted at the beginning of their James Bond joke session and hadn’t wanted to shake itself loose, even as they laughed over who was the best Bond—Daniel Craig, obviously—and why shaken martinis were for people who liked the idea of martinis but not the drinks themselves.
As they rounded the corner from the alley to the street where her front door was, Alec dropped back a bit before shifting his position to her right, the side closest to the street.
She wouldn’t have even known he’d done it except for the whisper of his presence that slid behind her.
Though it wasn’t too late in the evening, December’s darkness had already taken root around four thirty in the afternoon, so the headlights whizzing past and blinding her as she and Alec turned the corner were the surprise her nerves didn’t need.
Marisa squinted against the bright onslaught of the usual nighttime traffic in front of her apartment and put her palm out to shield the glare, but before she could even get her hand up high enough, the shadow of Alec’s shoulder blocked out the beams as he tucked his frame around her.
With his hand on the small of her back and the lights of the milling traffic abating, he turned them both toward the juniper-colored door she’d stopped in front of, the only door of its kind on the block, which sat exposed among an outline of brick.
“Thanks,” she said, though for what she wasn’t entirely sure. Walking her the twenty feet to her front door? Keeping her pupils from getting fried?
Agreeing to stand in as her boyfriend so she could exploit his fame for her gain?
Or was it the happy little chill that curled up her spine when he touched her just then? That had felt pretty nice.
“Seems like quite the busy street,” he said.
“It can be. Though most of the stores close around dinnertime, so it’s usually not terrible this time of night. I’m grateful there are no bars or late-night restaurants here.” Marisa fumbled around in her bag for her keys and was mildly miffed when she located them so quickly.
She wished she could avoid saying what was on her mind for a little bit longer.
“Alec? Um, can I ask you something?”
“Of course. Whatever you’d like.”
Marisa let out a weighty breath and gripped her keys more tightly.
Why did he have to be just so goddamn agreeable?
Jeez, he was like one of those large, wiry-coated blue-gray Scottish deerhounds, all pleasant and eager with their big amber eyes always looking up as if asking what they could do to either help or make you happy.
Except there was nothing wiry about Alec, a point she’d been made increasingly aware of earlier when he excused himself to use the restroom and came back with his Henley pushed up to his elbows and his corded forearms on full display.
It made his ever-looming presence at her back just then, and all his charming thoughtfulness, even more worrisome.
Marisa relished the distraction of her house key biting into her palm before she closed her eyes and turned to face him. “Why did you date her?”
When she’d finally worked out the words and he didn’t respond to them right away, she opened her eyes.
Sure enough, the question that had been agitating her brain matter ever since they’d met had been flung, not at his stubborn chin but squarely between his pecs, which was all she could see of him until she looked up.
Once she did, however, she instantly regretted it.
Alec’s jaw had sharpened into harsh angles that even the shadows found ways to skirt around. A steely somberness shook out the warmth in his eyes from earlier, and he shoved his hands—including the one that had just brushed her lower back—into his coat pockets.
“I think this needs to be talked about, given who and what we’re involved in,” Marisa said.
“I don’t need particulars or anything, but I’m about to introduce you to my family.
And even though my mother’s idea of social media still involves pulling out the slide projector during Passover, she’s not above Internet stalking.
If there’s something that might . . . hurt me, even if you and I know what’s going on between us isn’t real, I’d still just rather be prepared for all of that, you know? ”
“Marisa,” he said, though his features remained twisted into that disconcerted sadness. Funny. She’d never really imagined what shame would look like on such a proud Scotsman, but there it was, and it wasn’t pretty.
Which meant she really, really didn’t want to know and most definitely shouldn’t have asked.
“Never mind. It’s okay. I don’t have a right to know that stuff. I mean, I’ve known you for all of ten minutes. So, forget I ever said anything. We’ll figure it all out as it comes, I guess.”
“No,” he rushed out, pulling his hand free from his pocket and reaching toward her, but he stopped halfway there. “It’s not that. It’s just a bit—”
Shrouded in shadows, three hulking figures slid out of the alley and headed toward them, drawing Alec’s attention.
In the paltry glow of the pedestrian crosswalk light, all Marisa could make out were the towering heights and incredibly broad torsos that cut a menacing path through the darkness.
They moved in an eerie synchronicity, with one man—a bald, thickly bearded fellow—assuming the lead while the other two fell in step behind him.
Then they all stopped. The man in question swept his gaze along the sidewalk through the shadows, until it landed firmly on Marisa, who still had her keys in hand and her purse wide open.
The large man grunted, and all three headed toward her with singular stalking purpose.
Before Marisa could say anything, Alec grabbed her and threw her behind him. “Run. Get to the nearest open store. Anything with lights. Call the police. Now!”
She stumbled back slightly, nearly tripping over a crack in the sidewalk. When her head popped up, she kept trying to look over his shoulder, but he shifted just as quickly, keeping her out of sight of the approaching men. “Alec, wait!”
“Just run, woman!”
“I think she’s fine right where she is,” the man in the front said, chuckling heavily. “Besides, I have something for her.”
Then the head of the menacing trio advanced into the mild light of a nearby streetlamp.
There, tucked within the wide pocket of the man’s winter coat, was the indistinguishable outline of a—
“He’s got a gun!” Alec cried before throwing her backward onto the sidewalk and lunging at the man.