LITMIR.BIZ

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protecting her?

      Keeping his hand pressed against the small of her back, he said, “This fog should give us enough cover to make it to the lifeguard truck—as long as you keep your screaming to a minimum.”

      Either she followed the man with the knife or turned toward the men with the guns. Since he hadn’t used the knife on her—yet—and the guys on the boat insisted on shooting at vague shapes in the fog, even after she screamed, Amy put her money on the guy with the knife.

      Her legs pumped in the sand. She veered toward the tower and grabbed her backpack with her sweats on top. She didn’t hear any more gunshots and the occupants of the boat must’ve cut the motor because she couldn’t hear the distinctive whine.

      The thick fog almost obscured her companion. He didn’t even seem to be breathing heavily, or maybe she couldn’t hear him over the roaring in her ears and her own ragged breath.

      He bumped her side, grabbing her upper arm. “Where’s the lifeguard truck?”

      “I don’t have a truck on this beach. My car’s parked in the lot.” She tried to shake him off, but his fingers pinched harder.

      “You’d better not be lying and leading me into some kind of trap. That could get us both killed.” His icy blue eyes almost glowed in the fog.

      “You’re the one with the knife.” She pried his fingers off her arm and kicked up sand behind her, hoping she got some in his face.

      The beach remained eerily quiet behind them, but the dense fog could mute sounds. Amy kept up a steady pace, her feet leading her to the parking lot where her car waited. Once they got there, she’d dig her cell phone out of her backpack and call the police. The stranger couldn’t object if he really was on the right side of the law.

      A strip of dark asphalt appeared and Amy pointed. “It’s right there.”

      When the soles of her feet slapped against the gritty asphalt, she swung her backpack from her shoulder and clawed for her keys in the front compartment. She clicked the remote and gasped when the man swept her in front of him, pushing her toward the car.

      “Get in and drive.”

      Before she had a chance to figure out if she could take off without him, he scrambled into the passenger seat. He pounded the dashboard. “What are you waiting for? I said ‘drive.’”

      She curled her left fist around her keys and fumbled with a zipper on the backpack crushed between her lap and the bottom edge of the steering wheel. Her fingers skimmed the smooth metal of her cell phone and she pulled it out.

      “I’m going to call 911 first.”

      His jaw hardened as he sluiced back his wet hair, beginning to curl at the ends. With a pair of broad shoulders and washboard abs that tapered to the wet suit peeled down to his slim hips, he looked like Triton or at least some sexy merman. Then he opened his mouth.

      “No, you’re not. We need to get out of here. Now.”

      Sounded like he knew his enemies well. Who was she to argue? She tossed her backpack in the backseat and started the car. “You’re right. Those guys seemed determined.”

      A breath hitched in her throat. Maybe they were determined because they were cops or the Coast Guard, but would they start shooting into a bank of fog after she screamed without even shouting out a warning? Experience had taught her they just might. Her father had taught her to never trust the law.

      Her gaze slid to the knife resting on the man’s powerful thigh encased in black neoprene. She didn’t have a choice right now anyway, but his reaction to her call to 911 would tell her a lot.

      As she accelerated out of the beach parking lot, she scooped her cell phone from her lap where she’d dropped it and flipped it open. She’d pressed Nine before the man beside her snatched the phone from her hand.

      “You can’t call the cops.” He cradled the phone in his palm and snapped it shut.

      Amy clung to the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you? F-for witnessing that murder.”

      He tossed the phone into the backseat and let out a ragged breath. Squeezing her bare thigh with his long fingers, he said, “I’m not going to hurt you, beach girl. I’m sorry you’re scared.”

      If he meant to soothe her with his gentle touch on her leg, it sent a ripple of fear across her skin instead. Did he plan to rape her before he murdered her?

      Amy swallowed. He seemed like a fairly reasonable lunatic. Maybe she could use logic on him. “Why can’t I call 911? The operator can alert the Coast Guard and go after the…the bad guys. You could be long gone by the time they picked them up, and I swear I won’t tell them anything about you.”

      “You wouldn’t be a very good lifeguard if you did that, would you?” He clicked his tongue as he rummaged through her glove compartment. He pulled out her registration and peered at it. “You can call the cops when you get home. By that time, I will be long gone and so will that dead body on the beach.”

      Her heart did a somersault in her chest. “When I get home?”

      He flicked the paper registration with his finger. “Yeah. Drive back to your place and I’ll disappear in a puff of smoke or more likely a blanket of fog.”

      When she’d pulled out of the beach parking lot, she’d headed in the general direction of her house since he hadn’t given her any orders about where to go. Would he really let her just go home and then call the authorities after he left without hurting her?

      He was right about her responsibilities as a lifeguard. She’d have to report him and give the cops as good a description as she could. She gave him a sidelong glance—over six feet tall, muscular build, a wild, tawny mane of hair that brushed his shoulders, piercing blue eyes.

      She’d have to scale back on the admiration of his masculine good looks when she gave her description to the cops or they’d think she’d fallen prey to that Stockholm syndrome where victims fell for their captors.

      He glanced at the registration again before shoving it back into her glove compartment. “You live close, right?”

      “Yeah, we’re almost there.” She gripped the steering wheel with clammy hands as another thought slammed against her like a sledgehammer. He’d retrieved her registration to see her address. She did not want this dangerous man in her house, but now he knew her address. “My husband, who’s six foot five and very jealous, will be home, too.”

      He snorted. “I’ll take my chances.”

      “Can’t I just drop you off somewhere? Why do you have to come to my house with me?”

      “Just want to see you home safely.” He brushed some sand off the leg of his wet suit. “Is there a work schedule posted in the tower listing the shifts for the guards?”

      “N-no.”

      “I suppose the main station wouldn’t give out the guards’ names if someone called making inquiries about which guards are working which beaches?”

      Her clammy grasp on the wheel got tighter. “Of course not. What are you driving at? Do you think those people in the boat will try to find out who I am?”

      He lifted a shoulder, which touched the ends of his wet hair. “If they can, but it doesn’t sound like they’re going to be successful.”

      “What if they come back to that beach, that tower, looking for me? Today was my last day for the summer, but I left everything wide open back there. I’m going to have to return to close up properly.”

      Was he playing her to make her fear the men in the boat more than she feared him? The dying man had choked her, and the guys in the boat had shot at her. This one hadn’t lifted a finger against her. In fact, he’d protected her from the other attacks.

      “I don’t think they’d

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