Page 11 of Kissing Her Rescuer

That caught Dewey’s attention. It probably did look horrible with him there, defending her. Dewey lowered his head, whispering in her ear. “Give him his money, Eliza.”

She snapped her head up. He felt her sudden intake of breath as her eyes dropped to his mouth.

“Either you give him the money, or I'll fish it out of your back pocket myself,” Dewey murmured. Blood pounded in his temples, the reality of holding her again, making it hard to maintain his focus on the situation. She tempted him to forget how much pain her rejection caused last time.

Her emerald eyes widened a touch. She reached around and pulled out the neatly folded bills. Twenties.

Dewey straightened and set her a few inches away. He held onto the top of her hips. His thumbs brushed along that small strip of exposed skin he'd seen earlier. He didn't expect her to run, but it was the best excuse he had for touching her.

Every intention of keeping his distance slowly dissolved away.

She counted out her original $80 and held the $240 to Tommy.

“You better watch who you hustle, little girl. Someone might not be as nice as I am.”

“Nice,” Eliza started, but Dewey squeezed his fingers, and she stopped.

“Call a cab, Tommy,” Dewey said.

Tommy flicked him a bird as he walked away.

Music drifted out of Rhonda's Roadhouse when Tommy opened the door. A country song he couldn't recognize. Not with the drum of his heart beating in his ears.

Eliza turned her head, not quite looking at him. “You can let me go now,” she said, her voice soft and without emotion.

He skimmed his fingertips down the outside of her hips until they fell to his side.

She released her breath. “Thank you.” She didn't turn around, but walked to her car, unlocking the door.

“Eliza—”

She held up her hand. “Don't. I got carried away. I know. It was a dumb move. Thank you for being there.”

He'd almost admitted to missing the feel of her in his arms. Instead, he mumbled, “drive safe” and walked to his truck to follow her home. Alone. The entire situation was a stinging reminder of how easily Eliza could walk away.

5

Eliza had been so close to him. He'd wrapped his arm around her like it was no big deal. The deep vibrations of his voice in his chest had reverberated against her spine, sending a thrill straight into her blood. The tortuous way his fingers dug into her hips...

Replaying it over and over in her mind the past few nights had reassured her of two things. First, it really had been almost eight years since she'd slept with a man. Second, she was a Grade-A idiot.

What did he think of her? The excitement of running a hustle on someone like Becky's ex-boyfriend had sent her beyond rational thinking once she'd recognized him. She'd done it without any thought that it would go south.

But in the light of day, it shamed her. She'd done that in front of Dewey. And he’d been the one to rescue her.

She prided herself on her self-reliance. No man needed. No savior. That's all Dewey had ever wanted to do. Save her. Take care of her.

Well, she'd saved herself from Zach, and she'd keep on saving herself. And Carrie.

“Girl, your head is in the clouds.” Her dad passed her, patting her on the shoulder. She sat in the same seat her sister used to sit to create her stories. The difference was that Juliana had gone to college and became a real journalist. Eliza barely squeaked by with misspellings and grammar mistakes all over the pages. What Juliana didn't catch, the editor did. But it was a job. She got a paycheck. She'd make it work.

And she loved taking the pictures for the articles. She could tell a story much better with a picture than all the words on the page. Telling her story through the lens of a camera was a passion.

Her dad held up the four snap-shots she'd set on his desk. “What are these?”

“I had them printed. I took them when I took Carrie up to the Atlanta zoo last weekend.” She'd gotten some fantastic shots of Carrie with the animals. Too bad, she didn't have anything to do with them.

“They're wonderful.” He smiled like the motion was foreign to him. “Thank you.”

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