Page 67 of Tempt Me

“I’m fine, Dom, I promise.” I shift my attention back to the voice on the phone.

“An officer is two blocks away. Stay on the line.”

“Clarabelle, is that you?”

“Yes, Bella?”

“Yes, it’s me. I heard you’re dating Dominic. Good catch.” Her voice is softer, as if she’s trying to keep someone at the station from hearing her.

“Yes, he is.”

“And you ruptured my kidney and my liver.”

“Sounds like an even trade.”

As the sirens blare, my parents, Mrs. Martin, and Mrs. Walker from the library, come spilling around the corner.

“Oh, my God.” My mother clutches her neck as the sirens from the police car blare in the distance. “Bella, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” I wave her off as she starts to inspect Dominic. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Dom nods to her in reassurance.

“Thank God.” They all gather around, chatting with each other as Jake’s police car rolls to a stop. He climbs out as the car is still rocking backward into park.

“You need to put this man under arrest. He broke the protection order.” My father steps forward as Jake grabs his upper arm.

“I’ve got this.”

“Right. Okay.” He nods and stops in his tracks.

“Well….” Jake smirks as he removes his handcuffs from the pouch on his belt. “It looks like you did a fine job of a citizen’s arrest. If you ever–”

“No.” I yank Dominic’s arm as Jake takes possession of Brock and pull him into my arms. “No, you don’t. That was enough excitement for a lifetime.”

“Baby.” He cradles my face, stroking my cheekbones with his thumbs. “Jesus.” Tears swim around the edges of his eyes. “Fuck.” He slams me against his chest and sucks down his breath. “You scared the life out of me.”

I wrap my arms around his waist and fight down a sob as the adrenaline of the last several minutes seeps from my body.

“Is everything okay?” The voice at my side is muffled, but I don’t have the energy to lift my arm and talk to Clarabelle.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Dominic

My head spins as I hold her close to my body while ignoring everything else around us. What would’ve happened if I didn’t show up when I did? Would he have–

No. I block the thought out. Someone else would’ve heard her. If he wanted to truly hurt her, he wouldn’t have tried to do something in the middle of the day on Main Street.

But he did enough. My hands ball into fists behind her back. He choked her and shoved her against a wall. The asshole pushed her around. I inhale a ragged breath and pull back, looking down at her gorgeous green eyes and thanking God she’s safe. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She nods as if she’s trying to convince me. “I’m fine. My neck and shoulders hurt, but Sam and Ben have done worse when we were messing around.”

“When?”

“Stop, don’t get all macho on me.” She stands on her tiptoes and kisses me. “Thank you.”

When she rocks back on her heels, her eyes flash with worry. “Dom, you’re going to get fired over me.” She yanks from my grip and grabs my hand, turning it over while looking for damage. Her fingers are cold against my flesh. “You have swollen, red knuckles and cuts.” She trails a fingertip over the longest one.

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