Page 8 of Under Fire

But then something he didn’t predict happened.

The sound of a car backfiring in his driveway echoed into his front hall—the distinct sound of a car unable to get going.

Alisa.

Chapter Four

Alisa

“Come on. Comeon!” Alisa pleaded with her hunk of junk, trying to get the engine to turn over. “For the love of God, don’t do this to me.”

Nervously pushing loose strands of hair behind her ears, she glared back at the house, hoping to hell Mr. Perfect wouldn’t come out. That morning had already been all shades of weird, and she was nothing short of mortified…mostly at her own behavior. She needed it to all go away so she could pretend she’d never tried to tease a Navy SEAL while cleaning his house, all for some misdirected gratification.

But the car’s whines were too loud to be discreet, and she groaned. Sure enough, within moments, her hulking savior sauntered outside, locking eyes with her—the midday LA sun scorching above and his auburn hair glittering red like Hades himself.

Damn, she snapped to herself, shaking in pure agony.

“Need a hand?” Warren opened the driver’s-side door, casual and confident like nothing had just happened between them.

“No,” she replied too fast. “I’m good.”

“You don’t seem good.”

“I said I’m fine, but thanks.” She shot him a stiff sneer, trying to slam the door on him.

He pushed the door open. “Try turning it over again.”

“Please, just go.”

Ignoring her, he focused on the car’s dashboard, investigating.

It was either him or a tow truck, she grasped, which would be way out of her budget. So, she reluctantly obeyed, letting him lean in over her to assess the angry flickering lights on the dash and the corresponding dying noise that the car was making.

“Ah, this looks familiar,” he confirmed, leaning back. “Get out, champ.”

From her seated position, she gazed up to where he stood, realizing she was stuck between a rock and a hard place—or his rock-solid body and that hard-on she’d clearly given him earlier. The warm and intoxicating scent drifting off his body made her woozy.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

“I don’t have time for this.” Alisa then let out an exasperated sigh, beating her head against the steering wheel.

The last thing she needed was to miss out on studying and show up the next day unprepared. That would really be the icing on the proverbial shit cake.

“Time or not, this is happening.” Warren’s deep voice permeated the space between them.

Reaching down, he unbuckled her seat belt and offered his hand.Chivalrous. Her mouth watered just a little bit, but she shook her head. It was peculiar how she continued to feel both extremely sloppy and very captivated.

“Fine,” she relented, stumbling out of the car.

Falling into him, he grinned down on her, unwilling to budge and clearly as entertained as fuck.

“Ah, a sadist—” she griped as she pushed off him.

He roughly grabbed her shoulder, moving her away from the car to give himself space, making her quiver.

“Kill me now,” she whispered to herself, mostly sure he didn’t hear it as he dove into the driver’s seat.

“How old is this puppy?” he called up to her while investigating the cause of her car problems.

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