Page 21 of The Moment He Saw Her

“Unlike you, Grill, I have friends and am rarely alone,” Ryder said, and Libby was fairly sure antagonizing the bikers wasn’t a wise move when he was alone.

“Come here and say that, baker boy.”

Libby watched Ryder walk to the man. She was just about to get out of her car—to do what, she had no idea—when the man swung a fist at him. Ryder ducked, then did a move that dropped the man on his back on the concrete.

“Next,” he then said in a hard voice.

Libby watched the other biker run at Ryder. He bent, threw his shoulder into the man’s waist, and flipped him to land with his friend. Both men staggered to their feet.

“Now get the fuck out of my town,” Ryder said, sounding nothing like the man she’d met in that cafe today and danced with.

The bikers struggled back to their feet. “Fuck you, Duke!” one said when he was straddling his bike. They then revved their motorcycles and roared away.

Heart thumping, Libby slid back down on her seat. Ryder was making a call now, but as he was walking to his pickup, she couldn’t hear what was said.

Closing her eyes, she pressed her face into the pile of clothes she’d made for a pillow. She’d never witnessed anything like that in her life before. Libby had been sheltered, she knew that, and now she was out in the world alone by choice.

The thud of a fist on the window had her muffling a shriek.

Chapter6

“Open the damn door, Libby!”

She seriously thought about ignoring the angry order.

“Now!” He thumped on the glass again. “I’m not leaving until you do, which means you’ll find my body frozen out here by morning.”

It was a bluff, she knew that, but she also could not discount him smashing a window or calling Bob in to get the keys.

“You’re fired if you don’t open this door, Libby.”

“I quit!”

The fist thumped again.

Libby knew she had no choice, so she unlocked the door. It opened seconds later, and she was faced with the large, angry Ryder Duke glaring down at her.

“Are you dumb or too stubborn to ask for help?”

“Go away. I can sleep in my car. There is no law against it.”

“Dumb, then. You do realize that if those two animals had found you, they wouldn’t have played nice. They could have hurt you, Libby. You’re just lucky I had a hunch where I’d find you, or even now you could be?—”

“What I do is my business, not yours,” she said, not wanting to hear more. “They didn’t know I was there.”

“They might have decided to look in the cars and steal anything of value,” he said. “You wouldn’t have stood a chance with them.”

She felt ill at the thought of what could have happened to her.

“Get out here now.”

“No,” she said.

Large hands grabbed Libby. Ryder then hauled her out, standing her upright with more force than was necessary, causing her teeth to snap together.

He lowered his head so their eyes met. “It’s freezing. You can’t sleep in your car! The dumb pretty girl look only gets you so far?—”

“Don’t you dare call me dumb again!” She punched him in the shoulder, which likely hurt her more than him. “I can do what I like.”

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