Page 20 of Creep

My smile widened as I patted his cheek. He flinched.

“Good. And why don’t you do me a favor and make sure no other fucker approaches her for the rest of the night. Got me?”

He gulped and nodded.

“Good boy,” I said, letting him go and walking over to the bar top on the other side from where Lia sat.

The bartender came over to me right away.

“What are ya having?”

“Scotch on the rocks,” I said to the man before turning my attention back to Lia.

She had noticed me, her gaze aimed directly at me, and her cheeks flushed red.

How fucking precious.

7

LIA

He was here.

Fuck, but he was here. The man who caught my attention at the bar. The interesting man with those magnetic ocean-blue eyes… and I was placed entirely under his spell.

What were the odds of me running into him here at this bar, one of the few thousand in New York City?

I had thought I’d lost him for good since that night at Brody’s, but here he was.

I also remembered that vivid drunken fantasy I had of the man eating me out…

Hell.

I quickly looked away from him.

He looked different in this light than he did at Brody’s Bar. His dark blond hair had grown a little since the last time I’d seen him, though I knew it hadn’t been very long. The short strands stood in a messy heap on top of his head as if he had spent the majority of the day running his fingers through them.

I snuck a peek sideways at him, taking in the impressive muscular torso covered by a fitted black thermal shirt, showcasing his broad shoulders and huge biceps. He was larger than I remembered.

More… of everything.

And I was utterly fascinated by him.

He turned to me then, and our eyes met for a brief moment before I couldn’t take the intensity anymore and turned away.

I noticed a lot of the women nearby were eyeing him up and down. I wondered if he had a girlfriend.

A heavy weight settled on top of my chest from the thought. I didn’t know why I was feeling this way, thispossessivenessover a man I didn’t know, but it was there, undeniable, unreasonable.

I took a large gulp of my Manhattan, feeling the slight burn in my throat as the liquid flowed down. It was taking everything in me not to spit it out.

God, I was lame.

I didn’t even know why I had come here in the first place. The plan had been to go home, but the thought of going home to an empty apartment suddenly felt like too much. Coupled with the fact that I hadn’t truly convinced myself there was no stalker, and here I was.

I could go to the cops…

With what proof?

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