Page 8 of Act of Passion

The hot guy put his hand out to her and she felt compelled to take it. As she placed her hand in his, heat flared between them. His breath caught and he jerked her behind his powerful frame, making her feel small. At five feet nine and a half inches, she rarely felt dainty. But the man was well over six feet tall and had a muscular frame that was just this side of being too much. The way he carried himself said he was no stranger to afight.

“Malik, everything all right there?” asked a man who was dressed in the same type of clothes, though his weren’t ripped and burnt. The man’s long black hair looked as if it had bits of blue in it and, if she wasn’t mistaken, the guy was wearing eyeliner. Not to mention he had a number of silver piercings on hisface.

The hot guy shielding her body with his replied, “Everything is fine now, Boomer, but if this asshat thinks of touching her again, I’ll rip his head off and spit down hisneck.”

The man had an accent that was slight but she couldn’t place it even though it was sexy as could be. His voice was deep and the timbre of it licked at her insides. Automatically, she pressed against his back, confirming that he was indeed verymuscular.

Boomer strolled over to them and glanced at her, his eyes a bright violet and shaped in a way that made Brooke think of an exotic cat. “Malik, didn’t you just lecture us on the way back to the resort on being low-key? I think Corbin would frown on us starting a fight in the lobby of the resort. It’s enough we skipped changing and came straight here. I don’t think a brawl is going to helpany.”

Malik rotated his shoulders, somehow looking even bigger than he had before. He kept his body in front of hers in a protective way. He said something to Mr. Rings, and whatever he said caused two of the hired muscle guys to converge onhim.

“They have no idea who they’re dealing with. Dumbasses,” Boomersnorted.

Brooke gasped as she realized a fight was about to happen. She reached for Boomer, making contact with his forearm. “Stop this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Not because ofme.”

“American?” asked Boomer, moving his arm away from her touch as if she’d burnedhim.

Shenodded.

“Yeah, well, Malik doesn’t look like he’s about to back down and those assholes are pretty much begging to get a world of hurt put on them,” said Boomer with a shrug. “I could help Malik but there are only six of them. It’s hardly fair tothem.”

Six against one? Wasn’t fair tothem?

Brooke boldly touched Malik’s shoulder. “Please don’t do this. Not for me. I’m fine. I don’t want you hurt because ofme.”

Mr. Rings said something to Malik in a snidetone.

Malik laughed, but it didn’t sound friendly. It sounded cold andthreatening.

Whistling, Boomer shook his head. “Now he went and stepped init.”

“What did he say?” asked Brooke, looking at Boomer, desperately wanting everything to settledown.

Boomer bit his lower lip before responding. “Asshat there might have mentioned that you were nothing more than a high-priced, erm, woman by the hour, and Malik seems less than pleased with thatcomment.”

As Brooke realized the ring guy had called her a whore, her temper flared. She darted around Malik and stood before the guy with the rings. “How dare you! You arrogant,flashy—”

“Oh dear, what did I miss?” asked Edee as she came into the lobby. “Wow, it’s like a hunk fest is going on in here. Someone should have told me. I’d have been in here much faster then and I could have been taking pictures of the yummy male specimens instead of the front of theresort.”

Malik put his hands on Brooke’s hips, causing more heat to flare through her. Much to her shock, he lifted her as if she were a feather. He set her aside, near Boomer, and stepped forward, cracking his knuckles as hedid.

One of the hired musclemen went at him. Malik caught the man’s fist and squeezed, making the man go to one knee and cry out in pain. The other men made a move toattack.

The next thing Brooke knew, a big guy with dark red hair came in from the side, standing next to Malik. And another large man, this one with brown hair, moved to Malik’s other side. The men formed a wall of sexymuscle.

“It would be unwise to make another move,” said the redhead, leaving no doubt he wasScottish.

The guy with the brown hair snorted. “Come on. Make my day,boys.”

“Och, Duke, you were the one bitching about wanting a shower on the way here. Something about washing Malik off you. Now you want to take time out to get in a fight?” asked theScotsman.

The brown-haired one smiled wide. “I’m always in the mood for a fight,Striker.”

Striker grinned. “Aye. Metoo.”

Boomer eased Brooke back from the wall of muscle. “Malik will rip my nuts off if I let a hair on your head behurt.”

“What? Why? I don’t even know him,” saidBrooke.

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