Page 14 of Risk It All
Cara’s eyebrows shot up as she moved several feet back, just to make sure she was out of reach. “Me? You’re the one who grabbed me.”
“I just wanted to talk to you.” His voice was a whine as he shook out his hand, and she hoped it seriously stung. Her heart still beat unnaturally fast. So much for it being a good day. Creepy Stuart had ruined any chance of that.
“No.” She used her firmest tone. “There will be no talking and no more grabbing and definitely no more stalking. All of that is over.” Annoyed that she’d even had to say that much, she turned away and marched toward the parking lot, her sore knee protesting loudly and all her joy in the beautiful day gone.
“Wait.” From the slap of jogging feet hitting the ground behind her, he hadn’t listened to a word she’d just said. “The least you can do is answer a few questions.”
As much as she knew she shouldn’t engage, she couldn’t just let that pass by unchallenged. Still hurrying toward the safety of her car, she glared at him over her shoulder. “The least I can do is not kick you in the nuts and then call campus security. You need to leave me alone.”
He scowled back at her, all his fake surface charm gone. “I’m not doing anything! I know that doesn’t matter to you, since you already called the cops on me for trying to be nice.”
Don’t argue, the rational part of Cara’s brain ordered.Don’t even look at him. That’s what he wants.She couldn’t stand it, though, and the words just popped out of her mouth. “Trying to be nice? Is that what they call burglary nowadays?”
“I was bringing class notes to you, and you called the cops. Just now, all I wanted was to have a friendly conversation, and you basically broke my finger off.”
Only by biting down on the inside of her cheek did Cara manage to not roundhouse kick him in the face. He lied with such confidence, but she knew the truth: Stuart was a sneaky, stalkery, burglarizing creep. She was determined not to play his games any more than she already had. Keeping her lips pressed tightly together, she increased her pace to a speed walk.
“I just have a couple of questions for you. I think I deserve civil answers, at the very least.”
Her molars squeaked as she ground them together. Mentally, she ran through every strike, punch, and kick that Felicity had taught her, taking great relish each time her fist or foot connected with Stuart’s stupid face in her brain. It allowed her to not take the bait.
She’d never been as grateful as she was the moment she spotted her car in the lot. Stuart was still babbling behind her as she made a beeline for the driver’s door, but it was easier to tune him out now that her escape hatch was in sight. At least it was until he grabbed her arm again, whipping her around to face him.
This time, she didn’t hesitate. Using the momentum he’d created, she changed her turn into a rotating kick, aiming for his stupid, stupid smirk. Before her foot could connect, he was jerked back out of range, and Cara’s leg whiffed by his nose and returned to the ground. From Stuart’s startled expression, he wasn’t expecting the dramatic backward movement any more than she’d been.
Behind Stuart was a huge boulder of a man who held Stuart’s collar in his oversize fist. Cara blinked a few times, overwhelmed by the adrenaline of the moment, before she recognized Henry Kavenski.
“How many stalkers do Ihave?” she wondered out loud.
“I’m notstalkingyou,” a red-faced Stuart denied as he struggled helplessly in the larger man’s hold. “Wanting to have a conversation is notstalking. Seeing you around campus isn’tstalking. Either you’re super paranoid or you want my attention or something, because you’re sure creating a lot of unnecessary drama.”
For some reason, the overwhelming aggravation she’d felt for Stuart dwindled to almost nothing, his whiny tirade causing only a buzzing fly worth of annoyance now that Kavenski was there. He pulled all of her attention, and she flicked her fingers at Stuart absently as she eyed the bigger man. “Shush.”
Stuart’s voice became even more strident, but she tuned out the words as she met Kavenski’s gaze. “You can put him down now. He’s going to go somewhere else.”
Kavenski cocked an eyebrow, as if asking her silently whether she was sure that’s what she wanted, and Cara gave a firm nod. His huge fist opened, and Stuart—obviously not expecting to be freed so quickly—stumbled before regaining his footing. He opened his mouth as if to resume his complaints, but Cara hurried to speak before he could.
“Shoo. Off you go, and remember to keep your distance if you don’t want a kick in the face.” She knew she’d be amazed at her casual confidence later, but now she was too interested in why Kavenski was here on a college campus—hercollege campus. She could believe it was just coincidence that they’d both been at Dutch’s at the same time, but there was no way he’d just happened to show up here. She narrowed her eyes at him, straightening her spine, determined to take everything he said with a grain—no, ahandful—of salt. Even though she was a wannabe kindergarten teacher, she’d worked with her sisters’ bounty-hunting business for years. She wasn’t a naive know-nothing who could be easily manipulated.
At least she hoped she wasn’t.
“What are you doing here?” she asked Kavenski, who hadn’t taken his eyes off her. It was hard to maintain her skeptical shell when he was gazing at her so…hungrily. As soon as the thought popped up, she squashed it down, feeling her cheeks grow warm. That had to be her imagination. She was just projecting her own emotions onto Kavenski. There was no way he was as attracted to her as she was to him.
She’d just convinced herself when he cleared his throat. “You left this at Dutch’s.”
Pulling her eyes off his, she glanced down to see the small ibuprofen bottle sitting in the palm of his hand. She automatically reached out to accept the painkillers, and his warm fingers brushed against hers for too short a time as he handed her the bottle. “You tracked me down for that? I meant to give you those. You were the one with the headache.”
“I took a couple, but there are still eight left.”Again with the throat clearing. Between that and his silly pretext for tracking her down, Cara was beginning to truly wonder if her initial impression had been right and this little crush of hers wasn’t one-sided. “I figured you might need them. Later. Eventually.”
As she opened her mouth to respond, she noticed movement in the corner of her eye. Turning, she saw that Stuart was still there—watching them. Once he noticed he had her attention, he started talking again. Loudly.
“Stuart.” His name came out like a gunshot, and he actually went silent, his mouth hanging open as he goggled at her. “Leave. Now.”
His shoulders snapped back as he quickly recovered. “You—”
With a sound unsettlingly close to a growl, Kavenski suddenly jerked toward Stuart. The motion was quickly cut off, but it did its job. With a small, startled shriek, Stuart took off at a speed-walk pace that really wanted to be a run. Cutting through the parking lot, he rushed to the pathway that led toward the center of campus, finally leaving Cara blessedly alone…well, alone except for Henry Kavenski.
Refocusing on the thousands of questions bubbling around in her brain, she asked the first that popped up. “Why are you really here?”
