He stopped.
So did she.
His head had turned toward her, so she did the same. She enjoyed looking into his eyes. So deep and dark.
“You trying to protect me?” A quiet question from Saint.
She shook her head but…yes. Maybe. “Just giving you an out.”
He lifted their linked hands. Kissed her knuckles. “I don’t need one.” Then he turned to face the front. Saint took a step forward.
Squaring her shoulders, she did the same. As soon as those glass doors opened…
“Alice! Alice, is it true that your missing lover’s sister was found murdered in your—”
“Alice, were you enraged because Tracy Eldridge knew you had killed—”
“Alice, is this your new lover?”
She looked at the male reporter who’d just fired that loud question. Tyler McQuinn. His brown hair, as always, had been carefully styled. His suit held zero wrinkles. And his bright green eyes? They were avid with intent. Before she could answer the question—any of them—Tyler turned his attention to Saint.
“Are you afraid to be with Alice?” Tyler demanded. “Aren’t you worried you’ll be next?”
“Next for what?” Saint asked lazily. His fingers gently squeezed hers.
He was putting himself straight into the line of fire. An unnecessary move. He hadn’t needed to do that. She could have easily distracted the reporters. Tossed a wee bit of blood into the water, and they would have been thrilled with the chum. While they were busy with her, Saint could have slipped away.
Instead…
“The next to vanish.” Tyler pressed closer.
Saint laughed. “I don’t plan on vanishing.” Confident. Cold. “What I do plan on doing…” He let go of her fingers, but only so he could wrap his arm around her and pull her even closer to him. “I plan on staying beside Alice.” His gaze slid over her face. “I’ll be between her and any threat that will come.”
“Did you view Tracy Eldridge as a threat?” A random shout. “Did you—”
“Alice!” The familiar voice broke through the din.
She eased back from Saint so that she could see Logan as he stood behind the crowd of reporters. He jumped into the air. Waved at her.
“Got the car waiting!” Logan blasted.
Sure enough, he did. Now it was just a matter of getting to him. But Saint solved that problem. He—
“Get the fuck out of our way,” Saint ordered. Then he started forward, with her sheltered against his chest. One strong arm wrapped around her shoulders. The other cleared a path. The reporters leapt out of his way, and she didn’t blame them. There was an intense, focused ferocity emanating from him.
Logan yanked open the back door of his SUV.
Alice slid inside. Logan immediately tried to shove that door closed—
Saint caught it. “No, asshole. I’m coming, too. Just get in the front and drive.” He jumped in and moved beside Alice. His thigh brushed against hers.
The door slammed shut. Logan stomped around the vehicle and had the engine growling to life moments later. He checked the rearview. “The ride was just for Alice.”
“Yeah, well, it saved my ass from having to hail a taxi. My rental is still at the speakeasy.”
Because the cops had, ah, escorted them in patrol cars. Separate patrol cars. Probably because they hadn’t wanted her and Saint to talk privately before getting to the station.
The SUV pulled away from the curb. “Alice,” Logan sighed her name. “What in the hell is happening?”
That was the big question. The question that had haunted her for a very long time. She slanted a glance at Saint. Was he ready to hear what she had to say? Maybe. Would he believe her? Probably not. “I think it’s obvious.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded incredibly tired. “He’s back.”
Tension filled the vehicle. Tension that she knew came from Saint. “Who is?” he demanded.
“Oh, just, you know…” Weary to her soul, Alice shoved her hair back from the side of her face. “Just my friendly neighborhood stalker and, apparently…murderer.”
Chapter Nine
She wasn’t joking. No smile curved Alice’s full lips, and her voice had been dead serious.
“You have a stalker?” Saint asked her carefully. “And you’re telling me this now?”
Her head angled toward him. “Technically, I had more than one. But seeing as how Tracy Eldridge has been removed from the equation…” She swallowed and brushed back her hair once more. He caught the faint tremble in her fingers before her hand dropped to her lap. “I think I’m down to one. One very dangerous stalker.”
“You should get out of town,” Logan said from the front seat. “Immediately.”
“Running isn’t the answer,” Saint fired back. “She can’t just leave. If some SOB is locked and loaded on her, then he will—”
“Logan didn’t mean me. I’m generally quite safe. Though I suppose safe is a relative term.” A careful exhale from Alice. “He meant that you should leave town.”
The SUV braked at a light. “Yep. Meant you,” Logan clarified from the front. “Provided, you know, that you want to keep living. Shouldn’t have fucked him, Alice. Bad idea.”
A deadly stillness swept over Saint. “She can fuck me all night long and every damn day.” Low. Lethal. “None of your affair.”
He saw Logan throw up his hands. “Hey, take it easy! I’m not the enemy! You know yourself that men who get involved with Alice disappear. You chose the life, man. Hope it was worth it.”
Alice leaned forward and grabbed the seat in front of her. “How about you drive? Could you do that? The light changed like, a whole minute ago.” Her cheeks had flushed. And had that been hurt in Alice’s voice?
He didn’t like Alice in pain. “Worth it.”
She looked back at him even as Logan gunned the SUV. It lurched forward. Alice swayed a little, and Saint curled his hand over her shoulder to steady her.
“Worth it,” he repeated.
She licked her lips.
“Easy to say now. Let’s see how long that lasts,” Logan announced. “I’m guessing when he comes for you, you won’t still feel that way. You’ll be wishing you’d kept your hands off her.”
Alice rolled her eyes. “You are not helping matters any. When I called for a ride, I thought you’d do the friend bit. Show up. Get us out of there. And not provide some sort of extremely depressing discourse on my life—”
“Uh, there was a dead woman floating in your office. Things are depressing. Pretty damn dangerous, too. I’ll say again…he should get out of town.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Saint kept touching Alice. “How long have you had this stalker?”
She swallowed once more. “Hard to say. Potentially since…I was eighteen?”
What. The. Fuck?
“Not like it was obvious at first. Only later did I start to put things together. He’s, um, possessive. Doesn’t like for others to get too close.” Her long lashes swept down to conceal her gaze. “When they do, he eliminates them.”