Chapter One
Fitch…
“Watch out!”
I wasn’t sure what had come over me as I raced forward and knocked the guy out of the way of the speeding car. We hit the ground with a harsh roll, bruising my elbows and hurting my side.
When I looked up, the car kept going, as if it hadn’t almost run over a human being. It nearly sideswiped a parked car before barreling around the corner.
What a freaking idiot.
“Fitch! Fitch!” My cousin came running out of the noodle place, his eyes wide, his arms held out. “What the hell just happened?”
“I think I might’ve broken my elbow.” I sat up and winced as I clutched my injured arm. “It really hurts.”
“I saw what happened,” Emerson said.
“Then why did you ask me what happened?”
Emerson helped me to my feet. My arm really did hurt. It was a throbbing, shooting pain that radiated up to my shoulder. I was pretty sure I needed to go to a hospital, but with no health insurance, that wasn’t going to happen.
“You saved my life.”
The deep voice behind me reminded me that someone else was there. I’d been so focused on my pain that I’d forgotten about the guy I’d just saved. I needed to get my heart to slow down. It pounded hard against my ribs and made my chest ache. Was I having a heart attack? Mild stroke? I think I was having a heart attack. I fanned myself and hoped I didn’t need an ambulance.
“You’re the reason my cousin nearly got ran over.” Emerson glared at the stranger.
“He was on the sidewalk,” I argued. “It was the car’s fault for jumping the curb.”
I turned to face the stranger and sucked in a deep and quick breath. Sweet mother of mercy. He was in a business suit, a nice-looking one, but it was his face that had me panting and my heart going even faster. Those pretty light brown eyes were heavenly. “I think I’m in lust.”
“Are you nuts?” Emerald grabbed my shoulders and pulled me farther away from the hunk. “Get your ass back in the restaurant and leave this guy alone.”
“But I want,” I whimpered. Maybe that shot of saké hadn’t been a good idea. It had made me play hero when I’d come out to feed the meter, and that could’ve cost me my life. It also had me saying things I normally wouldn’t have said out loud. “I saved his life, so I get to grope him.”
Emerson glared at me. “You seriously can’t hold your liquor, buddy. You can’t go around groping strangers. That’s some kind of rule somewhere. I think it falls under sexual harassment.”
I pouted because the scenario in my head had the stranger bending me over the nearest car hood. “You’re no fun. I just want to feel his package. I didn’t say I wanted to drop to my knees and suck his dick.”
Emerson slapped a hand over his face. “You did not just say that.”
I would have totally sucked his dick if he’d asked. Lord Jesus, I wasn’t a slut, but how often did I save a hot guy’s life?
The guy reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a card. “You have to let me repay you for what you did for me.”
I could think of several naughty ways he could repay me. For fuck’s sake. I needed to leave that saké alone. It had my brain all fuddled.
Emerson swiped the card and shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans. “Fitch didn’t see anything, and he doesn’t know nothing,” Emerson said. “He’s not a witness, got that?”
We were on the east side of town, a neighborhood that wasn’t particular nice. It was where we lived and housed the shops we loved, but one had to always watch his back. The Malkovich gang ran the east side, and sometimes it got bloody.
But what were residents supposed to do, hide in their homes? It wasn’t crazy-crazy, but nighttime wasn’t a particularly good time to be out. But I’d wanted something to eat and had talked Emerson into joining me.
He’d picked me up from my house, and we’d had dinner. It had been harmless enough, and I’d wanted to get away from my family for at least an hour. If you’d met them, you’d know why.
Even so, what if the driver was part of the gang and the near-miss had been an attempt to kill this guy? Nope, I hadn’t seen anything, and I wasn’t opening my big mouth.
I was like those three monkeys. Blind, deaf, and damn it, what was the other one? Oh yeah, mute.
The stranger was alive, unharmed, so I had done my duty as a human being. No further steps were needed. Mind your own and move along.
But I grabbed the card from Emerson’s pocket and looked it over. Sue me. I was wildly curious to know who this stud was. I needed a name to go along with the fantasies I would have later tonight.
Gabriel Rothe. He worked at Russo and Associates. It was a law firm that even I had heard of. The building was located in the downtown area, pretty sleek, which meant this lawyer was pricey and rich.
He was also gorgeous as hell. The kind of guy a gay man wouldn’t mind licking to an orgasm. My tongue was raring to go, but Emerson was the biggest damn cockblocker.
“Let’s go back inside.” Emerson tried to tug at me, and I let out a high-pitched cry. My freaking elbow.
Gabriel moved a step closer. “You should get that looked at.”
“I can’t. I don’t have insurance.” Fuck, it hurt, badly. I wanted to pull my arm off just to stop the pain. Too bad limbs weren’t detachable. I’d take my arm off and hand it over to the sexy stud and tell him to have it serviced and I’d pick it up later.
God, that saké really was going to my head.
“Since you saved me from a speeding car, I’ll take care of the hospital bill,” Gabe offered.
“You can’t trust him,” Emerson argued. “Just because he’s wearing a fancy suit doesn’t mean he has money. He’ll stick you with the bill that you can’t afford.”
Gabriel looked down at me, and god, I was a sucker for pretty eyes, especially ones that had thick lashes surrounding them. “Go to the hospital. Your bill will be taken care of. You have my word.”
He was a complete stranger, yet there was something in the way he looked at me, something in his deep, smooth voice that made me want to trust him. Maybe while I was at the hospital I’d have my head examined.
I suspected it was also the saké. But I couldn’t go home in this much pain. I wasn’t sure even ice would help. “If you stick me with the bill, I know where you work.”
With a dip of his head, Gabriel turned and walked away. God, even his walk was sexy. You see all those hot Hollywood stars on the big screen or on television, but how many good-looking guys does someone run into in real life?
For me, zero. All the hunks had to live in California, but there was one right here in Ridgeview, and I’d just saved his life. I wasn’t what one would consider sexy. I was an average Joe, a four on the looks scale. I had a little extra weight around my stomach, love handles as they were called, and unruly curly black hair.
So, when a ten on the looks scale paid me attention, and even talked to me, I was putty in his hands. Pathetic, right? Tell me you wouldn’t have been awestruck if some gorgeous guy had spoken to you.
“I know that dreamy look,” Emerson said. “Don’t even think about it. You know I love you, but I have to be honest, he’s way out of your league.”