I furrow my brows, cocking my head to the side. “You’ve been watching me?”
He shakes his head and makes a tsking sound. “Waiting. I was waiting.” He takes more steps forward, surprising me with his speedy movements, and pins me against the car. The groceries now fall to the ground. There go the eggs.
“Steve… the groceries. What are you doing?”
He brushes a finger underneath my chin and breathes heavily. His breath is warm and smells of booze. I knew it. He is trashed. He’s definitely been drinking again.
“Oh, Carissa babe. I’ve been thinking about you and our little… drama act, shall we call it, the other night.” His hands reach out to grab mine and places them on either side of my head.
He pushes up against me, and I feel his hard-on through his pants. Ugh. I don’t want to be anywhere near him right now. I fight to lift my arms and push him away, but I can’t. Even wasted, he’s still stronger than me.
“Let me go, Steve. Please,” I beg.
His grin turns upside down. His eyebrows narrow.
My heart races. I’m in trouble. “Please don’t do this… Let me go,” I beg again.
“No!” He quickly bangs my hands against the car.
“You’re hurting me, Steve! Stop!” I scream, hoping the owner of the convenience store might hear me. Maybe he’ll run out and see me and then call the cops. Fuck… I need to find a way to alert him or free myself.
“Shut up, bitch! You’re gonna attract company!”
“That’s the point!” I drive my knee into his groin, which finally makes him loosen his hold on me.
“Ow, you slut!” He bends in half, holding on to his sacred area.
I rush to get away, but before I know it, he grabs me again.
“Oh, no you don’t. You’re coming with me. Let’s go,” he commands.
“No!” I roar, fighting with all my might to get free from his hold once more.
A stern, masculine voice sounds from behind me. “Let her go.”
I snap my head around and see Lorenzo’s terrifying glare fixated on my ex.
Steve doesn’t let go of me, but his hold has definitely loosened a bit. “Who the fuck are—wait, you look a lot like… No, you can’t be… You’re not—”
“Lorenzo Trevano, UFC Heavyweight Champion.” Lorenzo steps closer and into the glow from the streetlight, and now I get a better glimpse of his face. Even as the rage pours out in his tone, he’s still gorgeous.
Steve finally lets go of me, and I take a few steps to get farther away from him.
Lorenzo’s hard gaze stares directly into Steve’s eyes. “Now, I believe the lady wants to be left alone. I advise you to take a hike, or you can deal with me. The choice is yours.”
Steve looks back at me, probably not believing the champion is standing right before us, defending me. I know from back when we were dating, he used to watch MMA all the time. I know he’s got to be familiar with Lorenzo. He quickly averts his eyes back to Guns.. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Lorenzo’s gaze doesn’t soften. “I assure you this isn’t a joke. You either take your ass out of here willingly, or I’ll take it out for you. It’s totally up to you.”
Steve grimaces. “Fuck this. You’re not worth it, bitch,” he spits at me.
Lorenzo chuckles. “Oh, hell no.” It’s crystal clear by his tone that he’s not amused. Not one bit. He calmly walks up to Steve and grabs him by the collar of his shirt. “Apologize to Carissa, or you’re going to be one very sorry piece of shit.”
My eyes take in Steve’s horrified expression as he visibly swallows hard. “O-okay, okay. I’m sorry!” he trembles.
Lorenzo chuckles again. “Not to me… to her.”
Steve sticks his head out to the side to be sure I can see him. “Carissa, I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”
Lorenzo pulls Steve back and glares him down. Steve is a good four inches shorter and is definitely not as muscular. Lorenzo is towering over him, and the look on Steve’s face is enough to make this evening worth my while. I would have paid a million bucks to see him look the way he does right now.
“Good, now get lost and don’t let me catch you bothering Miss Carissa again. Scram!” Lorenzo shoves him away, and Steve runs off.
“Thank you so much,” I say after Steve’s out of sight as I bend down to pick up my groceries. The eggs are all cracked, but the bacon and pancake mix are fine. I’ll just tell Shannon to pick up a carton on her way over tomorrow morning. No big deal.
He smiles at me, bending down as well, and hands me the box of pancake mix.
“No cream cheese this time?” He smiles.
I want to melt.
My breath catches in my throat. He’s so fine… so gorgeous… so off limits. Like I said before, I know he’s got to be a playboy. There’s no way a man this fine—and a gentleman at that—doesn’t have women lined up waiting to have an evening with him. I know I would be.
“Thanks,” I say, taking the box of pancake mix from him.
“It’s nothing, really. And that little episode? I’m glad I found you when I did. That could have gone a lot worse.” He takes a deep breath and then speaks again. “What are you doing out here all by yourself? It’s getting late.”
We rise to our feet and stand across from one another. I almost get lost in my thoughts, staring into his big brown eyes.
“I had some things I needed to grab for tomorrow morning. I shop here at this time often, but this is the first time something like this has happened to me.”
“Let’s hope it’s the last.”
I nod. “Definitely.”
“Okay, I’ll wait till you get into your car and drive off before I get going. Just to make sure,” he states.
“Thanks.” I walk to the driver’s side of my car and hop in behind the wheel.
Lorenzo walks up to my car, so I lower the window.
“Drive carefully, Carissa.”
I smile. “Thanks, I will.”
“Hey, wait a second,” he says. “Do you have a pen?”
“Sure,” I fumble through the glove compartment and pull out a blue ink pen. “Here you are.”
He grabs it from me, and our hands brush yet again, sending electricity flowing through me. Just one touch from him sends me zooming. It’s just like the first time at the grocery store. It seems like we’ve got a thing going on with groceries.
I chuckle to myself as he pulls a small piece of paper from his back pocket and scribbles something on it. When he’s done, he hands it to me with the pen. “That’s my number. Call me if you ever need me again… or text me if you just want to talk.”
I swallow thickly. Holy shit… his number? Emy and Shannon will have a field day with this.
“Thanks, I will.”
He smiles again, tapping the frame of my window. “Cool. All right, I’ll let you go now. Have a great night, Carissa.”
I smile back. “Good night, Lorenzo.”
He pushes away from the car. Reluctantly, I push the button to close the window and drive away into the night.