[For Scene 1: click here to read]
“What are you doing here, sweetheart?” Jack needed her out of there quick. Even embarrassment hadn’t made her leave. The way her dark brown eyes examined every hard inch of him, he expected to explode any second.
For the last week, while the blonde did some finishing touches to the tat, he’d handled the sensitive location without a problem. The artist looked mighty fine but with her husband keeping an eye out in the other room, he didn’t dare touch. Truth be told, the blonde hadn’t interested him, so controlling his urges had been easy. But as soon as his vision focused on Katerina Savalas, he hardened like a shore-deprived sailor spotting a titty bar.
“I need your services.” She turned to face him. He liked her girl-next-door looks that included freckles across her nose.
“Services, eh?”
The first time he’d met her, she’d been rescued from a crazy human trafficker by the mercenary organization he worked for. The Circle normally didn’t get involved in local problems, but the psycho had messed with one of their own, and they had no option but to stop it. Luckily for Katerina. After questioning her, he’d been ordered to return the sassy young woman to her father.
And her family wasn’t the ordinary type. Katerina’s father was the head of the infamous Savalas crime family. The Circle had connections on both sides of the legal fence, and to deliver her unharmed was a good opportunity to ensure the powerful man owed them big.
The only problem had been that when he tried to take her home, she refused to cooperate. Without a qualm, he’d tied her up and rolled her wiggling body inside a rug. When he’d delivered the present to her father, he held one end and gave a good tug. The spitting mad hellcat tumbled out at her father’s feet like Cleopatra to Caesar. What could he say? He loved the classics.
He looked over her shoulder toward the front door. Except for the blonde’s husband sitting on the floor rocking and holding his groin ― he lifted an eyebrow at Katerina ― he didn’t see her brothers bursting through the door. The last thing he needed was for her no-holds-barred family to come after him.
After another sympathetic glance at the whimpering man, he concluded she knew how to handle herself. So had she run away from home again?
He lifted the bottle of bourbon but hesitated, then set it back down. Maybe he’d heard her wrong.
“What services are you talking about? Where are your brothers?” He narrowed his eyes.
The blonde smeared ointment on the section she’d finished and slapped a bandage over it. Then she ignored them as she began cleaning her area.
“Can we go to Ed’s Diner and talk about it? I’ll pay.” Katerina’s gaze stayed on his face as he stood and pulled up his boxer briefs and jeans, adjusting his wayward cock.
Her cheeks turned a brighter pink. When was the last time he’d seen a woman blush ― and not from anger?
“Sure. It’d do some good to get a little food on my stomach.” When was the last time he ate? He remembered eating some chips last night. Or was that the night before? Drinking could do that to a person.
As he zipped and buttoned his pants, he continued to stare, looking for differences from the last time he’d seen her. She still had that roundness about her he liked. Women should be soft with some meat on their bones. The blond highlights in her brown chin-length hair looked real, obviously produced by the sun. The sprinkle of freckles across her cute nose confirmed her hours outside. With the small heart pendant on her necklace and dangling silver hearts from her ears, nothing shouted crime family princess. He’d never been interested in women like her, naive, stick-up-their-asses types.
What the hell was he thinking? The last thing he needed was trouble from the Savalas family. Yet, she looked at him as if she wanted to pour chocolate over his body and lick every inch.
No. To think of it, that was what he’d like to do with her. Certainly a good reason to stay away.
The most important reason to get rid of her fast was that if she hung around him long enough, she’d turn up dead.
They all did.
[updated 5/23/15 edited version]
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000039_00009]](https://carlaswafford.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/circleofdefiance_final_200x304.jpg)
Word is out Katerina Savalas has found a map that leads to a long-lost Union shipment of gold. She can’t take the chance of someone breaking into her home again. So she decides to hire a washed-up Circle operative to protect her home.
