* * *
Waitingfor the premiere ofTurn and Deliver, a futuristic show, bound to be full of the good action scenes Cole Kennick was known for, Reed Tindal sat scanning the crowd.
Attentiveness was by now an ingrained habit, though he was casual about it, unless he needed not to be. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL, whether awake, asleep…or waiting for a movie to start.
The hot blonde with the creamy skin and pretty green eyes had caught his attention before she’d noticed him. Then their gazes had connected, and he’d felt that flicker, the one that always happened when attraction kicked in. This attraction was strong. Strong enough to take him by surprise, as she usually wouldn’t have been his type.
She was wearing a delicate off-the-shoulder white dress with red polka dots, thin enough he could see her strapless white bra through it and a white half-slip. The kind of dress that would be easy to slip down to bare her round, full breasts. The kind that tempted him to do just that.
With soft blonde curls resting on her bare shoulders and a bit below, smoke lined eyes, and cherry red lipstick, she was girly from her head to her red painted toenails, which peeked out of her shoes. Those red high heeled shoes with red bows on the front were the kind that always made him wonder how a woman would run if she had to, without turning an ankle. He hoped this beauty never found out. She turned heads dressed like that, and some heads were best avoided.
He wondered what her story was and why she was all dressed up to watch a movie by herself. There was a story there. He couldn’t imagine any hot-blooded male standing up a woman who looked as good as she did.
Reed was used to dating women who were more practical. Sensible about things like shoes, wore jeans instead of dresses, and carried guns. There was nowhere on that pretty little dress where this woman could carry a gun or anything else. In fact, he’d bet she didn’t even know how to shoot a gun.
She looked like the “take care of me” type, not the “I’ll take care of things myself” type.
Everyone was seated. A man in a black suit stepped onto the stage and welcomed them to the premiere, then the lights were dimmed, and everyone settled in to watch the show.
The blonde, caught up in the story, would catch her breath, only to release it when Cole escaped the bad guy’s malevolence, and avoided getting so much as a mark on him. Her breathy sighs and little gasps caught Reed’s attention each time, though he was also focusing on the movie. He was good at doing two things at once. The movie held her complete attention, and she seemed unaware of anything else, though Reed had noted her initial reaction to him.
Reed could have been caught up totally in the movie as well, if he’d let himself. Cole was one of the few actors who did their own stunts and he kept his movies more real than most. Which meant Reed didn’t disengage and start critiquing action shots five minutes into the movie. Had he been at home, he might have been as caught up as the woman was. But out in public, nothing would ever take up his total attention. However, that was not to say he wasn’t enjoying the movie. In fact, he was enjoying the movie as well as her reactions to it.
Total opposites, he thought as he noted her reactions to the movie. She was so caught up in it she didn’t notice anything but the movie. Unaware of her surroundings. That was a state of being he no longer remembered how it felt. Reed had grown up in a neighborhood where boys had to fight or be picked on, so he’d learned early on to fight and to pay attention to who was where at all times, when outside his house. For a moment, he viewed her as one might a child or any other innocent civilian who hadn’t learned to be wary. He was glad to see her relaxing and enjoying the movie.
This was why men like him fought. To protect the innocent and preserve a peaceful way of life. These were some of the reasons he fought. The actor Cole Kennick played roles in which he did the same, which was one reason Reed enjoyed his movies.
Some feeling he couldn’t have named other than to call it a sixth sense, made him turn his focus to a man dressed all in black. Definitely not one of the staff. Another patron, perhaps. He stood at the far right corner of the theater. Something about him was very off.
The man turned to face the crowd and began to move his arm upward—
Fuck.
Reed went calm and cool even as he thought the word, his SEAL training kicking in, knowing the man was going to shoot. Everything around Reed slowed.
“Everyone down!” he yelled as his hand landed on the pretty blonde’s shoulder, forcing her to the ground.
The shooter raised his gun to fire.
