The shorter guy shoved his friend. “Good job.”
The tall kid turned. “I didn’t seeyoudoing any research.” He pushed him back.
“Hey,”Noah started, but the kids didn’t listen, just shoved each other harder.
Noah grabbed one of them as the other lunged forward. Addie tried to step in between them and got pushed to the floor.
Fuck.
“Enough!”Noah growled.
The shorter kid, who’d pushed Addie, looked down at her and his eyes widened. “Shit! Sorry.”
“Get out.Now,” Noah barked.
The kids scrambled out, and Noah knelt beside Addie. “Hey. You okay?”
She laughed. She actuallylaughed. While he was ready to follow the kids and fucking rage at them for what they’d done.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She lifted a shoulder. “They’re just kids with too much testosterone.”
“They shoved you.”
“If I’d been in any real danger, I would have put that kid on the floor.”
Damn. Why did he find that so attractive? “Have you done that before?”
“Only when my father was teaching me how to defend myself. In his words, self-defense isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.”
“I like him already.” He held out a hand and helped her up. The second she slipped her fingers around his, something shot up his arm, hitting him right in the chest. It was so strong it almost stole his fucking breath.
Her eyes flared, as if she’d felt it too. “Thanks.”
Even her quiet voice soaked into his skin. What the hell was going on? No woman had ever affected him like this.
He cleared his throat. “Next time, call me if there’s trouble.”
“I had it handled—”
“Call me.”
She did a half eye roll. “Fine, I’ll call you.”
“Good. Are you heading home now?”
“Yeah.”
“You deserve an early night. You’ve been working too hard. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He moved toward the door, only to stop at Addie’s voice.
“Noah.”
He turned.
“We’re good now, aren’t we? We’re leaving what happened last week behind us?”
His fingers tightened around the handle. “We’re good.”
He stepped out, knowing he hadn’t answered the second half of her question. What had happenedwasn’tbehind them. Because he had no idea how to do that, and if he didn’t work out his triggers, and fast, it could happen again.
