“I told you to stop, asshole.”
As Mars staggered back, hiseyes and mouth open in shock, the door flew open with abang.
A scowling Jeff rushed in, his hands fisted, face red. “Tara?” His eyes widened at the sight of her half naked before he averted his gaze.
She crossed her arms over her chest, her left hand throbbing from the punch. Her body started to shake and she had an overwhelming sensation of falling apart, turning to rubble.
“You okay?”Jeff asked, not looking directly at her.
“Fine.” Or, she would be once she was dressed and the bastard eyeballing Jeff with a healthy and advisable dose of fear was in police custody.
“What about your hand?”
“I’m fine.” She’d ice it later.
“Turn around and take a seat,” Jeff told Mars, straightening to his full height of six-four. He wasn’t as beefy as Dan or Kurt, but his size and obviousstrength could still intimidate.
Manhandling and threats were off the table—they didn’t want to give Mars’s lawyers any ammunition—but the shorter, thinner photographer must have decided he didn’t stand a chance against Jeff, because he followed orders without protest.
Grabbing her bra and shirt from the floor, Tara quickly dressed, not bothering to tuck anything in. She snagged her pea coatfrom the coatrack and shrugged into the thick wool, glad for the additional barrier from the men to whom she’d already bared too much.
She rummaged through her purse with trembling hands, located her cell phone, and dialed. Keeping her gaze firmly on the floor while one arm encircled her waist, she said, “Yes, I’d like to report an assault.”
Her body wouldn’t stop shaking.
She’d gone intothis scheme knowing full well she would probably get manhandled. It wasn’t like plenty of men hadn’t touched her without permission. But never so blatantly.
And this one had touched Emily. Violated her.
Oh, Emily. Not here. She would not let him see her break down.
Mars gave Tara a defiant look. She shivered and kept her gaze on the shiny wooden planks under her feet.
A scalding hot showerwas in order. Then she’d curl up on the couch in her pajamas and lose herself in Netflix shows for the entire weekend.
With wine.
And chocolate.
Anger seethed inside her, for Emily, and for all of the naive young girls Mars had coerced into having sex with him. The girls whom he’d promised fame and riches if they gave him what he wanted.
How many others hadn’t been able to live with thehorror? How many others had Mars ruined?
When the dispatcher answered the phone, she gave him the necessary information and then hung up. He wanted her to stay on the line, but Tara was done talking until the police arrived.
“They’re on their way.” Crossing her arms, as if she could erase what both men had already seen, she finally met Jeff’s troubled brown gaze. “Thank you.”
He gave hera crisp nod and glared at Mars. “Not a problem.”
Jeff had only been at Steele Security since early January, but the former Air Force combat weatherman—a formerly unknown-to-her special operations role—had become a well-regarded part of the team in the last two months. Any one of the guys would happily partner with him on an op, which said a lot. Everyone was close, but Jeff had slotted rightin like he’d been part of the crew all along.
Except with her. Oh, he was nice enough, and she’d been the beneficiary of a few of his hard-won smiles, but he didn’t interact with her any more than necessary. The jury was out on whether he disliked something about her, was uncomfortable with all women, or was simply afraid she’d misinterpret any friendly overtures as a come-on.
Didn’t matter.It was actually perfect. She didn’t get involved with the men at work. Or, these days,anymen. Her criminal ex-boyfriend Colin had cured her of that affliction.
After Colin’s betrayal, Tara had spent the past several years learning to love herself, to find self worth outside of a man’s opinion, to trust herself. To stop mentally giving her parents the finger by engaging in behavior they’d considershameful. In May, she’d celebrate four years of self-imposed celibacy. A feat that would have seemed impossible before meeting Colin Di Ferio.
Maybe taking the job as Steele Security’s business manager had been some sort of test for herself, surrounded as she was by so much muscle-bound eye candy. Men of the highest integrity, each of whom she trusted with her life. If it was a test, somehowshe’d passed.
