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His head leaned closer to her. “One of those men wants to fuck your body. The other wants to fuck your mind.”

Uh, that was…

“Neither will happen. They need to understand that shit.” A short pause. “Baby.”

Right. She’d thought that endearment had been deliberate.

His lips brushed against her cheek. The rain hit the top of the umbrella. It trickled down the sides. The water didn’t touch her because Hunter had tucked her close to his body and lifted the umbrella high above her head. He was only partially covered, though, since there wasn’t enough room for them both to stay dry beneath the umbrella.

He surrounded her, pressed tightly to her. His scent. His warmth. His body.

No way had she wanted to be that close to Gabriel.

Or to anyone else, really. No one but Hunter.

He made her feel safe. Protected. And not just because he was her bodyguard. Because he was…Hunter. Hunter with his intense eyes, his restrained power when he touched her…

They reached his SUV. He kept the umbrella in place with one hand and opened her door with the other. She slid inside the vehicle, and he made sure that no rain hit her at any time.

Hunter dipped in close. “So…do I have your permission to be a major possessive and unhinged asshole?”

“Uh, what?” She’d missed something.

“Figured you’d want to know that I am about to go off the rails with them. You cool with that happening?”

Again…“Uh?”

“I don’t trust them. Not either one of those pricks.”

“Same.” They were in agreement on that score.

“So let’s rattle their cages, shall we?”

“This rattling isn’t going to get you arrested, is it?” A fear that would put the brakes on whatever he was planning. Major possessive and unhinged asshole.

“Sweetheart, in order to get arrested, I’d have to throw the first punch. I won’t do that. I don’t do that. I merely defend myself when others attack.”

The horrible things you had to do, the lives you’ve taken, they don’t haunt you as much as long as you keep telling yourself that you’re the good guy and the others deserved exactly what they got. Gabriel’s words replayed through her head. Her hand flew out and curled around his as Hunter held the umbrella. “Gabriel is wrong about you. You don’t seek out violence.”

“Don’t be too sure. Someone hurts you? I’ll be plenty violent.” He looked down at her hand. “But I won’t ever be violent with you. I would never hurt you.” His head lifted up. “So, permission to be an unhinged asshole?”

“Am I supposed to say ‘permission granted’ right now?” Shelby was not sure how this worked. Just how unhinged would he be?

“Perfect.” His head came close. His lips brushed hers. “Be right back.”

“Hunter—”

Too late. He’d backed up. Shut the car door. And headed off to be…an unhinged asshole.

The way Hunter figured it, he had two prime suspects right in front of him. He shook out the umbrella, sending droplets of rain into the air, before he hit the button to shrink the umbrella back to a much smaller size.

He suspected the professor had been fucking Tiffany Blake. The guy could have denied the affair. Gabriel hadn’t. He also didn’t have a real alibi for her murder. Being home alone did not count as an alibi. It counted for jack shit.

You want to stop a co-ed from going to college admin about an improper relationship? You could kill her. And make it look like a copycat murder modeled after the killer Tiffany Blake obsessed over.

And as far as Jonah Campbell was concerned…

I don’t trust the cop.