Page 3 of Dearest Protector

I couldn’t breathe, and I was so damn scared.

I kept sucking in painful breaths, determined that I wasn’t going to die on this damn pavement.

Darkness might be beckoning, but I sure as hell didn’t have to answer.

The ambulance was coming, right? Hadn’t some guy just said exactly that?

I’d be okay.

I’d live through this.

All I had to do was keep breathing until the paramedics arrived.

Prologue #2

Ben

Ten Months Later…

Fort Myers, Florida

Istood in the shadows of my mother’s patio, my fists clenched, every muscle in my body tense as I saw an older man snatch the young woman’s wrist and yank her onto the pavement.

She’d been trying to hide in the bushes, but her hiding spot had obviously been discovered by her predator.

She winced and stumbled a little, then tried to pull away, but the hold the asshole had on her was obviously relentless, not to mention painful judging by the look on her beautiful face.

A haze of red clouded my vision, and it took everything I had not to completely lose my shit.

It washer.

Ariel Prescott.

The woman who had haunted my dreams for months now.

A female who had been untouchable for me when we’d first met.

It was possible that she didn’t rememberme, but I sure as fuck rememberedher.

I’d been looking forward to seeing her ever since I’d discovered that Ariel Prescott was my stepsister Katie’s best friend, and that she wasno longeruntouchable.

Hell, I’d been astonished that Ariel was here in Fort Myers. That she was actually closely connected to Katie.

What were the chances ofthat?

I wanted to kill the bastard who dared to treat this woman with anything other than reverence.

Judging by something that Ariel had just said, it sounded like this guy was herboss.

What the fuck?

What boss treated an employee like this?

What kind of asshole manhandledanyfemale?

I shook myself as the heated blood in my body pounded in my ears, surprised that I could barely contain my fury.

I wasn’t usually a guy who lost my mind over a woman.Ever.