Run to You: 3

No one harmed what was his

“What can I do for you, Chase?”

Austin put the phone on speaker, fiddling with the volume to make sure Kara wouldn’t be able to hear it. Hopefully the sound of the program she was watching on TV would block out the overflow of noise from his call.

He’d given himself ten minutes to talk to Anna when she’d called. Since they always had such a small window to talk, he’d done his best not to give away how distracted he was by his house guest and her problems. Now that the phone call was over, he was focused on the task at hand – working out how to best protect Kara.

“Marco, I need some VTA2 equipment by tomorrow. The warehouse says we’re out, but I need to know how long I have to wait for some to come in. It’s urgent, and I know if anyone can get it in before schedule it’s you.”

“I might be able to get some in by tomorrow afternoon. I just need the job ID and John’s sign off and I’ll put the rush on it.”

Austin twisted in the desk seat. “This is a personal request.”

“How personal are we talking?”

“I have a friend who’s in trouble. She’s receiving death threats and they killed her cat tonight. The purchase won’t be going through the business. I’ll be paying for it myself.”

“Without any discounts, you’re looking at hundreds, maybe more than a thousand dollars. You know that, right?”

“Yeah.”

But it was worth it. There was little that scared Austin Chase. With his expertise and experience in the industry of personal security, most people either feared him or respected him. He never shied away from any situation. He handled things with a calm and cool exterior that his colleagues and friends admired. But seeing Kara standing in front of him so vulnerable and scared…the gut level fear he had experienced was unprecedented.

No one, and he meant no one, harmed what was his. Technically, Kara Brenway wasn’t his, and never would be. But she was someone who mattered to him. Seeing the toughest woman he knew scared and shaken had rattled him so much he still felt wired from all the adrenaline pumping through him. He felt hyperaware. A hundred coffees couldn’t wake up his nervous system more than Kara being in trouble could.

So far he had three suspects he was looking into: David Young, Rupert Hannon and Rick Mackey. Young was her ex-boyfriend. Hannon and Mackey had been fired from the warehouse they’d been working at after Kara had submitted her findings of the safety check she’d performed.

Already, he had the addresses, work details and, most importantly, police checks for the three names Kara had given him. Disturbingly, two out of three had a police record. And it was doubtful Kara knew who or what she was dealing with.

If any of them so much as harmed a hair on her head, they would pay with their lives. Austin would make sure of it.

Marco sighed and Austin could imagine the frown on the olive-skinned young man’s face as he typed something on the other end of the line.

“You know that without an ID and a sigh off from John, Cage Logistics won’t hurry anything, but I’ll see what I can do. We can’t have your friend getting hurt.”

“You’re the best. I owe you one.”

“Save your ass-kissing for the boss.”

“John hates having his ass kissed. He complains about all the chafing.”

Marco laughed. “Soon you’ll be the one with the chafing. I hear it’ll only be a matter of time before I’m calling you boss.”

“Don’t worry, a bow or a curtsy in my presence will be enough.”

“You did say you wanted a favour, didn’t you?”

Now Austin laughed. “I did. I should lay off, huh?”

“Impossible for a smartarse like you, I know.”

“Nothing has been made official with the partnership yet, anyway, so I wouldn’t worry about having to kiss my ass just yet.”

“You should have been made partner a long time ago. You’re the best they’ve got.”

“Thanks, man.”

“And with the work you’ve brought to the firm through your relationship with Annabelle, you should have been made partner twice by now.”

Honestly, Austin wanted to be appreciated for his outstanding ethics and record of success rather than the clientele and contracts he’d brought to the firm through his relationship with his celebrity girlfriend. But John had asked him unofficially to become a partner once Steel Corp Group had secured a major contract thanks to Anna.

Now, Austin was waiting to see if John made good on it. If not, Austin would walk. He didn’t like to think of himself as arrogant, but he was the best at what he did in the country. John had been once, but Austin had learned from him and them improved on everything he’d been taught. The only reason Austin hadn’t walked out of Steel Group yet was the knowledge that starting his own company would mean less time in the field and more time behind a desk.

That wasn’t for him – nine to five in an office. And if John made him partner, Austin could keep doing what he loved, with some involvement in the business.

“Thanks, Marco. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“I’ll let you know when I hear from Cage Logistics.”

Marco hung up and Austin did his best to concentrate on studying the layout of a movie theatre where he would be leading a team of security for a premiere next week. Unfortunately, visions of Kara trembling and afraid kept jumping to the forefront of his mind.

Sometime after midnight, Austin gave up on the task altogether and went in search of the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about.

The television was still on in the lounge, and he noticed Kara sleeping on the couch when he went to turn it off. Her shoulder-length soft red-brown curls whispered across her forehead, and he had to resist the urge to go over and smooth them off her face.

Austin had spent years chasing Kara Brenway. The attraction between them had been fierce and mutual, but the woman had refused to give into it. Eventually, her rejections had amused him less and less and then they’d started to hurt. She hadn’t been willing to let him past the walls she guarded herself with, no matter how much he’d tried to knock them down. After coming to the realisation she would never be ready with him, he’d made the decision to give up and move on.

Queensland had been a fresh start. He hadn’t expected to go there and fall in love with a client, but he had. Annabelle Rogers was beautiful, sexy, funny and successful, and she’d been open to him in ways Kara never had been.

It still didn’t make sense to him that he was dating an A-list Hollywood actress, but he had put aside his bachelor ways and was embracing it.

Despite his relationship with the actress, however, and the way he constantly told himself he was done chasing Kara, the fierce attraction and connection that had always been there between himself and his sister’s best friend persisted. Kara would never be just any other woman to him. She was branded in his mind as the one who got away.

Walking over to the couch, he picked her up, his heart clenching a little as she curled into him.

And when she muttered his name as if it was something she did in her sleep every night, it drew every protective urge he had to the surface. Something primal and possessive pulled at the reigns of his being and he quickly tried to shove it down. Whatever his flaws were, he considered himself loyal to a fault. Feeling hot for this woman when he was with another tore him apart. And yet, while he carried her he was too aware of the fact she was wearing his clothes.

Unwittingly, his gaze flicked down to her breasts, to the swell of them pushed against the thin material of his shirt. Like always, she smelt so sweet – like spring with a hint of musk and sex thrown in. And the sight of her in his arms like this, in his clothes....it turned the pit of his stomach to molten lava. He might not have any intention of acting on the heat strumming through his veins, but there was no denying the sight of her in his clothes, in his arms, and the feel of her soft body curled into him had him more aroused than he could remember being in a long time.

“…sleep couch,” she murmured.

“Shh,” he whispered, carrying her into his bedroom and laying her on his bed.

How many times had he imagined her in this bed with him? How many times had he jerked off thinking about all the ways he’d like to take her? The fantasies had kept him going for years, and he was uncomfortably aware of his painful erection as he moved back from her.

She made a small noise and then turned over, whispering his name again as he pulled the covers over her.

It didn’t matter how much he wanted her. He’d given up on Kara. She was unreachable in the ivory tower she never left. He’d moved on. He had the woman voted second sexiest woman in the world, and she was amazing. He wouldn’t be sucked down the slippery slope of wanting Kara Brenway again.

But he would protect her.

Whether she thought she needed him to or not.