“Are you okay?” Shortly clipped light brown hair and hazel eyes float in my line of vision, and I can’t seem to breathe.
“You’re going to be all right,” that low voice continues, rubbing my back in soothing circles as he instructs me to lean forward and take slow, deep breaths.
I don’t know how long I sit there, but all through the commotion of cops coming on board, I hear that same calming voice giving me comforting words as he relays what happened. His hand never stops caressing me.
I feel crazy because I’m totally terrified by what just happened, but his touch is also sending jolts of electricity flying up and down my spine, radiating in slow pulses lower and lower.
And suddenly I’m finding it hard to breathe for entirely different reasons. Yeah, that settles it. I’ve lost it. Gone off the deep end. Because instead of being worked up about almost getting shanked, I’m feeling a rush of attraction for the guy who saved me.
I look up at him, and our eyes lock.
“You okay?” he asks again.
I nod, biting my lip.
Lust flares in his eyes, and I know mine show the same thing. This guy. He’s got a killer body, a deep tan, and a clean shaven, sharply defined jawline. And that smile. He flashes it again now, and there’s a hint of danger in there. Danger I might want to experience a little.
Yep. Definitely nuts. Because danger is typically what I stay far away from. But something about him also screams safety, and I don’t object when he pulls me to my feet and wraps an arm around my waist to lead me from the train.
In my shock, I must have missed everything that went on with the cops because it seems like we’re through here.
We surface from underground, and the bright lights and loud noises of the late-night city take me off guard. I lean into this guy—who I don’t even know!—as if he’s my new protector.
“You want to get something to eat?” he murmurs in my ear, sending another shiver through me.
“Yeah, that sounds great,” I hear myself saying.
Next thing I know, we’re seated in a corner booth of some cafe, coffee and cheesecake on the table between us.
“Thank you,” I say, probably for the hundredth time.
He chuckles. “It’s not every day I get to save a lovely lady like yourself.”
My eyes trail over his corded arms again. This guy is freaking ripped. Like he’s some kind of human weapon. I realize I want to know more about my rescuer.
“I don’t even know your name.”
“Zander,” he says with a grin.
“Madison. So you don’t often make daring rescues on the 6 Train?” I tease.
Another rumbling laugh that makes my girly bits tingle just a bit more. If that’s even possible. Zander here seems to have no trouble igniting my body.
“No. I actually just got to town this week. Trying to figure out where to next.”
My eyebrows lift. “So you’re a drifter?”
He shakes his head. “Just got out of the military. Not sure where I want to settle.”
How about right in between my legs?
I press my lips together to keep the words in, but I can’t fight the laughter that bubbles up at the thought. I don’t even know who I am tonight.
He quirks a brow, but I just shake my head and dive back into the cheesecake.
There isn’t a minute of our time in the diner that passes where we are at a loss for words. I feel oddly comfortable with this strange man.
So when Zander asks to walk me home, I find myself agreeing, even though I have no idea who he really is. All I know is that he saved me earlier, so he can’t be that bad.