“Damn it!”
Maria Young had no idea what she did to deserve this — being chased for miles by a freaking Bentley and a convoy of bodyguard vehicles. If she hadn’t buckled her seatbelt or reacted fast enough, she might’ve ended up face-planting on the windshield.
What the hell did she even do to piss someone off like this?
Right at that moment, the Bentley smashed smack into the back of her scrappy minivan, the crash triggering a nasty hissing sound as fuel leaked out. Maria’s heart dropped. “Crap… don’t tell me this hunk of junk’s gonna blow up.”
No time to think twice — she grabbed her backpack and booked it out of the van, only to run straight into a solid chest.
That cold, overpowering masculine scent hit her instantly, full of force and edge.
Her whole body tensed. She froze on the spot. Instinct screamed danger. Whoever this man was, he was definitely not someone you could brush off.
Lucas Middleton recognized her scent the moment she collided into him, and the breath he’d been holding finally escaped his chest. Relief washed over him… but it didn't last long. Rage started bubbling up, tightening his hold around her, like he wanted to pull her into his bones — terrified she’d vanish again.
“Um… dude, pretty sure you got the wrong person? I can’t breathe, for real. Let go—mmph!”
Before Maria could finish her sentence, her eyes widened.
What the hell?! Was this guy seriously kissing her?
Her wrists were pinned behind her back with one of his hands. She twisted and squirmed, but the hand pressed against the back of her neck only grew more forceful, like he wanted to swallow up every bit of air she had.
The guy was absurdly strong. No matter how hard she wriggled, there was no breaking free. In pure frustration, she stomped her foot — hard — right on top of his.
He didn’t even flinch.
And then… he looked at her.
His dark eyes locked onto hers, an intense stare filled with emotions too messy to name. Their faces were only inches apart, and in his gaze, Maria caught the glimpse of pain — a kind of soul-deep agony, like everything had been ripped away once, but now... standing in front of her, somehow that pain had found a tiny corner of relief.
The softness that started to bloom in his expression unsettled her almost more than the rage.
She just stood there, mind blank, eyes fixed on his unbelievably intense gaze.
When Lucas finally noticed the firelight flashing behind him, he snapped back to reality, grabbing Maria and rolling them both out of the way.
“Boom!”
As expected, the van exploded. Fire lit up the sky.
The shockwave rushed past them, and Maria flinched. But Lucas had her shielded so well, not even a burn touched her.
“Tell me. Why?”
His voice was low and rough, the sound of someone barely keeping their emotions in check.
Firelight danced off his features, his face striking and absurdly flawless under the flicker — like a sculpture of a fallen god, dangerous and unreachable. His short hair broke the smoky shadows over his eyes, the fury in his gaze barely held back.
Those night-dark eyes could obliterate whatever thoughts were left in her head with a single look.
Goddamn… he was beautiful.
Maria swallowed hard, still stuck staring like an idiot. After ten solid seconds, she finally snapped out of it and looked over at her car — now a flaming wreck — and her heart cracked in half.
“My car…”
Lucas grabbed her jaw tight, forcing her to meet his eyes.
“Speak.”
The cold bite in his voice made Maria shiver, but she still sucked in a breath and held her ground. “Speak what? Hey, you think this is funny? You just totaled my car, man — drove right into it and blew it up!”
