Page 34 of The Rebel Billionaire

Was that abowtie?

What the ever-loving hell wasgoingon?

"Just tell me if you're okay," a familiar voicedemanded.

Lucas?

"I think I'm good," I said, my voice weaker than I would'veliked.

I couldn't seem to get a deep breath, though that was probably less having the wind knocked out of me and more sheerterror.

"Lucas?" I asked, praying I wasn'timagininghim.

"It'sme."

In the dim light, I could barely see him striding across the yard, moving to the corner of the house, then back to the sidewalk, thentowardme.

"God fucking dammit.He'sgone."

Even though I knew it would've been better if my attacker weren't gone, the muscles in my chest relaxed. Finally, I drew a deepbreath.

"What the fuck is going on,Charlie?"

Lucas turned and crossed into his own yard, opened the door of his car, and rooted around in the front seat. A second later, a flashlight switched on, the beam swinging back-and-forth over the ground between us until it stopped on mypurse.

Stating what had already occurred to me, Lucas said, "A mugger would've goneforthat."

I didn't say anything. Coming slowly to my feet, I realized I was shaking and cold. It wasn't hot outside, but it definitelywasn'tcold.

Shock.

My thoughts sluggish, I watched the bobbing beam of the flashlight as Lucas collected my purse and picked up the brown shopping bag that had held mydinner.

I had a fleeting sense of regret for my cheeseburger, surely destroyed after flying acrosstheyard.

Then Lucas was at my side, holding the beam of the flashlight down so as not to blind me. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me into his side and taking myweight.

"You hurt? Can you walk?" He askedgently.

"I think I'm okay,"Isaid.

"Let's get youinside."

As I shuffled beside Lucas over the uneven ground and through the gate into the backyard, aches bloomed all over my body. My hip, shoulder, and the side of my face were sore. A patch of scalp near my temple burned. I thought I felt the sticky heat of blood on mycheek.

Lucas led me up my back steps and into the kitchen. Depositing me next to the back door, he left me leaning against the wall and said, "Don'tmove."

He shut the back door and turned the deadbolt. Handing me the flashlight, he took off. Moving through each room in the house, upstairs and down, he checked every door and window before returning to the kitchen and flipping on thelight.

At the sight of my face, his eyes narrowed and heswore.

He disappeared again, this time into the bathroom, and returned with a wetwashcloth.

"Did hehityou?"

"No," I said carefully, wincing as Lucas cleaned the side of my face. The cold washcloth stung on my raw, scraped skin. "He knocked me down and I fell in the grass. I think he pulled out a chunk ofmyhair."

I stepped back and finally got a good look atLucas.