Right where I wanted him.
He looked around and then back at me. He knew what was about to happen. He lifted his hands and opened his mouth. To reason with me probably.
He didn't get one word out.
I made sure of that.
Hey Mr. Asshole, meet Mr. Fist.
His head snapped back and he staggered, bringing his hand to his now bloody nose. I held my fists up, waiting for him to recover. He looked at me then and I saw it. The crazy, sneaky, lower than low look in his eyes.
The bastard was meaner than a rattlesnake.
And he was going to fight dirty.
He lunged at me sloppily. He didn’t know how to fight. But he was fast. I was ready. I knew he was going to try something tricky. I dogged out of his way as he landed a punch to my side.
Fuck me that hurt.
I spun to face him again. He came at me and I hit him, hard. He jerked back but didn’t go down. He wasn’t a small man by any means. Between his height and lack of honor, and my muscles and experience, we were pretty evenly matched. He kept coming, knocking me off my feet. We were on the ground, both of us throwing punches. He hit my face twice before I realized why it fucking hurt so much.
The bastard was wearing a ring. A big one too.
I threw him off of me and we both got to our feet, catching our breath. We circled, staring at each other. A trickle of blood was leaking out his mouth now, adding to the blood from his nose. He looked like shit.
I probably did, too. Then he grinned at me.
"She's a good little fuck isn't she? Nice and tight."
I roared and ran at him. He tried to fight back but I ignored his hits, leaving myself wide open. I was all offense and no defense. He was giving it to me good but I was so angry I didn't even feel it. I slammed my fist into his smarmy face again and again as he punched my gut. I recognized that it was going to hurt like hell but it didn't stop me. Nothing could stop me. I didn't stop hitting him until he fell to his knees. His eyes were dazed and unfocused as he swayed there, looking like road kill.
I pulled back my arm and threw one last punch.
Philipe slumped to the ground, laying in the gravel driveway like the piece of garbage that he was. I took a closer look. I was pretty sure he was drooling.
I spat on the ground near his head. It was red. Whoops. I realized I might be in worse shape than I thought. The pain started to set in. Wrenching, twisting pain. I could hear Francesca saying my name over and over again. She sounded so far away. I started to tilt. But I didn't fall. Strong arms held me up. I knew my brothers had caught me.
The next thing I knew I was lying in my bed, staring up at Francesca.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Cowboy."
Chapter Twenty-Four
Francesca
Dear God, what a man.
I held the ice pack against his cheek again. He was starting to come around. Daniel had scared me badly when he'd nearly fallen like that.
He'd gotten the hell beaten out of him.
All because he'd been defending my honor.
I couldn't lie. It had made my heart race to see him like that. He was more than strong. He was a ferocious protector.
Even better, he was protecting me.
I liked it. A lot more than I would have imagined. I liked having my own knight in shining armor. Even if he was wearing beaten up old jeans and a cowboy hat. Actually, I was growing rather attached to that look...
"Hello, beautiful."
Daniel's stunning golden eyes stared up at me. Like amber set in gold. Or a canary diamond. He was more precious to me than gems I realized. More precious than anything. I smiled at him, holding a glass of water to his lips.
"Here, have a sip."
He drank, staring hungrily at me the whole time. When I put the glass aside he was still staring at me. There was a look of awe on his face.
"You're still here."
"Of course, I am. Where else would I be?"
He shrugged, looking away. My breath caught in my throat. He'd thought I'd left him. That I would go with Philipe after everything that had passed between us these past few weeks. That I would abandon him.
I smiled, trying to make light of it. But it hurt.
"You thought I would leave with him? Really Daniel, credit me with better taste."
"No. I thought you might have left again, though. Our time is almost up. I know you don't like being tied down."
I brushed his hair off his forehead.