Free Close Protection by Mina Carter

 
    Chapter One
     
    She couldn’t do this anymore. Couldn’t and fucking well wouldn’t.
    “Get the hell out, or I’m calling the cops.”
    Raising her chin, Ashlee Bishop faced down the group of men in her bar and levelled a cold stare at their leader. Her voice was cold and hard, far from her usual welcoming tone for the patrons of Bishop’s bar, but these weren’t customers. They were parasites, and they’d chased all her customers away. Every last frigging one. They weren’t taking her business as well.
    The man in the front of the group tutted, a small smile on his face as he sauntered toward her. Her eyes narrowed but she held her ground. Showing weakness to Isaac Roth was like waving a red flag at a bull. Not. A. Good. Idea.
    “Ashlee, Ashlee, Ashlee. I’m disappointed in you. Such language from a lady.”
    She snorted, hiding her fear behind amusement. “Whoever told you I was a lady, Roth? I’m a bitch through and through, as you’re about to find out, if you don’t fuck off and take your little buddies with you.”
    Roth paused a step away, tilting his head as he looked down at her. Down. Yeah, she was used to that too. She was midget sized, just grazing over five foot, which meant everyone was taller than she was. So if he thought the looming act was going to work, he was severely mistaken. With fucking bells on.
    “Well, you’d better be a lady. Because if you’re not a lady…” His voice was low and pleasant, but she didn’t miss the threat hidden in the silky tones or the lust flaring in his eyes as he swept a look over her body. “Now be reasonable. I’ve offered you a good deal for our protection. I suggest you take it; you won’t get a better one.”
    Be reasonable? With his bully boys in her bar and him practically dry humping her damn leg? Ashlee used anger to tramp down the panic rising within her. Trouble was, with anger came the inability to keep her mouth shut, or to engage common sense before she opened it.
    “A better offer? So let me get this straight. You want money to protect me and my bar? From what exactly? This area was nice and quiet before you and your little gang of assholes came along. So you want me to pay you…for what? To fuck off?”
    Roth’s brows snapped together, anger curling through the lust still dark in his eyes.
    “Now you’re just being unpleasant, my dear.” He stepped forward, backing her up against the bar. He reached out and placed a hand either side of her shoulders on the polished wood, trapping her in the cage of his arms. “I told you…no payment. If you agree to my terms.”
    He was so close that she could feel the heat of his body beating through her work shirt. The scent of his cologne wound around her. Woodsy with a citrus overtone and warmed by the heat of his skin, it would have been seductive if she were in the least attracted to him. Being threatened tended to turn her off a guy. Big time.
    She arched an eyebrow. “So, to get this straight. I pay for protection or I fuck you for protection? There’s a word for that, and it ain’t a pretty one. Now, I’m not asking this time. I’m telling. Get out of my bar and take your little friends with you.”
    Roth’s lips compressed at her crude language, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting him and his crew out of her bar. Then she could barricade herself in her office and give into the fear and panic racing through her body.
    Roth sighed and lifted a hand to stroke his fingertips down her cheek. “Fight all you like, my lady. This will happen. I want you.”
    She looked up to glare right into his face, refusing to be cowed. He wanted her in his bed so she was fairly sure he wouldn’t hurt her. Not seriously anyway. She suppressed a shiver. Despite the dark expression, he was good looking in a model sort of way. He dressed like he’d stepped right out of a GQ spread. Bastard.
    Why couldn’t she attract a nice guy who looked like this? In her experience nice guys