Free Protecting The Billionaire by Christina Tetreault Page A

articles about hockey on the Internet. If she and Rock were going to a game Saturday, she wanted to at least understand some of the basics. Unfortunately, her focus kept straying away from the information, and every time she heard even the tiniest of sounds, she jumped half a mile out of her chair.
    Since she’d moved to Virginia, she’d been a little on edge. More than once she’d been out and gotten the feeling someone watched her. Each time it happened, she told herself it was her imagination. She’d almost completely convinced herself of that until her car accident. She hadn’t been far from Jake’s house when she spotted the headlights behind her. At first she’d thought it was just someone heading in a similar direction. Then they’d gotten much closer and stayed right on her bumper for a good ten minutes. Unsure if the car was following her or not, she turned so she could return to her cousin’s. Like a shadow, the car had done the same. Shaken up, she started checking her rearview mirror more and more the closer she got to Jake’s neighborhood. Caught up in what was going on behind her, she hadn’t seen the other car skid on the slick roads and plow though the intersection and into her car. If she’d been paying attention, she might have been able to stop or swerve out of the way. Thankfully, the worst of her injuries had been a broken leg, and the driver of the other car had only needed some stitches.
    She hadn’t told anyone about the car behind her that night. Instead, she’d convinced herself it had been a coincidence. The little bear and candy at the office had her reconsidering her belief. From now on, she’d need to be extra vigilant while out alone.
    Unable to focus on anything, she gave up reading about hockey and the responsibilities of each player. The game wasn’t until Saturday. She had Thursday and Friday night to learn more about the rules. Picking up the remote, she flipped through the stations until she found the popular new sitcom she’d started watching in the fall. The show didn’t require much brainpower and always made her laugh. It was the kind of show she needed tonight.
    ***
     
    The specifics of their date still eluded him. How could he plan an evening out when they had zilch in common? Regardless, he’d promised he’d call, and he never backed out of a promise. Rock dropped his wallet and keys on the counter and brought up Allison’s number on his smartphone. He’d stored it in his contact list the night he’d joined her, Trent, and Addie for dinner but hadn’t thought he’d need it. The phone rang several times and he expected her voicemail to pick up soon. When it did, he’d leave her a message, and if she was still interested in going out, she could call him back. If she’d changed her mind, he would have fulfilled his promise.
    Her voicemail never picked up. Instead, her sultry voice greeted him. “Hello.”
    “Allison, it’s Rock.”
    “Rock, hi.” The hint of uncertainty he’d detected in her voice when she first answered disappeared. “I’m glad you called. I’ve been planning our night out.”
    Having a woman plan an evening out was a first for him. He only hoped whatever she had in mind didn’t include the ballet or some equally ridiculous event. Once he’d been forced to attend the ballet as part of a school fieldtrip. He’d fallen asleep a quarter of the way through and stayed that way until his teacher rudely woke him up with a boney finger to the shoulder.
    He had no desire to see guys running around in tights again and nothing except perhaps a 9mm pistol pressed up against his back would get him back to the ballet.
    “I already ordered tickets for the hockey game. It starts at seven. There’s a great barbecue restaurant not far from here. I thought we could have dinner there before we head into DC. Or we can stop somewhere after the game. Up to you. Either works for me.”
    The words hockey and Allison Sherbrooke didn’t belong in the