Page 67 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

Rage flashed, hot and violent, through me.“You can’t hire him, not if you want Gia to stay.Ineed her to stay.”

“I don’t want someone like that in my practice.If my wife gets within spitting distance of that guy, it’ll be war.Erika adores Gia.This guy is the kind of walking ego Erika wouldn’t like.If she gets a whiff of him mistreating Gia, it’ll be bad.Hell, if she hears what he did to her back in Tennessee, she might set his car on fire with him in it.Not a hard stretch to bet Gia blitzed this guy’s ass herself before she moved here.”Josh swore under his breath.“Shit, the asshole’s heading out, probably to confront her again in the parking lot.I gotta go.”

“I’m pulling in right now.”

* * *

GIA

I hitthe truck’s steering wheel.It wouldn’t start again.I’d tried all my secrets for turning it over.Now I’d have to go back inside and get someone to jump it, unless I took my own car to the farms or used my car to jump the truck.I hated driving my little car down the pothole-filled dirt roads.

I dropped my head, pulled in a deep breath, and got out.

“Gia.”The deep voice cracked through my panic.

Turning, I saw Timothy striding toward me with a look that made me lean against the truck for support.It wasn’t anger or softness, but purpose.Pure, focused, dangerous purpose.

Justin and Amy trailed behind him.Of course, Justin wasn’t done.He’d never let me get away with that much humiliation without getting his ounce of payback.

Fresh nausea rolled through me.

Then Timothy was close enough to blot out the rest of the world.

“Gia.”His big hands wrapped gently around my arms, steadying me when I hadn’t realized I was shaking.“Look at me.”

I tried.I really tried.But my eyes kept darting past his shoulder to see Justin’s reaction.

His hand slid to my jaw, firm but tender, anchoring me.“Look.At.Me.”

The quiet command cut through the chaos in my skull.

I met his eyes.

Concern lived there and beneath it was a kind of steel that promised violence if anyone bothered him.

“Whatever he was to you…whatever he did, it’s the past.What matters right now is right here,” he said it like he was reminding me of something sacred.His forehead dipped closer.“I won’t let him hurt you anymore.”

Somewhere behind him, distant and warped by the roar in my ears, Justin shouted, “Gia?—”

Timothy cupped the back of my head and kissed me.Not sweet.Not tentative.A claiming, grounding kiss that knocked every frantic thought clean out of my head and replaced them with one thing—him.

Air rushed back into my lungs when he pulled away.

“I’ve got you,” he said against my mouth, voice rough with conviction.“I swear it.”

Emotion hit so hard it hurt.My fingers lifted to his cheek, dragging over rough stubble, needing something real to ground me.For the first time all day, my mouth remembered how to smile.

He pressed his forehead to mine.“That guy is nothing to you now.”

“Gia…Regina!”Justin hollered.

Timothy jerked back, offended on my behalf.“Did he use the R-word?”

A startled laugh escaped me, half hysteria, half delight.“I believe he did.He uses it when I don’t listen.”

Slowly, Timothy and I turned.

Amy stood beside Justin, arms folded, looking entirely too entertained.In my peripheral vision, I caught Josh stalking our way with murder brewing in his expression.