He inhaled deeply as the world pulled into sharp focus, his brain, his body registering every detail as though the world was moving in slow motion. He could hear his own heartbeat, see the faint tremor in Krista’s hand as she stared the thug down with an unwavering gaze. He wanted to reach out and grab her hand, tell her he’d gotten himself out of worse clusterfucks than this, reassure her that he’d keep her safe.He remained silent, motionless, his muscles coiled as he waited, ready to spring into action at the first opportunity.“I think we do it anyway,” said the smaller thug, who gave a smug laugh and reached down to give his groin a squeeze.The big guy shot his cohort a nasty smile, and in that nanosecond of distraction Sean launched. He dove at Krista, knocking her to the side out of the beam of light, and rolled after her. The big guy yelled and the spray of the semiautomatic kicked up puffs of dirt on the ground next to him.A hot sting erupted in his calf. Sean ignored it and shoved Krista in the direction of the car.
