Chasing Ava: A Bachelor of Shell Cove Novel (The Bachelors of Shell Cove) (3 page)

The night had just began, the last remnant of daylight now hidden behind the moon and Ava was here. He could not have planned an infinitely better night.
 

Chapter 3

She was trapped. Ava scanned the ballroom, arms crossed over her chest as Randall Lester lifted his shifty gaze from her breasts to meet her eyes. Since entering the ballroom, she’d danced with fifteen high-heel donned staff nurses and Spencer, the sole male pediatric nurse on her unit. Surprised at seeing her, the group welcomed her to their loosely formed soul train line. Pleased with her decision to stay at the gala, needed energy surged through her veins. Ramping higher with each twirl on the dance floor. Seven disco hits and one Electric Slide later beads of perspiration covered her forehead. Needing to rehydrate, she broke ranks to grab a mini bottle of water from the open bar before taking a standing position near the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
 

Then Randall found her. The euphoric feeling at being out of the house extinguished with the swiftness of a glass container dousing a candle flame. His herculean frame crowded her personal space. He was too close. He had effectively formed a coffin with his body and sealed her inside. Swallowing several times. Ava told herself to breathe.
 

“I can admire the view can’t I, Ava?” He flashed a crooked grin as he conducted a slow perusal of her body. The mixture of smoke and hard liquor made his breath acrid and hot. She averted her face dodging the next foul breath as he spoke.
Think of an exit plan
.
 

“I enjoyed watching you on the dance floor, little doll. Seeing you here tonight is the highlight of my evening. Your confirmation was absent on the final guest list on Friday.” He quirked a brow in question. Knowing that he had looked for her confirmation sent a sickening tremor through her gut.
 

“You have beautiful penmanship. That was the first thing I noticed on your employment application all those months ago. Your career goals piqued my interest in you even more. You really poured your passion into the response. I’ve been monitoring your progress. As a friend, I am more than willing to lend my support to your efforts after a reasonable amount of time under my tutelage.” His tutelage, no doubt, included late nights in horizontal studies.
 

Menace wafted from him, a repeat of their previous encounter. From their initial meeting, her sixth sense had screamed to stay clear of him. He’d watched her that first day at the personnel office. When their eyes met, her natural inclination was to smile in greeting. The predatory glint in his eyes stalled the smile from taking shape on her lips. Rumors about Randall’s inappropriate attentions were noteworthy among the nurses on the unit.

The offer of support did little to veil the threat of sabotage. His words hung in the air, a verbal guillotine looming over her dreams. Thoughts of escape flooded her mind. She tightened the hold on her body, pressing her nails into her shoulders. Tighter she squeezed herself, staving off the shiver that snaked down her spine. The jeweled straps of her stilettos bit into her ankles, the muscles in her calves contracting in sequence as she shifted from one foot to the other.
 

“I own a private tower suite. You and I can talk about helping each other.” Ava pressed her back into the wall as pure villainy consumed his possum-like features. She shook her head, rejecting every word he uttered.

“I’m not going anywhere with you. Please leave me alone,” she said, shrinking against the unyielding wall at her back. Though delivered as a whisper she was hopeful that
nothing is ever going to happen between you and me
was conveyed. She sounded pitiful to her own ears. A coward. There was a time when she was confident and didn’t hesitate to speak her mind. Six years ago she would have confronted this schoolyard bully masquerading as an executive. That was before she’d learned to be afraid.
 

A wide, toothy animalistic grin spread across his bearded face. There was a hint of something sinister behind that grin. He stepped closer narrowing the distance between their bodies. The synthetic stench of his cologne permeated the thin layer of air that served as her last safety barrier.
 

“I appreciate when a woman says please. And you will say please or that professional endorsement you need may never materialize.” Her pulse raced, her heart pounded against her rib cage as the breath seized in her lungs. Her eyes shot to his face, wide and frozen.
 

“Surprised? I’ve done my research RN Walters. This partnership will be beneficial to both of us. You’ll learn to like what I have planned for you.” His facial expression communicated the savagery behind his innocuous words.
 

 
The “you’ll like it” phrase must be highlighted in the depraved male handbook. The same words Marcus would say before he’d hurt her.

This is your fault
her internal
voice accused. She applied a mental brake to the self-berating rant. This was not the time for a mental breakdown.
 

Faced with limited options, she would not be a sheep led to slaughter. Lina’s laughing face mocked her from the dance floor. She and Jace danced to a popular tune, while she was suspended in a living nightmare, looked on.
 

“Get away from me.” The scar to her lower lip started to burn. The sensation reminded her to modulate her tone. Men get angry when women raise their voices. She trapped the now thin ridge of scar tissue between her teeth hoping to halt the sensation. The burn increased to the point of pain, she applied more pressure.
 

The tree trunks that doubled as Randall’s arms were planted on either side of her body caging her in place. He must have been a mountain of muscle in the distant past. The firm muscles had long since vacated his physique and the bulk had remained. He could pluck her out of her shoes and swallow her whole before the partygoers realized she was gone.
 

“Make me.” Physically, she was helpless against his brute strength. “No one is coming to save you.” He taunted. Who would rescue her? These people didn’t know her. Not really. She was nobody compared to Randall. The man was responsible for all staff hires at SCMC. He had power. Power he had no qualms about abusing.
 

Movement in her periphery had her turning her head to the right. She could hear the blood pulsing through her veins as a hard knot tightened in her stomach.
 

Oh God, his hand moved. He’s going to touch me.
 

The old fears surged with renewed power
.
Threatening to overtake her. Her mouth opened but not a hint of sound escaped.
The impending touch had her rapid heartbeat revving to an erratic pace that strangled her next breath.
 

Get away from him.
 

Her body had the response of a plastic doll, lifeless and unresponsive. She was incapable, yet again, of heeding her own call to action.
She closed her eyes trying to calm her breathing. She willed herself to think beyond the panic.
 

Dear God, please don’t let this happen to me.
Not again.
I can’t fall apart in front of these people.
She wanted to sob
.
 

What choice did she have? She could hear the revelry in the ballroom; see the smiling faces of people she knew. People who didn’t realize they were blind witnesses to her emotional unraveling. She froze their jovial faces in her mind, then disconnected. A barely audible “help me” passed her lips as she allowed her eyes to drift shut.

 
Something was wrong. Ava’s body language was incongruent with the woman Logan had come to know. She wasn’t smiling. She always wore a smile. He registered the creased brow, the arms crossed protectively over the chest, the nails digging into her skin, as if she were purposefully trying to make herself smaller. The frantic eye movements gave the appearance of a frightened animal. The expression on her face had his jaw clenching.
 

Meanwhile, Randall’s massive body cocooned Ava’s smaller frame against the wall. Randall’s reputation as a talented businessman with questionable tactics preceded him. Had Ava come to the party with him? No. Relief flooded his system easing some of the tension. Ava was not involved with anyone. He would have known. Hospital gossip spreads faster than a fungal infection.

A surge of jealousy entangled with anger ran through him. He suppressed it and any contemplation regarding the emotions he felt when he looked at Ava. Women and emotions were a lethal combination. Even now, his heart increased a few beats.
 

She appeared to be searching every inch of the dimly lit ballroom. Her teeth were hard pressed into her lower lip. He could see she wanted to be anywhere other than where she was. Randall would have to be a blind man if he could not see the tautness in her body. His fists tightened in response to her distress. Something was wrong with Ava, and Randall was the reason.
 

Every protective instinct he had rushed to the surface. Rebecca stood between him and Darwin. His family worked the key players in the room campaigning on his behalf. The cameras were rolling. He made a split second decision.
 

“Darwin take Rebecca home.” Without waiting for a response he brushed past them, taking long, powerful strides in Ava’s direction.
 

The closer he got to Ava the more rigid his body became. Half way into his approach, her eyes fell closed, but her lips moved. He thought it odd, but continued to maneuver through the crowd in her direction. What if his assessment of the situation was wrong? No better way to find out, than to insert himself into the equation. He studied his opponent on approach. Randall had him by thirty pounds of flab. The man was a huge block of soft Florida pinewood. Was he considering physical defense against another man because of a woman? Not any woman. Ava.
 

In his gut the truth rang out. He’d flatten Randall without hesitation.
 

“Ava.” Her eyes sprang open at the sound of her name. Randall’s gazes turned in Logan’s direction. One look at her expressive face and he knew he was right to intervene.
 

Logan extended his arm, hand open, palm side up. He didn’t touch her. It would be her choice to accept or reject his offer. “I’ve been waiting for you. We have a date on the dance floor, remember.” The life raft was in the water. Would she climb aboard?

Chapter 4

 
She knew the owner of that coarse, sexy baritone. The sharp, deep tone was a double shot of espresso to her pulse rate. Ava looked up and locked gazes with Dr. Logan Masters. Her mouth felt dry, her stomach dipped. Clear signs that she was in close proximity to him.
 

What was he talking about? She would never agree to dance with him. Short of diving under a bed, she did everything professionally acceptable to minimize contact with Logan. To control the sizzle over her skin whenever she looked in his eyes. The increasing pulse rate she experienced had everything to do with being in Logan Masters’ presence. Precisely why she avoided sharing his air space. But tonight, his presence equaled shelter from the storm. The grip of fear slowly gave way to an infusion of common sense. He offered an “escape the pervert” card. He’d orchestrated a rescue for her.
 

Moving closer to her side his heat pushed away the chill lapping at her skin. The black on black suit showcased his broad shoulders better than the lab coat he usually wore at work. He was a series of sharp, clean angles. His sculpted sinewy build was covered in hand dipped bronze skin. The chiseled angle of his jaw, with a full mouth and a well-defined bottom lip perfect for kissing, had her burying her head in a chart every time he spoke. His arrow straight nose that flared slightly at the nostril framed by those piercing green eyes that never failed to steal her breath when they were aimed at her. If only Ava’s problem with him was limited to simple physical attraction.
 

She prized the entire sun warrior package. His mind, the powerful build of his body, the man himself. The thick, close cropped blonde locks cut with precision at the nape, was a stark contrast against the black collar and his tanned skin. She drank him in. Her throat wasn’t parched anymore. The sight of him had her mouth watering. He looked more handsome, more powerful, more decadent, more…everything.