A Heart to Rescue (3 page)

Outside, a black sedan was sitting at the curb with the engine running. As soon as they emerged from the bar, the driver jumped out of the car and came
around to their side
. He opened the back door and gestured to them.

A hand on the small of her back pushed her gently toward the car. Mel’s thoughts were frozen. Too much had happened in the last ten minutes. It was
as if
she was in some kind of dream.

She ducked her head to get into the car, and waited until Nate settled in next to her and the driver closed the door. She turned to him.

“
What did you say to them?”

“It’s nothing you need to worry about. Suffice it to say, if they feel the urge to put the urge to put their hands on another
server again
, I will find out and
come back to
kick their asses.”

It had been a long time since a man had stood up for Mel, so she had no idea how to react. On one hand
,
she was slightly mortified by the whole macho show, but
,
on the other hand, it kind of turned her on. “
Who the hell are you?”
she asked.

“You helped me today, Mel. Now I’m going to help you.
Tha
t’s really all you need to know for now.
”

“That seems too simple,” Mel said suspiciously. She was sure if she blinked the car and the mysterious man beside her would disappear.

Nate shrugged, “No ulterior motives here.
I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but y
ou seem to have trust issues.”

Mel did have trust issues, but she wasn’t about to tell Nate that.

“Where
to?” the driver said as he slid
into the front seat.

Nate looked at her.

“224 Park Place,” Mel said after a short pause.

Nate’s eyebrows shot up, but he said nothing. Mel knew what he was thinking. Park Place was home to many of
Spring City’s
young, up and coming professionals. Rents were high, the
condos were small, but the street
was modern, chic, and exclusive. Everything that Mel used to think was important.

Not willing to engage in any more small talk
with Nate
in front of the driver, Mel tried to relax into the luxurious leather. She had a lot of things to work through, not the least of which was trying to forget the stink of Bud’s breath as he closed in for
the kill.

As the car turned onto Park Place, Mel felt her heart start to beat faster. She didn’t know what to expect from Nate at the moment, and her mind was still reeling from the fact that she had been assaulted and allowed herself to be talked into quitting her job in the same afternoon.

The car glided to a stop outside her condo’s building
,
and she felt Nate’s hand cover hers. “You okay, Mel?”

A rush of tears to her eyes surprised her. She wiped them
away
and nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you
for helping me. Those guys are
complete morons.”

“
You never have to see them again. Besides,
I did what anyone would have done,” Nate replied.

“Except for Max.”

“Max didn’t seem like the type
to help anyone
but himself.
You’re better off out of there.”

Mel couldn’t disagree. There was a short pause, and she
started to fidget. Deciding that she couldn’t delay the inevitable
any longer
, she
reached
for the door handle, but the
door opened before
her fingers could grasp it
. The driver moved fast she though
t
with chagrin.

Nate’s grasp tightened on her other hand, drawing her attention. “I still owe you a job.”

“I’ll find one,” Mel said
nonchalantly
. The job at Rumbling
Rock had been perfect for her because it had allowed her to hide from everyone in her old life. That would be the hard part to replace. She was confident she could find a waitressing gig just about anywhere. “It’s fine.”

Nate reached up and cupped her chin. “I’m not the type of guy to shirk my responsibilities. Let me take to you dinner
,
and we’ll discuss it. Once I know what you’re looking for, I’ll line something up. It’s no problem.”

Mel’s brain short-circuited the moment that his skin touched hers and so his follow-up comments barely registered. As soon as they did, she tried to figu
re out what they meant. Was his invitation
a date or a job interview?

“Who are you again?”
she asked.

“Again, just a guy helping you out because you helped me,” Nate said with a chuckle. “Are you free later tonight?” His hand dropped away
from her face
.

“Um
, I was supposed to work until 9pm tonight, so I guess so,” she said uncertainly.

“Good. I have to go back to the office and take care of a few things. How about I pick you up at 7:30pm?

“Okay.
” Mel felt as if
her life was
spinning
out of
her
control.

“I’ll take you to one of my favori
te places. Nothing fancy, but definitely a
few steps up from the Rumbling Rock.”

Mel groaned,
“That’s
doesn’t take much
.” She was already cataloging her closet tr
ying to figure out what to wear
. That exercise alone could
eat up the
hours
until Nate came back to get her. “I guess I’ll see you at 7:30pm then.”

Mel started to lift her foot out of the car, but
then stopped. “How about you at least tell me your last name?”

Nate smiled. “Only if you tell me yours.”

He was flirting with her. She was sure of it. “Jenkins.”

“Billings. Nate Billings,” he said with a smug grin.

The name was familiar, but she couldn’t immediately place it. She couldn’t wait to get to her condo and scour the internet for information on this man who seemed to good to be true.

“Thanks again, for today,” she said.

The smile fell from Nate’s face and was replaced with one of concern. “You don’t need to thank me. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,” she said with a small smile and then pushed herself out of the car. She nodded to the driver and made her way around the car to the building entrance.

The doorman, Peter, was watching her with a mixture of interest and suspicion. She knew from experience that he was the biggest gossip in the building. By nightfall, everyone would know that a mystery man in a black town car brought her home.

“Ms. Jenkins. You’re home early today,” Peter said with a nod as he opened the door for her.

She looked back over her shoulder and saw that the town car still sat there
. It was oddly comforting to think that
Nate was ensuring she made it safely inside. She had no idea where he had come from, o
r what brought him to the Rumbling
Rock that afternoon, but
she was glad for
the reason,
whatever it was.

“Thank you, Peter,” was her only reply. She wasn’t going to give him one iota of information for him to spread to
her nosey neighbors.

For the moment, Nate Billings was the only thing on her mind. She hurried to the elevator. She didn’t have much time to investigate her white knight.

Mel glanced at the clock. 7:20pm. She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt and then dragged her hands away. She pushed herself up off the couch and went into the bathroom for the third time to check her make-up. The mirror revealed the same image that it had on her previous trips.

She had taken to wearing her hair up in messy ponytails around the same time she went to work at
Rumbling Rock
. Tonight, she let her
chocolate brown
locks hang loose, coerced by a curling iron into large bouncing t
endrils that framed her face. Her hair fell just below
her collarbone
and she knew it was one of her best features
.

H
er make-up was flawless, although she dabbed a bit more gloss onto her lips from the tube in her purse. She smoothed the lines of her dress down her body and over her hips. Although she tried to run at least four times a week, there had been a slight thickening in her waist and an extra roundness to her breasts that wasn’t there six months ago. The
lavender
sheath dress accented her curves, but she was still annoyed with herself for not monitoring her food and exercise as religiously as she did before.

Of
course, if this wasn’t a date,
then she shouldn’t care if Nate liked
the kind of
thin, emancipated waifs who graced the magazine covers
versus a woman with luscious curves
. Mel had never lacked for male attention, but it had been a long time since she was around a man like Nate, and her skills were rusty. She hoped that she didn’t make a fool of herself.

Leaving the bathroom, she glanced at the printouts on her
desk next to the computer. Nathan
Billings name rang a bell
in her memory
earlier because he was the owner of the three newest and hottest restaurants in town. She remembered eating at
the flagship store, Desert Palms
, right after it opened. Th
e unique thing about Desert Palms
was that once the dinner service was done, the restaurant turned over into a nightclub. She vaguely remembered
going there right after it opened and
drinking too much and dancing in the middle of the crowded dance floor until the wee hours of the morning
.
Those were the days when she did everything she could to avoid coming home because
she and
her ex, Harrison,
were almost constantly fighting
.

Shaking off that memory,
Mel reviewed what else she learned about Nate Billings. He was from C
alifornia, but had moved to Spring City
after his divorce
was final
about eighteen months ago. His success with the three restaurant
s in town wasn’t by coincidence. O
ver the last decade he had cultivate
d a reputation as a highly-paid, in-demand
restaurant consultant. He had
opened and operated more than two
dozen restaurants and clubs in various parts of the country. His expertise was in high demand, and when he decided to settle in Spring City and open his own chain of restaurants under his personal brand, the restaurant industry was miffed.

On the romantic front, o
ver the years, he had been linked t
o several actresses and models. There
was always a lovely
young
woman on his arm at every grand opening event.
Then about three years he got married, and then was divorced just over a year later. Mel couldn’t find anything at all about the reason the marriage ended almost before it began.

The net effect was that Mel had no idea what would have b
rought a man like Nate to Rumbling
Rock
that Monday afternoon
. But when he said he had
industry
contacts and could help her get a job that was obviously true. Mel figured that he would try to offer her a job in one of his restaurants, wh
ich she planned to refuse. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the idea of working for him.

The buzz of the intercom rang out and caused her to jump. She crossed the room and pressed the button next to the door. “Yes?”

“Do you want me to come up?” The question, spoken with a heavy undertone, brought a wave of desire
crashing
over her. She wondered i
f he had any idea the effect his voice had on
women.

“
No,
I’ll be right down,” she mumbled. She
didn’t invite him up because
she c
ouldn’t trust herself not to do
something stupid like throw herself at him
. She snatched
one more look at herself in the hallway mirror, smoothed an imaginary strand of hair down, and then grabbed her clutch from the
small table underneath the mirror.

Riding down the elevator moments later, she reminded herself to breath. It was just dinner
. It wasn’t an official date
. She had to calm down. The elevator doors slid open, and she found Nate leaning casually against the security desk. He straightened as he saw her and a pleased grin crossed his face.