All She Wants for Valentine's Day: A Contemporary Erotic Romance Story (All She Wants #3) Read Free Page A

ME. ” A few of the nearby diners had turned to look at the commotion. The waitress had come over with the bill, but she now held back hesitantly as she watched the scene unfolding.
     
    Ryan calmly stepped out of the booth and held out his hand to Tanya. “Come on,” he said, “we’re going.”
     
    She stood up, but immediately had to jump backwards as Warren made a drunken, lurching grab for her arm. He missed badly, and stumbled into the back seat of the booth. “No, babe, come with me!” he cried, and stood up to grab for her again.
    He never got the chance. In a smooth motion, Ryan stepped between Warren and Tanya, and grabbed him by the wrist as he reached for her. “That’s enough, buddy.” Warren looked surprised by the intrusion, and tried in vain to shake his warm out of Ryan’s firm grasp.
    “Lemme go,” he said indignantly, struggling to get free. “Lemme go!” After a second or two of this, he cocked his left arm and tried to throw a wild punch. It landed harmlessly on Ryan’s chest.
    Ryan looked at Warren the way you might inspect something stuck to the bottom of your shoe. “Alright, you’re done,” he said calmly. In the next moment, he’d suddenly turned Warren around and pushed his arm up under his shoulder blades. “Let’s go.” He marched him towards the front door of the restaurant, where two police officers happened to be standing.
     
    “Officers,” he said, “This man tried to assault my girlfriend. I think he’s had too much to drink.”
     
    The policemen only had to take one look at Warren to confirm what Ryan was saying. “Yeah, we saw this guy walk in just now,” one of them said. “I knew he looked like trouble.”
     
    Suddenly, Warren started yelling maniacally. “Tanya, you good-for-nothing, worthless loser!” he cried. “I never loved you! You ugly tramp! You filthy slob!”
     
    “All right,” said the police officers, “that’s it!” They pushed him to the ground and threw a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. They hauled him up to his feet, and pushed him out through the door.
     
    “Thank you, sir,” said one of them to Ryan. “We’ll take it from here.”
     
    As they walked outside, the whole restaurant started cheering. The waitress came over again. “Dinner’s on the house!” she said to Ryan. “Thank you so much!”
    “It was nothing,” said Ryan. He wasn’t smiling, because he noticed that Tanya was still standing over by their booth, shaking uncontrollably. He ran over to her and took her in his arms.
    “Shhh,” he said. “It’s all right. He’s gone now.”
     
    She was so shocked with adrenaline that she couldn’t say anything for the moment. She just grabbed onto Ryan and held on for dear life, letting the stress of what just happened slowly ebb away from her.
     
    When she could finally speak again, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She looked up into Ryan’s tender eyes. “I can’t believe that just happened.”
     
    “I can see why you left him,” he said. “That guy was a total dirtbag. He must have treated you like crap.”
     
    “You don’t know the half of it,” she replied. She was still shaking with anger, but feeling incredibly relieved that Ryan had been there to step in and handle the situation. She looked up at him again. “Thanks, Ryan,” she said. The words felt insufficient to convey all the gratitude she felt. She paused a moment, letting a quick smile flash across her face.
     
    And then, without even thinking about it, she leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips.
     
    As soon as their lips made contact, it was like the world around them disappeared. The kiss felt so natural, so right – to say they felt “sparks” would be a huge understatement. Ryan’s soft lips felt heavenly against her own. All thoughts of what had just happened fled instantly from Tanya’s mind. All she could think about was kissing him again… and again.
     
    Finally, he pulled away, the look in his eyes