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changed his face from golden-boy charmer to frightening bad dream. Every line in his lean swimmer-sculpted body now poised for domination, and she took a step back. Fast as a cobra strike, he lashed out and gripped her elbow. Pain shot through her arm but she refused to flinch, to give him the satisfaction of seeing her hurt. When she didn’t do the girly-gasp that got him off, he tightened his hold.
    Jason had never actually touched her in anger before. His normal pattern was to yell, slam stuff around and hit inanimate objects until she got scared enough to shrink into herself. When she cowered, he gloated. Then he calmed down, apologized and swore to never lose his temper again. This time he was no gloat, all glare.
    “You are not leaving me.” The dead certainty in his flat tone rang through her bones like a funeral dirge. Her heart leapt to her throat and she swallowed it back along with an instinctual squeak. She had left him and this was why she’d left, why she’d walked away. His outbursts were coming too frequently, too unpredictably. He’d pulled his arm back to hit her once but stopped. It was only a matter of time if she’d stayed.
    She might have left him but he wouldn’t leave her . Every day, he came and cajoled, pleaded, and he always watched her. Jason loomed over her life like a chilly shadow, touching every aspect but not really ever leaving an imprint. No matter how many times she told him to leave her alone, he never went away. It was another reason she had taken the job offer in Michigan.
    He thought she had cold feet. What she had was a good, solid case of save-your-own-ass-itis. Tugging free from the bruising grasp on her arm, she spied a flash of movement over Jason’s shoulder. Bram’s brows were drawn tight and his mouth slashed thin. Oh shit, I don’t want him mixed up in this . Softness seeped into her chest. Bram was the type of nice guy who would naturally come to a woman’s defense, even if she had just shot him down. He was one of the good guys.
    Her gaze locked with his and he arched one brow in a silent “want some help?” move. She really didn’t, wanted to handle this on her own, but she wasn’t stupid. Jason had crossed a huge line into Scary Stalkerville. Everyone else in the Laundromat averted their head. No one wanted to get involved. Swallowing her pride, she bobbed a quick nod.
    Bram casually walked around the counter as if he’d done it a million times and dropped a light kiss across her mouth, protectively putting himself between Jason and her. “Hey, lady.”
    The taste of his kiss and the gentle welcome in his voice soothed her, music for her savage bitch of a headache. The smile she sent him wasn’t forced or stiff in the least. For one long minute, she simply stood there, soaking in the feel of his embrace, the summer warmth of his skin. She had to tighten her lips to prevent I’ve missed you from slipping out.
    “Who the fuck are you, buddy?”
    Jason’s snarl planted a wicked idea in her head. She shot a fast glance at Bram and a short prayer above. Nothing else seemed to get the message through Jason’s thick skull that they were no longer a couple. Maybe a good old-fashioned lover would do the trick.
    Okay, she was using Bram again, she knew it, but damn, she’d almost forgotten how nice his hands felt sliding around her waist, how perfectly she fit in his arms. She hiked her voice to candy-sweet and casually waved a hand in Jason’s direction. “Honey, this is Jason, my ex. Jason, this is Bram, my…uhm…”
    Deliberately drawing out the introduction, she plastered a sassy smile on her lips and bumped Bram’s hip with hers. He caught on like a forest fire and pulled her deeper against his chest.
    “I really hate the term boyfriend.” He sighed in mock exasperation. “Can we just leave it at lover?”
    Jason glared at where Bram’s hands rested on her waist. His nostrils flared with the noisy breaths he sucked in, and she wondered if this was