LITMIR.BIZ

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wrinkle smoothed, and she thought she saw the beginnings of a smile before it disappeared.

      The hand over hers squeezed. “You saved Will’s life, you know.”

      She had? Will. The little boy had a name. “Oh. Good.” Her smiled slipped into a frown. “I was afraid I couldn’t do it. That car …” She licked her lips, and the man reached over Will’s head to pick up the cup. He held the straw to her lips, and she took a long swallow.

      “Thanks.”

      He set the cup back down. “I’m Dylan Seabrook. This is my nephew, Will Price.”

      The name jolted her. Doing her best to keep her expression neutral, she simply smiled at him. She wanted to nod but didn’t dare. “Hello, Dylan, Will.” She focused on the boy. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”

      “And he is, thanks to you. I tried …” He swallowed hard. “There’s no way I would have been able to reach him in time. The crossing guard gave the all clear. Every day, I stand on the sidewalk and watch him cross to the waiting teacher who leads that group into the school.” His voice had a raspy sound to it, and she realized he was doing his best to keep his emotions from overflowing.

      Closing her eyes, Paige could see the racing car coming closer, hear the roar of the engine …

      She flicked her eyelids up. “Did they catch him? Whoever was in the car?”

      Dylan shook his head. “No. He—or she—never stopped. And we were all so focused on getting you help that no one even got the license number.”

      She sighed. “Well, I’m glad Will is okay. That’s all that really matters.”

      “Why didn’t you have a helmet on?”

      Paige couldn’t stop the flush that crept up her neck. Quite sure her cheeks were a rosy red, she said, “Because I—” She cut her eyes to the child who watched her with such a solemn expression. “I should have. It was very irresponsible of me not to have the helmet on. I got in a hurry and didn’t grab it and then didn’t want to go back and get it.” She grimaced. “I won’t make that mistake again. So—” she fingered the IV in her left arm “—when do I get to get out of here?”

      “We’ll go tell the doctor you’re awake.” He took the boy’s hand. “Come on, buddy.”

      But Will pulled his hand from his uncle’s and slid it into Paige’s. Shock darkened Dylan’s eyes, then they brightened and she thought she saw a flash of … hope?

      “Will?”

      But Will didn’t budge. Paige smiled around the sharp throb of the headache that had started to put in an appearance. “He’s fine. He can stay with me if he wants to.”

      Uncertainty flickered on his face, then he shrugged. “I’ll only be a minute.”

      Paige breathed in and took a moment to wonder if her cover was blown. Her boss wasn’t sitting in her hospital room, so that was a good thing. Her mother may have been contacted, but she wouldn’t show up. A pang of hurt zipped through her before she could throw up the barrier that normally kept those kinds of thoughts at bay.

      She’d given up on a relationship with her mom at the young age of eighteen when she’d left home to find her way. After a rocky start, she’d finally landed at the police academy and worked her way into her current position.

      An agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, she was on call for the state of North Carolina, too.

      Being away from home didn’t bother her. There really wasn’t anything for her to miss. Her best friend was her job.

      But a tiny part of her admitted she was lonely.

      The small hand in hers squeezed, reminding her that she wasn’t alone right now. A small shot of warmth coursed through her, and she squeezed back.

      “So, Will, how old are you?”

      He simply blinked.

      “Hmm … don’t want to talk, huh? Well, that’s okay, I guess I’m still a bit of a stranger, aren’t I? Maybe you can just nod?”

      The door opened before she could continue the one-sided conversation, and Will’s uncle entered, followed by the doctor and a nurse.

      The dark-headed man smiled and said, “I’m Doctor Land. Glad to see you’re awake.” His chocolate eyes smiled at her.

      “Thank you. So, when can I leave?”

      “You had a pretty hard conk on the head.” He consulted her chart. “I think we need to keep you for the night, just for observation.”

      Paige grimaced. “I have a job I need to get started on.”

      He was already shaking his head before she finished the sentence. “No, ma’am. You’re in great shape physically, so the healing process should be pretty quick for you, but no working for a few days until we make sure there’s nothing else going on with your head. We went ahead and did a CAT scan, and everything look okay, but head wounds are tricky. You need to take care.”

      “She will.”

      At Dylan’s bold statement, Paige blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

      He swallowed and flushed. “Sorry, I didn’t meant to sound like I had any right to tell you what to do, it’s just that—” he shuffled his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets “—I feel a little responsible and just want to … um … help. Will you let me?”

      Unsure how to respond, Paige simply looked at him. She racked her brain for an appropriate response, but she couldn’t very well tell him the real reason she needed to get to the school and get started in her job as guidance counselor. “I … uh … sure. I guess.”

      A smile finally crossed Will’s little lips, and his grip tightened once again. She hadn’t realized he still held her hand. He was so quiet. Not like other kids his age she’d been around. And she’d been around a lot during the training that taught her how to question children exposed to trauma.

      “So, you want to take care of me, huh, Will?”

      A nod so slight she thought she might have imagined it moved his head.

      A sharp, indrawn breath from the boy’s uncle made her glance his way. Shock and joy stood out on his handsome face making her wonder what was going on.

      “Hmm. Well, let me think about it and I’ll let you know.” She had to contact Charles and let him know that she was okay. He’d be chomping at the bit at the fact that she hadn’t checked in with him in over a day. She wondered how many voice messages he’d left on her phone.

      The doctor flipped her chart closed. “There’s a whole army of reporters outside wanting to talk to you. Apparently, someone called the local news.”

      For the first time since she’d awakened, a chill of fear shot through her. She couldn’t talk to reporters. Staying alive meant maintaining her cover and keeping her face out of the limelight.

      If the wrong person found out what she was doing in the town of Rose Mountain, she would wind up as dead as her fellow agent and friend, Larry Bolin.

      TWO

      Dylan had been so focused on the fact that Will had responded to a question that he almost missed the flash of … what? … that crossed her face at the mention of the reporters. Fear? Consternation? Something.

      “You don’t want to talk to the reporters?” he asked. “Everyone is saying what a hero you are.”

      A flush crept up her neck causing her white cheeks to pinken. “I’m not a hero. So, please, tell them just to go away.”

      He glanced at the doctor who shrugged and said, “Okay. I’ll tell security to handle it. Now, let me check you out.”

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