With the wind, his umbrella was doing very little, but it was something.
The woman, who had been curled up on her side, shielding her face, pushed up to sit. “See, I’m okay. I’m not hurt. I just need a minute to catch my breath and I’ll be fine.”
Colton wasn’t convinced she was able to think clearly. Often after experiencing trauma, it took a while for the brain to catch up. That was how shock worked. She might not even realize it.
“What’s your name?” he asked again, trying to assess her mental state.
She shook her head, which either meant she didn’t want to disclose it or she couldn’t remember. Neither was a good sign.
Since she hadn’t answered his question, there was no choice but to have her cleared medically before he could let her go, even if she could walk away on her own, which he highly doubted at the moment.
“I’m just going to get somebody here to take a look at you, and if everything’s okay, you’ll be cleared in no time. In the meantime, you can wait inside my vehicle and get out of this weather.” He’d noticed that she’d started shivering.
He slipped out of his rain jacket and placed it over her shoulders.
The woman looked up at him and their gazes locked. His heart stirred and his breath caught.
“Makena?”
* * *
WATER WAS EVERYWHERE, flooding Makena Eden’s eyes and ears. Rain hit her face, stinging like fire-ant bites. She blinked up and stared into the eyes of the last man she’d expected to see again—Colton O’Connor.
Still reeling from taking a wrong turn into the road and being clipped by his sport utility, she felt around on her hip.
Ouch. That hurt. She could already feel her side bruising. Mentally, she tried to dust herself off and stand up. Her hip, however, had other plans, so she sat there, trying to ride out the pain.
“I just need a minute.” There was no other option but to get up and fake being well. She had no job, no medical insurance and no money. And she couldn’t afford to let her identity get out, especially not on a peace officer’s radio. Then there was the other shock, the fact that Colton was kneeling down in front of her. How long had it been?
“Not so fast.” Colton’s eyebrow shot up and he seemed unconvinced. He was one of the most devastatingly handsome men she’d ever met, and her body picked that moment to react to him and remind her. This was turning out to be one red-letter day stacked on the back end of months of agony. One she’d survived by hiding and sliding under the radar.
“I don’t want you to try to move. We need to get you checked out first.” He snapped into action, tilting his chin toward his left shoulder to speak into his radio. She could hear him requesting an ambulance. For a split second, she wondered if she could run away and get far enough out of sight for him to forget this whole situation. Wishful thinking. It was so not good that he knew her personally. Granted, he knew her before she’d become Mrs. River Myers, but still...
Panic squeezed her lungs as she tried to breathe through the building anxiety. She couldn’t let her name go down on record. She couldn’t have anything that would identify her over the radio.
“I promise that I’m not broken. I’m shaken up.” Before she could say anything else, he put a hand up to stop her.
Water was dripping everywhere, and yet looking into those cobalt blue eyes sent her flashing back to her sophomore year of college. The two of them had been randomly hooked up as partners in biology lab. Even at nineteen years old, it was easy to see Colton was going to be strong and muscled when he finally filled out.
Now, just seeing him released a dozen butterflies in her chest along with a free-falling sensation she hadn’t felt since college. She could stare into his eyes for days. He had a face of hard angles and planes. Full lips covered perfectly straight, white teeth.
Looking at him was like staring at one of those billboard models. The man was tall. Six feet four inches of solid steel and ripped muscle. The only reason she noticed was the survival need at its most basic, she told herself. She was in trouble and had to assess whether or not Colton could defend her.
Icy fingers gripped her spine as she thought about the past, about her past. About River. Stand still long enough and it would catch up to her. He would find her.
Colton might look good. Better than good, but she wouldn’t let her mind go there for long. There were two things that would keep her from the attraction she felt, other than the obvious fact they’d had one class and a flirtation that hadn’t gone anywhere. A badge and a gun.
Copyright © 2020 by Barb Han
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ISBN-13: 9781488067754
Toxin Alert
Copyright © 2020 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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