just had to check something out.”
The little boy didn’t respond other than to rub his eyes as though tired.
Dylan may have decided not to report the incident, but knew he wouldn’t forget it.
Pain. That was her first thought. Her first feeling. Her first moment of awareness.
It felt like shards of glass biting into her skull with relentless determination. Her eyelids fluttered, and she thought she saw someone seated on the chair next to her.
Why was she in bed?
Memories flitted back. Bits and pieces. A little boy. A school. A crosswalk. A speeding car.
And she’d pedaled like a madwoman to dart in front of the car to rescue the child.
A gasp escaped her and she woke a little more. The pain faded to a dull throb. Where was the little boy? Was he all right?
Cool wetness touched her lips, and she jolted to realize how thirsty she was. Greedily, she gulped at the water.
Awareness struggled into full consciousness, and she opened her eyes. Light filtered in around the closed curtains, and she squinted, her head sending warning signals.
Instead of listening, Paige pried her eyes fully open to stare into one of the most beautiful faces she’d ever seen. Aquamarine eyes crinkled at the corners, and full lips curved into a smile. She wanted to respond but was scared the movement would bring back the pounding pain.
The lips spoke. “Hello. Welcome back.”
Another sweet face pushed its way into her line of sight. A little boy about six years old. Solemn blue eyes stared at her. His lips didn’t smile, but a lone wrinkle on his forehead alerted her that he was worried about her.
With an effort, Paige forced her lips to curve upward. “Hi,” she whispered.
The 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.”
