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Shay batted her eyelashes. “Wow, is Roman ‘I Hate the World’ Devlin actuallysmiling?”she breathed. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

Roman was about to reply when his head whipped in Paxton’s direction, the humor on his face shifting into patent concern. “Pax!” he called.

Paxton had gotten to his feet and was currently marching with Chance past all the aisles, standing on his tiptoes to scan the signs above each. He paused and looked at Roman over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“Where you off to?” Now that he was finished cleaning, Roman moved onto the gauze. Shay bit her lip as he began wrapping a clean strip around the pinky and ring fingers ofher right hand. Gods, that stung. She needed extra-strength painkillers, stat.

“I’m looking for snacks,” Paxton responded, his face a portrait of innocence. “I’m hungry.”

“We can find some together when I’m done. I don’t want you wandering off, okay?”

“But there’s a chip display right there.” He pointed at an end-cap closest to the aisle of coolers.

“You can go to the display, but don’t go down any aisles. I need to be able to see you.”

Paxton gave him a salute before skipping to the potato chip display and scanning all the flavors. “Meatball?” he muttered, wrinkling his nose. “Gross. What are these companies on?” Bags crunched as he made his selection.

Shay slid her attention back to Roman. His dark hair hung in his eyes as he meticulously wrapped and rewrapped her fingers, making sure everything was perfect in typical Roman ‘Perfectionist’ Devlin fashion.

“What are your thoughts about what happened at the Wanderer?” she whispered.

Roman glanced at Paxton, who was popping open a bag of chips and cramming a handful into his mouth.

“Mmmm!” Pax’s voice echoed through the quiet store. “Sour cream and onion’s the bomb!” He tossed one into Chance’s mouth. The pup promptly spat it back out and gagged so hard, he made Paxton laugh.

“I’m thinking I’ll get him on double the suppressants,” Roman responded in a hushed tone. He taped the gauze into place. Sighed. “If that happens again…” He trailed off, shaking his head.

He might kill us,Shay finished in her mind with a shudder. It had taken Paxton a while to calm down and return to his bubbly self, and he still wasn’t quite there. Hunting for potatochips was a good start, but Shay sensed that the kid was still deeply bothered by what he’d done at the motel and was trying desperately to forget about it by drowning his sorrows in salty snacks.

“Have you ever seen anything like that before?” she asked.

“No.” He tossed another glance Pax’s way. “And I never want to see him go through that again,” he added quietly. “Not at his age, at least.” The deep horror that had crossed Paxton’s young face upon realizing what he had done… Shay understood exactly why Roman was deciding that doubling his dose of suppressants was the right route to take.

They fell into silence as Roman finished his wrap job. After a moment of checking his work, he released her hand.

“How does that feel?” he asked her.

“Better.” She’d have trouble holding a gun for a couple of days, but at least she wasn’t gushing blood anymore. “Thanks.”

Roman’s eyes met hers—briefly. “You’re welcome,” he mumbled.

Shay tried to slide off the counter?—

Her heart jumped when Roman pinned her in place with a big hand wrapping around the front of her thigh. “Hold up, I’m not finished,” he said. He removed his hand from her thigh. “I need to— Your face, it’s… You’ve got a bunch of blood on it still.”

She cleared her throat. “Right. Sure.” The warmth of Roman’s grasp lingered on her thigh. She wanted him to grip her there again. Wanted him to touch her like he had outside of the Wanderer, when he’d cupped the back of her neck. When he’d looked at her as if he cared.

As if he might kiss her.

She held still as he wet a fresh rag with saline solution and cleaned her face. The blood that was caked beneath her nose, her brow, her split lip—he missed nothing. The longer he worked, the fiercer his expression became.

“I fucking hate them for touching you,” he blurted.

There her heart went with the leaping again. What was the damn thing doing in there, jumping rope? “The feeling’s mutual,” she replied, eyeing the bruises and cuts all over his handsome face.

Their gazes clashed again.

Roman froze, his hand that held the rag hovering over the corner of her mouth.