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I can do this.

I can do this.

I can really do this.

Jenny pushed open the heavy glass door of her hotel and pulled her scarf tighter. It was only four blocks to the coffee shop to meet Jada. She could do this. The last three days when she’d gone to get coffee, CiCi and Lark had met her at the hotel and walked with her. This was the first time she was walking alone. But she could do it. She wasn’t a little baby.

Oh, for God’s sake, enough with the bullshit talk. Of course I’m not a baby. I’ve lived all over the world. I’ve managed teams of twenty or more people. I’m competent. I can walk four blocks!

She went out into the crush of bodies and turned left to start walking. She realized she was going too slow as everybody passed her, and she got jostled. She needed to speed up, if she didn’t want to be pushed around. There we go, now she was actually passing people. Not bad. The wind hit her sideways and her hair got in her eyes. She brushed it out of the way.

Wham.

“Look where you’re going,” the big bald man said after he practically mowed her down.

Jenny gripped her purse tighter to her body, not caring that her ribs now hurt. She was just glad she hadn’t fallen.

She choked back an automatic ‘I’m sorry’. Because she wasn’t. It was his fault. Anyway, ‘I’m sorry’ was no longer in her vocabulary.

I’m a survivor. Fuck the assholes.

She looked up and realized she was at the first crosswalk. After that, just two more blocks and she’d be at Coffee Time. She hoped that Jada was already there and had grabbed a table. Jenny started to walk faster. The light must have turned since the crowd of people was shoving forward. She could hardly breathe with all the bodies pushed together and the scent of wet wool coats. She blindly followed along. As soon as she got to the other side, she shuffled toward the nearest building that had an empty entryway and took a moment to breathe. She just needed a moment.

Okay, now she could handle it. She entered the group of pedestrians again and headed down to the next corner. She sped up. This time she was going to be at the front of the mass of people crossing the street. She was going to see what was going on, and not be in the middle of a herd. It took some doing, and she had to throw an elbow or three, but she made it to the front.

Jenny waited impatiently for the walk sign, knowing that she would have to be careful of the idiots taking right hand turns at the last moment. But she saw Coffee Time on the corner. She saw Jada in the coveted window seat and she waved, and Jada waved back. Boy did she need a hit of caffeine. Just how long was she going to have to wait at this light?

Her entire world shifted in slow motion as hands shoved her in the middle of her back. She didn’t utter a sound as she slammed into the hood of a blue sedan taking a right-hand turn. Her body felt liquid as she slid back down onto the pavement. Her hip and shoulder smashed into the concrete first, then her head. Some unconscious need for survival had her arms covering her head and yanking her knees up to her chest, trying to make herself the smallest target possible. But even then, Jenny knew she was going to be run over.

All sound stopped and time stood still as she waited for her death. Nothing. Then she heard the shriek of brakes and the scream of people.

So many people talking.

Somebody touching her.

Moving her.

It hurt.

“Jenny, can you answer me?”

“Jada?”

“Just stay right here. An ambulance is on the way.”

Coffee.

She’d been going to get coffee.

“What the fuck happened?”

“You need to calm down.”

Was that Brax? Why was he mad?

“Can you open your eyes?”

“Tell me what happened. How in the hell did she end up in the hospital? I thought you were taking her to coffee.”

“Miss Rivers, I need you to open your eyes.”

Oh, I’m supposed to open my eyes.

Jenny tried, but it felt like there were weights on her eyelids.

“Can’t. Tired.”

That didn’t sound like her.

“Try again.”

That sounded better. She tried again. She opened her eyes and saw a young woman bending over her. “Can you follow this light?”

Jenny watched the light.

“You’ve got a good-sized bump on your temple.”

Jenny lifted her head.

“Whoa. Why don’t you lie back.”

“Why did you cut my clothes?”

“You were pretty banged up. We needed to see where you were hurt,” the young woman said.

“Are you a doctor?”

“Yep. How are you feeling?”

“Everything hurts. What happened?”

“You were hit by a car.”

“I was?” Jenny tried to remember being hit by a car, but all she remembered was waving to Jada.

“Yes. We’re trying to determine the extent of your injuries. We’re going to send you up to radiology for some tests, and then we’ll know more.”

“I think I heard my friends out there. Can they come in?”

“No, they’ve been sent to the waiting room. They can come and see you when your tests are done and we have a room here in the ER for you.”

Jenny’s heart lurched. She didn’t want to have to be in a hospital alone again. It had been horrible being separated from Brax when she first came to America.

“Are you sure that I’ll see Brax after the tests?”

“Is he your boyfriend?”

Jenny nodded. Hoping that would mean more, so they would let him in sooner. Or maybe she was just saying that because it was something to make her feel better, to take away the pain.

“Now tell me what the fuck happened.”

“I was waving to Jenny, and the next thing I saw was her lurching forward into this car. It made no sense. She wasn’t walking into it like she wasn’t paying attention to traffic or something. She was shoved.”

Brax watched and listened as Jada recounted what had happened. There wasn’t any way that he didn’t believe what she was saying. He knew the woman. She lived for details. If Jada said that Jenny had been shoved, then Jenny had been shoved. But why in the hell would anyone want to shove Jenny into the oncoming traffic?

“I had to ask,” Brax started.

“I know you don’t want to believe it,” Jada said. “I didn’t want to, either. But there isn’t a doubt in my mind that she was pushed. The problem is, it happened so fast, and there were too many people behind her, that I didn’t see who did it.”

They moved out of the way as a woman with a sobbing child tried to get past them. “Let’s go outside,” Brax suggested. The amount of coughing and sneezing people in the waiting room was getting on his nerves. He knew that they were good for at least a half hour before they would be called back to see Jenny.

As soon as they were outside, Jada started talking. “I called Gideon after I called you. He said he had to finish something up with Kostya, then he would be here.”

Brax nodded. He appreciated the fresh air. He could finally breathe. Ever since Jada’s call, he’d been out of his mind with worry. Even though Jada had said that Jenny wasn’t badly injured, he had to see for himself.

“Can you think of any reason that someone would target Jenny? Or is this some rando?” Jada asked.

“The only people after Jenny have been reporters, but they wouldn’t be pushing her, they would be stopping her to get a story.”

“What about her old company? Gideon told me she had a case against them. Has she hired an attorney?”

Brax shook his head. Jenny didn’t want to get into something like that. She was just beginning to recover from the kidnapping, let alone dealing with any kind of restitution from New Era Cyber Tech.

“Why not?” Jada asked. Brax could see the bloodlust in her eye, and he gave a weak laugh. “Seriously, Brax. Why not? Those assholes hung her out to dry. She should be all over that. I know I would be.”

“You would be what?” Gideon said as he stepped up behind his fiancée.

“I would be suing the hell out of Jenny’s company if they had known what a risk it was to stay in Bangladesh and then didn’t pay the ransom. I would be milking them for all they were worth.”

Gideon slid his arm around Jada and she leaned into him. “I know you would. I don’t think Jenny is up for that quite yet.” He looked over at Brax. “How’s she doing?”

“They were sending her up to radiology when they kicked us out of the ER. Supposedly they’ll let us know when she’s been given a room in the ER.”

“Not with that mess.” Jada nodded toward the room inside. “We’re going to have to be bothering the coordinators every five minutes for updates.”

“Let’s offer to buy them coffee and make it every ten minutes. How about that?” Gideon suggested.

“I like every five minutes,” Brax said as he headed back into the waiting room.

“I’m her fiancé,” he lied to the nurse. “She’ll want me in her room.”

“The doctor is waiting to get her admitted. Your fiancée hit her head. We didn’t see any significant brain swelling, but we want to keep her for twenty-four to forty-eight hours for observation. She also reinjured her ribs, so whatever gains she might have made when it comes to pain management, have been set back.”

Fuck.

“She said she is staying at a hotel?” The doctor gave him a curious glance.

“She was,” he nodded. “Now she’s staying with me. I’ll be able to take care of her. When I’m at work, my sister will be able to look in on her.”

The doctor smiled. “That will be ideal. We still don’t have a bed for her upstairs, so we can’t admit her yet, but let me take you back to where we have her set up in the ER.”

Brax nodded and followed the woman.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

He had no idea how Jenny was going to take his unilateral decision that she was going to move in with him. As he passed by the closed ER doors where other patients were, he realized he didn’t give a damn. He should have demanded that Jenny stay at his house as soon as she was released from the hospital five-and-a-half weeks ago. He had no idea where things were headed between the two of them, but goddammit, it sure as hell wasn’t just friends, that was for damn sure.

“Miss Rivers, we have a visitor. It’s your fiancé.”

Jenny looked up. For a split second she looked confused, then she saw Brax over her doctor’s shoulder.

“Well, it’s about time my fiancé showed up. I’ve been wondering where you were.”

She was magnificent. She might have just been hit by a car. Still scared to go out alone. But her mind was a steel trap.

“They’ve been keeping me away while they’ve been checking you out, Darling.”

“Darling, huh?”

The doctor laughed. “I’ll leave you two alone. Someone will come and get you when there is a room available. I’m glad to hear that you’re moving out of the hotel and in with your fiancé.” She walked out of the little room and slid the door closed.

Brax stepped up to the head of the bed and put his knuckles underneath her chin so he could tip her head up and get a good look at her injury. He winced. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got hit by a car.”

“Stop it. I’m serious.” He studied her green eyes, trying to gauge her level of pain. But like she had in Bangladesh, she was hiding it.

“I hurt. My head hurts, but my ribs feel like they’re on fire. Same old, same old.” Her husky laugh brushed across his nerves, soothing him after his panic. “So, you’re my fiancé and I’m moving in with you. You move fast, Walker.”

“I’m a SEAL, it’s in the job description.” She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything foolish like protest, he continued. “Jada is positive someone deliberately pushed you into the car. I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all. I want you with me, where I can watch over you. It’s either you stay with me, or I sleep on the floor of your hotel. Are you really going to do that to me?”

She sucked in her lip and looked up at him with a pensive stare. “I don’t want to put you out.”

“You won’t be. I promise.”

“You told me that you like having your space. You admitted that on one of our first phone calls. You said that was one of the reasons you never had a long-term relationship.”

“You’re different. You don’t get on my nerves. As a matter of fact, I like talking to you, and the few times that we’ve spent time together face-to-face, I’ve enjoyed the hell out of it. I relish the idea of having you in my space. But maybe you don’t. You’ve been a loner all of your life. Maybe you don’t want to stay at my place for a while.”

“You make me feel safe. But can I be honest?”

He watched as she tried to sit up and winced.

“Hold on, let me lift the bed.”

She winced some more as he lifted the head of the bed. “Do I need to call the doc for some pain meds?” he asked.

“That’s the last thing I need right now. God knows what I would be saying.”

“Are you saying that you would be even more honest?” he teased.

“Shut up and let me talk. All I was going to say is that you’ve come to mean a lot to me. I’ve been trying to work things through in my head. If it is because you were my rescuer, or if it is because you are who you are. Are you sure you want someone who has their feelings tangled up about you, hanging around?” The last part she asked in a husky whisper, and Brax felt the words down to his toes.

Fuck . How could he get so lucky? But she was right, he wanted to make sure that how she was feeling was truly about him, Brax, and not some guy who helped to rescue her. Was she seeing the difference between them?

“Say something,” she pleaded.

“Then I think you living with me is the perfect thing for you to work things out. If you still feel like you care about me when you see me sitting on my couch for hours at a time in my underwear playing video games, then we’ll know it’s the real thing.”

“Do you order in pizza with anchovies?” she asked hopefully.

“Anchovies, pineapple and tuna.”

Jenny burst out laughing. She continued to laugh even when her hand went to her temple to massage against the pain. “If. If. If you’re in boxer briefs I might look past the tuna, but if you’re wearing tighty-whities, then all bets are off.”

Brax threw back his head and laughed.

That was how an orderly found them when he opened the door to say they had a room upstairs for Jenny.