Page 9 (1/2)

She looked up from the cradle of his protective hold Their faces were so close together She’d never dreamed a man would put himself physically between her and har his job, it was more than anybody else had ever done for her

"I’asped The cables holding her car had snapped Now her sedan was completely in the ditch, tilted drunkenly on its side This time when Eli picked her up, she didn’t protest

As he carried her away, she couldn’t tear her eyes away froht of her totaled car

ELI PULLED UP to his parents’ house and turned off his truck He’d already called his mom so she knew to expect them He just wasn’t sure what to expect from himself

He hadn’t asked Kay’s opinion about what to do or even entertained the idea of taking her to her parents’ house His brain had been taken over by some dominant instinct to protect her That meant he wanted her where he could keep an eye on her

Kay took her seat belt off and turned to face hiht to yell at hiht to et us I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to do" She leaned over and squeezed his arm

He looked down at her hand in surprise She quickly took it back "Sorry Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks"

After a few moments of aard silence, he could only respond with "You’re welcome"

Kay pushed open her door and hopped down There was a muffled curse as she half slid, then fell He pushed open his own door and rushed around the truck to help her

"Be careful It’s pretty high"

"Yeah, and I’ed and pulled open the back door "Can you get her down? I don’t want to take a chance that Ithe car seat It’s pretty hard to carry as it is"

Eli reached up into the truck and unhooked the car seat froht of hi squeal Eli laughed, unable to help himself When was the last time anyone was that happy to see him? He tickled her under the chin and lifted her down

It was still startling to see howof her as "the baby" But now she was soeyes Her brown skin was the same warm shade as her mother’s, and her short, silky black hair had transfor how quickly babies changed How they looked at birth was usually nowhere close to how they looked just a few months later