"We both will," I say, wincing as I shift in the uncomfortable chair.
"Come on. You have to be hurting after hopping out here the way you did. Let's get you back inside."
She stands and moves to my good arm, leaning down to help me up from the chair with no real support. I'm weak as a newborn, but I'm careful not to rely on or lean too heavily on Lindsey's smaller frame.
Lindsey and I make the awkward trek to the door, pausing every few steps so I can catch my breath.
"I can go get your chair. Wheel you around to the front."
"Too much trouble," I say, panting for breath as we finally make it to the railing. "Let's just do this."
I make the first step, no problem. The second is harder and takes two tries to clear. The last step into the house has us tumbling through the door. Lindsey is gasping and laughing as she tries to counter my off-balance spill, and we wind up face-to-face, her arms around me and head tilted back as she looks up at me.
Everything inside me stills. The pain fades to dull throbbing aches I ignore. I'm captivated. Struck by the light and amusement in her eyes. Her features. She's beautiful. I noticed her the first moment I set eyes on her in Bronwyn's bookstore, and right now, I can't look away.
"Are you okay?"
She sounds breathless, and the huskiness trips me up. Makes me think of kissing her senseless and whether she'd sound the same way after I let her up for air.
I rein myself in. Professional. I have to keep things professional. First because she's Gabe's—my best friend and the chief—family, but also because she's carrying a baby and trying to figure out her own life.
And if that's not enough, she's temporary and unsettled, and now's not the time. I have to get back on my feet. Take care of my girls. Figure out what I'm going to do if my leg ends my career. I have a family to provide for, and they come first. Always. Any feelings I have for anyone outside of them? Not the priority. "I'm fine."
Lindsey stills as though sensing the sudden tension riddling me, and I watch the change overtake her features. The awareness I feel for her in this moment? It's there. On her face, her expression. But I also see fear and indecision and more than a little guardedness as walls go up behind her eyes. I can't blame her there. We're both reeling from the results of recent life events.
"Chair," she says, her frosty-green gaze sliding away from mine.
She shifts back to my side, and we continue to the recliner, every step bringing me the scent of her. The feel of her against me.
Because when it comes to the future and her?
Forbidden doesn't begin to scratch the surface.
Wanting Lindsey is already dangerous. But having watched her throw herself in front of danger to protect my baby girl?
The line I've been trying to keep between us just got a whole lot thinner and harder to hold.
Chapter
Fifteen
Lindsey
"So? How's it going? I have to say you don't look so good, Linds. Is everything okay?"
Bronwyn's questions strike harder than they should, because she's not wrong. I crossed past tired a while ago, and pretending otherwise is getting harder by the day. Sometimes the minute. "I'm just tired."
Bronwyn's expression softens from worry to empathy.
"You need to rest more. If staying with the girls and Kace is too stressful?—"
My mind goes to the fear of Dani's near miss, and I fight the roll of my stomach. "It is a lot, but I'm fine." I flash a smile and hope it reassures her. "I just never realized the first few months of pregnancy are so exhausting—or that kids are so quick."
Bronwyn's eyebrows knit over her eyes. "Did something happen? What do you mean by quick?"
I explain the ordeal with Dani and watch as Bronwyn's expression turns to horror.
"Oh, thank God she's safe," Bronwyn says, a hand lifting and pressing to her chest as though to slow a racing heart.
