“Oh, he’ll mind all right, but he’ll do it.”
What did that mean? She would have objected, but she really needed her bag. He pulled out his phone and stepped out of hearing range, as if he expected an ugly confrontation. The conversation didn’t take long.
“Done.”
That was a relief, but there was no guarantee the purse would still be there when his brother showed up. She tried to concentrate on checking in with the woman at the counter but the air-conditioning chilled her to the bone. She shivered. It was November. They should be blowing warm, not cold, air.
The receptionist did appear sympathetic about her missing purse. “Miss, do you have insurance?”
Beside her house payment and the utilities, she always paid that bill. She wished her mom had kept up her own insurance payments. If she had, she might have been able to afford counseling. “Yes.”
“Why don’t you sign in and perhaps by the time the doctor is able to see you, your purse will arrive.”
“Thanks.” Liz tried to grip the pen but with the bandage on her palm, she was unable to grasp it well enough to write.
Trax removed the pen from her hand. “Let me.”
Since her hand shook from the effort, she was willing to let him handle the small detail of filling out her registration. “Thanks.” She didn’t want to owe him too much, but how did one repay someone for saving one’s life?
He asked her a series of questions from the form. She gave him her name, address, phone number, and emergency contact person. She had him list Chelsea, as she really was the closest thing Liz had to a relative. The whole time, Trax’s expression didn’t change, even when she stated her age and marital status. He seemed as if he was used to doing this sort of thing.
After he handed the chart back to the receptionist, he led her over to the chairs. “Start from the beginning and tell me everything that happened.”
Well, I tried to kill someone today by drugging him first. I was bemoaning the fact the bastard didn’t even flinch when I gave him GHB, and as a result, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to where I was going. Out of the blue, a van tried to run me over. Oh, and by the way, you didn’t happen to see some dogs change into humans, did you?
“I’m not really sure. I had just left work and was walking to my car when tires screeched behind me.” She detailed how the van had run up on the sidewalk and then backed up before driving down the alley. She then told him how after the car stopped, two animals leapt from the van and charged. “Then you showed up.”
“Did you see the driver?”
“It was raining too hard to see much of anything. To tell you the truth, I was only thinking of not getting run over.” She should have noted the license plate and who was in the car, but she had other things on her mind.
She expected Trax to scold her for not being more observant, but his gaze was focused over her head as if he were trying to figure something out. “Where do you work?”
It was too late to lie. “At Au Pairs for U. Today was my first day.”
His eyes widened and his pupils dilated. Flecks of amber burst through them, and her feminine side thought she’d never seen a more beautiful man.
“Do like working there?”
“It was just one day.” How good he was at spotting a lie? “But it was okay.”
“Do you think the van was after you?”
Her mouth dropped open and she sucked in several breaths as her heart pounded. “No, why would it be?”
She’d tossed away the concept that Couch was aware she’d tried to lace his drink and had put a hit out on her minutes after Trax arrived. She really had no idea what kind of man Couch was other than he’d raped her mom. No one had filed criminal charges against him in the last twenty-three years that she could find, and from the glowing articles written about him, he was a model citizen. He’d married three years after the rape but that didn’t stop him from coming after her mom many more times.
The clinic door opened and she spotted her purse a split second before she noticed the man holding her pink bag.
The newcomer strode over with it slung over his shoulder and posed. “How do I look?” He stuck out his right foot as if he was some runway model, and she swallowed a giggle. He wore a loose fitting Hawaiian shirt over ripped jeans that topped black sandals. His long, dark bangs were wet and stuck out at odd angles, but he looked like the boy next door—the one every girl crushed on. The fact it looked like he hadn’t shaven since yesterday morning implied he didn’t care all that much about his appearance. What an amazing contrast to the man sitting next to her dressed in black wearing combat boots.