They’d moved to the living room. Kevin sank into the couch, his busted ribs sore from Dani’s rough wake-up from a nightmare last night. He didn’t want to tell her that, though. She may have been physically strong, unnaturally so, but emotionally she was fragile and he didn’t want to do anything that might make it worse. He’d told her he wanted her to stay so she could have time to heal after being in fights, and that was true. Her spirit needed healing, too, though, and he didn’t know how to help her with that.
Dani unwound the towel from her hair and left it on a barstool. Even with damp, uncombed hair, no makeup, and wearing a plain t-shirt and pants, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her tawny skin suggested a blended racial heritage, as did the slight narrowing at the corners of her dark topaz eyes. She ran her hands through her long mane of night black hair in an effort to tame it. Kevin sucked in a breath, remembering the silky feel of that hair last night when he’d held her. She’d been so vulnerable, crying in his arms. All he’d wanted to do was take care of her. Not take advantage of her. And he wouldn’t do that now, either.
It was clear Dani needed a friend, not some hound dog lusting after her. Even though he was pretty sure she’d been checking him out earlier, and damn, hadn’t that felt good.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have made it sound like I would only help if you told me your secrets. That was shitty.”
“I didn’t think you meant it that way.” She sat on the floor with her back to the wall, between a book case and Blue in Green, the painting she’d admired yesterday. “I do think you understand that it’s better if you don’t know anything about me.”
“I know a few things. You’ve been on the streets for at least a few months. You’re on the run. You rush headlong into danger when you hear someone scream for help.”
“That sounds dramatic.”
“Believe me, when you’re the one screaming for help, it is fucking dramatic.”
She cast her gaze to the floor.
“You don’t want to tell me how. Okay. Will you tell me why?”
Shadows darkened her brown eyes to black.
“There’s got to be a reason for why you risk your life like that for total strangers. I’d just like to know what it is.”
Dani met his gaze, an unexpected hardness etched in her features. “Why? What difference does it make?”
Kevin raised his hands in frustration. She didn’t owe him any explanations, he knew that. So why did he keep pushing? It wasn’t like him. None of his reactions to her were normal for him.
Okay, inviting a beautiful woman into his home, that was totally like him. But this level of curiosity and concern was new. It wasn’t that he was an insensitive jerk, not exactly, but he was very good at finding temporary partners who were also only looking for something short term. Women who weren’t looking for a commitment any more than he was, who liked to have a good time and leave it at that.
Not that he was looking for even that much from Dani. He didn’t know what he wanted with her, why he wanted to know her secrets. It wasn’t to expose her, that was for damn sure.
Maybe it was as simple as having a crush on the woman who’d saved his life.
“Forget it,” he said. “Just because I’m curious doesn’t mean you owe me any explanations.”
“Yeah, and just because I helped you doesn’t mean you should blow it out of proportion.”
“I’m hardly the only person you’ve helped.”
She gave him a look that raised the hair on the back of his neck. “What do you mean by that?”
If she was on the run, she wasn’t going to take this well. But if she was really in danger, she needed to know. “People in Cabrini have been talking about you. That a person in dark clothes, a hoodie hiding their face, sometimes shows up to help people. A scream for help, and then you’re there.”
Dani pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “You heard that working in the shelter’s kitchen?”
“Yeah, but not just there.” Kevin sat up and retrieved a tablet from the coffee table. “From local social media.” He woke the tablet and tapped the icon for his Twitter app. “You’re a hashtag, Dani.”
She screwed up her face in confusion. “The hell does that mean?”
He thought about that for a moment. “You used my phone to access the internet. Did you ever check Twitter or any other social network?”
“No.” She looked away.
“But you know what they are, right?”
“Yeah. Sort of. I haven’t exactly had access to that kind of thing.”
Kevin laughed. “What, have you been in a hole in the ground for years?”
With an almost unnatural speed and grace, Dani rose and stalked to the sofa. Brown eyes gone black with anger, she snatched the tablet from his hands and glared at the screen. Kevin sank back into the cushions, slightly unnerved by how downright frightening she could be at times.
A column in the app was devoted to following the hashtag #CabriniGhost. Dani scrolled through the tweets, her anger transforming to horror. “This is…this is public? Anybody can read this stuff?”
Kevin nodded. “It’s also searchable.”
A sharp intake of breath. The tablet shook in her hand. “So if somebody was looking for anything unusual in this general area…”
He stood then took the tablet from her. “Sooner or later, they’ll find out about the Cabrini Ghost.”
“I’m not a ghost.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “I’m not…” Her hands fluttered in the air like nervous birds unable to take flight. “I’m still a person. They didn’t take that away from me. I didn’t let them.”
Kevin took her hands in his. She held on tight, as if needing an anchor. If that’s what she needed, that’s what he would be. He pushed away his own shock at the thought and gently pulled her into an embrace. Adding to his surprise, she didn’t resist.
“I’m sorry I didn’t think to tell you sooner.” He spoke just above a whisper as he stroked her hair. “My head’s been kind of foggy lately, to tell the truth.”
“I have to get out of Point Sable.”
A pain hit him deep in his chest that had nothing to do with broken ribs. “I know. We’ll have your new identity soon. I promise.”
She pulled away. “It may not be safe for me to wait. The people looking for me, the stuff about the Ghost will be a giant red flag for them. As soon as they come across that, they’ll know I’m here.”
“They’ll know you’re in Point Sable but that’s it. And they’ll be looking in Cabrini, not a downtown penthouse. You’re safer here, and you’re better off waiting for the ID.”
Dani stepped away, arms wrapped around her midsection. “It needs to be soon.”
“I’ll call my friend, set up a meeting for when she gets off work. In the meantime, we’ll work on the stuff she needs. I’ll take a picture of you. You can sit down and figure out a name and all the other details.” Kevin shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans to keep from reaching for her again. She was leaving. He didn’t need to get used to touching her. Plus he was too damn old for a stupid crush. The very thought of it was absurd.
He wouldn’t miss her. Not at all.
“You said your head’s been foggy. Did you get a concussion that night?”
He held up his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “Just a little one. I’m fine. Just…I don’t know. Not quite myself.”
“You never had anything like that happen before?”
“No.”
“It can mess you up for a while.”
The sound of their laughter as the gangbangers kicked him still echoed in his head far too often than he’d ever admit to anyone. Waking up drenched in sweat, on the verge of a shout. The nauseating terror he’d felt at being back at the shelter. Yeah, it had messed him up, but he would deal with it.
Dani offered no advice or words of comfort. “I’ll think about a name.” She left the room and slowly climbed the stairs. Huddled into herself as if she wanted to make herself as small as possible. Clearly she had some shit of her own to deal with. Kevin stood there for several minutes, debating whether to follow her up the stairs. See if he could get her to talk. Ultimately he abandoned the idea and settled in with his laptop.