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Cora felt numb. That was the only way she could describe what was going on. She was covered in cuts, bruises, and dirt, and yet she didn’t feel a thing. She’d lost her heels somewhere in the alley and she could tell her feet were torn up, but there was no sensation. Her mind was moving so fast, she had no idea what she was even thinking, but her chest felt dead.
She’d watched a man die tonight. Or at least, she’d heard him die. Then the men who had done the killing tried to take her out as well. And Harlan, she reminded herself. At that thought, she looked up at her hero. Seeing his handsome face brought a flutter to her belly, helping her believe that she might yet make it through this...whatever it was.
Harlan stopped just outside a pharmacy and looked around. “Can you wait here while I grab bandages and stuff?” he asked quietly.
The numbness was immediately gone and full-fledged panic took over. Cora put her hands over her chest and began to gasp for breath. “Please...don’t leave...me,” she rasped, grabbing his shirt with one hand. The thought of waiting in the dark by herself consumed her and all rational thought fled.
“Okay, okay.” Harlan quickly wrapped his arms around her and brought her into his chest. His warmth cascaded over her and her legs promptly gave out. Harlan tightened his hold, keeping her upright. “If I carry you, we’ll only attract more attention,” he whispered against her ear. “Do you think you can walk?”
Cora grit her teeth and nodded, willing her body to go back to the numb state it had been in before. Slowly, she regained control of her muscles and locked her knees. Once she felt steady, she stepped away from Harlan’s embrace, ignoring the screaming of her mind that he was her safe place.
Harlan’s lips pulled up on one side and he nodded. If Cora didn’t know better, she would have thought he was giving her his approval, but she knew that was a pipe dream. She knew she wasn’t handling this well. He must think I’m the biggest wimp or even worse, a burden!
That thought brought another stabbing pain to her chest, but she ruthlessly shoved it away. Now was not the time to dwell on how stupid she’d been. They needed supplies and she had to be able to walk to get them.
Hand in hand, they went inside the building. Luckily, at this time of night there were very few patrons, but Cora could feel the eyes of the few people that were there on her and Harlan. She did her best to ignore them, but the back of her neck itched with the effort.
“Chin up,” Harlan whispered. “If you act like nothing is wrong, most people will believe you.”
“I don’t think we can hide that something is wrong,” Cora whispered back. “Both of us are bleeding, my clothes are torn, and I’m not wearing shoes.”
Harlan glanced down and frowned. “What happened to your shoes?”
Cora almost rolled her eyes. For someone who acts like a superhero, he sure misses the details. “I lost them somewhere as I was running. Heels and speed don’t exactly go hand in hand.”
He grunted and started filling their basket with the supplies they needed. Bandages and disinfecting creams. Next, he grabbed some protein bars and drinks. He glanced down. “We need to keep up our energy.”
Cora nodded, but scrunched her nose at the food he chose. Why does the healthy stuff always taste like cardboard? she lamented. She wisely kept her thoughts to herself, knowing it was not a time to argue. If it meant outrunning the guys who shot at her, she would eat a thousand of those nasty things.
After taking one more detour to grab a pair of flip flops, Harlan led her to the front and paid for their supplies. Cora kept her head down the whole time, doing her best not to make eye contact with the young teenage boy who was studying the two of them like they were going to rob the place.
“Looks like you’ve had a rough night,” the clerk said slowly.
Harlan raised an eyebrow and the boy shrunk into himself. If Cora wasn’t still reeling from the events leading up to being here, she would have laughed at how easily Harlan had caused the young man to back off, but just as with everything else, humor had lost its appeal at the moment.
As they went outside, Harlan’s head immediately whipped around from side to side, trying to take in the whole scene, and the reminder that they were running for their lives sank back into Cora’s stomach.
Her heart rate reacted immediately and her breathing became rapid and shallow. “Harlan?” she gasped, clutching her chest. She felt as if she had no control over her body and the sides of her vision were starting to get blurry.
He looked down and his eyes widened. “Cora.” Dropping the bag of supplies, he cupped her face. “Stay with me. Just for a little bit longer. Come on, honey. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. That’s it. Fight it, Cora. Fight it.”
Cora’s eyes were trained on his, and with every breath, she worked to force her body to relax, to slow down and match his. She felt as if she were drowning in his gaze. His eyes matched the sky on a sunny day and she had always found herself partial to the color. Growing up, they had been bright and full of mischief, but now they were haunted and dull. Without conscious thought, she found her hand rising to cup his cheek, stroking the blond stubble on his cheeks.
The intimate touch lasted only a moment before Harlan cleared his throat and dropped his hold, stepping back from her reach. “Better. Now. Let’s get to a hotel.” He grabbed her hand again and took off down the street.
They didn’t have to walk much farther to find a place to stay, but by the time they arrived, Cora’s feet had just about given out. She felt as if the plastic top of the flip flops Harlan had bought were trying to cut her toes in half, and the bottom of her feet felt like shredded meat.
After another standoff, this time with the night clerk, Harlan finally took her up to the room. Once they were inside and the door bolted, Cora allowed herself to collapse. All the emotions she’d been holding back during their escape came rushing to the forefront with a vengeance and completely overwhelmed her.
She curled into a ball, shaking and trembling as if her body was going to fall apart. Tears slipped down her cheeks and she gasped for air from lungs that were trying to squeeze the life from her.
For several moments, she thought she was going to die. Why? she screamed internally. Why did I survive the bullets only to now die from a panic attack?
There wasn’t a single part of her body that wasn’t aching, but when a warm presence surrounded her, lifting her into an embrace, Cora found that slowly, her body relaxed into the hold.
*****
HARLAN HADN’T KNOWN what to do when Cora suddenly collapsed to the floor. She was shaking so hard, it sounded as if her teeth were going to shatter from the impact. He’d seen similar sights before, soldiers who had broken into panic attacks so severe, they had nearly lost their rational minds, but never quite so emotional as the beautiful woman lying at his feet.
He could hear her struggling for breath, and the sight of her tears drove a stake through his heart. She’s kept up with me all night. It’s no wonder that she’s finally broken down. She’s never experienced anything like this before. She’s never seen the darker side of life. Even working in our office hasn’t prepared her for this.
Not knowing how else to help and unable to watch it continue, Harlan knelt down and wrapped his arms around Cora. Lifting her high enough that he could get under her, he settled back against the wall, set her in his lap, and tucked her head under his chin as if she were a little child. Keeping one arm wrapped tightly around her, he used the other to rub circles on her back.
“Shh...” he whispered. “I’m here. You’re safe. Everything is going to be okay.” He murmured soft words for close to twenty minutes before he felt her shaking begin to subside. Her soft form relaxed into his chest and Harlan found himself relaxing with her. She felt so good against him. She felt like everything he had ever wanted and everything he’d never let himself have.
Just once, he told himself. Just for tonight. She needs me. I can hold her for now and no one will think anything of it. It doesn’t mean anything except that she’s scared and I’m here to help. That’s all this is. A friend helping a friend.
Harlan knew that no matter how much he told himself those words, he could never just be a friend to her. She’d gotten too far under his skin. But she also couldn’t be anything more. I won’t saddle her with someone like me. We’ll get her through this and then I’ll back off again. That’s the least I can do for her.
After a few more minutes, he realized her breath had slowed and deepened. Her weight slacked and it was easy to tell she had fallen asleep in his arms. Conflict raged through Harlan. He wanted nothing more than to keep holding her, but if he was going to save her, he had work to do, and he couldn’t do it while his arms were around the only woman he would ever love.
Regretfully, he worked himself up the wall until he was able to stand. Shifting her in his arms, he walked to the bed and carefully tucked her in, working extra hard not to wake her. She’s been through enough tonight.
When he pulled a blanket over her, she sighed and curled into a ball. Harlan felt his lips twitch in amusement and he couldn’t resist the urge to run the back of his fingers across her silken cheek.
A small mewling sound escaped and Cora moved into his touch, causing Harlan to jump back. He shook his head and forced himself to get more distance between them. She already confessed her heart once tonight and I crushed her hopes. Giving in to the chemistry between us would only hurt her more.
Grabbing his cell phone out of his back pocket, he went into the bathroom and closed the door. With a fortifying breath, he created a conference call for his two brothers, Ridge and Sawyer. The three men were triplets and Harlan knew he needed to let them know what was happening before anyone else.
“Har?” Sawyer answered first. “Why aren’t you home?” he demanded. Sawyer and Harlan still lived together, though Sawyer was engaged to be married. Ridge had married the year before, but didn’t live that far away.
“Hang on,” Harlan said. “I’m also getting Ridge on the line.”
“There better be a good reason why you called me this late,” Ridge said with a yawn.
Harlan grunted.
“He’s got us on three-way,” Sawyer supplied.
“What?” Ridge’s voice sounded alert. “We haven’t done this in forever. What’s going on?”
“He hasn’t come home yet,” Sawyer added.
“Okay,” Ridge growled. “Somebody better start talking right now.”
“If you both would shut up, I would,” Harlan said in exasperation. He leaned forward from his perch on the edge of the tub and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.” He sighed. “Cora was nearly killed tonight—”
“What?”
“How?”
Harlan waited for their exclamations to calm down before he continued. “Look, I’m trying not to wake her up at the moment, so please don’t make me shout to be heard.” The men quieted down again. “She and I...had a disagreement and she ran out of the firm. A few minutes later, she came tearing back in, looking frightened, and I ended up tackling her to the ground when someone shot through the front door.”
Harlan could hear soft cursing on the other end of the line, but he didn’t know who was talking.
“Where are you?” Sawyer asked, his voice dark and hard. “I can come get you.”
“Any idea who would have shot at her?”
“We’re holed up in a hotel for the night,” Harlan said. “I haven’t gotten the full story yet, but I took us out the back of the building before the police arrived. I’ve already talked to Darrin. He told me to keep her safe for the night. They have no witnesses, a dead body in the alley—”
This brought on another round of exclamations that Harlan had to wait out.
“Tomorrow we’re going to the station and Darrin said he would have a way to get her into witness protection.”
“But you don’t know what happened?” Ridge asked.
“No. She was in shock for the first while, then had a breakdown once I got us into our hotel room,” Harlan explained. “While I was helping her through it, she fell asleep.”
There was a long pause before Sawyer spoke up. “Okay. Follow Darrin’s orders. We’ll plan on checking in tomorrow. Meanwhile I’ll go look at the crime scene.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Ridge piped up.
“You two be careful,” Harlan said. “If anyone saw me, they might not know the difference between the three of us.”
“Got it,” Ridge said. “You take care of Cora, you hear? She needs you right now, not your stoic ‘I refuse to fall in love’ self, but the real you. The one that cares.”
Harlan stiffened. He’d never told his brothers what had happened during his imprisonment. Which meant he’d also never shared why he stayed away from Cora. And now was definitely not the time to explain it.
“I’m taking care of her,” he stated.
“Good.” Ridge paused. “Are you okay? Were you hurt?”
Harlan eyed his sore arm. “I’m fine.”
Both brothers scoffed. “Make sure whatever is wrong gets taken care of, huh?” Sawyer said. “We know that trick.”
Harlan couldn’t help but grin. “On it. I should go. I’ll talk to you both tomorrow.” They hung up and Harlan grabbed the medical supplies to start cleaning up his arm. Just as he was wrapping the bandage around it, Cora screamed.
Rushing into the room, he found her thrashing around on the bed. “Cora,” he said, shaking her shoulder. “Cora!”
Her eyes opened, but they were wild. “Harlan? Oh, Harlan!” She sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was shaking again and he wrapped his arms around her. “Please don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone.”
Easing onto the bed, Harlan set her on his lap and once again went to work calming her down. It was easier this time, but once she was back asleep, he found his eyes growing tired. He hadn’t slept well in two years, but right now with her warm body against his, he felt every muscle in him relax. For just a moment, he reassured himself. I’ll just close my eyes for a moment, then I’ll move.