Page 57 of Kiss Me Forever

He couldn't allow the wordloveinto his vocabulary. It was the gateway to pain, and he'd had enough pain. A voice inside his head suggested that Andrea might be worth the risk. But he had other things to worry about besides love. He couldn't forget that Andrea had the potential to destroy more than a few people. She knew he'd lied about his parents dying in a car accident. He needed to stop her from finding out the rest.

* * *

By the time his wrist was set in a cast and he was released from the hospital, nearly two hours had passed. It was almost eleven when a nurse wheeled him into the waiting room. Andrea was reading something on her phone while Tyler was sprawled across two chairs and fast asleep.

Andrea immediately got to her feet when she saw him.

He tried not to look too closely at her, not wanting to let any of his hard-built resolutions of the past two hours get tarnished by a tender look. But when she touched the side of his face, tracing the bruise by his eye, his good hand went up to catch hers and he found himself letting her continue the gentle movement rather than pushing her away.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'll live. I just have a new accessory," he said, holding up his cast.

"At least you have a good story to go with it. You were quite the hero tonight."

"I think that could be said about you."

She shook her head. "I should have called the cops instead of jumping out of the car. That would have been the smarter thing to do."

"But you saw trouble, and you had to help."

"It's a bad habit of mine to act first and think later," she said.

"Most people are content to let someone else help out, but not you. I like that about you."

"Well, thanks. Does your hand hurt?"

"Right now I feel damn good," he said, his words slurring together.

She smiled. "Let's get you home."

"Good idea. By the way, I called Tyler's foster parents and told them he'd stay with me tonight."

"He'll be happy about that. He's worried about whatever punishment is coming his way."

"That's good. I want him to worry. Hopefully, he won't do anything so stupid again." Alex got up from the wheelchair and walked over to Tyler. Tapping him on the shoulder, he said, "Hey, kid. Time to go home."

Tyler blinked his eyes and gave him a sleepy look. "Are you finally done?"

"Yeah, and I talked to the Monroes. You can stay with me tonight."

Relief flashed in Tyler's eyes as he got to his feet. "Thanks. What about what I did to the garage?"

"We'll talk about that tomorrow."

"Okay."

They walked out to the car, and Andrea once again slid behind the wheel.

Alex yawned as he buckled his seat belt. He had a feeling he would be asleep before they were out of the parking lot.

"Do you remember how to get to my house?" he asked, his eyes very heavy.

"Yes. Just rest. Let me take care of you tonight."

"That sounds nice. I can't remember when I last let that happen."

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