Page 46 of Edge of Danger

“What happened to you?” she whispered with her heart in her throat. Seeing him that way was enough to cause her actual pain. If she had only known...

He looked down at himself, wincing. “Yeah.” He frowned, cleared his throat, looked anywhere but at her. “That car trouble I had two nights ago?”

“Yeah?”

“It was more like an accident.”

“Brax!”

“I’m fine.”

“Fine?” She gestured to him. “You don’t look fine. No wonder you walked around like a reanimated corpse when you got home. How did it happen? What sort of accident?”

“It was nothing.” He still wasn’t looking at her. “One of those things. Dark, empty road. Driving too fast. I get a little cocky sometimes, I guess.”

She studied him. Watched his subtle movements.

He was lying.

“There aren’t many things I’m really good at,” she admitted in a low voice. “But if there’s anything I know, it’s when somebody’s lying. You’d think I would’ve been smarter about Robert because of that, but...” She shrugged, then pointed at him. “You’re not telling the truth. Come on. You got away from those thugs who were following us without coming close to another car. You’re an excellent driver.”

He shrugged. “Things happen.”

“You won’t look at me. That’s another way I can tell you’re hiding something. No secrets. That was your rule. I can follow it. Can you?”

“You’re tough.” He sighed before finally looking her in the eye. “Okay. I wanted to keep you out of it, but I see that’s a waste of time. I didn’t run off the road. I was run off the road. By Prince Riviera.”

Her heart sank like a stone. “Oh, no. Brax...”

“I’m okay. See?” He spread his arms—even now, in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but notice how very okay he looked.

Except for the hideous bruises that monster had given him.

“Why don’t you sit down?” She reached out and took one of his hands. “Come on. I’ll make you a sandwich. You need to eat, no matter how stressed you are.”

“I’d argue, but I really am hungry. You should be asleep, though.”

She giggled softly while pulling food from the fridge. “Why do you think I came down in the first place?”

He was quiet for a while as she put turkey and Swiss cheese together. “I’m sorry,” he eventually mumbled as she put the finishing touches on the sandwich and cut it in half.

“For what?”

“For keeping you in the dark. I didn’t know what to do or how to manage this, so I figured it was better to keep you out of it.”

“I understand.” Her relief was almost physical. Not relief at him being hurt, but at there being a reason he had avoided her. Especially since that reason was to protect her.

She started with her own sandwich, but a glance in his direction stopped her. “You okay?” she asked when he winced as he rubbed his neck.

“Stiff, you know? Nothing I can’t manage.”

“So stoic.” She went to him. “Eat your sandwich. I’ll rub your neck.”

“As long as you can manage not to strangle me.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

She was already massaging his neck before the realization that she was touching him registered on her awareness. It was innocent, of course, but still. He was shirtless and she was very close to him, and her heart didn’t know what to do with that.

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