Page 55 of Critical Mass
“You can do this. Unbuckle, climb over the center console, and unlock the passenger door. I’ll be right there.”
She nodded again, more firmly this time.
Her fingers found the seatbelt release. Click. The belt retracted, and gravity pulled her sideways against the driver’s door.
Natalie grabbed the steering wheel, pulled herself up and over the center console. Her muscles screamed in protest, but she kept moving.
The passenger door. The lock.
She flipped it up just as Hudson wrenched the door open from outside.
His hands were on her immediately—careful, checking for injuries, helping her climb out of the wrecked BMW.
“I’ve got you,” he said quietly. “I’ve got you.”
Natalie’s legs gave out the moment her feet touched solid ground.
Hudson caught her, his arms wrapping around her waist, holding her upright against his chest.
For a moment, she let herself lean into him. Let herself pretend that the safety she felt in his arms was real and not just another lie.
Then she pulled back.
“They had a gun,” she whispered. “They were going to shoot me.”
Hudson’s jaw tightened. “I know. But they didn’t. You’re safe now.”
“Safe?” A hysterical laugh bubbled up in her throat. “I just drove my car into a ditch running from people who want to kill me. How is any of this safe?”
She was right, of course. But Hudson just held her gaze steadily.
“Because I won’t let them hurt you,” he said. “No matter what else you believe about me, believe that.”
Sirens wailed in the distance—someone must have called 911 about the crash.
Hudson looked toward the sound, then back at Natalie. “We need to get you checked out. Then we need to figure out who those people were and why they’re escalating.”
Natalie nodded numbly, still trying to process what had just happened.
Someone had tried to kill her.
And Hudson had saved her life.
Again.
She wanted to hate this man, but how could she?
Still, she didn’t have to let herself get too close.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
Natalie had been checkedby paramedics.
She wasn’t injured.
Then they’d given a police report.
