Page 31 of Critical Witness

“Look, I know I don’t know you very well. And obviously, you’re tougher than most people probably assume. But when I find a woman crying alone in her room, I have to assume she isn’t okay. I have sisters, I know how this works,” he said with a half-smile.

Her eyes caught on the dimple in his cheek before she lowered them to the place where her toes met his thigh, separated by the blanket.

“I was just a little caught off guard.” She held up a corner of the blanket briefly and tried to explain what she’d been feeling. “I’m just not used to people concerning themself with my comfort. Or safety, for that matter.” And there were the tears again. She blinked them back furiously.

Will’s hand landed on her shin, drawing her eyes up to his. “It sounds like you’ve had it pretty rough up to now.”

She scoffed. “You say that like it’s going to change sometime soon.”

“I hope it is,” he said.

His soft, genuine words disarmed her even further.

“I hope so, too. I’m tired of just… surviving, you know?” Now that she was talking about it, she couldn’t stop the rest from slipping out. “I’m ready for a life that matters–a life with people who see me and love me. My mom barely cares if I’m alive. Jeremiah did everything he could to hurt me and control me. I know what Jesus says about me, but when the world is constantly saying something else, I can’t help but wonder if it’s my fault.” She looked down, forcing herself to admit out loud what she’d been considering for years. “Maybe I’m not worth it.”

In a moment, Will’s arms were around her. His soft whispers of reassurance soothed the raw, exposed wounds that came from her confession. She shouldn’t, but she let herself lean into his comfortable embrace. Another wave of guilt for lying to this incredible man and his team washed over her. What happened when the other shoe dropped?

She’d stay here, safe in his arms, just for a moment. And then she’d pull herself together.

Until then, she tried to capture the feeling. She wanted to memorize every sensation of being held. The way his strong arms wrapped around her. The warmth of his chest pressed against her cheek. The steady thrum of his heartbeat and the murmur of his deep voice trying to dispel all the lies she sometimes fell into.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” she whispered into his shoulder.

He tensed under her. “I don’t know.” His voice was barely a whisper.

She leaned up, creating some separation between them.

“I’m sorry. You don’t need to deal with all of this.” She waved her hand up and down, gesturing to herself to represent the hot mess that was her life.

Will hung his head and ran both hands over his short-cropped hair. Her heart sank at what was coming next. It felt like a breakup. Except she’d known him for two days, and the only thing that she was losing was a nice man showing her basic human kindness. Right?

“You have other things to worry about, so just forget about me. I’ll be fine.” Everything inside her was yelling at her for pushing him away, screaming at her to crawl back into his arms and let someone else carry the burden for a while. She fiddled with the blanket on her lap so her hands wouldn’t find his skin again.

“That’s the problem,” Will finally said. “I want to worry about you.”

Her hands stilled. “What?”

He sighed and reached for her. “I don’t know. It’s crazy. I don’t know you. Not really. But I just… I want to help you. I want to take care of you. I was ready to make your skeevy landlord disappear before I even met you. I just… I see something in you that I can’t ignore.”

“I don’t understand,” she admitted cautiously. What was he saying?

A breath of laughter escaped. “Yeah, me either.” He ran his hands over his hair again. “This is crazy,” he said, but Hannah got the feeling he was talking more to himself than to her.

She bit her lip, unsure what to say.

Finally, Will turned his eyes on her. “I keep telling myself I should just focus on the mission. Get in, get done, get out. That’s how I operate. Keep emotions out of it. But dang if I can’t help but care about you.”

Hannah was sure her expression must betray the shock that she felt at his words. It was one thing to have Will throw a blanket over her while she was sleeping. Maybe he was just a thoughtful guy. But to hear him say the words?

“You shouldn’t.” The words came out before she could stop them. They were true though. He shouldn’t care about her. She’d been lying to him this whole time, taking advantage of his kindness and misleading him about her stake in the entire operation.

Basically, she was awful, and Will Gilbert would be far better off if he didn’t care about her.

“Don’t say that,” he argued, his hand finding hers on the blanket. “I think you’re pretty amazing, Melanie.”

And there it was again. Agh. She had to tell him the truth.

But he kept talking. “I don’t know what you’ve walked through, but in spite of all of it, you have this light that won’t dim. Sometimes, the world I work in is just so… dark. It’s really no wonder that I want to make sure your light stays bright.” His eyes were locked intently on hers, as if he could see into her soul if he looked deep enough. “No wonder I want to keep it close to me.”

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