of snow onto the road.
She landed wrong and lost her footing.
Tires screeched and a bumper hit her hip. She screamed and fell, landing on her other hip.
“Olivia, what the hell were you thinking?” Lester Hughes ran from his car to her where she lay on the wet pavement in dirty snow. “You don’t step into the road without looking both ways.”
Olivia tried to breathe, but the fall had knocked the wind out of her.
Lester crouched beside her. “How bad are you hurt?”
She finally caught her breath. “My hip...hurts.”
“Which one?”
“Both.” One from the bumper and the other from hitting the road.
“Are they broken? Can you stand?”
They weren’t broken. Standing was painful. She was stiff. She managed, though.
“I’m okay,” she said.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“No.” She took a few steps. “I’m fine. I’ll be bruised tomorrow, though.”
Tyler Jordan appeared beside them. “I heard the squealing tires. What happened?”
Lester explained and Olivia agreed, “It was all my fault, Sheriff. I didn’t watch for cars when I stepped out.”
“Tell her she’s gotta come to the hospital with me,” Lester said. “I want her x-rayed for internal injuries.”
“He’s right,” Ty said. “You need to get checked out.”
“Okay.” Olivia sighed. She’d have to call Monica Accord in on her day off. “You go on about your business, Lester. I’ll drive to the hospital myself.”
“That ain’t right, Olivia. What if you conk out on the drive?”
“I didn’t hit my head when I fell. I’m fine to drive.”
“But—”
“I insist.”
“In that case,” Ty said, “I’ll follow you to make sure you arrive safely.”
“Give me a few minutes. I have to call Monica in from her day off to cover at the gallery.”
“I’ll wait for you out front.”
Back in her office, Olivia sat down and put her head between her legs. She hadn’t hit it, didn’t have a concussion, but the incident had scared the daylights out of her and had left her dizzy and shaken.
She raised one hand. It shook so badly she couldn’t use her phone. What if Lester hadn’t been able to stop? What if he hadn’t had the presence of mind to jerk the steering wheel so she got only a glancing blow rather than being hit head-on?
If she’d been hit squarely by his car, would she be dead now instead of able to drive herself to the hospital?
Or worse, would she be crippled or unable to lead a normal life, the life she took for granted?
In those few precious moments suspended between life and possible death, she’d seen a lot. It had happened so quickly, but not so fast that she hadn’t had immediate disgust for herself.
How much time had she wasted in her life? How much had she let fear rule her?
Tyler entered her gallery and called her name.
She left her office and handed him her phone. “Please,” she said. “Call Monica.”
Five minutes later, she was on the road and Tyler was following her.
X-rays showed neither internal nor permanent damage.
She sent Tyler home. She had a stop to make before returning to downtown Accord.
She was fifty-eight years old and deathly afraid of aging. She was a coward. A man loved her, had told her he wanted her exactly the way she was, flaws and all, and she’d thrown it back in his face.
All it took was one brush with her own mortality to set her head on straight. She wanted Aiden, her age be damned.
She turned down the road to his home. Her cell phone rang, but she ignored it, her mind on one purpose, one goal, and nothing else.
She dashed through the snow to his door and rapped on it hard with her knuckles. Please be home. I need you, Aiden McQuorrie.
He opened the door, opened his mouth to set her down with something scathing, something she probably deserved, but then saw her face and stopped.
“What happened, love?”
Love. Was there a more perfect word in the English language or a more perfect man for her on the face of the planet? Without another word, he took her into his arms. She wrapped hers across his back to hold him tightly, to savor every muscle and sinew of his vibrant body.
“Make love to me,” she whispered and he slammed the door and pulled her down the hallway.
God, it had been so long. Her body throbbed with unrelieved sexual tension. She hadn’t been with a man in ten years and, during the years after her husband’s affair, their lovemaking had been spotty, impeded by grief, resentment and distrust. She was growing older by the