hear, but his copper eyes darkened, churned with emotion. “I should have come back for you.” His mouth turned down as he looked at Hara, worry and regret etched into his features. “Are you hurt?”
Hara wasn’t sure, but she thought his voice had cracked.
She shook her head, long, sopping strands of hair swinging slowly with the motion. Her hair had come undone. So had she.
His face turned stern as he gently slid his hands under Naomi. “We need to get her to a hospital.” The basketball player picked up the unconscious girl effortlessly. Water ran off her limp body as if she were a fountain.
“Hold on to me, Hara.”
The sound of her name on his lips made her shiver. Jesus, what is wrong with me? Hara desperately wanted to wrap herself around Derek’s back, wind her arms around his stomach, let him protect her. Instead, she held on to the back of his coat again. Derek opened the front passenger door, gently slid Naomi into the seat, and buckled her in.
An odd whistling and clanging sound pierced the wind. Clutching even harder onto Derek’s coat, Hara whipped her head around, and gasped. A stop sign had been shorn free from its post and flew toward them, spinning, occasionally bouncing off the ground, like a feather on a windy beach. Except this was a large, metal projectile.
She only had a second to act. Derek, leaning into the cab of the SUV, fiddling with Naomi’s seat belt, had no idea they were about to get smacked by a sharp-edged flying object. Hara shoved him, hard. He fell into the vehicle, lying across the unconscious girl in the passenger seat.
“What—”
“Stay there!” Hara screamed. “Don’t stand up!” She grabbed the handle of the back seat door, praying it was unlocked. She wrenched it open and crouched down next to Derek’s legs. Water washed over her feet, splashing her ankles and knees. “Don’t move!”
The stop sign hit Hara’s impromptu shield with an awful shriek of metal, then popped up and over the door. Hara could see it flying for a few dozen feet, until its weight pulled it back to earth. She heard it continue on, clanging against the ground every few seconds.
“Was that…?” Derek, wide-eyed, stared at her over his shoulder, his body still bent over Naomi.
“I know, right?” Her voice shook. Hara peeked around the door before standing up. Besides small pieces of litter swirling around, the coast looked clear. For now.
Derek closed the front passenger door and they stood facing each other. Again. By a car. Derek wrapped his fingers around her upper forearms and peered down at her. “Thank you. Are you okay?”
She nodded, her hair clinging to her face. She’d give anything to be away from here, and yet … “We should go before a yield sign comes looking for its brother.”
Derek’s warm, strong hands slid away; raindrops took their place. Hara climbed into the back seat, glad for the protection.
Then she tensed. Instead of running around to the driver’s side, the ballplayer bent his long frame into the wind and jogged back inside Naomi’s building. The loose door still flapped in the wind; it had already taken out one of their party.
Minutes later, Derek emerged from the black entryway with two suitcases.
He went back for our stuff?
Hara’s stomach was a writhing knot of worry and frustration at the unnecessary, unwise gesture, watching as he braced against the wind and scanned for flying objects. But she was also extremely moved by his thoughtfulness. He hadn’t needed to come at all, yet here he was, being brave and solicitous.
Derek opened the back hatch, tossed in the luggage, and slammed it shut, making Hara jump. But not Naomi. “Please wake up,” Hara begged her, reaching through the seats to throw a jacket over her soaked and unconscious friend. “I’ve got you, I promise.”
CHAPTER 14
Adieu to disappointment and spleen.
—Pride and Prejudice
Derek clambered in and slammed his door. His chest hurt from breathing so hard. And from fear.
It was hard to see the young girl lying limp in the passenger seat next to him, held in place by a seat belt, her head flopped to the side. He shifted around to Hara, half expecting her to be in tears again. Instead, she stared at him intently, clear-eyed. Energy seemed to crackle off her. With wind-blown hair and a high flush on her cheeks, her eyes such a sharp, deep blue … she was a mess and she was beautiful.
“Weren’t you wearing glasses? Did you