As soon as she said the words, the buzzing heat of embarrassment swept over her. Had she imagined the person standing there? Had she been so caught up in Walker that she’d hallucinated some guy who looked vaguely like him and then wrecked her car?
“Which way did he come from?” Walker asked, worry thickening his accent.
She grabbed the cuffs of her coat, twisting the fabric beneath her fingers. “I didn’t see him come from anywhere. He just appeared. He was there, and then the accident happened, and then he was gone.” She shook her head. “Maybe he crossed the street.” There was a drugstore and a vet’s office across the way. She desperately hoped that he’d gone into one of them. It was possible.
Barely.
“That’s probably it.” Walker leaned close to Keira. He lifted her arm and wrapped it around his neck, then slid his other arm beneath her knees.
“What are you doing?” She tried to pull away from him, but he curled his arm around her more tightly.
“Lifting you up?”
“I can get out by myself,” she insisted, turning to slide across the bench seats. He reached out, stopping her.
“Keira. There’s broken glass everywhere. Let me help you.”
She glanced down at the upholstery. Tiny, glittering cubes of safety glass lay scattered across it like diamonds. She hadn’t noticed them.
Crap. Get it together. You’re fine. You didn’t hit the guy. The other driver’s fine. The car is . . .
She shut her eyes. The car was obviously not fine, but she had insurance. Cheap, crappy insurance. But still.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Walker asked. “Did you hit your head?”
Keira frowned at him. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “I don’t need help.” Besides, every time Walker touched her, it was like a fog drifted into her head—it was the opposite of helpful. Tingly and distracting and wonderful, but not helpful.
Carefully, she picked her way across the seat, grabbing the dashboard and the top of the front seat to steady herself as she eased over the gearshift. Walker heaved a sigh and reached out, catching her around the ribs. He lifted her easily, moving her over the remains of the glass and spinning her so that she landed in his lap.
She froze, stunned that he’d actually had the audacity to grab her. For one brief moment, they sat that way, Walker’s broad chest sure and warm against her back, his hands still circling her ribs. The whisper of his breath against her neck shot through her like an electric shock.
“You are the most stubborn person I think I’ve ever seen.” He let go of her and Keira wriggled around to face the open door and slid off his lap. Her shoes landed against the pavement with a slap. When she took a step, though, her knees weren’t as steady as she’d expected them to be. She wobbled, grabbing blindly for the door. It swung beneath her grip, throwing her even more off balance. Walker reached out a hand, his eyebrows lowered in concern. Instinctively, Keira slid her hand into his. He curled his fingers around hers and all she could feel was their skin touching. Her knees steadied underneath her and the world righted itself.
“Okay?” he asked softly, squeezing her hand.
She swallowed hard before she returned the pressure of his fingers. “Yeah. Thanks.” Reluctantly, she slid her hand out of his and walked around the front of the car to examine the damage on the driver’s side. There wasn’t enough room for a person in all the dented metal and splintered glass. “I . . . wow. I should be hurt.” She ran a hand over her ribs as though she might have somehow missed an injury, but as shaken as she was, she seemed to be undamaged.
Walker stood next to her, close enough for their arms to brush against each other. “Yeah. You should. But I’m glad you’re not.”
“I guess I need to call my insurance company,” she sighed.
He nodded. She opened the back door and pulled her bag off the seat, digging her cell phone out of the front pocket and her insurance card out of her wallet. The police pulled up before she could find the phone number. When Keira gave them the story about the disappearing pedestrian, the shorter and squatter of the two officers narrowed his eyes at her, like he thought she was making up the whole thing.
She wanted to curl up and die.
When the police finally left, she called her insurance company and worked her way through the automated system until an actual person came on the line. Walker sat on the passenger seat, lining up cubes of safety glass on the dashboard.
“Thank you for calling Equitable Insurance. My name is Molly. May I please have your name and policy number?”
Keira closed her eyes. This was going to take forever.
Chapter Eight
WALKER LOUNGED IN THE passenger seat, arms crossed over his chest, watching Keira talk.
She moved the phone away from her mouth to talk to Walker while the customer service representative babbled. “You can go. I appreciate your . . . Good Samaritan-ness, but I can take care of this.”