A Hard Man to Forget Read Free Page B

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doubt she wasn’t ready for it, her wariness spiking.
    She had to get out of here.
    Without thinking, she sprang into motion, spinning left, away from
him, stepping out into the road—
    The impact came out of nowhere. She didn’t even know if her
foot managed to touch the pavement. She only felt something hard and
solid slamming into her side, throwing her clear off her feet,
knocking the air from her lungs. Pain shot through her hip, her leg,
her side.
    A car , she registered distantly. She hadn’t looked,
hadn’t heard it with her earbuds still in—
    And then she was falling, tumbling, turning in midair—
    Crashing, rolling, hard against the ground—
    She landed hard on her back, pain exploding anew in her shoulders and
rear. Before she could absorb them, the back of her head smacked
against the pavement. She felt the flash of pain, saw the stars
explode in front of her eyes before blackness rapidly surfaced to
swallow her.
    Then…nothing.

    IT ALL HAPPENED SO QUICKLY Simon barely had time to process what he
was seeing.
    The car lurching away from the curb.
    Meredith stepping into the street a split second afterward, or maybe
at the same time. Too fast for the driver to know she’d been
about to move in front of the vehicle, too fast for her to see the
car.
    He didn’t have a chance to call out, to even open his mouth,
before the car struck her from the side. She wasn’t far enough
in the street for it to catch her head-on. The front clipped her on
the hip, sending her into the air and rolling over the hood. She
tumbled over it, falling over the side and landing on her back in the
middle of the street.
    Then the car was racing straight toward him.
    Simon immediately dived to his left, springing off the balls of his
feet and hurtling to the side. He crashed down onto the ground, pain
shooting through his hands and arms and knees as he came down hard on
them. He felt the rush of air as the car blasted by, the gust strong
enough to let him know just how close the vehicle had come to hitting
him.
    The way it had Meredith.
    The memory broke through his shock. He twisted his head to find her.
    She was lying on her back on the pavement, utterly still.
    His pain immediately forgotten, he scrambled to his feet and he raced
over to her, falling to his knees at her side.
    For just a moment, he looked at her, everything else forgotten as he
took in the woman lying before him. This was the first time he was
seeing her up close, her features clear and unmistakable. Even if
he’d had any doubts remaining, they were gone now.
    Meredith. She was undeniably Meredith.
    Her eyes were closed, but she was breathing. He didn’t detect
any irregularity in her breath patterns. He reached out for her wrist
to test her pulse, and found it steady and strong, her skin warm to
the touch. There was no blood. She appeared to be okay physically,
though it couldn’t be good that she was unconscious. The impact
hadn’t been strong enough to do serious damage.
    Damn it, it could have though. He shot an angry glance behind him.
    His anger only grew at what he saw.
    The driver hadn’t even stopped. The street behind him was
empty.
    No, the whole neighborhood seemed empty, he realized. He didn’t
hear any voices, anyone calling out to see if they were okay. He
desperately glanced around for help, seeking any onlookers, anyone in
view.
    There was no one. The street remained empty. No one approached. No
one emerged from any of the neighboring houses. No one seemed to have
noticed what had happened at all.
    Damn it . Swallowing a curse, he reached in his pocket for his
phone. He had to call someone. The police. Paramedics. As soon as he
had the phone in hand, he started to dial—
    Only to stop before he’d hit two digits.
    He froze, thumb poised above the panel, his thoughts quickly
anticipating what would happen.
    If he called an ambulance, she would be taken away. He couldn’t
explain who he was. It would raise too many questions. Maybe it