o take a step back reflexively. A subtle shift in the air, a tension that she hadn't noticed until now, made her pulse quicken. She saw something

e looked at her, but it left her feeling both exposed and inexplicably

pected shiver down her spine. It wasn't a question that demanded an answer so much a

speak. "Umm, can I use your phone?" She hoped she'd sound calm, col

nature. The movement was smooth, effortless, and it gave her a fleeting sense of unease. He handed her the phone

the situation pressing down on her. She had completely forgotten about Derek, the man

h

ng frustration rising. Before her new life at the hospital, before meeting Lexi and the others, there had only been

aid, "In fact, you're the only number on there so I don't have to sift through to get to you. Press the call button, and there you are, on the other end." He'd laughed

s screen as her thoughts spirale

creen, trying to pull up the name in her contacts, but the more she tried, the less coherent her mind seemed

now he was standing right behind her, his presence looming like an immovable force. She hadn't realized how close he was until she felt the wa

eel the sharp thud of the impact, her body jerking back from the force. It wasn't painful, but it was eno

or a moment, all she could do was stand there, lost in the sensation. His presence, so powerful and unyielding, made it hard to focus.

r falter. A frown creased his brow, deepening the lines of his face, and there was something in his expression that made he

was an undercurrent of something darker, s

fessed, the words slipping out before she could sto

made it all the more real. She wanted to escape the awkwardness, to find the familiar comfort

barely above a whisper, but it carried more weight than anything else. She froze. He moved then, his large hands wrapping around he

ysical contact, her body seemed to lean into him of its own accord. She didn't fight it. Instead, she allowed herself to relax into the embrace. For reasons she couldn'

ep rumble that vibrated throu

tiff she had become, how her entire body had been coiled tight in anticipation of something she couldn't name. But with his voice, with hi

lling her out of her panic and into something else. It wasn't the fear of remembering Derek's number t

r, it didn't seem so important. And, for the first time in