“You’re okay. You need to build up carbon dioxide. Just take a minute, Wren.” His voice was so steady, and his eyes were so sure. Wren locked on the certainty in their bottomless blue and breathed.
At first, nothing changed. The tingling had spread to her cheeks and hands, and her chest hurt. She was having some kind of cardio-pulmonary failure, and death surely beckoned. Wren realized the last thing she’d see would be Lee’s face.
That’s not such a bad thing.
“You’re not going to die,” Lee whispered, the corner of his mouth curling up in a smile as he read her mind. “I’ve got you.”
And, indeed, he had. The hand that wasn’t stifling her breath had hooked around her middle, anchoring her to him. His thighs, firm and real, pressed against hers that still trembled and twitched. His fingers on her lips and nose were warm, rough. Alive.
The grounding of his touch penetrated her as the proper mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide made its way into her bloodstream. Wren discovered she wasn’t about to die.
At least not from lack of air.
Mortification, on the other hand, could be lethal.
She pulled back enough to speak, and her voice shook, though she tried to keep it even. “What are you doing to me?”
Fingers that had covered her mouth now caressed her cheek. “I’m trying to show you that you’re worth it.” He said the words with absolute conviction. “Worth the fight — even if it’s an uphill battle for the rest of my life. And worth the risk, because with you, there’s always the chance I’ll get my ass handed to me.”
His eyes searched hers, but she wasn’t ready to give anything away. Lee’s hands moved to her shoulders, and he clasped her gently.
“I brought you here so that maybe you could see things a little differently.”
Wren frowned, unwilling to yield any ground. “What do you mean?”
He held her gaze, unblinking. “You can trust me… Tell me what set you off in there.”
She looked away, her focus landing on the asphalt near their feet.
“Wren… it’s all right. Tell me.”
She closed her eyes. “I can’t.”
Lee sighed. “Then let me tell you what I think happened. You saw those girls in there, and for a moment, you understood how little and vulnerable a six-year-old is,” he said, his words forcing her eyes back to his. “And that is exactly what I wanted you to see. I wanted you to seeyourself.”
He gripped her shoulders, frowning with a look so stricken Wren wanted to reach up and comfort him.
“And, for once in your life, I want you to have mercy on yourself.” On the last word, he shook her — just once, lightly — but Wren could feel his desperation. Nothing else seemed to matter to him. Nothing was more important to him than reaching her now.
She couldn’t process that moment in the museum. She couldn’t logically connect the little girls in the bubble with the child she used to be, but as Wren looked into Lee’s eyes, she understood what he’d tried to do for her. What he’d wanted for her.
She didn’t know what to do next, but she knew she couldn’t run away.
Shaking all over, Wren managed to get the words out. “What happens now?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
WREN’S STRENGTH BLEWhim away.
He’d put her through so much in the last hour, and she’d taken it all. Still, Lee had known Wren was tough the moment he’d met her in the emergency room more than a month ago. It didn’t surprise him, but just like then, it left him in awe.
If she could only take the next step with him…
“I’ve been talking to someone who I think could help.”
Her face paled. “You mean a shrink.”
Lee took in a measured breath. “I mean a therapist. Her name is Evelyn, and I think you’d like her.”