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Mateo leaned over and pulled Lainey in for a kiss. “I’ll show you how well I obey tonight,” he said after he was done.

Brax saw Jenny blush. It was cute. Hell, it was a mild kiss, not like the one he and Jenny had shared. And not like the one he intended to share with Jenny tonight.

Lainey shook her head. “Don’t mind him, he’s going through his teenage years, just like the dogs.”

“And you love it,” Mateo murmured.

“If you don’t behave, you won’t get any of the chocotorta that I baked.”

Brax watched in fascination as his friend’s eyes went wide. “How did I not notice that you baked that? Where was I?”

“I baked it yesterday, while you were watching the soccer game with your friends.”

“I promise to be good.” He turned to Brax and Jenny. “You are in for a treat. Lainey is a Goddess in the kitchen. You will think you have died and gone to heaven when you taste her chocotorta.”

Brax laughed as his friend’s accent became more pronounced. Yep, Mateo had definitely found the right woman for him.

16

I can do this.

I can do this.

I can really do this.

Jenny pushed open the heavy glass door of her hotel and pulled her scarf tighter. It was only four blocks to the coffee shop to meet Jada. She could do this. The last three days when she’d gone to get coffee, CiCi and Lark had met her at the hotel and walked with her. This was the first time she was walking alone. But she could do it. She wasn’t a little baby.

Oh, for God’s sake, enough with the bullshit talk. Of course I’m not a baby. I’ve lived all over the world. I’ve managed teams of twenty or more people. I’m competent. I can walk four blocks!

She went out into the crush of bodies and turned left to start walking. She realized she was going too slow as everybody passed her, and she got jostled. She needed to speed up, if she didn’t want to be pushed around. There we go, now she was actually passing people. Not bad. The wind hit her sideways and her hair got in her eyes. She brushed it out of the way.

Wham.

“Look where you’re going,” the big bald man said after he practically mowed her down.

Jenny gripped her purse tighter to her body, not caring that her ribs now hurt. She was just glad she hadn’t fallen.

She choked back an automatic ‘I’m sorry’. Because she wasn’t. It was his fault. Anyway, ‘I’m sorry’ was no longer in her vocabulary.

I’m a survivor. Fuck the assholes.

She looked up and realized she was at the first crosswalk. After that, just two more blocks and she’d be at Coffee Time. She hoped that Jada was already there and had grabbed a table. Jenny started to walk faster. The light must have turned since the crowd of people was shoving forward. She could hardly breathe with all the bodies pushed together and the scent of wet wool coats. She blindly followed along. As soon as she got to the other side, she shuffled toward the nearest building that had an empty entryway and took a moment to breathe. She just needed a moment.

Okay, now she could handle it. She entered the group of pedestrians again and headed down to the next corner. She sped up. This time she was going to be at the front of the mass of people crossing the street. She was going to see what was going on, and not be in the middle of a herd. It took some doing, and she had to throw an elbow or three, but she made it to the front.

Jenny waited impatiently for the walk sign, knowing that she would have to be careful of the idiots taking right hand turns at the last moment. But she saw Coffee Time on the corner. She saw Jada in the coveted window seat and she waved, and Jada waved back. Boy did she need a hit of caffeine. Just how long was she going to have to wait at this light?

Her entire world shifted in slow motion as hands shoved her in the middle of her back. She didn’t utter a sound as she slammed into the hood of a blue sedan taking a right-hand turn. Her body felt liquid as she slid back down onto the pavement. Her hip and shoulder smashed into the concrete first, then her head. Some unconscious need for survival had her arms covering her head and yanking her knees up to her chest, trying to make herself the smallest target possible. But even then, Jenny knew she was going to be run over.

All sound stopped and time stood still as she waited for her death. Nothing. Then she heard the shriek of brakes and the scream of people.

So many people talking.

Somebody touching her.

Moving her.

It hurt.