Unseen (Will Trent / Atlanta Series)

nodded.
    He nodded, too, as if he still needed to convince himself. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I was wrong.”
    “Please, don’t do it again.” Sara closed the distance between them. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I’m your girlfriend. This isn’t just about keeping things from me. It’s about trusting me. I may not understand, or agree, but you have to trust me enough to tell me the truth.”
    “You’re right.” He held her close to his chest. His fingers stroked through her hair. She felt his lips press against the top of her head. “I need you to promise me something.”
    She pulled back so that she could see him. “Okay.”
    “Promise me we’re never going to break up again.”
    She started to laugh, but there was a sincerity to his tone that stopped her.
    Will said, “Actually, I’ll promise. I’ll never leave you.” He sounded more certain than she had ever heard him. “You can tell me to go, but I won’t. I’ll sleep in my car outside your house. I’ll follow you to work. To the gym. If you go out to dinner, I’ll be at the next table. If you go to a movie, I’ll be in the row behind you.”
    Sara felt her brow furrow. “You’re going to stalk me?”
    He shrugged his shoulder, as if this was all a done deal. “I love you.”
    She finally laughed. “Well, that’s a really shitty way to say it.”
    “I love you.”
    Her response came as naturally as taking a breath before jumping into the deep end of the water. “I love you, too.”
    He leaned in but didn’t kiss her. Despite his forceful words, he waited for permission. Sara touched her lips to his as softly as she could. The kiss was chaste, but it was enough.
    He said, “We’re okay.”
    She nodded. “We’re okay.”
    He held her hand in both of his. He kissed her fingers. Then he turned her wrist and looked at her watch. “We need to go.”
    “Where?”
    He stood abruptly. “I’ll tell you about it on the way. Lena found something.”
    Sara guessed, “A winning lottery ticket?”
    “No.” He helped her up from the bed. “She found a little boy.”
    Sara pulled her BMW into an open garage bay. There were two other cars inside the metal structure, which was several yards from a sprawling, single-story house. They were on a horse farm. She could see a few mares and a colt out by a red barn. The sun was just cracking the horizon. The horses silently chewed some grass as they watched the garage door close.
    Sara recognized the black Suburban parked beside them as a G-ride, or a government-issued SUV. She assumed either Faith or Amanda was here. The sheriff’s cruiser in the far bay probably belonged to the owner of the farm. Keeping horses was as costly as it was risky. Normally, amateur farmers had to seek out more steady employment. Sara had been thrown from a horse twice in her life. She imagined owning a horse farm was only marginally less dangerous than being a sheriff’s deputy.
    Will got out of the car. He opened the back door and retrieved her medical bag from the back seat. He didn’t hand Sara the bag. He carried it for her.
    “This way,” Will said, heading toward a side door.
    Sara followed him as he picked his way past various small machinery taking up the last bay in the four-bay garage. She took Will’s hand to steady herself as she stepped over a tractor attachment that looked like a gigantic yard rake. He held on longer than necessary. She stroked his fingers with her thumb, wishing she could erase the past twenty-four hours and start all over again. Or maybe not. In so many strange ways, she felt closer to Will than ever before.
    Faith opened the door before Will could. She avoided looking at Sara. “Find it okay?”
    Sara said, “The GPS led us straight here.”
    “Good.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a handful of Jolly Ranchers candy. “The boy’s still asleep. We didn’t want to wake him until we had to. Denise and her girlfriend are in the house with one of the paramedics. The doctor read the message board, so he knows not to come.”
    “Sounds good.” Will took the candy and shoved it into his pocket. “I’ve got around two hours before I’m due at the hospital. What’s the plan?”
    Sara felt her stomach lurch at the thought of him going back undercover, but she kept her thoughts to herself.
    Faith said, “The other paramedic is on her way with the bus. I was about to head over to dispatch. I want to be sitting on the supervisor so no one panics when