The Seventh Immortal (Hearts of Amaranth #1) by J.M. Parry Page B

right guy.
You know him and you don't even know yourself?”
    “He woke me up, briefly,” Kait said, pulling
off the hospital gown. She slipped her arms through the sleeves of
the blouse. “I think he wanted to ask who I was, but like you
know... I couldn't give him a good answer.”
    “Mayor Levin runs everything in St. Louis,”
Paul said. “When he finds out I let you go...”
    “St. Louis?”
    “You don't remember anything? ”
    “ This is all new for me,”
Kait said. Once she buttoned up her blouse, she looked in the
mirror and saw her own face for the first time. Her skin was pale,
but smooth like polished ivory. There wasn't a single wrinkle or
crease, even in the corners of her eyes. She had a soft,
heart-shaped face and a wide mouth with pale, pink lips. Her dark,
thin eyebrows stood out against her sallow skin and blue-gray eyes.
She had chocolate-colored hair that was mostly flattened against
her head, matted down from spending the morning in a hospital bed.
It nearly reached her shoulders, but small chunks of errant hair
still managed to stick up around her head.
    An emptiness hit her gut as she thought about
Paul seeing her in such a sorry state. He looked so perfect, with a
healthy tan that seemed to glow against his navy scrubs. She felt
like she wasn't just out of his league; she was playing a different
sport. It was too late to do anything about it now. And there was
an even more embarrassing matter to take care of:
    “ You didn't happen to bring
a bra, did you?” she asked.
    “ I-I didn't... I don't...”
Paul stuttered outside the door. Kait smiled for just a second. At
the very least, she could make him as uncomfortable as she
felt.
    She arched her back and looked in the mirror.
Her breasts were round and pert, small enough to comfortably forgo
a bra but large enough that it felt indecent. Running her hands
across her chest, she was at least glad that she didn't need any
help to flatter her figure. As long as she didn't get too cold,
maybe she could even get away with the natural look.
    Kait opened the door back into the hospital
room. “Don't worry about it,” she said. “I've got more important
things to worry about.”
    As soon as Kait was out of the bathroom, Paul
turned to look at her. He grinned again. This made her feel better
about the messy state of her hair and face. “Okay, now we'll get
you out of here,” he said. “If we're careful--”
    “ I don't know what I'm going
to do,” Kait replied. “I don't know where I will go. I don't know
who I am.”
    Paul stopped. He didn't have any answers for
her. Kait didn't know why she expected him to be able to solve all
her problems. He'd done enough. He'd risked his job to pull her out
of a chemically-induced coma. That should have been enough.
    “ I'm sorry,” Kait said. “You
can't... I can't expect you to tell me what to do next. You've
helped me more than you had any reason to. Thank you.”
    “ I... I had a reason,” Paul
replied. He fixed Kait with his bright green eyes and slowly
reached up towards her cheek. She felt paralyzed by his gaze. She
realized that his curiosity in her ran deeper than just her
mysterious condition.
    Just as his hand was about to touch her
cheek, a loud banging sound filled the air. The door to the
hospital room shook violently as someone pounded their fist against
it.
    “ Who is in there?” a voice
shouted. “Open up!”
    Paul had wisely locked the door to Kait's
room before waking her from her sleep, but that wouldn't buy them
much time. The doors were thin, and undoubtedly plenty of people
within the hospital had the key.
    Reluctantly, Kait pulled away from Paul.
“They found us!” she exclaimed.
    Panic lit up Paul's face. He was
contemplating the end of his career and, perhaps, his life.
Quickly, he came up with a solution. He grabbed Kait's wrist and
held up her hand. Her skin tingled at his touch and she wished for
better circumstances. Once she escaped...
    “ Hit me,”