Once their secrets are revealed, can love heal all?
Living in a small town, Mia Grey has a hard enough time keeping her own unique healing powers secret, never mind those of her thirteen-year-old sister, whose powerful telekinetic abilities grow stronger by the day. Mia's discovered it's not so easy keeping a moody teenage witch on the right path while working full-time in her convenience store/bait shop. And her pre-occupation with their gorgeous new neighbor certainly isn't helping matters.
Jack Sutton spent seven years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. Longing for a family connection, he heads to Illinois in search of an aunt he's never met. He rents an auto garage in the picturesque town of Shelbyville and just starts to settle in when late one night he's stabbed in an apparent robbery. He wakes the following morning with a throbbing head and an aching gut. The good news is he's alive. The bad news is he seems to have woken up in an episode of the Twilight Zone--with his beautiful neighbor in the starring role.
EXCERPT:
Mia Grey pushed the door open and cautiously crept inside the dimly lit auto garage. Her new neighbor had taken the place over a couple of weeks ago and usually closed up shop by now. So, when she happened to see two men slip inside the back door after taking a cautious look around, her hackles rose. When the same two men walked out less than five minutes later, stuffing cash into their front pockets, her uneasiness grew. Once they drove away, she decided to hurry over and investigate.
Mia barely knew the guy, only that he'd called Wisconsin home before moving down to central Illinois. But if she ignored her gut instinct and found out later he'd been injured or worse, she'd never be able to forgive herself.
And if she were letting her imagination run away with her, calling the cops would be a huge overreaction at this point.
She stepped in a small puddle pooling on the cement floor, and lifted her foot to examine her white tennis shoe--soaked red. And Mia was pretty darn sure it wasn't transmission fluid. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream and sped up the search for her neighbor.
A faint beeping caught her attention. She listened intently, trying to determine where the sound was coming from within the darkened bay. Following her ears, she gasped when she discovered him, lying still as death on the floor beside the counter. The beeping she'd heard a busy signal coming from the phone off its hook.
Mia rushed forward and dropped to her knees to feel his neck for a pulse. Weak and faint, but still there. Thank god.
Jack let out a low groan as she carefully searched for a wound, his handsome face drained of color.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
His eyes fluttered open and his lips moved. He probably meant to tell her where he was hurt. His shirt was soaked; he'd lost so much blood, it was a miracle he was alive, let alone able to speak. He tried to move his head, and she placed a gentle hand on his cheek.
"You need to calm down, okay? I can't help you until I figure out where you're bleeding from," Mia said.
He wore a black T-shirt and navy workpants. Locating the wound would be no easy task, especially with the only light coming from a dim, grime-encrusted overhead lamp that hung above the back entrance door. She skimmed her fingertips lightly across his midsection, sucking in a breath when they encountered the oozing, jagged cut.
Holy Mother, they stabbed him in the stomach!
"P-Please...help...9-1...1..."
Tears burned her eyes. No way would an ambulance make it there in time, and she certainly couldn't just let him die. But the alternative was unthinkable. If anyone were ever to find out...