Excerpt of Touching the Past by Ilene Kaye

Zac was watching her. Mallory shook her head. “I’m sorry. There’s noth—”

She broke off, cocking her head.

There was something. Almost like a slight echo.

Someone had called to Kim. Someone she knew and connected with good things, though Mallory didn’t get the feeling it was a relative or friend.

She tried to focus in. Catch a glimpse. Closing her eyes, she swiveled her head in different directions.

It was gone. She’d lost it.

“What is it? What did you see?”

Zac’s voice, rough with impatience and something Mallory couldn’t identify, came from nearer than she’d expected.

She opened her eyes. Zac’s face was next to hers. Startled, she stepped back.

A horn blared.

Mallory only had time to see the car bearing down on her before Zac pulled her out of the street and into his arms. He turned, putting himself between her and the car, but she still felt the breeze it kicked up as it passed.

“Idiot,” Zac muttered under his breath, along with a string of less complimentary terms in Spanish. The arms holding her were shaking even as they tightly held her.

She lifted her head. “Me or the driver?” Her voice trembled when she wanted to keep it light. Between the psychic echo and the near-miss, her knees were shaking beneath her.

“Both of you. Don’t you know better than to step into the street without looking? If he’d—” Zac cut himself off and took a deep breath. Releasing Mallory, he stepped back without looking at her. “A kid. He was texting and driving. Not watching what he was doing. He was going too fast. I got his plate. That will give us his address. I’ll call it in.”

Missing his support and the warmth of his body, Mallory hugged herself as Zac stepped to the car. Why wouldn’t he look at her? What was wrong? When he pulled her into his arms, she felt… Safe. Protected. Cared about.

Mallory shook her head. What was wrong with her? Zac had done what anyone would have done in the same circumstances. Just because he’d held her. Cradled her. She—

She was acting like a fool.