“You’re sure, babe?”
“It’s either going to be with you or some guy I find to do the job?—”
He growled as he kissed her and then did as she requested and got naked. This would be the first time since her grievous injury and the first time since he admitted he loved her. “Will you tell me if it’s too much or you’re hurting?—”
“You’re always too much, Marshal Best, and nothing hurts except for this one ache I can’t seem to manage.”
Smiling, he said, “Let me see what I can do about that.”
* * *
Jesse walked into the restaurant Carolyn had chosen, feeling energized by his morning in bed with his love. He’d never been more thankful in his life than he was to see Memphis returning to robust good health after a scary near miss that he couldn’t even think about without going weak in the knees.
Thinking about that, however, beat worrying about whatever Carolyn was going to say to him. As he slid into a booth, he tried to formulate a plan for what he’d do if she told him she didn’t want anything more to do with him.
She wouldn’t say that, would she? What if Kane had told her to get rid of him? Would she choose her long-lost brother over her husband? Unlikely…
By the time Carolyn walked into the restaurant, he’d worked himself into a full panic that had erased the relaxed bliss of the morning with Memphis. How would he live knowing his sister was out there and wanted nothing to do with him?
Then she smiled at him as she slid in across from him, and he instantly settled.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I… I’m worried about what you want to talk about.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure what I’d do if you told me to eff off and go away.”
“I’m not going to do that.”
“Okay,” he said, releasing a deep breath. “That’s good.” After a beat, he said, “I mean, I’d understand if you did. Some random dude shows up with a far-fetched story…”
“Except you’re not some random dude, and the story isn’t far-fetched, is it?”
He shook his head. “It’s all too real.”
“I’ve been remembering some things.”
Jesse sat up straighter. “Like what?”
“Who’s Elizabeth?”
His heart slowed to a crawl. “Our mother. You might not remember her. You were so young the last time we saw her.”
“She’s the one who took me.”
Shock ricocheted through his body, making him light-headed as his heart raced. “Tell me… Tell me what you remember.”
“I was playing in the yard. She pulled up in a blue car and waved me over. She asked me where you were, and I told her. She said Grandma had asked her to pick you up, but she didn’t know the way. She wanted me to show her.”
Jesse wanted to wail at the outrage of it. “I knew one or both of them was involved. I said it from the beginning, but no one would even look into it.”
“I… I didn’t remember this until I saw you the other day. It was like someone had thrown open the window to a past I’d buried so deep, I couldn’t access it.”
Jesse reached across the table for her hands. “That’s a common response to trauma. You must’ve been so scared.”
“I remember crying and telling her she was going the wrong way.”
