“Just said those things,” I replied, my bottom lip trembling and my eyes filling up fast. “Those awful things that are not true. They’re not. I would never want him knowing he was married. I wouldn’t.” I started crying again. “I’m not like that. I swear I’m not. Even though I loved him, I wouldn’t. I never would’ve let him in. Never.” I dropped my head to his chest and sobbed, “I thought it was you. That’s why I answered.”

Jamie’s body stiffened and snapped straight. He made a noise deep in his throat like he was in as much pain as I was, then he bent down, slid one arm around my waist and the other under my knees, and lifted, cradling me against his chest.

“Should’ve been me,” he mumbled against the top of my head, turning us and then walking across the room.

We started ascending the stairs.

I held his neck with one hand and cried with my face tucked under his chin. My eyes were swollen closed. I felt exhausted. Heart and body. I had shed my weight in tears.

Jamie carried me as if that were true.

When we reached the top, Jamie took me six more steps and then he kicked a door open.

The room was dark. He didn’t turn on the light.

My lashes fluttered when I felt soft satin beneath me. It felt cool against the back of my calves.

I was in Jamie’s bed.

I turned my head on the pillow and smelled sunlight and water. I watched through half-opened eyes. I was crying much softer now.

Jamie pulled back the covers, dropped his knee to the bed, and then leaned closer to peel the sheets down underneath me, wiggling them under my bottom and flipping them up and over my feet. Then he climbed in and lay on his side, facing me, tucked his arm under the pillow he was using and with his other pulled and rolled me away from him, putting us back to front.

He pulled the covers over us both.

It felt familiar, lying with him like this, even though we had never done this before. But I was too tired to question it or fight. And maybe I felt safe, cared for, protected, so I didn’t want to fight it. I had been fighting it enough. And this felt nice.

Jamie kept his arm over me after he was settled and wrapped his hand around my wrist. He pressed his lips to the skin between my neck and shoulder.

“Sleep, Legs,” he ordered.

“’Kay,” I replied, blinking the darkness into view.

I pictured Wes standing on my porch. I felt his hand press to my hip.

“He won’t be botherin’ you again,” Jamie promised.

I stopped blinking. The images in my mind evaporated and the only thing I felt was Jamie’s body. His mouth next to my ear and his fingers holding gentle pressure on my arm.

He was steady at my back. He was strong. He was holding me like this mattered and meant something.

And he was promising again.

Knowing the history of Jamie’s promises to me and how he carried them through, each and every one, I closed my eyes and drifted with a clear head.

I’d start thinking again tomorrow.

Chapter Ten

JAMIE

Need you to swing by this morning before heading in. Bring Sunshine.

What’s up?

Got her girl here.

She all right?

Will be.

Shit. This serious? Syd will want to know.

Nothing I can’t handle. Just need to get some info from her.

What’s this got to do with?

You asking for you or your girl?

It’s involving Syd. I’m asking for me.

Tori’s ex showed up at her place last night. Upset her. She came to me.

Fuck.

Yeah.

Know what all went down with them. Be there by 8.

I set my phone on the kitchen island after reading Dash’s last text, then I walked over to the couch and snatched the towel off the back of it, rubbing it across my head and drying off as I made for the stairs.

I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. Not with the way Tori was pressing close and letting me hold her, doing that all night and not fighting it, just feeling. Rolling into me a few times with her hand on my chest or wrapping around my ribs, legs tangled with mine, head tucked under my chin and her breath on my neck. Or staying turned away but keeping a grip on my arm that was draped over her, locking us together.

Not running. Not lying. But taking and giving it back. No layers. Just her.

Tori Rivera.

Fucking Tori Rivera. Jesus.

Thought about how good that would be more times than I could remember. Nine months of fantasies building expectation she might not meet, building obsession, too, ’cause I wanted her hot ass in my bed and she was making that shit a challenge, then I get her there and Tori doesn’t just live up to what I’ve been pining for, but proves I’ve been underestimating her this entire fucking time.

Shit wasn’t just good. It was really fucking good, even without the sex.

She held on. Fucking held on to me. Legs was giving it back.

Fuck. So good.

And I wanted to stay there. I wanted to keep her like that, pressing close and open, but I was edgy. Alive with anger. I couldn’t stop seeing her crying. I couldn’t stop hearing her begging words while she broke apart.

I wanted to find that prick and knock his teeth down his throat. I wanted to kill him. Rip him apart for what he did to her. It felt like a fever was running through me. My hands clenched around soft skin that burrowed against my side. I couldn’t stay in that bed. I needed to move.

I needed to burn it out.

Being on the water did that. It calmed my mind and cleared my head. There was nothing like it. So I texted Dash and made him aware, then I grabbed my board and paddled out.

The water under me. The power of it. Feeling the air. Hearing the break of the waves. Fucking heaven.

I got some time in and I felt better. Not much. I still wanted to beat the shit out of this asshole, but there was a chance now I might not kill him. Slim, but it was there.

After changing out of my board shorts and finding Tori still asleep, rolled on her side as if I was still behind her, I left her there, wanting her to get as much rest as possible after what all went down last night. I figured she needed it. Then I went downstairs, got the coffee brewed, and poured myself a cup.

I stood at the island, drinking my coffee and flipping through a magazine while I waited. Noise of the front door opening lifted my head, and I watched Syd walk into the room wearing her blue hospital scrubs, her quick steps bringing her in fast and her anxious eyes scanning.

She stopped halfway into the room. Dash followed in behind her.

“Where is she?” Syd asked when she didn’t find Tori standing in the kitchen with me or sitting in the living room. “Is she okay? What happened? Did he do something to her? I’m gonna tear him apart and then light him on fire. I swear to God …” She curled her hands into fists and held them in front of her chest. Her face burned red.

“Babe, take a breath.” Dash came to a stop next to her, looking at his girl. “Jamie’s got her. If she wasn’t okay, he would’ve called and had us coming over a lot sooner. You know that.”

Syd lowered her hands and looked at me, face soft, asking, “She’s okay?”

“She’s asleep,” I told her. “Crashed in my bed last night.”

Syd’s eyes brightened, then her mouth twitched the slightest bit. She was upset and worrying for her friend but she liked hearing that. Liked it so much she gave that quirky look she was wearing to Dash and let him see it.