Page 53 of Unlikely Guardian

Lilly shook her head, not making the connection.

“Under hypnosis, you said the car that hit you was maroon with heavily tinted windows.”

She was so glad she was sitting down. No, it wasn’t clear-cut evidence, but she couldn’t dismiss it as a coincidence, either. “You think Greg might have been murdered?” she asked, holding her breath.

“I think it’s a strong possibility.”

“Oh, God. Oh, God.” She couldn’t help it. She dropped her head onto his shoulder and the tears came. The grief was fresh again, as if his death had just happened. “And here all this time, I thought this was my fault. I’ve been blaming myself.”

“And I’ve been blaming you.”

She was aware that along with all the pain they were both no doubt feeling, there were several issues and revelations that had to be dealt with. Greg’s death. Jason’s and her past.

Maybe even their future.

“What are we going to do about this information?” she muttered, lifting her head from his shoulder.

“You’re going to do nothing but stay safe. I’ve already turned all of this over to the lead detective. He’s planning a database search to try to identify the car. Of course, it has been nineteen months…”

In other words, it might be too late. The car could be anywhere by now. Still, she had to hold out hope that they’d get lucky.

Since Jason had broached the subject of his brother, Lilly decided to continue it. “While I was under hypnosis, did I say anything else about Greg?”

Jason eased away from her, and he dodged her gaze. “What do you mean?”

Uh-oh. That eluded gaze couldn’t be a good sign. Yep, she’d no doubt mentioned sex. Great. Nothing like reminding him of the huge sore spot that was between them. “I just got the feeling that I’d said something to make you uncomfortable.”

“No. Not uncomfortable,” he insisted. But his hesitation said otherwise. “You just clarified a few things for me.”

Another uh-oh. “Like what?”

He shrugged, moved away another inch. “Like how important it is for us to solve this case.”

Lilly sighed. She couldn’t fault him for his evasive answer. If their positions had been reversed, she wouldn’t have wanted to discuss his previous sexual activity. She didn’t even want to think about it.

“So, we’re back to vague responses, chitchat, et cetera?” she mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Jason asked. And he asked it with a straight face, too. Had she misinterpreted his ambiguous response? Or maybe she hadn’t said what she thought she’d said while under hypnosis.

“Why won’t you tell me what I said that’s made you so standoffish?” She heard herself and wanted to wince. Mercy, it was time to drop this. So what if she never learned his—

“I care about you,” Jason said, interrupting her thoughts. Thank goodness. Because she truly hadn’t wanted to finish that. “But we don’t have a clean slate, Lilly. We never will. And I don’t know how we deal with that. If—”

“Wait a minute.” She slapped her palm on his chest. “Back up to that part about you caring about me.”

He looked at her as if her nose were on backward. “Of course I care about you.”

“Of course,” she repeated. She held up her left index finger. “Give me a minute for that to sink in.”

He shook his head, obviously surprised by her reaction. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t care.”

She grunted. “Kissing and caring aren’t always related. Sometimes kissing is just about lust and nothing else.”

“And sometimes, kissing is about kissing.”

Lilly stared at him, trying to figure out what he meant and where this was going. After several long moments, she decided she didn’t have a clue.

Did she?

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