Page 37 of Question Everything

She had fallen asleep in his arms, her chest rising and falling peacefully, her hand still resting between his legs. He needed to be careful not to move; he didn’t want to her to shift and wake up; he liked the feeling of her warmth against the most sensitive part of him. He wondered about her nightmare, though. It was probably just a by-product of all the stress she’d been under, coming up to the Cape with him under duress. But maybe it wassomething more. And the sudden baking, that was odd as well. Maybe pieces of her memory were returning, and she just had no other way to process them, he wasn’t sure. The only thing Kyle did know was that he was starting to wish that she’d never remember her past. That way, maybe he could convince her to stay here with him. There was something about this woman that was so attractive that it made him wish that he could hold on to her and call her his own.After what they just did,he thought,how the hell was he going to be able to ever let her go.

And then there was the matter of his gun. When he first heard her screaming, he was sure that someone had broken into the house and was in her room. The fear that struck him in that moment was heart-stopping, but he didn’t hesitate as he once thought he might. He reached for his gun in the night table next to him, grabbed a handful of bullets out of the box that sat next to it and ran as fast as he could to check on the baby and then go find Mia. But there was no one else in the house. As a matter of fact, he remembered now that the alarm panel was set to “arm” – had someone broken in, there would have been a siren blaring, not just a woman screaming. None of it made any sense. The only explanation was that she must have remembered something, even if it was just the feeling of being threatened. He’d have to ask her some very pointed questions in the morning.

For now, however, they were safe and warm in this bed. He could hear the ocean as it pounded against the beach outside the window. The rhythm was familiar and comforting, and he did his best to fall into the sound of it, allowing it to lull him to sleep as well. As his eyes grew heavy, he had one final thought: whatever it took to make the woman next to him feel safe, that was the mission. He could not let her down.

CHAPTER 20

Mia woke in the early morning pale light disoriented, with two pressing needs -- to pee and to breastfeed. Both her bladder and her boobs felt full to the point of bursting; she hoped that Daisy was going to be awake soon. Then she realized that she wasn’t alone. Her mind raced for a minute, remembering the events of the previous night. She turned her head and saw Kyle still sleeping on the other side of the bed.

It was not like she could have forgotten what happened between them, even with her compromised memory. It was body and soul shattering sex, after all. It was just that she was starting to remember bits and pieces of her past life and she still hadn’t determined if she was free to fall for him. While she didn’t wear a wedding ring, she did have a baby.Daisy’s father had to be out there somewhere, didn’t he?

If the two men who had found her in Boston were hired by whomever it was that was looking for her, then they must know her identity. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way. Maybe those men held the key to her future and if they did show up here, perhaps she could get them to tell her the truth.

Or maybe they just want to snatch Daisy and kill you,she warned herself. Plus, she could no longer ignore the overwhelming sense that she was in real trouble, the kind of danger that Kyle would not be able to protect her against.

She looked over at Kyle again. This man had done so much to help her already. She could not let him continue to put his own life on the line for her. She had to figure this all out and do it quickly before the rest of his family arrived for Thanksgiving and she put them all in peril as well.

That was the other odd piece.Thanksgiving.She wasn’t sure what that holiday entailed. She heard Sibby talk about it in the kitchen with Colleen before they left, planning for what they’d need to bring to the Cape to make the traditional meal, but none of that felt familiar. Shouldn’t she have a core memory of celebrating with her own family as a child? Why couldn’t she even remember that? If she did have a bake shop somewhere, wouldn’t she have made specialty cakes for the occasion? She had heard Sibby mention pumpkin pie.I have no idea how to make one of those,she thought.

She sat up and shook her head, trying to pry some odd fact loose in her brain. It didn’t work and she knew that she had only a few minutes before her bladder would betray her as well. She carefully maneuvered herself out of the bed, doing her best to keep Kyle asleep. Once she made it to the bathroom and relieved herself, she felt better. Now it was just a matter of putting some clothing on before he woke up and found her naked yet again.

Mia quietly made her way back into the bedroom, thinking that she was in the clear as she rummaged through the top drawer of the dresser where she had stored her bras and panties. Suddenly, she felt a shift in the air; it was as if the energy had become supercharged.

“Good morning,” he said. “Where did you go?”

She quickly grabbed a lacy thong and stepped into it, turning around with her arm covering her leaking breasts.

“I had to pee. And I have to feed…the baby.”

“Is she up yet?”

“I’m not sure. I’m going to check.”

“Don’t you think you would have heard her?” He pointed to the monitor screen on the night table. “I think she’s still asleep.”

She followed his glance and saw that indeed her daughter was in her crib and not yet awake.

“Come back to bed, Mia.”

It sounded more like a command than a request.

“Kyle, I think we should talk about this…”

“Mia. There’s nothing to talk about. I think we both know that we crossed a line last night. What’s the harm in crossing it one more time?”

“Just one?” she asked, knowing the answer.

“Just one for now,” he replied with a smile. “We can see what happens after that.”

And for all that she recognized that this might not be the best idea she ever had, Mia couldn’t help it. She wanted to lose herself in him, to forget that she couldn’t remember who she really was and be reborn in his embrace, to be a part of his life, his family. She slowly moved her arms away from her breasts and hooked two fingers in the thin lace of her panties, pulling them down and kicking them aside. Then she took a deep breath and sunk back down into the bed with him, reveling in the warmth of his body and his heady scent.

Just once more. Then you have to tell him what you remember.

At breakfast that morning,Mia was determined to keep her wits about her. It wasn’t just the mind-blowing sex that had herrattled; it was the distinct memory of Daisy’s true name. She had pushed the pancakes around on her plate long enough for him to notice that she wasn’t eating.

“Aren’t you famished?” he asked. “Or is it that you just don’t like what I made? It’s okay, I won’t be insulted if you want to make yourself some eggs.”

“It’s not that, Kyle, these are actually delicious,” she said, taking a bite to make a point. The forkful of maple-soaked goodness tasted like cotton in her mouth. She looked over at her daughter, kicking happily in one of the multiple baby seats she’d found in the house, fed and content. She pushed the plate aside. “There’s something I have to tell you, something I remembered.”

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