Page 105 of Knox

“And, yeah, okay, that’s saying something considering the things I’ve seen and been through. But when I saw you lying there—you had so much blood on you I wasn’t sure how badly you’d been hurt and I…” He drew in his breath, swallowed hard like he might be revisiting that moment.

His voice emerged shaky. “You were so…frail. And…” He closed his eyes, looked away as if trying to gather himself.

Oh, Tate.And with everything inside her she wanted to reach up and pull him to herself, to kiss him and tell him that the best day of her life was the day he’d invaded her life.

That she was terrified of reliving her worst fears, but maybe…maybe she could start calling him by his real name, could start letting him into her life.

Could believe that she could love again.

One true heart.

“Tate—” she whispered.

He looked over at her, his heart in his eyes.

And then he must have read her because he leaned over her, his gaze roaming hers, his fingers caressing her face. His mouth opened just slightly, and she grabbed his shirt with one finger to tug him closer. The smell of the night—smoke and fear and raw desperation—hung on his skin, and his beautiful eyes held hers.

“Glo,” he said softly, “I—”

The door opened behind him.

“And then I want to have a press conference— Gloria. Sweetheart—there you are.”

Tate jerked away from her.

She froze. “Mother?”

Senator Reba Jackson strode into the room like the presidential contender she was and stood at the end of her bed. She was sporting a fresh wash of amber-red in her shoulder-length hair and wore a pair of black dress pants, a white blouse, and gray blazer, and she looked like she’d already hit the gym, had her first cup of coffee, and was snapping her fingers at her assistant to deliver her a kale-orange-banana smoothie along with the freshest foreign affairs briefing. Only the slightest smudge in her mascara hinted that she’d probably taken a red-eye from DC to land in Glo’s hospital room in the first blush of morning.

She hadn’t changed a bit in the eighteen months since Glo had last seen her, at least in person. Her mother had made a point of FaceTime-ing her regularly in case Glo forgot she wasn’t really a country music sensation. Heaven help her if her hobby overtook her true calling as spokeswoman for the Elect Reba campaign.

“Mother, what are doing here?”

Tate stepped back from the bed, and a glance in her periphery said he didn’t know what to do, his arms folded across his chest.

Kelsey, however had risen, and who knew if she’d been witness to the almost kiss between Glo and Tate.

Glo’s entire body still tingled.

“Senator Jackson,” Kelsey said and walked over to her.

“Kelsey, honey. How are you?” She gave Kelsey a hug, something with a shade of warmth. Oh, look who was trying. She’d never been a fan of the Yankee Belles, although admittedly, she did like Kelsey.

The warmth stopped when she turned to Tate, however, and she gave her best shot of sending him to his knees with a look.

Oh. So they hadn’t been quite quick enough…

Clearly, Tate would pay for that.

“And, who is this?” Glo’s mother said, no smile.

And right then, Glo had a choice. She could end the game between them and yank Tate into her world with a simpleHe’s a friend. Or she could keep him at a stiff-armed distance—

“He’s our bodyguard,” Kelsey said, answering for her.

Her mother raised an eyebrow, glanced at Glo, then back to Tate. “Keeping my little girl safe, are you?”

Tate’s mouth thinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

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