Page 25 of Forbidden Secrets
Who was he kidding?He’d wanted her mouth from the first time he’d met her.She must have read his mind because her big brown eyes went wide and more than a little wary.But she didn’t step back.
“Look, Melanie, I need to give full disclosure.”He forced himself to let go of her hand.
“About what?”
“Shane Keller and I have been friends since college.Through him I’m friends with Walker and Sawyer and their wives.”
“What does—” Her tone cooled.“Oh, I see.With you being FBI, they told you what happened to me and about Walker being sent to prison.”
“Yeah, they did.I wasn’t positive that Melanie was you until Sawyer confirmed it.”He shrugged.“It didn’t seem fair that you didn’t know I knew what happened.”
“Thank you for telling me.”The warmth had disappeared from her face.
He should have let it go, stepped back from his attraction, kept their relationship superficial.
But he couldn’t.“It doesn’t change anything.”
“You mean knowing I was raped during my senior year of high school?Or that Walker went to prison because I couldn’t convince a jury it wasn’t him?That doesn’t change what you think of me?”
“Why the hell would it?The sheriff framed him, and it was his lawyer’s job to prove he was innocent, not yours.”
She lifted her chin even as pain flashed across her face.“Walker lost over two years of his life behind bars.The predator who assaulted me was free to terrorize others.I should have tried harder, done more.Something.”
“Jesus Christ, Mel.You were a traumatized kid.The victim of a horrific crime.That wasn’t on you.Not the sheriff, not the jury, none of it.You did what you could to survive.You and Walker were both victims.”
She stayed stubbornly silent.He shook his head.“There are assholes out there who deserve blame, but not you.”
They’d drawn closer, breaths mingling.Her red lips tantalizing.Gage wondered if she felt the same surge of warmth around her heart he did.
There were a lot of reasons he should keep his distance.She had a kid who didn’t deserve to be hurt if a relationship didn’t work out.The most recent nightmares notwithstanding, he was only now feeling like he’d recovered from the operation against the cartel, mentally and physically, to the point where he was fully functioning.
But lately, he’d been watching his friends fall in love, raise babies, build lives that didn’t feel temporary.And for the first time, he wondered what it would be like to want that again.
Wanther.
The fear was still there, lodged like a bullet under his ribs—fear of losing, of failing, of loving someone too much.
But standing here, her eyes searching his, none of that seemed to matter.Melanie lit something bright inside him, something he’d never experienced before that pushed back the darkness.Something hopeful.The feeling was intoxicating and made it impossible to step away.
He tilted his head.“You want to tell me why you were crying?”
“No.You want to tell me why you and Chase hate each other?”
“No.”He thrust his hands back in his pockets to combat the urge to touch her again.“How about I beat the shit out of him for being a dick?”The tears he’d seen earlier still pissed him off.
“I think you’d like that, so I’m sorry, but no.Chase didn’t make me cry.”
He watched her steadily, not saying a word.The tactic usually worked.People had a compulsion to fill the silence.
Her gorgeous eyes narrowed.“I’m on to you, Special Agent Landry, but you win this one.I’m not a crier.I hate crying.But being in Sisters, talking with Chase earlier this week and then tonight, it brought what happened closer to the surface than it had been.
“Addy’s the center of my world and focusing on her has helped me move on from that time in a way that’s healthy for me.”She lifted her shoulders.“I knew coming back would be difficult, especially seeing people from when I was growing up.Talking about the night I was assaulted hit me hard.”
“He brought it up?Maybe I’ll beat the shit out of him anyway.”
She smiled at him for the first time and revealed twin dimples.God dammit.Since when did he have a thing for dimples?He had a set of his own and had been gratified when they’d morphed into creases as an adult.On Addy they were adorable.On Melanie?They were sexy as sin.
“Don’t beat the shit out of him.I brought it up, not Chase.
