Page 6 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

“Hey, no. It’s okay. It’s fine.” Those active fingers he was quickly becoming obsessed with now reached out to clutch his good arm, bare skin to bare skin. The contact pierced him deeper than he was comfortable with. His muscles flinched in surprise. “Don’t worry about any of that right now. Your memory will come back when it’s ready. Just concentrate on getting yourself better, okay? That’s what’s most important right now.”

She sent him a tremulous smile, and his obsession grew to encompass her full red lips as well as her pretty hands.

“Which reminds me,” she rattled on, letting go of him so she could dig into the huge purse draped over her shoulder. When she lifted out a paper sack with the logo of a familiar pink and purple bell on it, she sent him a huge grin. “They said you weren’t eating, so I brought your favorite.”

His favorite? That didn’t seem right. Yet as she set the bag on the tray by his bed and opened it to pull out some wrapped tacos, his mouth watered.

“Two chalupas, a beef burrito, three crunchy tacos, and a caramel apple empanada.”

Gaze shifting from between her and the food, he asked, “That’s what I usually get?”

She busied herself by pulling out each item. “Mm-hmm.” It hurt that she wouldn’t look him in the eye, like she couldn’t stand to see him so broken. Just how bad did he look? “So…which one would you like to start with?”

Overwhelmed by the choices, he eyed the food in her arms and damn near panicked. Shit. He didn’t know where to start. He wouldn’t even know his own name right now if someone hadn’t told him what it was. How the hell was he supposed to know which kind of burrito to eat first?

“I don’t—” He choked on a hoarse sob that had been trapped in his throat. Humiliated for letting his anxiety show, he balled his hand into a fist while oxygen sawed through his lungs at a crazy speed.

“Oh, God. I’m sorry.” Eyes going wide, Tess let all the burritos and tacos tumble from her arms and onto his food tray so she could reach for him again. “Don’t worry. It’s okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” As if realizing she’d touched him again, she quickly pulled her fingers back, leaving him bereft. “Here.” She snatched up a plain taco and began to unwrap it. “Crunchy tacos are always a safe place to begin a meal.” Once she had half of it uncovered for him to eat, she gave him an encouraging smile and gingerly brought it to his hand.

His fingers reflectively clamped around the bottom portion and he grew transfixed by how different his hands were from hers. His fingers were huge and beefy with rough leathery skin full of calluses.

What had made them so tough? Was he a factory worker? A carpenter? A farmer? He had no clue. They’d told him he was a college student, but these didn’t look like a student’s hands.

“Do you want me to lift the back of your bed some more so you can sit up, or is this a comfortable enough angle for you?” Tess flicked open a folded napkin as one might snap open a clean sheet to spread over a bed. After it floated down onto his chest, she tucked a corner into the neck of his hospital gown.

Jonah stared. For the life of him, he couldn’t imagine dating a girl who mothered him. He didn’t feel like the pampered type.

When she caught him gawking, she paused. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? Jonah?”

He shook his head. Jesus. No wonder why he couldn’t picture himself with her. His own freaking name sounded foreign to him. Why wouldn’t everything else?

“I just don’t understand,” he choked out. “This doesn’t add up.”

Alarm filled her eyes. “What…what do you mean?”

“They said I’ve been here two weeks.”

She crinkled her nose as if confused. “They said? Don’t you know how long you’ve been here?”

He shook his head. “I’ve only been awake from the coma for a few day

s.”

“You were…” Tess’s eyes widened as she pressed her hand to her heart. “Good God, no one mentioned a coma. Oh…” She turned away slightly. “You’ve been through…more than I originally thought.”

Watching her closely, he took in the fine tremor of her fingers as she brushed at her cheeks. She really did care about him, didn’t she? Which only made him more curious.

“Why did it take you so long to come?” The words he’d been waiting days to lash out at someone rumbled from his chest in more of a sob than the harsh demand he intended it to be. He clenched his teeth to keep his chin from wobbling.

Her big, scared blue eyes blinked. “What?”

He didn’t care for her pathetic attempt at stalling. It only made him think there was something big she was hiding from him. But it did help him regain some of the anger he wanted to keep.

“If I’ve been here for two weeks, and you’re my girlfriend,” he growled, snarling each word, “then why the hell did it take you so long to check on me? Why has it taken so long for anyone to check on me?”

Her eyes watered as her mouth opened. “Jonah,” she rasped, his name cracking on her lips as they pleaded with him to understand.

He shook his head, more confused than ever. “Just tell me.”

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