Page 65 of Seaside Cowboy's Second Chance

She didn’t recognize the features exactly. But she still couldn’t get enough air in her lungs. It was more a feeling than a conscious thought, but a feeling so overpowering she nearly jumped back.

“Are you okay?” Dallas touched her hand.

It took all her willpower not to flinch. Words failed her, but she managed a shaky nod.

Analyze. Be rational about it.Well, as soon as she could breathe again.

The lanky teen with acne and spiky blond hair sent her a curious glance, then shook his head. “Never seen this guy.”

Dallas’s gaze stayed on her. “Thanks. Skylar, do you need anything? Water, maybe? Or something else?”

For you to love me again.

But she couldn’t get that at a gas station convenience store. Or anywhere ever. It was still easier to move her head than her tongue, so she just gave a head shake and hurried out the glass doors. She needed fresh air. Lots of it.

Outside, she gulped for air, probably looking like a proverbial fish out of water. No, she wasn’t even that. She was a gutted fish, and all that from an unclear suspicion.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Worry tightened his voice.

Finally, she was able to make coherent words out loud. “Yes. Let’s go. But let me see the photo again in the vehicle.”

“Sure.” He opened the door for her once they reached his truck.

Heart pounding in her temples, she climbed inside and snatched his phone the instant he handed it to her. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” His brow furrowed. He didn’t say another word, only walked around the vehicle, slipped inside, and revved the engine.

She vaguely realized they took off but didn’t hear a single sound afterward. She stared at the photo, a sickening feeling knotting her stomach. Maybe she should’ve asked for something at the store, so she’d have a paper bag handy.

The thick salt-and-pepper hair with way more salt than pepper fell on the man’s forehead, and the matching mustache and beard were unfamiliar. Men could hide most of their face with facial hair, though that thought shouldn’t have jumped to mind. After all, even Dallas had a beard and mustache and he had nothing to hide.

The eye color could be changed with colored contacts, and the hair could be dyed. But not the chin and the nose, unless plastic surgery was involved. Okay, or prosthetics or putty used—but it was different to put that on for a disguise than to live in it. Was plastic surgery involved in this case?

Something was painfully familiar in the tilt of his head and in his gaze, only because it was singed into her brain as she’d stared at the photos for many years. Until she’d tried to force herself to stop remembering. It only made the image more vivid.

While she favored landscapes, she’d done her fair share of portraits, mostly on commission. She’d learned different techniques, and she’d learned to pay attention to faces. All in all, she didn’t recognize the features exactly but something had set her off, and it couldn’t just be the tilt of the head or the slant and expression of the eyes.

But then, he’d aged twenty-six years since the last time she’d seen him. Her judgment here couldn’t be trusted.

She flipped through more photos. Dallas’s brother was thorough, and she was grateful for it, as well as for the fact that Wyatt did go to at least some office parties. And his coworkers didn’t have qualms about sharing them on social media, so she had a bit more than Wyatt’s driver’s license photo to work with. He probably didn’t realize he’d been photographed at the office parties.

Too bad she couldn’t see if he still had that tattoo, but of course, his shirt hid that area. And if someone had gone through the trouble of switching identities, wearing colored eye contacts, and getting plastic surgery, there was a high probability of a laser tattoo removal or at least a cover-up tattoo. She kept swiping at photos, the few that they were.

Shouldn’t she recognize him at once? Shouldn’t she feel something? Some call of the blood?Shouldn’t she?

She bit into her lower lip until it hurt, until she tasted that metallic flavor of blood.

“Is he someone you might’ve known?” Dallas’s voice filtered through her mental fog.

“Not sure yet.” Finally, she found what she’d been looking for and was speechless again. Her mouth went dry. She should’ve agreed to that bottle of water.

One of the office parties was outside, and the wind lifted Wyatt’s hair a tad. Just enough to reveal a birthmark above his right eyebrow.

Skylar had an identical one above hers.

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Dallas pulled intothe parking lot behind the convenience store of the next gas station.

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