A Man Worth Remembering

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“It means you need to get some sleep.” Gabe yawned. Not a fake one either. It’d been a hell of a long day, and he was bone-tired. “Who knows? You might wake up tomorrow and remember everything.”

She didn’t disagree, but the little sound she made wasn’t one of hope. Still, at the moment, hope was about the best thing they had going for them.

Hope that Leigh would regain her memory.

Hope that those gunmen would stop following them.

Hope that he could, somehow, keep her alive.

Chapter Five

Leigh awakened slowly, trying to get her bearings before she moved or even opened her eyes. Her bearings, however, were wrapped all around her. She was on the truck seat cradled in a man’s arms. Gabe’s arms. Her face was buried against his neck, and his musky scent surrounded her.

This was not good. Not good at all. That scent went straight through her like a triple shot of whiskey. Not a memory, exactly. More like a feeling that what they were doing was right.

And wrong.

Quickly but not so easily, she unraveled herself from his snug grip so she could get to a sitting position. The moment she moved, Gabe did as well. He came off the seat, reaching for his gun in the same motion.

Their gazes collided. His eyes were still ripe with sleep, and she saw some of the emotions that he’d kept so guarded, so under control the day before. The concern. The stress.

And other things she didn’t even want to explore.

Leigh took a deep breath. Just who was this man that she’d once promised to love forever? She was almost afraid to find out.

Pulling herself away from that naked gaze, and from his partly naked body, Leigh opened the truck door and stepped out, careful not to put direct pressure on her wounded ankle. She made a sweeping glance around the thick cypress woods. The sun was just rising over a misty-topped bayou, and with the exception of a snow-white egret, they were alone.

Completely alone.

“Are you all right?” Gabe asked.

No, she wasn’t. Reality was even harsher in the early-morning light than it had been in the darkness. She was in the middle of a bayou with a man she didn’t know. She had no memory. And someone wanted her dead. Not the best way to start the day. Oh, and she was scared. Add to that a wicked headache and what felt like an overwhelming need for a cup of coffee, and it didn’t seem she had a lot to look forward to.

Leigh leaned against the truck and tried to catch her breath. “So, what happens now?” she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

With catlike grace, Gabe slid off the seat and stood beside her. He brought his shoulder holster and gun with him, draping it over his arm. “We try to find out who’s behind this and then get you to a safer place.”

At least he seemed to think that was possible. She wasn’t so sure anymore. Maybe there were no safe places to go.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Still shirtless, the sunlight danced over his deeply tanned chest. And the jeans. God, the jeans. They gloved parts of him that she wished weren’t so gloved.

Those were things she definitely shouldn’t notice.

Still, it was hard not to notice and respond to him since he was an attractive man. Even if they hadn’t shared a past she couldn’t remember, that attraction probably would have still been there.

The attraction.

The emotions.

The uncertainty of their past.

Those things frightened Leigh almost as much as coming face-to-face with the person who’d tried to kill her. Eventually, she would have to remember what had torn Gabe and her apart. Leigh wasn’t exactly looking forward to reliving any of that.

Gabe lifted the lid on the storage bin in the bed of the truck. Muscles flexed as he fished around inside and came up with two bottles of water. “I don’t guess your memory returned overnight, huh?” He passed one of the bottles her way.

Leigh shook her head. No memory. Just a headache and an unwanted physical attraction to the man who leaned against the truck beside her.

She didn’t plan to ask him to put on his shirt. No sense letting him in on the fact there was a whirl of emotions she didn’t understand, or want to feel. Emotions that included a good old-fashioned case of lust. She might not remember Gabe, but her hormones sure did.

He took a long drink of water. “So, nothing about this place seems familiar?”

Leigh looked around again, hoping she’d missed something that would jar her memory. She hadn’t. “No, should it?”