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“Or, they’re just afraid of what they think I know, baby. Move in with me. Whatever else happens, we’ll figure it out. Two together, remember?”
“Yes, but my brother—”
“Will come around.”
“He threatened to come after you.”
“I’ve got some ideas on how to handle that we can talk about tonight after the Harvest events.” He glances at his watch. “Weneed to get going now or we won’t have time to look around at Echo’s place.”
“Yes, of course,” I say but he doesn’t start walking.
He lifts my hand and kisses my knuckles. “Are you moving in with me?”
“Can we talk about it tonight?”
“That’s not a no. I’ll take it for now.” His hands come down on my shoulders and he drags me to him. “I’m crazy about you, woman.”
“Show me tonight.”
“With pleasure,” he promises, sliding his arm around me as we start walking again.
In what turns out to be a good mile of travel down the beach, I try to remember that entry in the journal, certain it was something like:She didn’t tell me. Did she think I wouldn’t find out?And it’s hard not to wonder if that is a reference to Hunter.
I glance up at Jax who is just as deep in thought as me. “My father came to the Harvest events, right?”
“He came to at least one that I know of, but back when we were kids, before the Harvest started, my father hosting elite weekends for his top clients. Invitations were highly sought after. There were top chefs flown in from around the world to prepare meals to complement our whiskey. I’m sure he was probably at those.” He glances over at me. “He stopped doing them after my mother left.”
“That feels connected, not random.”
“It does. And yes, I’m sure that’s how he met my mother.”
“I wonder how well they all knew each other,” I say, thinking of the hourglass from one of our shops that I’d found in his father’s old office. “I’m going to call my mother and ask, but maybe we can just go see her in Europe. I think I might get more out of her that way.”
“She might not want to talk if I’m present,” he says, and then points at a cute little cottage with a blue shingled roof just off the water. “We’re here. This is where Echo lives.”
“It’s adorable. Does he own it?”
“My father gifted it to him years ago.”
“That’s a generous gift,” I say. “A property on the water like this one would likely be a million dollars or more.”
“My father was a generous man.” He glances over at me. “And a forgiving man. Something I almost forgot to be myself.” He catches my hand. “Come on. Let’s go take a look.”
We start a climb up a long set of wooden steps that travel a path over rocks, and I swear that clawing, foreboding feeling is back. It feels like I’m about to enter a dead man’s house.
Chapter ninety-seven
Emma
The climb up the stairs leading to Echo’s house is rather steep and high, the wind chilly, but we eventually reach the house and a porch, much like the one at Jax’s place, but smaller and less grand. It’s crazy but all kinds of nerves attack my belly as we walk up yet another set of steps to the porch, and then cross to the front door. Jax rings the bell, and while he is as always, cool and calm, a man in control, I sense the urgency now beneath his surface. He’s worried and not just a little bit either. This knowledge accelerates my heartbeat as does Jax knocking on the door with a heavy, firm rap.
We wait for an answer that doesn’t come.
Jax knocks again and then scrubs his hand through his hair. “Why am I knocking? Walker Security would have told me if he was home.”
Not so cool and calm on the outside now, and the fact that he lets me see this when I don’t believe he would someone else, matters to me. It’s trust. It’s a part of our bond, our connection. “How did Walker get inside?” I ask.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key. “Same way we’re about to get in.”
