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“No, thanks,” she said. “You’ve got to be tired.”
“I’m never too tired to touch you.”
Knowing he couldn’t see her, she smiled with a trace of bitterness. How would he feel if he knew that, tonight, she’d pretend he was Jonah? “Thanks, but I’m not in the mood for a massage.”
“So…you won’t tell me what’s going on?”
“I’ve just been thinking about the baby I had. You know, before the boys,” she replied, which was true. She’d been brooding about her first child almost as much as Jonah and Francesca and all the rest of it. What would her life have been like if she’d had the chance to raise her daughter with her father? Jonah was all she’d ever wanted.
Stan rolled toward her and slipped his arm around her waist. “Are you wishing you’d kept her, honey? After all this time?”
The ceiling fan circled above them, providing some relief from the heat. Closing her eyes, Adriana concentrated on the brush of the air against her cheeks. “Maybe. I can’t help wondering what she’s like. Does she resemble me or Jonah? Does she have a good home? Is she happy? What if I’d decided to keep her?”
“You have to assume she’s happy, Adriana. And why not? You know she went to a good family. Don’t second-guess yourself. The questions you’re asking will only eat at you, and the emotions they create could turn into guilt and destroy the peace and happiness we have within our own family.”
When she didn’t respond, he curled more closely around her. “What do you say?”
“I know you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right. I’m a doctor,” he teased. “Leave the past where it is.”
“I’m trying,” she whispered. But what he didn’t understand, what she wanted to tell him but couldn’t for fear she’d reveal too much, was that she hadn’t dug up the past. The past had come calling all on its own.
* * *
The shower was running. Francesca could hear the pipes whine. That meant Jonah had to be back. What time was it?
Squinting to see through sleep-blurred eyes, she checked the old-fashioned alarm clock on the nightstand. Nearly four. She’d been asleep for five hours.
It felt as if it’d only been five minutes.
A red light flashed on the desk, distracting her. Shoving herself onto her elbows, she realized it was Jonah’s phone. There was a message waiting for him. Maybe more than one. Was Finch trying to get hold of him? What had they decided in her absence? Although she’d originally planned to join Jonah and the county investigators last evening, she hadn’t made it to the sheriff’s station. After being sick, she’d fallen asleep in the car and, once they reached Prescott, Jonah had insisted on bringing her to his motel room so she could continue sleeping while he met with Finch and Hunsacker.
The water went off and, as much as she tried not to, she imagined Jonah stepping out of the shower, completely naked with rivulets of water running off him. The intimate image sent a tingle through her, which dissolved the sleepiness of a moment before.
He opened the door slightly, probably to vent the steam, and she felt the hot, wet air roll out like an ocean wave. It chased away the chill of the air conditioner, which was set lower than she set her own. She supposed the coolness was one of the reasons she’d slept so soundly. She’d burrowed beneath the duvet, something she couldn’t do very often in Arizona, at least in the summertime, and hadn’t even heard Jonah come in. Until the racket of the shower had eventually coaxed her into wakefulness, she hadn’t turned over since climbing into his extra bed.
The sound of his movements drew her eyes to the door, and memories when they’d been together ten years ago began to spill out of the vault in the back of her mind.
“There you are,” Jonah breathed.
They were at her parents’ house in Phoenix, had just been swimming. She’d gone in to change out of her suit and get ready for dinner when he surprised her by slipping into the bathroom.
She’d seen him in the mirror. “What are you doing here?” She’d felt so secure from accidental intrusions she hadn’t even bothered to lock the door. Because of his wheelchair, her father couldn’t use this particular bathroom. They’d had two specially designed and installed to accommodate him on the first floor—in the master suite and in the guest bathroom. Her mother hadn’t been swimming. She’d merely sat by the pool, so she didn’t need to change. And her brother no longer lived at home.
Jonah shut the door quietly behind him. “Looking for you.”
She’d just untied the strings to her bikini top, but she held them in place as she turned to face him. “We made love last night.”
His eyes swept over her, appreciative, hungry. “So? Do I only get one ticket a day? You’ve been driving me crazy in that suit.”
Laughing, she jerked her head toward the door. “Get out of here. My parents are home.”
“Your mother’s making dinner. Your father’s on the phone. We’re safe.”
“For how long? They’ll be calling for us soon. They’re too excited about getting to know you.”
“They can wait five minutes.”
