Page 12 of Hunted in Hope Town

He knew he should say something to Jessica, but he hadn’t found the words yet. He hadn’t found his equilibrium yet.

The two of them in an isolated cabin, waiting for safety.

Recipe for disaster, emotionally at least. But it would keep her safe. He’d weather a million more disasters to keep her safe.

Then Jessica dropped her own little bomb. “Who’s Kirsten?”

Chapter Five

There was a look of pure shock on his face that almost satisfied Jessica. Like she’d won some kind of point in some battle between them.

She probably shouldn’t think of it that way since he was allegedly keeping her safe, but he’d seemed so stoic, so sure. It had irritated her.

And now, she’d pierced some of that mask. Though he quickly shored up his reserves. Back to stoic. Back to that…space between them.

“I’m not sure—”

“Don’t lie to me,” she said, focusing on anger because if she didn’t, she felt panic. Fear. “Not here. Not now. You almost called me Kirsten this morning, after I…” She shouldn’t tell him that.

He studied her. “After you what?”

She hesitated.

The bottom line was she was trusting him—or at least him through her trust of Zach—and if she was going to demand answers, then maybe she had to be forthcoming enough for him to understand…

She knew something wasn’t right. Whatever was going on, she needed to know the details because she felt how wrong things were.

“I had to sign for a delivery. I didn’t think. I didn’t… It was like muscle memory. I signed a name—not my name. Kirsten. Didn’t even think about it. Didn’t even… It was just there, like I did it all the time when I’ve always signed my name Jessica. And I wouldn’t have thought too much of it, I would have pushed it away, but then you almost said that name. You said Kir before stopping yourself. It’s not a coincidence.”

“It could be,” he replied.

“But it’s not.” He’d be acting differently. She would feel differently. And while her doctor had said not to push things, to center herself in the present, she’d also told her to feel her feelings. Connect to her thoughts. To wade through what felt real and what didn’t. And deal with both. Not push. Accept.

Something about that had Jessica remembering that dream she’d had of him. Blood gushing from his shoulder. It had felt so real. So, so real. Like a memory.

She looked at his shoulder now. She had convinced herself it was a dream. She had pushed away the terror, the way her heart had ached, because they were bad feelings. Bad…everything.

But what if she felt? What if she let herself remember it? She could still see it clearly. In the memory he had a beard, pain-hazed eyes, and blood gushing from his shoulder. She couldn’t place herself in that memory, so she wanted to believe it was a dream, but now…

Faith and Zach and everyone trusted Ellis to keep her safe. To be alone with her here. It meant something. They were connected somehow. In her past.

Because that dream had happened, and it had felt real.

Because the envelope had said Mrs. Sutton. Sutton. His last name.

Because she looked at him now and felt an array of emotions she couldn’t parse, but they were always there when he was around.

And only him. Like he was the only complicated and confusing figure in this life she actually remembered.

So what about the one she didn’t?

She lifted her gaze from his shoulder to those hazel eyes. “Take off your shirt.”

His eyebrows winged up, and she couldn’t fight the blush that crept into her cheeks. That was not what she meant. “Show me your shoulder.”

He didn’t move, but she didn’t see any bafflement in his expression. He was being too careful. “What about my shoulder?”

But he was hedging. He was hedging and it meant…