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His hair looked the same, but she knew with a bit of mousse they could poof it out in the short term. He’d hate every second of that, she was sure, but the next time they went out in public, when they weren’t settling old scores, he could let it grow longer and they could figure out how to style it appropriately.
Look at her, going all hearts and flowers again about them having a future.
It wasn’t the reality of what might happen today. She was pretty sure they could take on two doctors without overt bloodshed.
It was the fact that she hadn’t really let Benny figure out what his future looked like.
“Why’d you get all serious?” he asked, meeting her eyes in the mirror.
There was no reason to lie to him, or even soften the facts. They weren’t those kinds of people.
“I have to temper my expectations,” she said with a shrug. “In my reality, we’re still a couple, and everyone knows about us now. Regardless of what happens today, that’s not your reality. Not yet, and maybe not ever. We’re good together in bed, sure, but the things that made us a couple, that made us so compatible outside of it, are things you haven’t rediscovered yet. You may never rediscover them, and I need to give you the time and space to make your own decisions.”
He turned to face her and gently took her shoulders, bringing them eye to eye instead of looking at each other through the mirror.
“You’re right.”
She flinched.
“But I do know some things, even if my world just restarted a few days ago. I know I feel utterly and completely comfortable with you. I know unequivocally that you have my back, and I know the chemistry between us is unmistakable. Rare. All those things matter, Jordan.”
He paused, his hands still warm on her shoulders. “When this is said and done, we can build on those things. I might get my memory back, but I’m going to act as if I won’t. I’m going to live each day like it’s a new one, and doing that means I get to rediscover the joy of knowing you, inside and out.”
“Oh,” she said as emotion clogged her throat.
She could see he’d meant every one of those words, that he wasn’t just saying them to make her feel better.
“I think I can work with that,” she said with a small smile. “Because I love you.”
She reached up and gave him a quick kiss. She would never tell him they’d been a day away from getting hitched. If he remembered it, it wouldn’t matter because they were already building new memories together. If he didn’t, the same held true.
She didn’t have to win Benny’s heart, it was already hers, she just had to give him time, and that was something she was more than happy to do.
Her phone chimed on the bathroom counter, reminding them of the video conference in thirty minutes, the sound slicing neatly through the moment, and just like that, the softness disappeared from Benny’s expression.
Today was the day. Everything they’d been pushing toward since Benny had walked back into their lives. She reached for her clothes. “Nothing says good morning like plotting the downfall of a couple of mad scientists.”
That earned her a grin, but it disappeared quickly. “You know what’s fucked up?”
“Pretty sure you’re going to have to narrow that down.”
A ghost of a smile, then he sobered again. “I don’t remember them. Not really. I know what Davenport told me. The pictures you showed me. I know what they did to my body. I know there’s something in my head that’s scared shitless of Overlander.” His jaw tightened. “But I don’t remember her face, just her eyes.”
Jordan stilled. Until now, Hayes and Overlander had been almost abstract. Names attached to medical records and nightmares. Monsters lurking inside memories Benny couldn’t reach. Today they became real.
Whatever happened when Benny finally stood in front of the people who’d tortured him, Jordan intended to be standing beside him.
She pulled on her shirt, careful of the bandage at her side. “You don’t have to remember her to know what she did.”
“No.” He set the phone down and met her gaze. “But I want to see her.”
There was something in his expression she hadn’t seen before. Not fear, or even anger. Instead, she saw resolve.
That was an emotion she understood intimately. She stepped to him and rested her palm against his chest. “Then let’s go confront the woman who murdered Benito Drake.”
His hand covered hers. “And make damn sure Chance Johnson gets to walk away.”
Chapter Thirteen
