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“Coffey,” I tasted the name on my tongue. “Do I like coffee?”
He chuckled. “I think you like me, yes. You welcomed me by tackling me the moment we were alone. As for the drink, coffee, yes, you like that, too.”
“Coffey,” I said his name again, then looked to my brother. “Why am I here?”
Keene sighed and leaned back in his chair, his hands coming over his eyes as he tried to figure out what to tell me.
“We’ll start from the beginning,” Coffey said. “Since our story is a lot shorter than the story of your brother and your family.” I turned to look at him, ignoring the devastation in my brother’s eyes for now. “We met weeks ago when you decided to crash my father’s funeral.”
I blinked. “I did what?”
“That’s a thing you do,” Keene grumbled. “You crash funerals. And weddings, for that matter. Though this is the first time you were actually discovered. As to why you crash them, not even we know. It’s just something that you like to do when you have free time. You’re a people watcher, I guess, and that’s just something that gives you a little break from work.”
I would ask him what I do for a living later.
For now…
“Keep going,” I urged.
“We met the next night at a bar, and we talked for hours. You came to my home after getting my information from a friend of yours. A computer hacker. When you got there, we spent the entire night together. But then you had to leave the next night to move your circus to a different location,” he explained.
“When you say night together,” I said, “did that night include sexual things?”
The tips of his ears pinked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Ahhh,” I said. “That explains the fact that I’m apparently two months pregnant. That’s a relief to know that you’re around.” I turned to my brother. “Did he say we have a circus?”
I knew what a circus was. That wasn’t part of my problem. All the knowledge and know-how were there, but none of the memories that got me to this point.
The silence registered, and then I took a look at both men. “What?”
The sexy man, that was apparently my boyfriend and baby daddy, looked a little green now.
“I…” he hesitated. “Pregnant?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed, then turned back to my brother. “Did he say circus?”
Again, I’d repeated my question, and again, neither one of them answered.
Before I could voice my question for a third time, a doctor came in with a haggard, tired-looking deputy.
“Ah, Ms. Singh,” the doctor smiled when he saw me awake. “How are you feeling? Your head still hurt?”
“Her head is straight messed up,” Keene announced. “She can’t remember a single thing about anyone in her life.”
“Oh,” the doctor frowned. “You can’t remember? Is this a new onset?”
I shrugged. “I opened my eyes, and you said ‘Hi, Ms. Singh. I’m Doctor Frayn. How are you feeling?’ And I didn’t know who I was then, either. Does that mean it’s a sudden onset?”
“No,” he paused. “At least, not technically. I was more looking for a ‘since the last time we saw each other’ sudden onset. But apparently, you’ve had it since you woke up from the car crash and awakened in the hospital with me standing over you. Correct?”
I nodded.
“That explains your surprise at the news that you were pregnant when I asked you how far along you were,” he nodded. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”
I shrugged. “Everything, and I do mean everything, hurts right now. I’m fairly sure if I turn my head too far to the right too quickly, I might pass out. Other than that…I’m okay.”
A woman with a computer rolled her way into the room then smiled at us. “Oh, full room. Doctor, is now a good time for the sonogram?”
Protectiveness washed over me as the man at my side, the one that was apparently mine, said, “Everyone but those that need to be here, out.”
His eyes were only for the deputy.
The deputy nodded, then exited the room.
“Who are these fine gentlemen?” the woman asked.
“Her man,” Coffey said. “And her brother.”
“Oh, so which one are you?” she asked Keene.
I grinned at that.
Not that Coffey wasn’t handsome as hell, but he was giving clear “don’t talk to me” vibes right then.
Scary and a little bit exciting.
Oh, the man must’ve been exciting to have around.
“You never finished,” I murmured. “You’ll do that when they leave?”
That’s when I looked into his eyes.
Pale, pale blue. Almost white if he looked up into the light like he was doing right now.
CHAPTER 13
It’s only illegal if you get caught.
-T-shirt
COFFEY
Coming upon her at the scene had literally taken fifty years off my life.
I’d only thought that she was beginning to work her way into my heart.
What I’d learned as I’d rounded that corner and saw headlights shining up at the trees above it, along with brake lights half a dozen yards away from it, illuminating the trees as well, was that she wasn’t beginning to do anything. She was already doing it.
