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He leaned on the chair again. Why wasn’t she saying, you’re right, John, this needs to stop? That’d make it so much easier. “What if a year from now, you see my face on the side of a milk carton?”
She laughed again. “More likely it’ll be a post on Facebook.”
“Whatever. I told you I was too old for you.”
“I don’t know what the right answer is. Iwant to be selfish and say screw your past. All we have is right now. But you’re the one who would ultimately have to live with the consequences.”
He straightened up again. “I’ve felt from the beginning that even if I couldn’t remember, I’d know if there was someone I was in love with out there waiting for me. Maybe that’s an excuse. Maybe it’s wishful thinking. But I felt that way since the first day in the hospital.” He looked at his left finger. The tan line was fading and was barely visible. “But I’d been wearing a ring. That’s something we can’t ignore.”
“And we established you probably had children. Which would indicate you were married.”
He smiled at her. “There’s no good answer here.” He looked at his finger again. “Maybe the bastard who attacked me behind that bar didn’t take my ring. Why would he take that and not my watch? Maybe I took it off long before that day. Maybe it’s sitting in the bottom of my sock drawer at home. Wherever home is.”
“That’s very possible.” She started to move forward, then stopped herself. “Well, if it helps at all, I think I’m falling in love with you, John.”
“That doesn’t help.” But, God, he was glad to hear it. He took a breath, which didn’t help, either. “I don’t think I’m in love with you, Ember. I know I am.”
He saw her blink away the tears in her eyes and he wanted to go to her, and hold her, and tellher everything was going to be okay.
She took a breath and wiped a tear from her cheek. “So, what are we going to do?”
He took a moment before answering her. “There are only two options here. A. You drive me back to Santa Fe and drop me off at a halfway house, then you go back to your life and forget about me. And—”
“B. I want to go with B.”
He moved the chair aside and took a step toward her. “If we go with B, there’s no going back.”
“I know.”
They both took another step toward each other. “I hope I don’t hate myself some day for this.”
He moved to her and put his hands on her waist. “Dammit, Ember.”
“I know.”
He leaned in and kissed her tenderly, then looked at her. “Shit.” He pulled her in closer and his kisses were now urgent. He needed her right now. He kissed her neck and her face, then returned to her mouth. He wanted every part of her all at once. He couldn’t get enough. It’d never be enough.
She started unbuttoning his shirt, and he pulled it off over his head before she got to the bottom. Then he removed her t-shirt and kissed her shoulders and the tops of her breasts above her pink lace bra.
He put his hands on her face and kissed her forehead and her lips again, then he returned his hands to her waist and lifted her onto the counter. He looked at her for a moment.
“There’s no going back from here.”
She pulled him in tight and kissed him in a way that let him know she had no desire to go back. Going forward was the only option.
What they started in the kitchen, they finished in the bedroom. They spent hours exploring every inch of each other until finally falling asleep in an exhausted embrace.
Ember was the first one to wake up. The room was light, and she turned toward John. He was curled up on his side with his back to her. She wanted to wake him and pick right up where they left off. But she decided to let him sleep. They had the whole day ahead of them.
So she settled for watching his back move almost imperceptibly with the shallow breathing of sleep. When her phone went off, she turned to it quickly to answer it so it didn’t wake John up.
When she saw the call was from Scott, she answered with, “Hey, Scott.”
“Good morning Ember. You weren’t still in bed, were you?”
“No. Well, yes. But I’m just being lazy.”
“Did you guys have a late night?”
