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Remy touched her arm, his fingers against her skin, sending heat throughout her body. The sensation was a combination of confusion and arousal. Confusion because she couldn’t bring back whatever memory it inspired, and arousal because…well, because he was a sexy man any woman would love to…touch…and be touched by.
If only she could remember him.
“Are you okay?” Remy asked.
“Yeah,” she said and pushed past him before her knees buckled, and she collapsed in his arms. Now, there was a thought...
Remy helped her back into the boat. “Let me take it the rest of the way,” he said.
Shelby sank onto the bench in front of Remy, her fingers curling around the lip of the metal as Remy guided the boat past the fishing hut, moving deeper into the bayou, skirting around several small islands and a field of marsh grass.
Shelby’s breath lodged in her throat, and her pulse quickened as she stared across the field. Her eyes saw one view of the grass, her mind saw another. Instead of viewing it from a distance, she was in it, pushing through stalks so thick, she could barely move through them. Scarcely able to breathe. Fear choking her lungs as effectively as drowning in the murky bayou.
Shelby drew into herself, wrapping her arms around her middle as they rounded a bend in the marsh.
“Damn,” Remy swore softly and eased off the throttle.
The boat continued forward, drifting toward what appeared to be a shiny aluminum sliver of a hump in the water, pushed up against the marsh grass.
“J.D. found me on that?” Shelby’s heart fluttered, for a moment, unable to establish a steady beat. She pressed a hand to her chest, her breath lodged in her throat.
“That’s what he said,” Remy spoke softly.
As their boat drifted closer, Remy reached for the paddle and stuck it into the water, slowing their forward momentum. When they floated alongside the overturned aluminum boat, he whistled. “I can understand why your brain doesn’t want you to remember.”
The hull had large scrape marks on the side closest to them, the other side rested on smashed marsh grass.
Shelby stared at the damaged boat, the ravaged marsh grass and shivered. “How am I even here?” she whispered.
“None of it’s coming back to you?” Remy asked.
“No. Just a feeling of…” she shook her head from side to side, “…horrible dread.”
For a long moment, she stared at the boat, a dark cloud hovering in her mind, guarding her memory of what had happened here. Another shiver racked her body. Only this one didn’t stop. She shook so hard her teeth clattered together.
“Hey,” Remy said.
Shelby dragged her gaze from the ruined boat and turned to look back at Remy.
He held out his hand. “Come here.”
She took his hand and let him guide her across the boat to settle on the seat beside him.
Remy wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulled her body up against his and held her until the shivers ran their course.
She leaned against him, exhausted and disheartened.
“Why would someone do this?” she said.
“You had to have witnessed something, or someone, they didn’t want you to see.”
“They really didn’t want me to make it out, did they?” she said, her voice small in the vastness of the bayou.
His arm tightened around her. “But you did. Which confirms the level of badass you are.” He touched a finger beneath her chin and tipped her face up. “I’m glad you’re a badass. The world would be a sadder place without you in it.” He brushed his lips across her forehead. The warmth of his lips helped to dispel the chill inside her.
Shelby stared up into his eyes, her head tilting backward even more.
Remy bent to touch his mouth to hers. Softly at first.
