Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Luke
The chopper trip to a small city is followed by a plane ride to I don’t know where. It’s a mystery. Through it all, Kate’s hand is laced with mine.
I heard what Mason said about sleeping with this woman.
He hinted that I was using her. That she was part of this plan to elevate our business, nothing more.
Waking without memory is the oddest sensation. I searched but nothing was there. Then, as I looked at her face, though I couldn’t remember, I could still feel.
This woman has my heart. If I doubted, her touch said it all. She ran her hands over me like I was the most valuable thing in the world.
And her story about my nicknames…
She likes them. And if I call her love … Then I love her. Why do I know that about myself?
The moment I heard Mason’s voice, a ton of shit came back. My mom. My childhood. Roman. Arabella.
Odd. I can’t picture Mason yet. His voice sparked my memory, but his words were so cold. Am I that man? Cold? Calculating?
And I can’t remember a fucking thing about where I live, what I do for work. How I ended up in the woods in a cabin.
My head is pounding.
But I bring Kate’s hand, still laced with mine, to my lips and kiss the back of it, feeling the silk of her skin against my lips.
It’s a funny thing. I feel like the really important shit is floating to the surface in a way that’s providing so much clarity.
Kate told me about the tunnel project I apparently care about. About my worries I’d failed my family.
The way I struggle with numbers and even paperwork.
She told me about Gorilla, another one of my nicknames.
I listened to the whole thing, not saying much. Kate puts her head on my shoulder, the small plane humming above the clouds. “So all of Las Vegas thinks I’m dead?”
“Yeah.”
“And I just went along with it?”
“I guess. I don’t really know that part.”
“And I went to a sight in the middle of the night to close a deal?”
“Yes. And got shot. Nearly. That part I know, and I was even there for most of it.”
I shake my head. “Well, I guess I know my role in this company.”
“What?”
“I’m the guy who does the shit jobs. The one they put on the dangerous stuff. And I just power through, apparently.”
But I also heard what Kate told me about my own insecurities. Do I power through because I feel inferior?
Does Mason take advantage of that?
Her fingers slide over my arm. “I can’t say for certain. We haven’t talked about your family much.”
“Why not?”
She hesitates. “You didn’t want to tell me at first. You wanted me to just get to know you. But then…”
“But Mason…” I fill in, looking down at her. I can tell by her wince that I’m on the right track. “What did he do? Or ask me to do?”
She shakes her head. “This is a conversation for when you have all your memories.”
“I want to have it now.”
She bites at her lip. She’s beautiful and adorable and the feel of her hands are like magic.
“How serious are we?” I try again.
“We’ve only known each other a short time.”
“But we’re getting serious quickly, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” I see relief shine in her eyes as her shoulders wilt. “I think so. I mean you said so, but…”
I’m getting it. “Is this different from your other relationships?”
Her eyes go wide and then she winces. “I haven’t had other boyfriends. You’re my first,” she whispers. “But we honestly haven’t put any labels on what we’re doing yet.”
I lean forward and kiss her forehead. I haven’t kissed her yet because… I don’t remember doing it before and I wasn’t sure if I was welcome or not. I have no idea where we are on the intimacy scale.
But the taste of her skin, a hint of citrus, a bit of sweet, a salty musk that’s all her own. I could lick her like a popsicle.
“What labels would you put on our relationship?”
“Luke. It’s not fair of me to lead you in any direction.”
“Mason did not have those qualms.”
“I heard,” she frowns.
“Tell me the truth.”
“We told each other that we loved each other,” she looks at her lap.
“So why does Mason think that you’re not important to me?”
“Because,” she lets out a long slow breath. “Everyone in Vegas thinks you’re dead. And the guys who the police think killed you are the same ones trying to steal your project.”
My brow furrows. “But…”
“If you stayed at the cabin, hidden, then they keep those men in prison while permits go through.”
“And you agreed to stay with me?”
“I…” She draws in a breath. “You lied to me. Told me they were still a threat.”
I sit back in my seat, my back thumping the cushioned chair. That’s a shit thing to do to a woman I said I loved. “Anything else?”
“I…” She lets go of my hand for the first time all day, rubbing her palms on her own thighs. “I missed the start of my internship.”
“Fuck,” I scrub my hands down my face. “And Mason asked me to do this?”
“Yes. I think so.”
The picture is getting very sharp.
It’s funny how when you take your assumptions out, how clear situations become.
“Do you know when I’ll get all these memories back?” I turn to look her, wishing I could say to her that I’d never hurt her.
She shakes her head. “It’s different for every person. The fact that you already have them returning would indicate that this is very short term, and you’ll remember everything soon.”
I look into her eyes and this memory punches me in the gut. Fucking her in a river. It doesn’t sound like the most romantic moment except…
I can see her face as she cums, feel her pussy around my cock as I explode. And then she looks into my eyes.
It’s like falling in love all over again.
More memories trickle in. Her insecurity over a waitress. The way she held some kid in my truck.
I have no idea why we’d have kids in my truck.
It doesn’t matter.
“Kate,” my voice is rough with emotion. I flick her buckle open and then grab her by her hips, tugging her into my lap.
I hear the small sound of relief that leaves her lips. Has she wanted to be in my arms?
I settle her against my chest, pushing her head into the crook of my neck. “The next time we’re on a plane, we’ll join the mile high club,” I rumble.
She gives the smallest laugh into the chords of my neck, as she burrows deeper.
“But I swear, sweetheart, from now on, it’s me and you.”
She shakes her head against my neck. “Don’t promise anything. Not yet.”
“Why not?”
She tips her head back, looking into my eyes. “Because. First you need to remember. Then we can talk.”
The plane shifts, banking to one side.
I look down to see the Rockies to my left. I don’t know how, but I recognize Aspen. “Where’d we fly out of?”
“Durango,” Kate says. “The cabin’s near there.”
The plane lands fifteen minutes later, and several security types meet us with black suits and earpieces.
If I didn’t know that Mason was my family, I’d swear that I was in trouble here.
We’re shuffled into the back of a limo, Kate looking around the interior like she’s been transported to another universe.
“Funny,” she nibbles at her lip. “You don’t fit here like you do with Alice.”
“Alice?” Is she talking about another woman. There is no way…
“The truck. That’s what you named her.”
Alice. I like it. Chuckling, I slouch back in the seat and open the mini fridge to my left, finding a bottle of champagne inside.
I’ve still got a splitting headache, but Kate should have a drink. It’s been a day.
I pop the cork, pouring her a glass.
She watches me, her head cocked. “Well. You know how to pour champagne.”
I wink. “I’ve got class, baby.”
She takes the glass and takes a sip, hiding a smile. “You’re starting to sound like yourself.”
Am I? That’s good, I guess. I mean, I want to know myself, remember.
But in some ways, I feel like I’ve remembered enough. Roman and Arabella. My mother. Kate.
And all the other shit has cleared away.
Kate takes a sip of champagne, her eyes drifting closed. “Delicious,” she murmurs, taking another small drink.
I rest my hand on her knee, my fingers skating up her thigh over her jeans. She settles back on the seat, no qualms at all with my touch.
If anything, her legs relax open, granting me access.
My cock stirs and the headache lessons. Or maybe I just don’t care.
If I tried to fuck her, would she let me? She’d probably tell me it was a bad idea until I got my memory back.
Fuck that.
Deep in my bones, I know this is my woman.
“One more question…” I give her a one-sided smile, my eyes drifting down her gorgeous face, to the long column of her neck, over her amazing rack and then lower, over her flat stomach, to where my hand is an inch from her pussy.
“Yeah?”
“How’s the sex?”
I feel the muscles of her thighs clench, her nipples instantly growing hard as her breath catches.
I watch her eyes dilate as the glass stops halfway to her mouth. Have I rendered her speechless?
Good.
Holding the hand with the champagne, I brush the glass out of the way as I lean in to give her a soft kiss.
She sighs into my mouth, her lips pliant under mine, as I go in for a second brush.
That was all I needed to know.