Page 12 of Cowboys & Navy SEALs
Her eyes widened. “Wow. That’s good to know.” Her expression brightened. “Now, I can buy clothes that fit and some makeup.” She grimaced. “I might not be able to rememberanything, but I feel sure that I didn’t always go around looking so dreadful.” She ran a self-conscious hand through her hair. She’d washed it this morning. It was soft with a slight wave. The ends bounced lightly against her slender shoulders with her every movement. He had to fight the temptation to lean closer so he could get a whiff of it. Zoe had added shampoo into the bag she’d packed for Lemon. Would it smell of strawberries or some other tantalizing fruit?
Laughter rumbled in his throat. “You couldn’t look dreadful if you tried.”
She blinked in surprise, color brushing her cheeks with a rosy hue. “Thank you,” she murmured, her lashes sweeping against her smooth skin. The gesture was feminine, wildly attractive. He swallowed the dryness in his throat, reminding himself that it would be poor form to hit on a woman in Lemon’s condition, even if she were his ex-girlfriend. There were so many memories—the two of them hanging out at the local hamburger joint and sharing fries. Sneaking up to the swimming hole and swimming under the silvery light of the moon.
Jaxson felt an acute sense of loss that Lemon couldn’t remember any of that. Also, she couldn’t remember betraying him. An invisible fist squeezed his gut. It was astounding how fresh the hurt was. He wondered if maybe it was because he’d never really dealt with it. He’d pushed it under the rug and lost himself in the admiration of other women.
She looked up, and it happened. Their eyes met for one long, delicious moment. His blood pumped faster. Attraction sizzled in the air, prickling his skin. Was it all one-sided or was Lemon feeling it too? Amnesia or not, had Lemon been any other woman, Jaxson would’ve taken this opportunity to say some cute or witty remark that would increase the odds of having her eating out of the palm of his hand. But here and now, with Lemon, his tongue was strangely tied, like he was eighteen yearsold again. He looked at Lemon’s hand resting on the table. It was dangerously close to his. He traced the lines of her long fingers. Her nails were well-manicured and painted light pink. All he had to do was reach out and touch her fingers. Did he dare? The temptation tugged at him, beckoning him down paths that he had no business going down ever again. He pulled his hands back, flicking his wrists before clasping them tightly in his lap.
He cleared his throat, trying to get a handle on his thoughts. He’d told himself he wanted to help Lemon. Making a play for her would definitely not help! “The police had hoped there would be a phone in your purse, but there wasn’t. They wanted to look at your calls so they can discover where you were just prior to the accident last night.”
“There was no phone?” she asked, as if she’d just now processed what he’d said earlier.
“No.”
“That’s strange,” she mused, tipping her head and causing her silky hair to cascade down her arm. His fingers itched to touch it to see if it felt as soft as it looked.
“Yeah, a little.” He didn’t want to point out that this whole entire situation was strange.
A corner of her lips twitched with a faint amusement. “I know what you’re thinking.”
He quirked his eyebrows. “You do?”
“Yep. You’re thinking this whole situation is one big crazy mess.”
A deep chuckle rose in his throat. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
Her face fell. “You’re wishing you hadn’t crossed paths with me,” she said morosely.
He jumped to answer. “No, that’s not it at all.” Again, he had an intense desire to protect her.
A cautious hope stirred in her eyes. “Really?” she asked quietly.
“Really,” he asserted. “I told you I’d help however I can, and I meant it.”
Her eyes misted. “Thank you,” she uttered. “You have no idea how much that means to me.” She looked down.
This time, he couldn’t stop himself. He reached out and placed a hand over hers, marveling at the electric charge that buzzed through him. He could tell from her slight flinch that she’d felt it too. Interesting that they would still have so much heat between them, even after all this time. Her skin was warm and inviting beneath his. His breath ran faster as his eyes followed the graceful line of her milky neck, moving up to her chin, her prominent cheekbones, her piercing eyes feathered with thick lashes, sculpted eyebrows. She really was incredibly beautiful. No wonder he’d fallen so hard for her. “I’m not going anywhere.” The certainty in his voice was so intense that it surprised even him. Hadn’t he learned before that she couldn’t be trusted? In her defense, they were kids. Still, a zebra didn’t often change its stripes.
For years, Jaxson had made sure to keep the upper hand in every relationship by not caring too much. With Lemon, it would be too easy to slip back into old patterns. She looked up, her gaze doing strange things to his insides. How was it that Lemon wielded so much power over him? Thankfully, she didn’t seem cognizant of that fact. He’d need to make dang sure that she never realized. “You have my word,” he finished.
“Jaxson.” His name was a soft sigh on her breath. Her eyes were vulnerable, searching. “What were we to each other?”
His breath hitched. Did he dare tell her the truth? Would it be too much for her to handle? He didn’t want to lie. He could downplay the situation, tell her thatyeah, they’d dated but it was more of a casual thing.
The clearing of a throat caused them both to look up. There stood Daddy, holding a white food bag, amusement coloring his features. “Good morning,” he boomed. “I was gonna ask how things are going, but from the looks of things I’d say y’all are as fine as frog hair.”
Lemon snatched her hand away from Jaxson’s as a nervous laugh trembled from her throat. Her face was cherry red. “Um, that wasn’t what it looked like,” she said, her hand going up around her neck.
“Never is,” Daddy winked. “Like the science test, huh?”
“Science test. I don’t understand.” Lemon gave Jaxson a questioning look.
Jaxson shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” He couldn’t explain Daddy’s snide comment without delving into the past. Daddy knew that, which is why he was razzing Jaxson about it.
“Tell him that nothing was going on,” Lemon insisted, gritting her teeth.
“Nothing was going on,” Jaxson said dutifully as he sniggered.
