I never wanted my eyes to drift to his. But there was something about Reid that I couldn’t deny. I blamed the long eyelashes. The smolder was undeniable. And how when he looked at me it was as if he could read my soul. He wasn’t supposed to be able to do that. Not now, not ever.
But I did as he told me. I wasn’t prepared for the sudden well of tears. His eyes said everything. He was worried and scared. He was protective and overbearing.
“What?” I whispered. Once I started, I couldn’t look away.
If we held this gaze was it possible to fill each other on two years without having to say a word?
“It’s ok if you can’t remember. It will come back to you. And you’re safe here. Nothing and no one will hurt you. I promise.”
My lip started to tremble. What was he doing to me? There were two vacant years between us. He didn’t deserve my tears. He left me. He walked out.
Maybe I didn’t know why I was here or what happened to me, but I wasn’t ready to forget the hollow he had created.
“I-I just want to get up and take a shower. Please.” I turned my head before he could see the first tear fall.
“I’ll get Belinda. Hold on.”
He strolled out of the room. The tears were heavy on my lashes. Reid Taylor was a liar. A horrible liar. Because as long as he was here my heart was going to break over and over. And that hurt like hell.
5
Reid
I sat in the living room, waiting for Abi to finish her shower. She had dismissed Belinda almost as soon as I had sent her in. I realized maybe she just wanted me out of the room. Could I blame her? If she didn’t have her full memory from yesterday things had to be confusing for her.
Until I spoke to her it was going to be difficult to work on capturing her attacker. The police had visited this morning, but while Abi was unconscious there wasn’t much they could do. I wanted to speak to her first.
I hadn’t visited the cabin in Big Bear in over a year. It was far from L.A. and there was no reason to think the paparazzi would be able to find her here. Keeping her safe meant keeping her off the public’s radar. As far as they knew, she was at her Malibu home recovering.
I flattened a large map on the coffee table and circled the locations of Abi’s timeline for the seventy-two hours prior to the shooting. Ralph reluctantly forwarded her schedule to me. He had threatened to ride up to Big Bear if Abi didn’t call the minute she awakened. He was the only one who knew where she was. I had to use the location as a bargaining chip to take her from the hospital.
The door creaked open and I looked up. God, she was gorgeous. I had tried to forget how soft her lips were. How the sunlight made her eyes look like Caribbean water. I avoided her movies. I turned off her interviews. For two years, I built a security empire without a single glimpse of Abi Lawrence’s breathtaking body. But I was fucking idiot. The lines of her body had been seared into my hands. I knew every curve and freckly. I couldn’t forget her even when I drowned myself in bourbon and brunettes.
“How was the shower?” I asked.
Her hair hung in damp tendrils on her shoulders.
“Good. I needed it.” She walked toward me. “Where did these clothes come from?”
“I had a few things sent here while you recuperate.”
“I feel fine. I’ll call my driver to come pick me up. Or Ralph. I’m sure he’d rather do it himself anyway.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Where is my phone?” She scanned the dining room table and the kitchen counter.
“Abi, you aren’t going anywhere. You’re staying here.”
“The hell I am.” It was the first glimpse of the spitfire I knew. I let out a deep breathe, relieved she wasn’t different. That two years hadn’t changed her.
I rose from the couch. “Someone tried to kill you yesterday. Until I find him, you’re not leaving.”
I saw the fear flash across her eyes. She took a step back and gripped a chair.
“Abi?”
She sank into the seat.