Her Secret, His Child

She could tell what the admission cost him. And she heard the "but" in his voice. She wasn't strong enough for that. Not yet. Give her a year or two, a lifetime or two, to get over him first.

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

"I want to go back, Jamie, to be who we were before last week."

"And who were those people?"

Cradling his cup in his hands, he shook his head. "Friends, maybe?"

"Is it possible to go back?"

"Probably not."

"So what is it you do want—now, today—if we can't go back?"

He glanced up at her, his eyes looking straight into hers, connecting. Finally. ' 'I want to bring what we had into the present, the future, to move forward together."

If he didn't get to the bad part soon, she was going to fall apart right here on her kitchen table. "I'm not against that."

' "The only thing is—'' He broke off, and his gaze broke away, too. He still hadn't taken a single sip of his coffee.

Jamie's was almost gone.

"Your past…"

She ran her finger around the rim of her cup.

' 'When I think of you taking off your clothes for those men," he blurted. "It bothers the hell out of me. I hate it."

Tears in her eyes, she looked at him. "Then that's just something else we have in common. I hate it, too."

"I can't promise it won't get the best of me someday."

Jamie nodded. "I understand."

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

"It's not fair to ask you to risk your heart on that."

"Life's not fair, Kyle."

Her cup was empty. She was tempted to reach for his.

"You're right," he said, "life's not fair. You know—" he slid his cup across to her, getting up to help himself to a shot of whiskey minus the coffee and cream "—I've been thinking about something you said last week." He came back to the table, sat down. "You were talking about your secret room."

She stared down, humiliated he knew about that. She'd been wishing all week that she'd kept that piece of information to herself. It made her sound so…weak. Weird.

"You said you'd been going there since you were a little girl."

So he'd caug

ht that. Damn.

"Why, Jamie? What was happening in your life that you had to go there?"

She just couldn't tell him. Couldn't let him get that close. Not until he'd found a way to accept what she'd been, regardless of why she'd been that way.

"I just had a stepfather I didn't like."