More of You (Confessions of the Heart 1)

Anxiously, I tapped my toes on the floor, and I looked out the windows into the blinding light.

Warily, I looked back at my best friend. “Is it wrong that it might feel good to have someone there? I really feel like I might lose it, Court. That I can’t keep juggling all this sorrow and worry and fear and remain standing on my own two feet. I’m scared.” The last was a whispered plea.

Understanding climbed to the features of her pretty face. “No, Faith. It’s not wrong that you feel more comfortable with someone there. Not at all.”

What worried me was it felt like more than that. I was worried the reason it felt good was the fact it was him.

I pulled my thumb to my mouth and chewed at the nail. “What’s the town gonna say if I let him do this?”

“When have you ever worried what the town had to say about him?”

“Things are different now.”

“You’re right. They’re different, and everyone here knows you’re gonna have to move on with your life. Whether that’s today or tomorrow or five years down the road, you’re gonna have to move on. And you know my offer still stands. You want me to come stay with you, and I’m there.”

Her eyes narrowed in speculation. “Though it seems like you’re gettin’ all kinds of tempting offers. It has to be a bear to choose.”

She hiked a nonchalant shoulder. “I mean, Jace is no ninja like me, but I’m sure he could hold his own.”

There she went again, making me smile when it should be impossible.

“You’re terrifying,” I told her.

She grinned. “Deadly.”

I jumped when the glass door flew open.

Felix loped in, all casual smiles as his massive body filled up the doorway.

He was a new officer on the Broadshire Rim force. He and Courtney had met just a few weeks ago when he’d come by to check up on me at the plantation while Courtney was visiting.

Their attraction had been instant.

“Felix, baby, what are you doing here?” Courtney asked, her eyes raking over him as if he’d just dropped by to offer himself up for lunch.

With the way they were looking at each other, I was pretty sure that was the case.

“What, I can’t drop by to see my girl when I’m missing her?”

“Oh, you can drop by any time.”

How the hell Courtney managed to make talk about dropping by sound dirty, I didn’t know.

He rounded the desk and dropped a kiss to her forehead as he handed her a keyring. “Also, I came by to drop these off. I found them in my car.”

Courtney gasped. “Ah, my hero. I was looking all over for those. I was wondering where I’d left them.”

“You’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached to your neck,” I told her.

“What are you talkin’ about, Faith? I lost my head a long time ago.”

I grinned.

Felix tore his hungry gaze from her and turned it on me.

“How’s Faith, today?” he asked.

“She was just leaving,” I said, sparing Courtney a knowing glance. “I apparently have company coming to stay.”

My best friend laughed a salacious sound. “What, you don’t want to stick around?”

I was already on my feet, waving them off. “Um . . . no but thank you.”

Felix frowned, the cop in him immediately on edge. “Who?”

A lump formed in my throat. “Jace . . . an old . . . friend.”

God, I didn’t even know what to call him.

An old lover?

My dead husband’s cousin?

Yeah, neither of those things sounded all that right.

He frowned. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? If you aren’t feeling safe out there, you should stay with Courtney or your parents.”

I should take him up on the suggestion.

But I was shaking my head, hating the idea of some monster chasing me out of my house. “I think what’s done is done.”

“All right . . . just . . . be safe, okay?” he said.

“I will. I promise.”

I pushed open the door to the bright, bright summer light.

Laughter rippled from behind me. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Courtney called before her voice dropped to a whisper meant only for Felix.

“I won’t do anything you would do,” I hollered back, managing a grin as I stepped out onto the sidewalk. Sun bright and warm, I lifted my face to the blue sky as I headed down the walk to the side of the building where I’d parked.

Doug, an officer who I often saw driving by my house, was the one who was sitting at the curb.

I gave him a little wave as I opened my car door, and he returned a grin and playful salute before he pulled from the curb.

I sank down into the driver’s seat, hit with a rush of gratefulness that people were watchin’ over us.

Then I thought of Jace. Packing his things. Coming back to me. And I wondered if it was guilt that sloshed through my senses when I thought of him, the small shot of comfort injected into my veins at the thought of him bein’ around.