How could she ever have doubted him?
“So...” she said, kissing the center of his chin. “What I’m hearing is, you are totally whipped.”
He laughed, the sound of it rusty but magnificent. “I think ‘tenderized’ is a more apt description.”
“Like chicken?”
“For sure.”
Feeling more lighthearted than she had in days, she couldn’t help but tease, “You think I’m a mallet?”
“A very beautiful mallet.” He kissed the center of her chin, as well, then the edge of her mouth. “I was serious about proving myself. And the only way I know to do that is to make sure you know everything about me. Nothing held back.” Thin lines of tension formed at the corners of his eyes. “And there is something else I haven’t told you. Something I haven’t told anyone, not even Beck and West.”
When he said no more, she petted at his chest. “Whatever it is,” she said softly, “I’m not going anywhere. Not this time. And I want you to know I kept your other secret. Whatever you tell me stays with me. Always.”
He thought for a moment, nodded. But the lines of tension only deepened. “I...when I was first locked away...I was...I was scrawny, and the things you’ve probably heard about prison life...they’re true.” He cleared his throat. Beads of sweat dotted his brow. “The ‘worse’ things I told you happened to me...I was held down and...forced...and it happened more than once, until I got stronger and learned to fight back.”
Hearing the confession was like taking a baseball bat to the head: jarring, shocking and horrific all at once. Reeling, she wrapped her arms around him, held him close. “I’m so sorry, Jase.” A thousand emotions seemed to bubble up at once, nearly choking her.
He squeezed her tightly, holding on as if she were a life raft. He’d suffered, and was still suffering, with the aftereffects.
His body began to shake. Something wet splashed on her neck. Tears?
“Oh, Jase,” she whispered. No words would be good enough, but she had to try. “You are a wonderful, amazing man, and I am so blessed to know you. I hate that you were hurt. I hate it so much. I would take away your pain if I could. I would bear it for you.”
He held on to her long after his shaking stopped. When he lifted his head, she wiped the moisture from his cheeks, her heart pounding against her ribs. She’d been right before. This man felt too much. Too deeply.
A buzz sounded from his pocket, followed by a ring.
“Answer if you’d like,” she said and gave him a quick peck. “Then I want you to take me to bed.” Where I will confess my love for you. After everything, it would be better if she showed him before she told him.
“No. Bed now. Actually, counter now. You’ll help me forget the past and remember I have a future.”
Before he could lift the hem of her shirt, her phone started ringing.
He sighed and straightened, then checked his phone. “Missed call. Beck.”
She checked hers. “Missed call. Beck.”
She gave him a little push, and just like before her mountain of a man remained in place. He dialed his friend. As the two men talked, she unbuttoned Jase’s pants. But the one-sided conversation soon captured her full attention, and she stilled.
“What do you mean?...No, impossible...She isn’t...she can’t...” Jase turned away from Brook Lynn, and dread slithered through her. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
He hung up, but didn’t face Brook Lynn right away.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
The longest moment she could ever imagine passed before he turned. He’d grown pale, waxen. “Beck’s secret. He tracked down my ex-girlfriend. Daphne. Had emailed her once he found her, so now she’s here. In town. At my house.”
“What!” Chilled to the bone, Brook Lynn hopped to her feet.
“That’s not all.” Jase tunneled a hand through his hair. “She has a kid—and she says the girl is mine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THOUGH BROOK LYNN was in a knock-down-drag-out fight with her nerves, she was able to hide it behind the warden persona. A stern expression and clipped, efficient movements. The talent came in handy as she and Jase climbed into her car.
“We will get this figured out,” she said. Would they, though? Would they, really? He might have a kid—and a former girlfriend he might want to support.
He mumbled an agreement, too dazed to respond any further than that.
She took extra care on the road, going slower than usual as her mind lobbed questions and statements at her as if they were baseballs and she held a bat.
Jase...a father?
Jase...a family man?
A family that did not include Brook Lynn, but did include Daphne, the girl he’d once loved.
He loves me now. He said so.
But does he love me more than he once loved her? Brook Lynn had a major mark against her. She’d walked away from him the moment she’d learned the truth about his past. Did this Daphne person have any marks?
By the time she reached his house, her fingers had clenched the steering wheel so tightly the two were practically fused together. Her legs trembled as she trailed Jase to the porch and inside the house.
Beck waited by the door, and as they passed him, he marched outside, casting Brook Lynn a pitying glance and saying, “I’ll give you guys some privacy.”
He wanted Jase to have a choice, he’d once told her. Now she understood. The choice between Brook Lynn and Daphne, present and past.