A Man Worth Remembering

He chuckled and draped his forearm over the steering wheel. “Lie down.”

She glanced at the seat. And then at his bare chest. “You want me to lie down?”

He rolled his eyes. “Hell. Leigh, we’re married. And even if we weren’t, we’d still have to get some rest. That means the seat or outside. I have no intentions of sleeping outside with the snakes and mosquitoes, do you?”

She looked out the window, apparently to weigh her options. Not that she had any options to weigh. She must have figured that out because without a sound, she lay on the seat. With her feet only inches from him, she let her hand dangle over the guns.

Gabe spun her around like a top and put her head right next to his lap.

With her eyes narrowed to slits, Leigh stared up at him. “Is there any particular reason you’re treating me like a prisoner?”

“You bet. I know you too well. Right now, you figure you can’t trust anyone but yourself. You wonder whose side I’m on. In the next hour or so, you’ll start to think you need to get away from me, even at the risk of becoming gator bait. Well, until you figure out I’m the best thing you’ve got going, then I’m staying close. Understand?”

Her mouth twisted as if she’d tasted something sour. “Yes, I understand.” She rolled onto her side, facing the back of the seat. Immediately, she made a strange sound.

“Now what?” he snarled.

“The seat smells like fishing bait.”

Unfortunately, she didn’t smell like bait, but it might have been better for him if she had. Since she was so close, Gabe couldn’t avoid taking in her scent. The smell of the scrubs. Mixed with that was the hint of warm leather from the motorcycle seat. There was sweat, not stale and heavy, but just a hint. And beneath all of that was Leigh’s own unique scent. Distinctively female.

And more than a little distracting.

It was a challenge, but Gabe had to prevent that scent from turning his brain to mush. He forced himself to remember what she’d done. It worked. Until she spoke.

“We don’t get along very well, do we, Sanchez?”

He considered lying. A Justice Department slant on the truth. But there was something in her voice. A plea for the truth, and the truth was exactly what he gave her. “No. We don’t.”

She paused, apparently letting that sink in. “If our situations were reversed, would you trust me?”

Now he’d lie. Except it wouldn’t really be a lie. Yes, their past had been, well, checkered. But if it were a matter of life or death, Leigh would come through for him. Gabe didn’t have to guess about that.

“I’d trust you,” he finally said. “Now, give it a rest and go to—”

“I hate being like this.”

“Sorry, but it’s the best I can offer under the circumstances. I promise, there was a time when you didn’t mind sleeping this close to me.”

“I’m not talking about that. Not entirely anyway,” she added apparently as an afterthought. “I hate not knowing who I am or who you are. You could be an ax murderer, and I wouldn’t know until it was too late.”

She looked up at him. Gabe looked down and met her gaze in the moonlight. He didn’t want to stare at her, but his body seemed to have a different idea. It was hard not to remember that this was a woman he’d once loved. A woman who’d loved him right back. Then, things had fallen apart.

And that was a whole set of memories he didn’t want to deal with right now.

“I’m not an ax murderer,” he heard himself say. “I gave that up years ago.”

She actually smiled, briefly, but there was a frown not too far behind. “I know nothing about you or me except the few things you’ve let me know. I don’t even know my middle name. I’m too scared to admit I’m scared because I don’t know if I can trust you with that admission of weakness. I’m afraid you’ll use it against me.”

“Leigh.” His voice was gruff. Then it changed. It softened. His hand was already on her hair. It was definitely intimate contact, but he didn’t pull away. Gabe figured he would kick himself for it later. “Being scared doesn’t mean you’re weak. It just means you’re scared. And smart. Stupid people are too stupid to be scared. By the way, your middle name is Ann.”

“Ann,” she repeated on a heavy sigh. “It doesn’t even sound familiar.”

Gabe said nothing. He leaned his head against the cool window and listened to the sound of her voice.

“I don’t know what I was. Who I am. You don’t know how frustrating that is.”

Oh yes he did. Gabe knew a lot about frustration. After all, Leigh was right next to him, and more than anything, he wanted to touch her. Maybe even kiss her again. The old wounds stopped him. And the fact she’d probably slap him if he tried to do anything like that. She didn’t know about the old wounds, but that didn’t mean she trusted him.

“I seem to know a little bit about a lot of things,” she continued. “Like I knew the clinical name for my amnesia, but I didn’t know you. What was I, Gabe? And don’t you dare say I worked in a bookstore in Austin, because I know that’s not right.”

He debated telling her since the truth would just create more questions. But without the truth, he didn’t stand of chance of tapping into her mind to find out what had gone wrong.

“You were an FBI agent,” Gabe answered. “The last year you were with the Bureau, you were part of the ERT, the Evidence Response Team.”

“Yes.” She nodded. Paused. And repeated it. “Now, that feels right.”

It should. She’d been one of the best. “You resigned after all of this happened with the corrupt government official.”

She pushed out a deep breath. Of relief, maybe. It didn’t feel much like relief to Gabe. Her warm breath dusted his bare stomach. Not good. Maybe he should have risked roasting and kept his shirt on after all.

He inched slightly away from her. Not that he could inch very far without leaving the truck.

“So, I was working for the FBI and came across evidence against this official? Then what happened?” she asked.

“Things resolved themselves. At least we thought they had.” He shrugged. “And then you disappeared.”

Leigh started to come off the seat, but Gabe laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her. That would put her mouth much to close to his. He couldn’t handle that right now. Best to keep as much distance between their mouths as possible. Another of those husbandly kisses was the last thing either of them needed.

“I think you left because of me,” Gabe said, anticipating her next question. “We’d talked about a divorce.” It was the truth, even though it was something Jinx and Walters had ordered him not to tell her. “It’s late. We should get some—”

“You didn’t know where I was all this time?”

Hell, she just didn’t intend to stop. “Sometimes I knew,” he admitted. “But I couldn’t quite catch up with you.”

“Was I ever in Houston?”

“Probably.” And he made a mental note that it was the second time she’d mentioned that particular city. “You’re originally from Dallas. Why? Do you remember something about Houston?”

“Not really. It’s just a place that keeps coming to mind, but I can’t associate it with anything. Houston might mean nothing.” A moment later, she dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “I have to ask. Considering our marital problems, just how hard did you look for me during the past two years?”

“I looked,” he said defensively. “You’re the one who walked out. You didn’t want anyone to find you.”

“Apparently someone found me,” she pointed out.

“Maybe. Or maybe you had no choice but to be found. Sometimes things play out that way.”

She stared up at him. “What does that mean?”