The sun had barely risen when Baron got off the elevator on Jasmine’s floor. He’d gone home but he couldn’t sleep. She wasn’t beside him. In the three months that they’d been together, he’d been traveling more than usual and he knew she didn’t like it. Neither did he. But this last trip was the final one. From now on, he’d only have to travel a couple of times a year. He would not leave her for long again.
Jasmine woke up and the headache was gone. She tried to rise just as the door opened and Baron stepped in. He didn’t look like he’d slept much. Purple shadows underlined his beautiful eyes and they appeared wary and a little sad. She blinked. How could she read him so well? She remembered their kiss like something they’d done often. The blood rushing through her system and heat pooling in her lower abdomen told her this was something she wanted to do a thousand times. And even more than just kiss. But it wasn’t right.
He flashed a beautiful set of pearly whites at her and pulled the chair near the bed even closer before he sat and took her hand. “Hi.”
He’d mouthed the words but she understood him. She grinned. “Good morning.”
The writing pad rested on the nightstand. He wrote on it so she could see. ‘The doctor said he might release you today.’
She smiled. “That’s great. Maybe if I’m back in my own place I’ll begin to remember.”
He nodded and wrote. ‘Yes, that’s what he thinks, too.’
“Is Tony coming by later to take me home?” Again, a flash of hurt crossed his features when she mentioned Tony. She had to know. That kiss… “There is more between us than just friends. I feel that much, but if I’m engaged to Tony….”
He shook his head and spoke, but she shrugged and pointed at the notebook. Her heart raced as she read what he’d written, surprisingly there was no blinding pain. It made sense. She had been attracted to Baron from the first time she’d laid eyes on him and on a level she didn’t understand. More so than her fiancé. Who according to what he wrote, ‘You’re not engaged to Tony,’ means Tony wasn’t her fiancé at all.
She raised her hand and stared at her ring, and then at him. “Who am I engaged to?”
“Me.”
He didn’t need to put that on the pad. She understood him perfectly. He leaned over and kissed her. She kissed him back. He placed his hands at her sides, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Yes. This felt right. He felt right. His arms around her, his scent, all of it familiar. Yet she still couldn’t remember her life with him and pulled back.
“I’m so sorry,” she cried. “When I woke up and saw Tony, well, his was the last face I could remember.”
“Shhh.” He placed his fingers over her lips to silence her and found the pad with his other hand. ‘It’s all right. I understand. Tony is my best friend and I will be forever grateful to him for saving your life. Just know that I love you. Always.’
She cried even more, knowing in the depths of her soul what he told her was true. He loved her. But did she love him? She stared at him and thought she might. Initially, she thought she was engaged to Tony. Why would she think that? Was she having an affair with Tony? No.
A different nurse came by to take her to imaging. When she got back she brought her breakfast, and Baron ran to get a cup of coffee. By the time he returned, the doctor was there. He’d sent her home her with a prescription for pain meds and she had to follow-up in a few days. If her memory and hearing still hadn’t returned by then, he would send her to see a specialist.
She didn’t bother to eat her food. Once she had her walking papers, Baron helped her pack her stuff up and they left. She watched the traffic as they drove down the highway—none of it looked familiar to her. When they pulled off the main road and into an underground garage, she turned to Baron.
“Is this your place?” she asked.
“Ours,” he mouthed.
She grinned and shook her head. “Ours.”
He nodded and got out of the car coming around to meet her, but she opened the door and was already standing by the time he reached her. He took her arm.
“It’s okay. I can walk,” she said.
He slid his hand down from her arm to entwine their fingers together. She glanced down at their joined hands. She liked that much better, enjoying his touch, and squeezed him. He winked at her, led the way over to the elevators, then hit the button for the eighth floor.
She wasn’t sure what she was expecting when she arrived at the condo, but there was no recognition at all. There was a small entrance area with a door that looked like a closet, then beyond that was an open kitchen area. She went further into the room, which was really the living room. The furnishings appeared to be more on the masculine side, all dark greens and browns. She frowned. How long had they been living together? She moved over to a bookshelf and picked up a framed photograph of her and Baron on the top shelf. They had their arms entwined around each other and they weren’t staring at the camera but at each other. The photographer had captured the moment. It answered part of her question. The camera had highlighted a spark in her eyes. She did love Baron. At least when that picture had been taken she had. She wished she could remember it.
Jasmine needed to talk to Tony. She had to be sure they hadn’t been having some sort of affair. Why would she have been with him that night and not Baron? She didn’t want to ask Baron these questions, but she wasn’t quite sure how to bring Tony up. Pain had crossed his features last night and earlier this morning when she’d mentioned his pal’s name.
Baron came over to her and touched her shoulders. When he began to speak, she shook her head. He held up one finger then turned away from her and headed down the hallway on the right. She followed behind him into a bedroom. It held the same colors in the living room but in reverse. Where green dominated the living area, brown dominated the bedroom. The furnishing was heavy dark wood. Only the bedspread looked like something a woman would have chosen. It was a green silk spread with a brown leaf pattern threaded across it. He moved beside the bed and saw the iPad that lay on the nightstand. He turned it on, typed on it, then handed it to her.
‘How are you feeling?’
“I’m fine,” she said. “But I’m sorry I don’t recognize anything.”
He squeezed her shoulders and then kissed her nose. Stepping back from her, he typed again. ‘Don’t worry about it. It will come back to you in time. Are you hungry?’
The hospital had served her breakfast but it had looked unappealing so she didn’t eat it. She realized she was hungry now. “Yes, I can go for something.”
Baron suddenly pulled his phone out of his back pocket.
She watched his mouth move. Frankly, what she wanted to do was kiss those full lips of his. She grinned at the thought and sat on the bed looking around the room. Nothing there seemed familiar. Baron finished his call and sat next to her.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
He nodded. Then typed on the iPad. ‘Yes, that was Tony. I told him not to stop by the hospital, that we’re home.’
She realized there was only one way to deal with her fears. She needed to talk to Tony. The sooner the better. Jasmine couldn’t move forward with Baron until her memories returned or until she knew that Tony was not a factor in their relationship. Stupid maybe, but she was too confused. She didn’t want to upset either man needlessly.
“Can he join us for lunch? I don’t want to go out, though. Do we have anything here?”
“Okay,” he mouthed.
She noted a strange look in his eyes but this time she couldn’t quite interpret if it was hurt or anger. So she tried to explain. The last thing she wanted to do was bring pain to this man. She suspected that she did love him, but she had questions and only Tony could really answer them for her. “I have some questions,” she said. “I’m trying to remember the night of the accident. What was I doing with Tony? Where were you?”
His fingers flew across the electronic tablet, she stood up and read it. ‘I was out of town and Tony took y
ou to dinner.’
“Okay.”
He stared at her and then typed again. ‘I’ll call him back and see if he can come for dinner.’
She smiled. “Thank you.”
Chapter Twelve
Lunch was a disaster. He’d ordered a couple of tuna sandwiches on marble rye from the deli down the road and had gone to pick it up. It was her favorite, and while he thought she enjoyed the sandwich, she’d been really quiet. He’d done all the talking via the iPad, and then they moved to sit on the couch, he carried the tablet over with him and sat beside her.
“How did we meet?” she asked.
‘We fell in love before we’d ever met,’ he wrote.
“Huh?”
‘I fell in love with you from talking with you on the phone. You manage this condo building and we spoke on the phone all the time.’
Her eyebrows rose. She looked at him like he was nuts. He smiled and continued. ‘Yeah, I did. And you fell in love with me, too.’
“Too bad I can’t hear your voice.”
Her words hurt him to the core. She was right.
She looked sadly at him. “I’m sorry, my head’s pounding. I think I need to take my medicine.”
He nodded and rose to get the meds on the counter. He filled a glass of water and handed her both. After taking her medicine, she went to their bedroom, alone. He watched her turn away from him. A muscle inside his chest clenched so hard he had to rub his hand against it. Would that ache ever go away, he wondered.
When he came into the room to wake her up after a couple of hours, it almost killed him not to crawl into bed beside her. But she wasn’t ready for that and it was time for her to get up anyway. Baron thought it wasn’t good for her to sleep too long. She might not be able to sleep tonight. He sat on the bedside and brushed her hair out of her face. She opened her eyes and stared at him, then smiled. For a split second, there was the love he was accustomed to seeing in her gaze. He bent and kissed her, but before he could take the kiss deeper, she pulled back. He had to be patient. She was worth it. At least she knew the truth now, and dammit, she responded to him the way she always had. At the hospital, she didn’t shy away when he tried to touch her or kiss her, but something in her manner told him not to go any further. But god, he wanted to. He left the room, knowing he had to because he wanted to hold her tighter to him, to take her inside of him so they would be together always.
He missed her so much. He just needed to remind her of what they were to each other. But ever since they got back to the condo he sensed her withdrawing from him. Closing herself off. She was still unsure, scared maybe. At first he was angry when Tony had called and she wanted to see him, but he thought maybe her need to see Tony was understandable. She was trying to put all the pieces together. Perhaps talking to his friend about that night would help. He hoped so.
They spent the rest of the day chatting with him again doing most of the talking, telling her about himself and what she did for a living. He sat with her as they flipped through the album they’d started three months ago of pictures of them, their life together in D.C. There were even a few of them from when he spent time back in San Diego with her and a couple of Tony posing beside them. Then they went through the albums she’d had shipped there when she’d moved to D.C. She didn’t recognize her best friend or any of the other photos. A look of sadness slipped over her face when he pointed out some of her friends.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Baron said aloud and typed on the iPad.
“No. It was worth a shot that I might remember something.”
For a second, he thought about calling Karen and having her talk to Jasmine, but that wasn’t going to work since she couldn’t hear.
He got up, went to the kitchen and then came back with a couple of restaurant menus. He’d never been much of a cook, and while Jasmine cooked sometimes, he never expected her to. But there wasn’t any food in the house. He’d been gone all week and Jas had been in the hospital for the last few days. He went back to the couch and handed her the menus.
“These all look good,” she said. “What do you feel like eating tonight?”
She still wasn’t sure how she managed to get the nerve up to ask Tony the question that had been haunting her. But Baron got a phone call and went into the den to take it, leaving them alone for a few minutes after dinner.
“Tony, I’m sorry for the confusion.”
He shook his head then opened the iPad they’d been using all evening to communicate with her.
‘No worries. Not your fault.’
Baron had asked him questions about the night of her accident, trying to help her, but nothing triggered a memory. Tony’s answers cleared up a lot, like why they’d been together. However, there was one question she needed to ask him without Baron present. She never wanted to hurt Baron. The thought alone cramped her stomach muscles. She knew he loved her. She felt it in every look, every touch. But she had to be sure. How could she make such a mistake?
“Tony, I have to ask you something. Please, I need to know.” She took a deep breath. There really was only one way to put her fears to rest. “Was there something more between us other than friendship?”
He frowned like he didn’t understand the question, but at that moment Baron returned to the living room. She thought he’d asked Tony a question because Tony glanced up at him, shook his head.
Jasmine didn’t know what Baron asked Tony, but when Tony handed him his wine glass she understood. Then Baron touched her shoulder, and she looked up at him. He held up her empty glass of sparkling water. And she nodded. “Yes, please.”
When Baron moved toward the kitchen to fill their orders, she turned back to Tony, who handed her the iPad. She hadn’t realized he’d written on it. She’d been focused on Baron. After she read Tony’s words, her gaze found his. He smiled, and a weight lifted off her shoulders. She swung around to stare at Baron as he approached the couch. He sat beside her. For the first time since she found out Baron was her fiancé, she took the initiative and kissed his cheek. The look of joy that lit up his eyes told her she’d done the right thing.
There was an awkward moment when Baron had taken the tablet to respond to something, and she knew he’d seen what Tony had written, but it hadn’t occurred to her to erase it. They hadn’t really been doing that. But all Tony had written was ‘No. Just friends.’ From that point on, the evening couldn’t have been over fast enough for her. There was nothing stopping her from exploring this intense attraction and deep emotions she had for this man named Baron. From the moment he’d entered her hospital room, what was it about him that drew her to him?
Jasmine liked Tony but was glad to say goodnight. Baron sent her to the bedroom while he cleaned up the kitchen. They’d had food delivered, but they’d used up a few dishes and wine glasses. She didn’t protest. It had been a long, emotional day. She went to the bedroom, passed the bed and headed straight for the bathroom and a shower. They hadn’t discussed it, but it didn’t escape her notice that the condo only had one bedroom. The den just had a desk and two chairs. And while the couch in the living room was comfy to sit on, she wasn’t sure it would be an easy fit for Baron’s at least over six-foot frame. She could offer to sleep on it. But did she really want to do that?
After she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off she realized there was no robe in the bathroom. She dressed herself in a towel, dried her hair, and put it in a damp braid. The walk-in closet was right next to the door, so she’d spent a few minutes looking through her things already. She liked her clothes, which was good. She thought she’d find something to sleep in. But she’d just stepped out of the bathroom when Baron moved out of the closet, a shirtless Baron, and they collided. She wasn’t sure if it was the brush of skin against skin that had her feeling weak at the knees or the impact. Either way, she stumbled but his arms snaked around her, holding her steady.
He held her against his chest. Her heart rate began matching the rapid rhythm she
felt beating in his chest. When he looked down at her, the fiery need in his gaze seared a burning path right through her. When his head lowered toward her, she had no choice but to meet his lips. They’d kissed a few times now, but this one was different. This time, he let her know she belonged to him, and some part deep inside her recognized that and responded. Had been responding to him all along.
She wound her arms around his neck, and he pulled her closer. Without breaking their kiss, he picked her up and placed her on the bed, only tugging away long enough to open her towel and rid himself of his sweats. She didn’t even have enough time to get a really good look at his Adonis build before he’d covered her completely with his body. Opening her arms, she welcomed him. Yes, he felt right, oh-so familiar. He captured her mouth again. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, the sound of the surf filled her senses. She opened wider to take even more of him in. Their tongues clashed and played like waves licking at the shore.
He lay cradled between her legs, and she felt him shift and raised his head to stare at her. “I love you.”
Jasmine didn’t have to hear the words. She just knew what he’d said, and she felt them in her soul. “I love you, too.” She knew in her heart her words were true.
He grinned and fused their lips together again, he moved his hand upward to cup the underside of her breast, and she moaned into his mouth. Shifting his position, he kissed her chin, then her neck. He lifted his weight off her a little and, as he rubbed his thumb over one nipple, he lowered his head to swirl his tongue around the other. She arched her body up into his embrace, and closing her eyes she let herself go. Yes, he knew her body. He touched her like a man who knew how and where.
Chapter Thirteen
When she’d told him she loved him, too, Baron almost exploded. He wanted to ask if she remembered him, remembered them. But it didn’t matter, he knew some part of her did and it was that part he would bring out. It was that part that responded to his touch. Their love for each other bound them and nothing could ever change that. So he proceeded to show her exactly how much he was hers and she his, how much they loved each other.
Come To Me Page 7
