Love Lies Beneath_Barefoot Bay Read online

  And he didn’t need twelve texts to tell him that.

  “You’ve had me worried.” She tucked her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.

  “I know. I’m sorry. I need a little time to think.”

  She touched the bottle of whiskey with her big toe. “Think or drink?”

  He let out a little laugh. “I wanted to numb everything I was feeling, only after the first sip, I realized that meant I’d be dulling everything I felt for you and even if I was going to walk away, I wanted to hold on to that.”

  “You were going to leave?” she asked, her voice filled with hurt.

  “I was worried my mother would put a bounty on my head and I’d never be free of her, and I’d be putting you in constant danger.”

  “She’s dead,” Ashley said with a harsh tone. “While I never wish anyone dead, that woman—”

  He pressed his fingers to her lips. “She wasn’t human. She was pure evil. Trust me.”

  She curled her fingers around his wrist, her soft skin sending heat across his body.

  “My father told me part of what happened when you were seventeen.”

  Mitch’s breath hitched, still humbled by her father’s reaction to his identity when they’d first met, and again this weekend.

  Joshua Riggs was truly a great man.

  “I remember when he came home. His face all bandaged, and he’d broken his arm. Watching him rehab was why I wanted to become a physical therapist in the first place.” She stretched out her legs and palmed his cheek. “It’s as if fate said we are destined to be together.”

  A single tear fell from the corner of his eye. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried. His mother had told him only weak men cried. When he’d been seven, he’d fallen and cut his leg, needing stitches. His mother, in order to teach him a lesson, stitched him up herself, and every time he cried, she’d slap him, telling him this would make him a real man.

  There was so much of his past he’d tucked neatly away in a box inside his mind. He thought locking it up meant he could forget.

  But he’d never forget, and maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

  “For years I hid in the Navy. I never got close to people for fear that one day my mother would show up at my doorstep. I took mission after mission, and volunteered for everything, making sure I never had anyone that would miss me too much if I were gone.”

  “That’s no way to live,” she whispered.

  “I know that now.” He fanned this thumb over her cheekbone. “But I scared myself today. I worry that if you hadn’t been there, I might have killed her myself.”

  The way her mouth tipped upward stole his breath and stopped his beating heart.

  “She would have killed us both, given the chance. But you’re nothing like her, not even close.” Ashley pressed her hand on his chest. “I know you better than I thought I did and in unexpected ways. You’re the kind of man young boys aspire to be like.”

  “Are you trying to make a grown man cry, because you’re coming awfully close.” While the tears that threatened to break free were of the happy variety, he didn’t want to shed them. All he wanted to do was take this woman into his arms and love her forever. He draped his arm over her shoulder, pressing her back to the sand, his lips only centimeters from touching the most decadent mouth known to man.

  Her legs wrapped around his body as the water rose up the sand and kissed their toes.

  “I love you, Mitchell Harrison.”

  “I love you more.” Beneath all the lies, he’d found true love.

  Epilogue

  One year later…

  MITCH TOOK THE screaming baby from the doctor’s hands and placed him on Ashley’s chest.

  “Want to cut the cord?”

  An hour ago, Mitch wanted to run screaming from the room. His lovely wife almost never swore and in the course of twenty minutes, she’d dropped the f-bomb easily a dozen times, and every single one had been directed at him.

  “Will it hurt the baby?”

  “You should be more concerned if it will hurt the mommy,” Ashley said with a smile, holding their son against her body, kissing his forehead.

  “Here.” The doctor handed Mitch a pair of scissors, and Mitch snipped the cord, tears rolling down his cheeks.

  He had a son.

  “Does this baby have a name?” the nurse asked as she took the child over to a bassinet and started to clean him up and check his vitals.

  “His name is Joshua Mitchell Harrison,” Mitch said proudly. “Named after his grandfather, and a man I’m proud to call Dad.”

  Books by Jen Talty

  NY State Trooper Series

  IN TWO WEEKS

  DARK WATER

  DEADLY SECRETS

  MURDER IN PARADISE BAY

  TO PROTECT HIS OWN

  DEADLY SEDUCTION

  WHEN A STRANGER CALLS

  Other novels

  REKINDLED

  JANE DOE’S RETURN

  THE BUTTERFLY MURDERS

  Dare to Love Kindle World by Carli Philips

  DON’T DARE ME

  The Omega Team Kindle World

  THE LIGHTHOUSE

  HER LAST CHANCE

  THE LAST FLIGHT

  THE RETURN HOME

  The Phoenix Agency Kindle World

  THE LOST SISTER

  THE LOST SOLDIER

  THE LOST SOUL

  THE LOST CONNECTION

  Dallas Fire and Rescue Kindle World

  STEALING HIS FIRE

  IGNITING HIS FLAME

  Special Forces Operation Alpha

  BURNING DESIRE

  BURNING KISS

  BURNING SKIES

  Coming soon!

  BURNING LIES

  BURNING HEART

  Brotherhood Protectors Kindle World

  ROUGH JUSTICE

  Coming Soon!

  ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES

  ROUGH RIDE

  About the Author

  Jen Talty is an award-winning author of Romantic Suspense. Dark Water hit #10 in Barnes and Noble and her books have been in the top 50 on Amazon. Jen grew up in Rochester, New York. She recently retired from being a full-time hockey mom as her children hung up their skates. She and her husband still live in Rochester while her children travel globe. Jen is the co-founder of Cool Gus Publishing with NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Mayer. To learn more about Jen Talty please visit her website: jentalty.com

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