Buried (Bone Secrets, #3)(31)

“Christmas pictures from then on weren’t much different. My parents still had shadows in their eyes, and Chris would never look at the camera. The left side of his face was so bad, he always turned it away, hating his looks. My parents finally stopped taking pictures of him.” Jamie frowned. “That seems so wrong now. But it wasn’t because they were ashamed of him; it was what he wanted. He was so withdrawn. He acted like he didn’t want the world to know he existed. When reporters would come around every few years, he wouldn’t come out of his room for days. I think it was nearly a relief to my parents when he moved out.”

“That’s horrible.”

“I agree,” she nodded thoughtfully. “But the stress was hard on them. Of course, it was worse when he’d vanished, but living with the shell of the child who returned was difficult. Therapy went nowhere. He was only content being alone, working on his computer. It’s hard to be a parent when your child is untouchable. When you want to help but nothing works.”

Silence filled the vehicle. Not an uncomfortable silence. A commonality. A connection. Michael reached over and squeezed her hand. Jamie glanced down at the gesture, a small smile curving her lips, and then she met his gaze.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Yes, I do. I hated your family for years. I hated your brother, I hated your parents, and I hated you for getting your brother back when I had nothing.”

Jamie’s face blanched.

“But I didn’t get it,” he added quickly. “I was a kid. It was my outlet. It was easy to hate faceless people. I just wanted my brother back. Still do. I think any shrink would say it was a pretty normal reaction.”

Color slowly seeped back to her cheeks. “I understand. I probably would have been the same way.”

He held tight to her hand and felt the pressure returned. Warmth spread through his chest, and she smiled. A real smile, not a fake I-don’t-believe-a-word-you’re-saying smile.

“God, you are gorgeous,” he blurted.

Her eyes crinkled in mirth, and she chuckled. His heart double-thumped. If he’d thought she was beautiful before…

She pulled her hand from his and touched his cheek. “You’re not so bad yourself, Brody.” Her gaze moved from his eyes to his mouth, and the heat in his chest flared.

“Christ.” He couldn’t breathe.

She chuckled again and ran a finger across his upper lip. “Ready to go find that sheriff?”

Michael blinked. He’d completely forgotten their purpose. How did women shift gears so fast? “Uh…sure.” He didn’t sound sure at all.

Jamie unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door, swinging sleek legs out. Michael bit the inside of his cheek. She slammed her door and glanced at him through the open window. He hadn’t moved.

“You coming?”

He felt glued to his seat. And it wasn’t from the heat. Something about their conversation and the touch of her hand on his face had utterly undone him. His heart had moved into a foreign position, and he was clueless how to handle it. He swallowed hard, feeling like he was about to step out of a plane. With no parachute. He reached for his door handle.

“Always.”





Michael looked like he didn’t want to get out of the SUV, like he didn’t want to break the connection they’d created. Jamie hadn’t wanted it to stop, but she needed a breather. This reckless, impulsive man was pulling her close and opening her up in a way she’d never experienced. She’d never discussed Chris with anyone outside of her parents and Chris’s psychiatrist. But she hadn’t been talking about Chris; she’d been talking about herself.

Michael’s emerald eyes had made her mouth keep moving and her breathing grow deeper. His face was all planes and angles, no softness. She’d felt the need to touch with her hand to add some softness to those hard surfaces. And the heat that’d erupted from his eyes at her touch had nearly unraveled her. She wasn’t the only one feeling something. In those brief seconds, she’d known every thought in his mind. And they weren’t about her brother.

She stepped up to the sidewalk in front of the sheriff’s office and watched Michael emerge from the SUV. He moved with confidence, like every muscle had a supreme purpose, exuding a tightly coiled energy. He was the kind of man who drew a woman’s eye, who made a woman wonder what it’d be like to be in ownership of that kind of male. But he was also the type of man who made a woman step back. He didn’t expel the commitment pheromone most women sought. His pheromones screamed temporary…but what a temporary ride it would be.

Jamie didn’t need temporary. Jamie didn’t need excitement. Long ago, she’d decided she needed a man who offered security, stability, and solidity. She didn’t see that in Michael.

But a tiny voice in her head kept telling her to consider the ride he was offering. And she was weakening. Once they’d figured out what was going on with Chris, she was going to take a hard look at the man Michael Brody was.

He stopped beside her on the sidewalk and tilted his head toward the door. She nodded and started to reach for the doorknob, only to see his hand grab it first and hold it open. She paused and then passed through, acutely aware of the warm hand he’d placed on the small of her back. The dim coolness of the office helped her relax.