Page 42 of Cowboys & Navy SEALs

“But you said my name,” Lexi countered.

Lemon’s brows furrowed. “It just came to me. I have no idea how.” She turned to Jaxson, hope shining on her face. “It’s starting to come back.” Enthusiasm gathered in her voice. “Maybe when we visit my old home, it will jog more.”

Jaxson reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “Yes, I think it will.”

Lexi’s eyes bugged as she looked at their clasped hands. “I didn’t realize y’all were a thing.” She looked at Lemon. “I mean, I knew you were still carrying a flame for my cousin, even though you adamantly denied it, but I didn’t figure you would move this fast, especially with the amnesia.”

Jaxson felt a burst of pleasure at Lexi’s words. He grinned when Lemon’s face turned ten shades of red.

“How did you and Lemon become close friends?” Knox asked again.

“I work as a server at Charleston’s Restaurant over in Nashville. Lemon came in once with Wes—” She stopped short, color rising in her cheeks. “Um, she came with a friend,” she amended. “Anyway, the two of us reconnected and exchanged numbers.” She tipped her head. “That was a couple of years ago. When Lemon started spending more time in Nashville, the two of us would often get together for lunch or to go shopping.”

Jaxson glanced at Lemon to see how she was taking all of this. She seemed to be doing okay. He rolled around Lexi’s words. Something wasn’t adding up. “You said you met Lemon two years ago?”

Lexi nodded. “Yes, why?”

Jaxson wasn’t sure how much to say without divulging more of Lemon’s past than she could handle hearing. “Was Lemon dating Wesley Livingston at the time?” Two years ago, Lemon had been engaged to Braden Cooper, the actor who died in a scuba diving accident in St. Maarten.

Lexi’s jaw hit the floor. “You know about Wesley?” She looked to Lemon for an answer.

“Jaxson saw some photos of me and Wesley at charity events,” Lemon explained. “The name Livingston came back to me, and Jaxson put the two together.”

“Oh,” Lexi uttered. She looked past Lemon to Jaxson. “To answer your question, no, Lemon wasn’t dating Wesley at the time. They were just friends. Lemon was going through a difficult time, and Wesley was helping her through it.”

“What difficult time?” Lemon asked.

Lexi’s features tightened. “Um, I’m not sure it’s something I should go into right now.”

“Whatever it is, I want to know,” Lemon countered, her voice unyielding. “Tell me,” she demanded.

Lexi sucked in a breath. “You were engaged to someone else two years ago.”

Lemon made a face. “I was? Who?”

“His name was Braden Cooper,” Lexi answered quietly. “He was an actor.”

The incredulous look on Lemon’s face would have been comical had the situation not been so serious. “I don’t know what to say,” Lemon uttered, throwing Jaxson a worried glance.

He squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. I knew about Braden.”

“You did?” Lemon squeaked.

He nodded.

Lemon turned to Lexi. “Why didn’t Braden and I get married? Was it because I still had feelings for Jaxson?”

The hope in Lemon’s voice struck a chord inside of Jaxson. Lemon wanted so badly to believe that he’d been her only love. While that was a thoughtful notion, it wasn’t very realistic. She’d obviously loved Braden Cooper or she wouldn’t have gotten engaged to him.

Lexi grimaced. “Yes and no.”

Jaxson’s head jerked. So, Lemon had always loved him?

“You were considering calling off the engagement with Braden, fearing that you still had feelings for Jaxson.”

“I knew it,” Lemon said, giving Jaxson a triumphant smile. “See, I told you that these feelings didn’t come from nothing.”

“But you never got the chance,” Lexi cut in.

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