Page 34 of Nothing to Fear

Whatever his point, he’d skewed her perspective enough that optimism could trickle in. “Actually, that explains a lot.”

“A lot?”

“Think about how many people are out there in the universe, searching for the perfect partner and they never find them? It’s not their fault, just fate’s sick sense of humor.”

Yeah, okay, so maybe death leading to optimism was a little cynical. Hey, sometimes you’ve gotta get it where you get it.

“You like to assign blame,” Jacob said, “have you noticed that?”

Suspicion narrowed her focus. “Are you shrinking me? Are you some kind of head doctor?”

“Not even close. Another observation? Love is important to you too.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Love, sex, they come up a lot in our conversations.”

“That’s not my fa—” okay, maybe she’d give him one. “It’s because of guys; the sudden influx of them in my life. Because of Jeremy calling, then you with your voice, and the edible Breckenridge.”

Another laugh. “Is that what he is?”

She adjusted the pillow to bring his words closer. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

“Okay, that leaves Jeremy, my voice, and your hostage experience.”

Her eyes sprang open, but only darkness greeted them. Why hadn’t she turned on a light?

“When did that come up?”

“You still haven’t talked about it,” he said. “You talked about Jimmy last time and—”

“That was to make a point.”

“Which was?”

Intimacy. That’s why she hadn’t turned on a light. Talking in the dark emphasized the effect of his voice. And, for some reason, she wanted to lose herself in the seclusion of them alone, absorbed in each other and nothing else.

“I didn’t see what happened with Jimmy as a trauma,” she said. “Maybe it was, but it didn’t stall me like the other thing has.”

“Yet you don’t call that a trauma either. What is a trauma to you? How do you define it?”

“A trauma’s a… it’s a… something that damages you.”

“And you haven’t been damaged? Don’t you think about them out there?”

“Them?”

“Your ex and the guy who took you hostage?”

“My ex? Jeremy injects himself into my life way more than I’d like, but he always knows where to find me. Somehow.”

“I meant Jimmy.”

“Oh…” When was the last time, before story time, she’d thought about him? “Not really.”

“He could be out there in the world preying on innocent women. Men like that escalate.”

He’d blown it way out of proportion. Had she completely misread this guy? He couldn’t be totally naïve surely.

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