“So, where were you coming from?”

Her hand paused before she speared another bite of food. “Florida. That’s where I went to college.”

“It’s weird; I thought I read somewhere that you didn’t go to college.”

“Oh, I didn’t finish.” Raina looked away. “That’s probably why. Anyway, I still have friends there. What about you? Have you always lived here?”

“Virginian, born and bred. My parents have a farm not too far from here. I went to college across the water in Norfolk. Dropped out before I finished, too. I was too busy playing the guitar to study anything useful.”

She looked around. “Well, apparently you studied something useful.”

“Not everyone thinks so. It was a long time before I started earning enough to make a living. Then I got my break about two years ago when a major country western star liked one of my songs enough to record it.”

Her eyes widened and he grinned, enjoying her shock. “Are you surprised? Let me guess, you assumed I was into R&B or hip-hop music, right?”

“Okay, you got me. Those were totally stereotypical assumptions to make. I hate when people assume they know me before I even open my mouth. I’m a little ashamed that I’m guilty of doing it, too.” She propped her head on her fist as she watched him. “So, what got you into country music?”

“My parents own a farm, remember? My parents are a little bit country and a little bit rock n’ roll, as my dad would say. We heard country music around the house since I was a little kid. One of my uncles plays the guitar, and he taught me when I was about ten. I haven’t stopped since. That first song turned into an album, then I got an offer to collaborate on another country star’s album. The rest is history, I guess. Both of those albums did really well, so all my hard work finally paid off.” 

He stopped then and waited, holding her gaze. When she looked away, he knew she understood. He’d told her his story. Now, it was her turn.

She sighed.

“My mom died a few years ago.”

Jackson closed his eyes. “I am so sorry.” 

“Thanks. We weren’t close and I regret that. That’s when I first starting searching for my biological father.  I hired a private investigator to track him down. His name was David. He invited me to dinner to tell me what he found out. I didn’t see any harm in going. He seemed nice enough.” She stood and carried her plate over to the sink.

“Before long he was dropping by my place just to chat or bring Chinese. He liked jazz and was a well-respected businessman in the community. I thought I’d finally gotten lucky and met one of these nice guys I keep hearing so much about.”

Jackson stood and put his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s okay. I should tell someone. I need to tell someone.”

As he gazed down into her big, brown eyes, Jackson had a feeling he was going to be sorry he asked.

Mainly because the more he got to know her, the harder it was to leave her alone.

CHAPTER SEVEN

SHE BIT HER lower lip as Jackson eyed her curiously. He was being so sweet to her, even after she’d all but told him to kiss off. He’d done nothing but show her kindness and she’d responded with distrust and sarcasm. He didn’t deserve that from her. Not after he’d been so nice.

I need all the nice I can get right about now.

“He was a real gentleman. He seemed a little flirty at times, but never made a move. I figured he was waiting until after he wrapped up my case before asking me out. But for the longest time he said he was hitting nothing but dead ends. Then last week, he came by my house one morning and told me he was on to something big. This was before the accident.” She lowered her eyes.

“The accident?” Jackson asked gently.

He fell silent but kept his hand on her shoulder. Such a small sign of support but it made it a little easier for her to talk knowing he was on her side. She’d spent the past two hours trying not to think about how her life had recently gone up in ashes.

Literally.

Maybe if she talked about it, she could get past the mind-numbing fear.

“He asked me to hold this for him.” She pulled the pendant from beneath her shirt. “I thought it was a little odd. After all, if he was worried about it being stolen where he was going, why didn’t he just leave it at home? But I was on my way to the bank anyway, so I decided to just put it in my safe deposit box. I ended up on the road behind him. I saw when his car skidded and went through the guardrail.” She swallowed, just the memory of it enough to steal her breath.

Jackson shook his head. “That must have been scary.”

“I called the police and then tried to climb down to get to him. I didn’t know how steep it was and I fell. When the police arrived, they helped pull me back up.” Unconsciously, her hand fluttered to her wrist, where the bruises were still visible. “I could see him in the car. I kept asking the police to get him out but they couldn’t. The car was already on fire by then. We had to wait until fire and rescue arrived.”

“I am so sorry.”

Their eyes met and she couldn’t look away. He raised a hand to her face and pushed a stray curl behind her ear. But he didn’t step back after that. He seemed fascinated by her hair, rubbing the strands of a fat curl between his fingers.

“Raina —”