“What kind of things has your gut told you to do?”

She thought about that for a second, which gave him time to study her sweet face and cheeks made rosy by the heat of the fire as well as several glasses of chardonnay. “It told me not to marry Simone’s father or allow him to be in her life.”

Grayson immediately sensed from her hesitation that this was not something she talked about often. “How come?”

“He wasn’t always nice to me.”

“Did he… Did he hurt you?”

“Once.”

How was it possible, when he’d only just met her, that he wanted to find the guy and kill him for hurting her even once?

“When I told him it was over between us, he… he didn’t take it well.”

“What happened?”

“It was a long time ago. A lifetime ago.”

“But you’ve never forgotten it.”

She stared into the fire, the sparkle in her eyes dulled by memories. “No, I haven’t.”

Grayson didn’t think before he reached for her, wishing he could take away the pain of someone he barely knew. That was certainly a first. She flinched, ever so slightly, but he saw it and realized the damage ran deep from the one time the man she’d loved hurt her.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I never talk about it,” she said with a shaky laugh. “Are you sure you’re a lawyer and not a shrink?”

“Quite sure,” he said with a chuckle, “although sometimes I think the two professions aren’t all that different.”

Emma took a drink of her wine and continued to stare at the fire. “When I told him we were done, he flipped out. He… He held me down and forced me to…” She blew out a deep breath. “When it was over, I told him to leave or I’d call the police. I said if I ever saw him again, I’d report what he’d done to me.”

“Christ, Emma. You’ve never told anyone that? Not even Lucy?”

Shaking her head, she said, “No one knows how Simone came to be. Except for you now.”

“Emma,” Grayson said on a long exhale. Though he had no right, he drew her in closer to him, needing to hold her.

“My dad was so mad when he found out I was pregnant. He didn’t speak to me for the longest time. I hated that he was so disappointed.”

“Why didn’t you tell him, sweetheart?”