“She’d been doing volunteer work at a hospital in the city and was on her way home when a truck crossed the center lane and hit her head on. The paramedics said she died instantly. I can only hope so.”

“I’m sorry,” Kate said, caressing his face in an attempt to wipe away the grief she had stirred.

“It was a long time ago.”

“But you’re still sad about it.”

“I’ve come to realize you never really get over something like that. Somehow, you find a way to live with it. You know all about that, don’t you?”

Nodding, Kate shifted so she was on top of him and kissed his neck and face.

He put his arms around her. “It feels good to be in love again, Kate. No matter what happens, I’ll never have any regrets about that.”

As she moved on top of him, she felt him spring to life beneath her. “Can we do it again yet?”

“No, honey. You’ll be sore.”

He groaned when she straddled him and sank down on him.

“I’ll take my chances.”

They flew back to Nashville late on Tuesday afternoon. Reid glanced over at Kate from the pilot’s seat. “What’re you smiling about?”

“It’s a beautiful day.”

“It sure is.” He pushed aside the microphone on his headset so he could kiss her. “We need to talk about what’s going to happen when we get home, though.”

“I know.”

“You can’t tell anyone about this. About us.”

“I wish we didn’t have to hide it.”

“I do, too. But people wouldn’t understand, and it would cause me a lot of trouble.”

“I’ve only told one person.”

He looked at her with alarm. “Who?”

“My sister. Jill.”

“Jesus, Kate. She won’t tell your dad, will she?”

“I made her promise not to, and I trust her. We went through a lot together in the last couple of years. She won’t tell.”

“I hope not. I’m worried about how we get around Martha and the fact that Ashton’s your neighbor. This could get complicated.” Sensing her discouragement, he took her hand. “We’ll figure it out, darlin’. Don’t worry.”

They touched down a few minutes later. After they had dinner together at his house, she drove to her apartment. He picked her up at ten and brought her back to his house so her car wouldn’t be in the driveway. They spent the night in his room and were out the next morning before Martha got up.

“I feel like we got away with something,” she said on the way back into town.

“I hate sneaking around. I don’t want you to think for one minute that I’m ashamed of you, Kate. I adore you. I just don’t want to put either of us through what would happen if people found out about us.”