Forget-Me-Not Page 8

  "Yeah, it's too funny, isn't it?" He grinned, zipping up his fly.

  "You've remembered, then. Everything." His eyes held the answer even as he nodded. There was a depth to them now, a maturity. An awareness of who he was and where he'd been that hadn't been there before.

  And yet they were still his eyes, still shining at her as he came to her side and pulled them both down onto the battered couch, tucking her onto his lap with sure moves and holding her close.

  "Almost everything, yes." He took her hand. "I'm John Goodwin. Until a short while ago, I was Special Agent John Goodwin. FBI."

  "Oh my God." Valli stared open mouthed. "Really? FBI? Wow." She blinked. "How come they didn't miss you? I thought agencies like that kept better tabs on their people."

  Playing idly with her fingers, John told her his story. Told her of his undercover assignment that had been long and taken him deep into a world where the merest hint of his real identity could've blown the job and gotten him killed.

  Told her of the information he'd learned, the details of a terrorist cell. The identities he'd committed to memory--and she shivered, knowing now that much of what he'd revealed probably saved Atlanta from that terrorist attack.

  "And your memories?" she asked, as he paused in his narrative.

  "It was all winding down. I had to get out as fast as I could. But I ran into some opposition, got a reminder that I was supposed to be part of this group. They weren't about to give me leave to walk in and out at will. Nobody did that. So there was some physical persuasion."

  "John." She touched his face.

  "Fortunately, it didn't go too far and I was in good enough shape to take it and keep on working. All kinds of things were going down at that point and I managed to get out with my ribs in one piece. But somewhere along the line, my brain was overwhelmed with the importance of what I knew. I guess it went one step over that line. It shut down. If I couldn't remember anything, then I couldn't reveal anything. The ultimate safety catch."

  "And how did you end up in Rolling Hills?"

  "That's where it gets fuzzy, I'll confess." He lifted her hand to his lips and licked her fingers. "I was in Sacramento most of the time. That's where this particular group was located." He sighed. "When I got out, well, I wasn't thinking clearly. Last I remember was walking down a street and wondering if I'd make it to the corner without getting a bullet in my back. I guess I did make it to the corner. I never got to a phone, though. I'm told I stumbled into someone's car, but honestly? The next thing I remember is waking up in Rolling Hills."

  "With a blank brain." Valli finished his story for him.

  "With a blank brain." He nipped a fingertip. "Until I met you."

  There were still sounds outside Valli's dressing room, but she ignored them. For once, she'd play the diva and linger here until they were ready to leave. "So what happened when you remembered stuff? I woke up the next morning and you were gone, John."

  He cuddled her close. "I know. That was the hardest thing I've ever done. Dear God, it was like tearing out a piece of my soul to leave you there, to not tell you what I remembered and that you were largely responsible for helping me find myself again."

  "Yeah." Valli jerked her head up. "Did you have sex with me just to get your memories back, Mr. Special Agent Goodwin? Huh?" She glared at him as she recalled a certain conversation outside her window. "Was I just a prescription in your treatment program?"

  John stared at her. "Er--what?"

  "You heard me. It was all over the place that sex cured memory loss. That you'd been told to have sex. With me."

  "Bullshit." John snorted. "First off, nothing is all over the place at Rolling Hills. Secondly, I was never told to have sex with you." He broke off and glanced away, clearing his throat. "I will admit to being told to think about having sex with you. Apparently when I did that, the MRI lit up like a Christmas tree."

  Valli bit her lip, then surrendered to laughter. "Well, I guess that's good."

  John dropped a quick kiss on her mouth. "I'd probably blow every fuse on the damn machine if they wired me into it right now."

  "Damn straight." Valli kissed him back. "Finish your story. They'll come knocking at the door soon and I want to know everything before they do."

  "'Kay. It was that night with Dr. Lin--the night after we--"

  "Yeah. I remember. Believe me, I remember. Go on."

  "Well, we apparently screwed down the doors to my brain cells." He chuckled. "Literally, Valli. Things started reconnecting the next morning, and by the time Dr. Lin got her talons into me, I was starting to get flashes of the past. I couldn't connect anything, but each time I told her about one, I'd get another linked to it. It went on and on--hours, it seems. We were filling in some gaping holes after dinner when there was a knock on the door and two men walked in. I knew them." He looked somber. "It was my SAC and another agent I'd worked with. As soon as I saw their faces, it all clicked into place."

  "Just like that?"

  "Just like that." He shrugged. "And, believe it or not, they'd seen my photo by chance on one of your websites. Talk about coincidence. I realized immediately what I had to do. The information I'd collected had to get to the right people. It was really important. More important than me, you, Rolling Hills and Dr. Felix's next paper to the National Nutcase Society." Blue eyes stared into hers. "Believe me, Valli, it would have to have been that important to drag me away from you."

  "It was, wasn't it?" She squeezed his hand. "That plot here in Atlanta?"

  He nodded. "It's done now and I can't talk about it. But yes, it all worked out for the best, thank God."

  "And you were so very important and saved so many lives." Valli spoke more to herself, realizing that her hallucinations might just have been real after all. Janis's words had been nothing but the truth.

  "I did my job." John waved his hand dismissively. "I'm glad it turned out the way it did. I'm even more glad it brought me the one thing I never realized I wanted." He hugged her. "You."

  She grinned in his arms. "So, no wife, huh? No girlfriend, no serious commitments?"

  "Not even a goldfish."

  "That is really good news." Valli settled more comfortably. "So what now, John? Oh wait--she frowned. "You said up until a few weeks ago. What does that mean?"

  He moved then, helping her stand up. "Get dressed. We'll get out of here, grab ourselves coffee or something and I'll tell you all about it."

  "Okay. Good plan." Valli awkwardly struggled into her panties, aware that John's eyes were watching her every move. She felt stupidly self-conscious. "You're staring at me."

  "I like staring at you." He waggled his eyebrows. "I like it when you're naked best, of course."

  Blushing, Valli finished throwing on her clothes. "Okay. I'm done. Talk, Goodwin."

  "Yes, Ma'am. I run my own private security firm now. We specialize in events like this one." He reached for her jacket.

  "Wait." She held up a hand. "You're telling me you saved the world and the FBI kicked you out?"

  He laughed. "Hell, no. I quit, honey. If my head was so into it that half my brain shut down to protect what I knew, then I figured I was losing myself. Getting in way too far for my own good. I need a life, Valli. Not just one inside the Bureau or inside my cover. If I'd kept it up, the next time I went under, I might not come out again."

  "Hmm." Valli let him drape her jacket around her shoulders as she turned to the door. "So you got your own business now, huh?"

  "Yep." He put his hand on the latch. "Had enough money put away and enough contacts, ex-agents and friends who wanted in. So we opened up for business. And I put in a bid in on a real nice home up in Napa too."

  "Oh?"

  "Several bedrooms, nice yard, quiet neighborhood--a big family room with great acoustics..."

  "Really?"

  "It only needs one thing more."

  "What's that?"

  "You, Valli. It needs you."

  "Oh."

  There followed what
is commonly known as a dramatic pause, then John spoke again. "You wrote that song for me, didn't you?"

  She lifted her chin. "Maybe."

  His lips curled into a smile. "Come live with me and write more. You see, there's one thing I've learned through all this." His smiled widened as he pulled her close. "No matter what else happens, Valli Solo, I will remember you."

  "You bet your ass you will." Valli's heart soared. "But just in case, maybe I'd better hang around and make sure."

  They opened the door and stepped out together hand in hand--the singer and her mate--her rescued hero--ready to make new memories together in their future.

  And if there was a husky laugh drifting high above them as they walked away, a sound that might have traveled through time and space--well, who was to know? Didn't everyone hear Janis singing "...take another little piece of my heart now baby?" when they fell in love?

  The End

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