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Jessamy did a little shimmy, a bob, and then touched her hair. “Me!”

Vera opened her mouth to start with her yelling, but before she could, I kissed Jessamy straight on the lips, tongue and all.

Vera’s irate voice trailed off, but I was so focused on Jessamy’s taste that at first it didn’t register.

Only when I pulled back did I notice all the people on the sidewalk had gone quiet.

I’d just claimed Jessamy Darling in public.

The town delinquent and the sheriff.

Oh, the tongues that would wag.

Twenty-Seven

Sure, I can behave. But mischief suits me better.

—Jessamy to Black

Jessamy

He’d claimed me in front of the entire town.

I felt like I was on cloud nine as I skipped my way to my front door.

I’d just made it to the front door when a figure stood.

She unwound herself from her scrunched position with her back at the door, her knees up in front of her.

She stood, and stood, and stood.

I laughed. “You got your height from your father, I see.”

Shelby’s lips trembled. “The results came back.”

“That was fast,” I said, walking toward her. “Let’s get inside.”

She followed me in, looking completely lost.

I guided her to my kitchen counter and helped her take a seat at the bar.

In person, there was no doubt in my mind that she was Black’s daughter.

She had his nose and eyes, his height. His hair color—minus the salt and pepper of age. She had his long fingers and hairline.

This was his kid, through and through.

No DNA test needed.

“I know someone at the DNA facility,” she said. “We are in the same college class—Forensics.”

“Coffee?” I asked. “Sunny Delight? Tea?”

“Is it the yellow top of Sunny Delight or the orange?”

My lips quirked. “The orange.”

“Then Sunny D, please,” she said. “It’s my favorite.”