Five years ago Joah was culled -- kidnapped by the government to be trained as a soldier. In the process, they erased his memory, destroying his past, his dreams, everything but his name. Armed with that alone, Joah escapes from the facility in search of someone to help him recall the man he used to be.<br><br>That person is Tobin, Joah’s husband, who never gave up hope of finding him again. He refuses to believe that the strength of his love alone won’t be enough to bring back Joah’s memories of their shared lives, and he’s determined to bring back the man beneath the soldier, the man he knows has to love him.<br><br>But an alarm in the chip blocking Joah’s memories was triggered at his escape, and if it isn’t removed soon, it will shriek his life away. Removing it won’t bring back his past, and may destroy the present that Tobin has tried so hard to build between them. How can the love they once shared possibly survive?

Persistence of Memory

I do. I want him so badly right now. My body responds to his touch in ways my mind doesn’t remember—I want these arms around me, these lips kissing me, these hands holding mine. 


Before I can answer him, Tobin murmurs, “I’m not pushing you. I know it must be hard. Believe me, I do. But I just want to hold you tonight. I just want to hear your heart beat in the darkness, I want to feel your breath tickle my neck. I want to wake up in the morning and see the sun play across your face. Is that too much to ask?” 


Turning in his arms to look at him, I whisper, “No.” 


His face is so close in the darkness. His eyes sparkle like the stars that shine down on the fields. I touch his cheek, and his skin is so impossibly soft beneath my fingers, downy and firm like the skin of a peach. “Can you show me how to do it?” I whisper in the growing darkness. “How to please you? How to be who I used to be? Can you show me how to love you again?” 


Chapter 6