“You asked for it.” Her smile was self-satisfied as she grabbed the paper cups she’d set aside. She handed him one of the cups before popping the top on her coffee and blowing across the steaming liquid.
Fitting his mouth over the hole in his coffee’s lid, he took a grateful swig. He’d been craving java ever since he’d awoken from surgery—everyone on Wayfarer Island pretty much lived on the rocket fuel LT brewed. But the hot liquid that hit his tongue was too thick to be jitter juice.
“What is this?” He made a face of disgust.
“Hot chocolate. Your surgeon said studies have shown caffeine may be bad for wound healing. You’re off the sauce for a while, my friend.”
“Just when I thought this torture chamber couldn’t get any worse,” he groaned.
“Oh, cry me a river. Plane crash? No problem. Shot in the chest? Piece of cake. But no coffee?Wah!”
He fought a grin but ultimately lost the battle. His lips stretched wide as he stared at her.
In the few days he’d been in hospital, Mia had blossomed. She wasn’t just talking more, she was smiling more and laughing more.
And definitely busting my balls more,he thought contentedly.
Her transformation was particularly amazing given the personalhellshe was living through. Her cousin was in jail on charges of attempted murder and felony murder, the latter because his two buddies had died during the commission of a crime he’d planned. And her mother...her ownmother...had tried to kill her and was still on the lam.
But instead of caving in on herself, she’d been his ray of sunshine.
All the members of Deep Six Salvage had shuffled through his hospital room to pay their respects or to call him a big baby for lounging around in bed when there was work to be done—he would expect no less from his found family. But they had come and gone. It was Mia who’d refused to budge from his side. Who’d made it clear to the nursing staff thatvisiting hoursdidn’t apply to her.
That gave him hope she would say yes to the idea he planned to propose.
And speaking of ideas…
“Wait a minute.” He lifted a finger. “Doesn’t hot chocolate contain caffeine?”
“The smallest amount.” She pursed her lips. “Not nearly as much as coffee, so don’t think you’ve got me over a barrel, mister. No coffee. End of story.”
He crossed his arms in mock discontent.Big mistake!The move had another flash of momentary torment shooting through him. Mia was at his side again in an instant, making sure his IV line remained uncrimped, smoothing the blanket over his legs, and generally being a diminutive, adorable, strawberry-blonde Florence Nightingale.
“I’m so sorry you’re hurting,” she apologized for what felt like the thousandth time. “I’m so sorry I got you into this mess.”
And for the thousandth time, he assured her no apologies were necessary. “It could’ve just as easily been someone from my past or one of Cami’s father’s mob associates who tried to kill us. It’sbetterit was your mother and your cousin.”
“How do you figure that?” Her button nose wrinkled.
“They’re not hardened criminals. They botched the job and we’re all still alive thanks to their incompetence.”
Her expression remained clouded. “I still can’t help feeling responsible.”
“Of course you do.” He sighed. “Because you’re you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She crossed her arms over her chest, which made her look completely...edible.
But it wasn’t his stomach that growled. It was the animal she brought out in him.
As much as Romeo would’ve loved to give the beast free reign, he had to talk it down with a,“Down, boy.”But he followed that up with a promise,“As soon as I’m recovered, I’ll let you have your way with her.”
“It means some people deal with trauma and tragedy by getting angry and bitter. Others simply go numb,” he told her. “Youon the other hand? You automatically feel guilty, feel responsible. Butbelieveme when I tell you the only ones responsible for what happened are either dead, in jail, or running for their lives.” He knew it was a touchy subject, but since he’d brought it up, he figured he might as well finish it out. “Unless...have they found her?”
On the way to pick up the coffees...er...one coffee and onehot chocolate—the horror!— Mia had told him she planned to call Detective Dixon to get an update on how the search for her mother was going.
“No.” She shook her head. “They found the speedboat in a mangrove stand on Sugarloaf Key. But there are no signs of Mom.” She screwed up her mouth. “Which, I’m looking at as a blessing. At least with Dixon busy searching for her, he’s given me and Doc and Cami a break. I swear he’s taken our statements a dozen times since the sandbar.”
“The guy is a bulldog, no doubt.” Romeo nodded. He hadn’t given his statement to Dixon adozentimes. But he’d done it three times and counting. And that low number was probably only due to Dixon taking pity on him because of his weakened state. “He just wants to make sure to dot all his Is and cross all his Ts so some slimy defense lawyer doesn’t get your mom or your cousin off on a technicality.”
