“Thanks again,” she told the lawyer as she handed back the SPF. “You’re a life-saver.”
“Like I said”—Cami smiled as she tucked the sunscreen into her purse—“just paying you back for John Denver. That was pretty genius.”
“Wish I could take the credit, but that was all Romeo.” Mia hooked her thumb over her shoulder at their fearless pilot and current boat motor. “Remember how I told you he flew us through that storm? The part I left out was that he hummed “Leaving on a Jet Plane”the whole time.”
“Funny.” Cami wrinkled her nose. “And sort of sadistic.”
The corners of Mia’s mouth tilted up at the memory. “That’s what I thought too.”
When she felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned to find Romeo holding the water bottle out to her. “You finish it off,” he told her.
There was about an inch of liquid left in the bottom, but when she pressed her mouth to the opening, it wasn’t the freshness of the water sliding down her throat that occupied her mind. It was knowing her lips were in the exact same place his had been only moments earlier.
It was the closest she would ever come to kissing him.
“You got a little—” He swiped at her nose, and she realized she hadn’t rubbed in all the sunscreen.
“Thanks,” she whispered, forcing herself tofinallymeet his gaze.
He winked. “What are friends for?”
Oh, god.He was trying to emphasize their friendship—andonlytheir friendship.
Heaven help her, she needed to assure him that, despite her tears and her brief stint playing the role of his second skin, she wasn’t delusional enough to think anything had changed between them. That hisfeelingshad changed.
Opening her mouth to clear the air, she snapped it shut when Doc asked, “So who would want to kill us?” A quick glance in his direction showed he’d fashioned himself a nice-looking sling with the ACE bandage.
“Take your pick.” Romeo snorted as he continued to row steadily. “That Syrian general whose compound we firebombed? Family and friends of those Somali pirates we took out off the Horn of Africa during Operation Enduring Freedom? The brother of that AQAP terrorist in Yemen who—”
“Point taken.” Doc waved his hand. “We have enemies coming out of our asses.”
“I should’ve done a more thorough inspection,” Romeo lamented, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I think maybe I was distracted at the airport. If I missed something—”
“Stop.” Mia lifted her hand. “Stop right there.” She pointed at his nose. “Theonlyreason we’re alive is because of you.”
It looked like he wanted to argue, but Doc seconded Mia’s take. “She’s right. I mean, I was out for the actual ditching. But I know the only reason I’m walking away from it is because of you. Or…” He looked around. “Floatingaway from it, as the case may be.”
Once again, Romeo opened his mouth to object, and once again Doc cut him off by turning to Cami and frowning. “What’s with you?” he asked her.
The lawyer shook her head and stretched her lips into what might have looked like a smile to someone who was nearly blind. “What do you mean?”
“You’re wearing a face like one of those cultural orientation studies,” Doc said. When Cami’s eyebrow cocked in confusion, he explained, “You know, when researchers try to understand the base emotion that keeps a particular people compliant and in their place in a society. Is it fear, shame, or guilt? Right now, you’re projecting all three.”
Mia watched the lawyer’s throat work over a hard swallow. “I...uh...I guess I should tell you guys that my sister, the one who died in a plane crash last year?” Cami looked at Mia, her face so full of trepidation that Mia automatically gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded for her to continue. “Her plane was taken out by a bomb.”
Apprehension rippled up Mia’s spine, but it was Doc who spoke. Rather condescendingly, if you asked Mia.
“Wait a second. Let me get this straight. Your sister’s plane was bombed out of the sky last year. Our plane was bombed out of the sky twenty minutes ago. And you’re just now—”
“We don’tknowit was a bomb that brought us down,” Cami interrupted. “Romeo just said he’s only speculating.”
“I’d trust Romeo’s speculations over a lawyer’s facts from now until the cows come home.”
Cami scowled. “Whatisyour problem with lawyers? I mean, really?”
“Apart from them protecting the guilty, charging exorbitant fees, and that a lot of them go on to become two-faced politicians?”
“I’m apropertylawyer, not a defense attorney,” Cami countered, her cheeks going red. “But just so you know, even defense attorneys don’tprotect the guilty, as you say. They argue thelaw.Thelawis there to protectallof us from frivolous prosecution. If a prosecutor doesn’t have the evidence to convict, then the defendant should go free, and that’s just a good judicial system at work.” Her words started out sharp and got sharper as she went on. “And I’ll have you know I havezeroaspirations to run for office. Like you, I have a natural aversion to politicians.”
