He flashed back to that late night on the tarmac in San Diego—they’d both stood there awkwardly like idiots then, too. Tonight, also like then, Tasha’s hair defied her attempts to control it. Some things apparently never changed.
Thomas forced a smile, unsettled by just how disappointed he was that she hadn’t immediately straightened things out with Ted. But he understood—he did. What was she supposed to say to the man?I can’t marry you because I love Thomas! Gotta go, feel better, bye!And when was she supposed to say that, while she ran alongside Ted as he was whisked into the hospital on a stretcher? Or maybe on the way to get an MRI? No way would she do that, not even to an allegedly fake boyfriend, and yet...
The weird, unsettled feeling he’d walked in here with was now blossoming. Her makeup and her new clothes weren’t helping. Plus, they were standing in a hospital room—a place where his discomfort levels always spiked.
He tried to make a joke about her sudden change in appearance, wanting to hear her bright laughter, hoping that would ground him. “Whoa. This hospital must have one hell of a gift shop.”
Tasha only smiled briefly—yeah, it probably would’ve helped if he’d made a joke that was actually funny.
“The queen correctly guessed that my carry-on didn’t survive, so she had her staff pick up all this.” She gestured toward the floor between the bed and the window, and he realized there was a huge collection of shopping bags parked there. Bags from a very upscale mall. “I knew Rio brought clothes for you, so I didn’t ask them to get you anything, but maybe I should’ve—”
“No,” he said quickly, holding up the clothes he was hoping to change into soon. “Nah, really, I’m good.”
“They definitely overdid it,” Tasha said, turning to look again at all the bags, “but itisnice to be wearing underwear again.” She reached out to touch the pants and shirt he’d brought her. “Thank you, though, for... thinking of me.”
Forthinkingof her.
“Yeah,” he said, unsettled even more by her guards-are-listening careful wording. “No, I didn’t realize...” But he should have. Realized. Her boyfriend—allegedly fake, but come on, look at her, how could Tednotbe totally in love with her?—was royalty. His family had staff. And personal security teams. And private jets. Of course Tedric’s mom—the queen—would make sure Tasha had something fresh and clean to wear after abandoning her in the wilderness for nearly a week.
“Thank you for making sure I had food, too,” Tash said. She was standing there, hands clasped tightly together as if maybe this was unsettling for her, too. Like, she had to hold onto herself to keep from reaching for him.
Or, she’d changed her mind after seeing Ted in action, and she was nervous about Thomas fucking things up for her.
“Oh,” Thomas said, hating the part of his brain that had vomited up that gem. But hey, look where he was. A bead of sweat dripped down his back. Last time he’d spent this many hours in a hospital when he’d been neither a patient nor a paramedic, things had gone epically south to full-scale tragedy pretty damn fast. Could he blame that part of his brain for being ready to leap to red alert?
Meanwhile, his silence was dragging on. The guards in the hall were listening, and she’d just thanked him for the shitty hospital cafeteria cheeseburger that she didn’t eat. Say something, King. “Yeah, well, looks like you had that covered, too.” He cleared his throat. “I’m a little surprised the prince was feeling well enough to eat.”
I’m a little surprised you didn’t find time to talk to him while you were sharing an expensive steak dinner.
“Oh!” Tasha said. “No, Ted didn’t eat, he’s still completely out of it. He didn’t just break his leg, he really messed up the tendons and ligaments in his ankle. They’ve got him hooked up to an IV with copious painkillers, so he’s barely conscious.” She glanced over at the remains of the take-out meals. “I’m so sorry, are you starving?”
“Nah, the FBI team leader got us food,” he told her.
“That’s good. That second dish was supposed to be for you, but... I ate it.” She made an apologetic face. “I’m sorry. I was still so hungry and... You were gone a long time.”
That second steak had been forhim?Okay, now he was feeling a little less weird. Or was he? She’d gotten him a fancy dinner, assuming, what? That he’d come up here and sit and eat it with her at the prince’s bedside? Or was he supposed to take it and go? God, he wanted to go, he wanted to get out of here, but he also, absolutely, didn’t want to leave without Tasha.
Unless she wanted him to go without her.
“The debrief took a while,” he told her, talking over the crazy in his head. “It was pretty thorough. We had both Uncle Navy and Queen Mom on conference call.”
Her eyes lit up at that. “So, thorough andnoisy. I spoke to Alan again on the phone, just briefly. He’s pissed that they just left us there.”
“Yeah,” Thomas agreed.Pissedwas putting it mildly. The admiral’s head had been on the verge of exploding.
“He told me casualties in LA and Tampa were much lower than they’d feared—thank God,” she continued. “Oh! And that Mia spoke to Christine. Everyone’s safe.”
Thomas nodded. Mia and his sister Christine were still close friends even after all these years, and he’d been glad to get that news. “Uncle Navy told me that, too.”
Tasha was still clinging tightly to herself. “I wish I’d been there to hear him skewer the queen.”
“He’s an admiral,” Thomas reminded her. “He didn’t come close to skewering anyone.”
“No, I know,” she said. “But he’s gotten really good at scathing subtext. That had to be entertaining.”
“I’m not sure I’d use that word,” Thomas said.
“Anything you can share?” she asked, adding, “From the debrief. Oh, and just for the record, in my defense, Andrea volunteered to go out for another. Filet mignon,” she added. “For you. So I could eat yours.”
