Bad Karma (25 page)

Looking into Javi’s eyes, Cassie tried to believe him. She managed a little smile and nodded.

A few minutes later, Sky showed up, smiling as she came through the door. She embraced Cassie and turned to Javier. “How are you feeling?”

Javier leaned back on the pillows. “Weak. Tired. This is definitely not normal for me.”

“
You’ll feel better soon. You’ve lost blood. Even with the transfusions you’re bound to feel puny for a while. Don’t worry. Soon, you’ll build back your strength.”

“
I’m just glad I got Cassie out before the whole place went up. I thought I’d lost her.” He gave Cassie a look that spoke of his caring.

Sky took a deep breath. “Well, we lost everything else. I have renter’s insurance so, eventually, we’ll get a check, but in the meantime...” she dug into her purse. “There are our friends, Visa and MasterCard.”

“
I can’t let you pay for my stuff, Sky.”

“
Cassie, the cash you had in the house is gone. I’m just replacing some of the necessities. It will come back to me. You get a shopping spree on me. You can’t live in those hospital gowns. And you’ll need some nice professional things for the...”

“
Actually,” Cassie interrupted her, hoping to tell Javi about her sins of omission in a more private manner. “I thought I’d try to set a new trend.” She looked down at the voluminous tents she wore.

Javier kissed the fingers on the hand he was holding. “I think you look beautiful no matter what you have on.”

Cassie ran her fingers over his cropped hair and then turned to Sky with a frown. “Where will we live?”

“
Somewhere safe,” Javi interjected. “Some place with security.”

Cassie leaned over to kiss him. “I’ll come back in a little while.”

“
Baby, please be careful. Somebody tried to kill you.”

~*~

Zach surveyed the scene of the previous night’s fire from his deck. The charred rubble gave off an acrid stench. He was concerned that this turn of events might cause Sky to take flight again in an attempt to hide from the man determined to kill her.

Zach couldn’t let that happen. He had to keep her with him here on the island. He had to keep her safe...He had to keep her, period.

The sheriff’s personal vehicle, a black Cadillac Escalade appeared in the distance. Someone rode in the seat beside him. Rafael pulled in close to the spot where the house had stood and both men got out.

Zach raised his hand in greeting and Rafael waved him down. He introduced Zach to the arson investigator from Austin. Rafael explained to him that this was the third attempt on the victim’s life.

“
You’re assuming that the younger sister was not the intended target?” the man asked.

Rafael nodded. “From a distance, both women look similar. I don’t think anyone would have reason to harm a twenty-year-old girl fresh out of college.”

Zach and Rafael stood aside while the arson investigator picked through the debris.

Rafael stood with his hand resting lightly on his sidearm. “How is Cassie today?”

“
Sky went to pick her up at the hospital. She’s going to bring her back here. I invited them to stay with me.” He gestured toward his home. “They’re going shopping for some clothes.”

Rafael’s face split into a wide grin. “You really like Sky, don’t you?”

Zach shook his head. “I think I’m in love with her, man. She appeals to me on so many levels.”

“
Chloe told me this was serious with you. She reads people so much better than I do.”

Zach grinned. “I don’t know where it came from, but I just fell for her. She’s...everything.”

“
That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Pretty soon, you and Sky will be welcoming the next little set of Bailey twins into the world.”

Rafael’s softly spoken words sent fear skittering through Zach’s gut.
Married with children. Me?
A slow smile spread across his face as the reality set in. It was the natural order of things. “You could be right. The world needs more Baileys.”

After Rafael left with the investigator, Zach went inside. He surveyed his bachelor domain.

He spent the rest of the morning rearranging his house. He cleaned out the guest room. Discarded boxes of magazines about marine life and some scholarly tomes he’d been intending to read. He cleaned out the closet for Cassie and made the bed with fresh sheets, not remembering the last time anyone had slept there.

That being done, he attacked his own bedroom. He took his clothes out of half the closet and stashed them in the closet in the smallest of the three bedrooms that he had turned into his home office. He examined his tee shirts, socks, underwear and shorts and discarded anything faded or holey.

He compressed his things into two drawers, leaving the top ones available for Sky. He scrubbed his bathrooms and emptied the medicine cabinet and made room for Sky’s toiletries, then cleaned the guest bath and set out fresh towels.

As he hauled the last load of trash down the stairs for garbage pick-up, he almost stumbled when the realization hit him and he could put a biological name to his behavior.

“
Oh, my God! I’m nesting!

~*~

Javier was sitting up in the hospital bed when Cassie returned to the hospital. He felt a stirring in his chest as he gazed at her. She looked young and fresh in new blue jeans and a knit shirt. White sandals showed off the pedicure Sky had treated her to.

“
Turn around,” he said, taking in her new appearance.

“
I’ve had a bath and don’t smell so icky now.” She leaned close so he could appreciate the smell of her shampoo and lotion.

He patted the bed beside him. “Why don’t you crawl up here in bed with me again?”

She made a moaning sound in the back of her throat. “I think I’ve been beaten up enough by the nursing staff.” She leaned over him to deliver a kiss. “Why didn’t you tell me that your mother was a nurse?”

He shrugged. “It didn’t come up.”

Her brow furrowed.

“
Come sit down on the bed beside me. I have something for you.” During Cassie’s absence, he’d asked for his personal belongings, the things they’d removed from his person and safeguarded for him.

Sliding her hips onto the bed, she raised her brows. “For me? What is this, be kind to Cassie day?”

Recalling his mother’s rudeness, he let out a short, terse laugh,. “Yeah, well, first I want you to take this.” He held out the keys to his truck.

Her fingers closed around them, but her gaze remained fastened on his, questioning him with her big blue eyes.

“
It’s parked at the Fire Station. I was wondering if you could pick it up and drive it until I get out of here. There’s no use in you being without transportation.”

She giggled. “Javi, I can barely climb up into it.” She looked so pretty, leaning over him. A twinge of something like pain squeezed his chest.

I almost lost her.
The thought kept haunting him. He brushed his fingers across the side of her face. “It’s a big truck, Cassie, and it will keep you safe.”

“
Well okay, I’ll come and pick you up in it when they release you.”

He nodded. “Maybe tomorrow.”

She deposited the keys in her pocket.

“
Another thing.”

She grinned. “Another thing?”

“
I want you to take this and buy yourself something really nice.” He held out a credit card. “That way you won’t have to sneak into your sister’s closet.”

She winced. “My sister’s closet and the little black dress are a charred pile of rubble. I appreciate your generosity, Javi, but I can’t accept it.”

“
Why not? In actuality, it’s for me. I want you to buy something special to wear on our date, Friday. I really want to do this, Cassie.”

A slow smile spread across her face. “We still have a date?”

He pulled her down for a kiss. “No way are you getting out of it.”

She sighed. “Are you sure?”

“
I’m sure. I want you to get everything you need, from the skin out. Shoes, underwear and a dress that’ll make me fall down at your feet.”

Cassie bit her lower lip, stroking her fingers down the side of his face. “I don’t want you to fall down, Javi. I like you just the way you are, tall and strong and...”

“
Completely yours.”

Cassie favored him with a grin that caused a repeat of the squeezing sensation.

She leaned close and whispered in a conspiratorial tone. "Man, you got some line of bullshit going for you, Mr. Rios."

~*~

Sky turned to face her, an encouraging smile on her face. “Just go get it. He asked you to pick it up for him.”

Cassie sat in Sky’s Audi trying to summon the courage to climb into the huge and shiny red truck and drive it away.

She nodded and opened the door. As she walked toward the metal-clad behemoth, Javier’s friend, Dave, and another fireman came to meet her.

“
How’s the big guy doing?” Dave asked. Other men emerged from the building.

Cassie stared at the gathering crowd, her stomach doing flip-flops. “Better. He’s doing much better.”

A dark-haired man about Javi’s age extended his hand and shook hands with her. “I’m Javier’s cousin, Jorge. We all went to the hospital and donated blood for him. He’s a great guy.”

Cassie flashed him a nervous grin. “I think so too.”

Dave looked up and down her body. “And you? How are you doing? I thought you were out for the count.”

She shook her head. “I made it.” She took Javier’s keys out of her pocket and jangled them. “He asked me to pick up his truck.”

Jorge took her arm and, turning his back on Dave, walked her to the truck. “Javier’s really crazy about you, you know?” His dark eyes assessed her.

She nodded, grinning again. “Yeah, I know.”

“
Everyone thinks you’re all wrong for him, but he’s my
primo
and if he thinks you’re the one, I’m one-hundred percent behind him.”

She gazed up into his eyes, so like Javi’s. “I don’t understand why people would think we’re not right for each other.”

“
It’s because the two of you are so different. Ethnicity, religion, background, age. That’s a lot for two people to work out.”

She tried to digest all that he’d said. Her stomach felt hollow and shaky as she gripped Javi’s keys. “Maybe we will.”

“
I hope so.” Jorge smiled at her and held her elbow while she climbed up into the driver’s seat.

She had to move the seat forward and adjust the mirrors. Starting the ignition, she revved the motor and had to laugh.
This is such a guy’s toy
. She rolled off the Fire Station property and onto the street with Sky following in the Audi.

When she looked in the rear view mirror she saw that the line of assembled firefighters hadn’t moved from where they stood, watching her drive away.