Page 156 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

She pointed toward the little white SUV. “How on earth did you manage to rent the same car again?”

He had to smile. “I couldn’t believe it myself when I saw that thing sitting outside the airport.”

“So how did you?”

“Turns out Cash didn’t rent it the first time.”

She gave him a puzzled look.

“Nope. I called him as soon as I saw it waiting for me. Asked him if it was some kind of joke.” Blane shook his head, smiling as he remembered the conversation. “Turns out he bought the damn thing.”

Bea’s eyes went wide. “Why on earth did he do that?”

Blane shook his head again. “Cash being Cash. Told me he had a hunch.”

Bea brought a hand up over her heart, and he knew exactly how she felt. He’d ended the call before Cash could explain exactly what the hell he meant by that, and Bea glanced over at the Vitara again before letting it go too.

They stayed there for a long while. Blane would happily have sat for hours with her on his lap like that, but eventually she insisted he needed a drink. When she got up to go inside, he followed her. In the kitchen, he came up behind her and gripped the counter on either side of her while she poured them each a glass of water. When she set the jug down, he blew gently against the back of her neck.

“Blane?” she asked with a laugh.

“Yes, Bea?”

“What are you doing?”

“Don’t know what you mean.”

She turned within the circle of his arms and leaned back against the counter, tipping her head up to smile at him. “Yes, you do.”

“Yeah. I do.” His hands came to rest at her waist.

“I can’t believe you’re really back.”

His fingers tightened against her. “Believe it, Bea. I’m here.” He winked. “I can even prove it to you if you want.”

“And how exactly might you do that?”

He slid one hand around her back and down over her ass. “I could remind you why you need an extra set of hands around here.”

She laughed, caught hold of his hand, and started toward the stairs. “Oh, I think you should absolutely do that.”

He didn’t need telling twice.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Bea found herself hovering around the kitchen after breakfast on Tuesday. She’d done the dishes. She was as ready as she was going to be, but she couldn’t settle. She closed her eyes when Blane’s hand came down on her shoulder.

“You okay, darlin’?”

She turned and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I am. And I’m sorry I’m being so ridiculous this morning.”

He shook his head but didn’t comment, and she appreciated that. She knew he wasn’t impressed with any of this, but he was supporting her anyway. Her lawyer had called yesterday morning to say that he wouldn’t be able to meet until Thursday, and then Katerina had come by later to tell her that Nikos wanted to come today, in person, to apologize for frightening her.

Katerina had been a little wary of Blane, and Bea understood exactly why. He hadn’t said a word, but there had been an air of disapproval about him, which Bea thought was unfair—Katerina hadn’t done anything wrong.

She brought herself back to the moment. “He should be here soon.”

“Yeah.”