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“What? Oh, Mom, that’s amazing.” I threw my arms around her again as the waterworks started once more. “But how?” I asked.

“The Bennets said it was the least they could do. They flew in three doctors from all over the world and dropped a fortune on the experimental treatment, rushing the whole process. Well, it seems to be working.”

It had to be Mason. He’d saved my mother. Travis saved me as well. But at what cost? Candice could have killed everyone on board if we hadn’t stopped her. Did Travis push her into the ocean? The idea of it brought a cold shudder.

“You have a whole slew of people waiting outside to visit you. Who should I send in next?” Mom asked, pulling back again and squeezing my hands.

“Who’s out there?” I asked.

A sly look came over her face. “Your father and brother of course. Alyssa Forbes and Nicole and Mason Bennet.”

I had a lot to say to all of them, things like, “I’m sorry.” But there was only one other face I wanted right then. “Mason, please.”

Mom nodded and kissed my forehead. When she hesitated at the door, my gaze fell on a framed picture to her right. Blue sky met blue ocean in the distance, making the scene seem to go on forever. I shivered and turned toward the light falling through a window to my side. Whatever came next, it had better be on solid ground.

When I heard a tentative knock, I saw Mason peeking around the door. My heart leaped at the sight of him, well and full of life. His handsome face looked just as it had on my wall all those years ago, but with tiny signs of age in the crinkles around his eyes—the only oceans I ever wanted to swim in again. He’d been growing stubble as well, and it gave him a rugged, wildly romantic look that made me imagine what it might feel like against the sensitive skin lower on my body.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked, wondering why he wasn’t already in my arms.

He slipped inside the room, balancing flowers, boxes of chocolates, and mylar balloons with silly phrases like Get well or else.

I laughed, ignoring the ache in my chest at the movement. For the first time, I wondered how I looked. I must have been a mess, having been in an induced coma for three weeks.

As though he knew what I was thinking, Mason set everything on the foot of the bed, sat beside me, and pulled me into the most wonderful kiss I’d ever experienced.

We breathed each other in as he slid his tongue inside, laying claim to my mouth. A small noise bubbled up from my throat as my insides heated up in response. My body melted into his, and I was ready to pull him down on top of me and do it right there on the hospital bed.

He laughed, jiggling against me, then pulled back, holding my hands in his and stroking my knuckles with his thumbs.

“I can’t wait to get you in a hotel room, alone.” His throaty voice sent tremors down between my legs.

“You’re alive,” I told him, still unable to hold back tears. “We made it.”

He nodded, cupping my face. I leaned into his palm, kissing it.

“We made it,” he agreed. “My mother is already covering up the details and preparing for an overhaul for the resort’s grand opening.”

I stilled, heart thumping. “Are you serious?”

“She offered me the ‘win,’” he said.

My throat threatened to close, but I forced words through it. “Congratulations.”

He shook his head, eyes boring into me. “I’m not taking it, Sam. I gave it to Nicole.”

“Oh?” I asked, hope leaping to life again. I’d have followed Mason anywhere. Almost.

“I want to be free of Bennet Systems. At least my mother’s brand of the company anyway. I’ve struck a deal with her.”

I sat up straighter, trying to understand what Mason was telling me.

“She was very impressed with you and how you got us out of there,” he said.

I snorted. “Glad she appreciates it.”

“So she was thrilled with the proposal I suggested.”

I wanted to yell at him to get to the point, but instead I took his hand and began sucking on his fingertips.