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“Okay. Before this turns into a Hallmark movie moment, I’m going to finish checking Giles’s incisions. If everything looks good and he promises to behave, he’ll be dismissed in a few hours.” Giving Giles a stern look, she continued, “He’s going to need clothes. EMTs do amazing work, but they are hell on clothes. Jeans are fine, but he’ll need an Oxford shirt that’s a couple of sizes too large.”
Miami made a mental note to pick up bandages and tape as well.
“If you’ll write down your phone number, I’ll text you a list of what we’ll be sending home with him. You can stop at the pharmacy downstairs and pick up his medications.” Turning away from the sink where she’d been washing her hands, CeCe shook a finger in Giles’s direction. “Take the pain killers. Playing macho will inhibit your healing.”
Miami coughed to cover her snicker when Giles glared at the no-nonsense doctor.
“Fine. Can you send those two on their way so I can get out of here? No offense, but I’ll never get any rest in here. Clowns with balloons, a damned ice cream wagon that plays the most annoying tune ever written, nurses who stalk my room, waiting for me to close my eyes so they can rush in to take my vitals. Top-notch medical care, but you’d give Barnum and Bailey a run for their money.”
Much to Miami’s relief, CeCe waved her and Essex out of the room. As soon as the elevator doors closed in front of them, she burst into a fit of giggles.
“The circus reference was too much. I’m surprised CeCe didn’t give the bed a hard kick. I’ll bet the jolt would change his attitude about the painkillers in a big hurry.”
“We’re going to make sure he’s doped up before heading back to Prairie Winds. CeCe already talked to me about keeping him close for a couple of days to make sure he doesn’t have any trouble. She’s sure they got all the bone fragments, but it won’t hurt to hang around. Kent and Kyle want to talk to you about joining their team, so staying over will give you a chance to negotiate.”
Negotiate? Is he kidding? I’ll be thrilled with whatever they offer.
Essex shook his head as he led her down the front steps of the hospital and clinic.
“You never want to accept the first offer on the table. Their offer will seem sweet, but you should always try to sweeten the deal. Make sure they pay for any renovations, and the empty space in your dad’s house was supposed to house the elevator, but he never got around to installing one.”
Miami felt her mouth drop open. His suggestion seemed outrageous, but his explanation made it a lot more viable. If they planned to turn her dad’s house into a combination office/home, it was likely they would deal with injured or handicapped clients. Making sure the property was accessible was important.
“Okay, I’ll try. To be honest, I’m so excited to work with them, I probably would do it for free.” For Miami, it wasn’t about the money. She had more money than she could spend in two lifetimes. For her, being able to help the team with missions using her language skills would be a dream come true. Working out of her Galveston home with Giles and Essex was more than she’d thought possible. When her dad first died, Miami considered selling the beach house and relocating to South Padre Island. In the end, her dad’s beachfront home held so many wonderful memories she couldn’t face parting with it.
“It will take the rest of the day to get Giles settled.” He pulled his rental truck onto the highway and headed downtown. “I’ve already ordered the clothes he’ll need. We’ll stop to pick them up on our way by the store. I’m having prepared meals delivered, along with a selection of his favorite snacks.”
“You said on the way by. What does that mean? Where are we going?” They stopped at a red light, and he turned slowly to face her. The grin he flashed was pure devilment, as her mother used to say. The expression made her wonder how devious he’d been as a child.
“We are going to pick up some clothes for you as well.”
“Me? I don’t need anything, especially since we’ll be headed back to the beach house in a couple of days.” She’d become accustomed to living with less while in Belize. Her small bungalow behind the dive shop offered little in the way of closets, and since she’d spent most of her days in swimwear, it hadn’t mattered.
“Baby, the Forum Shops didn’t have anything small enough for you. Tobi ranted for twenty minutes about how difficult it is to get things in nowadays. If I hadn’t agreed to stop at a shop in town, I swear she was going shopping for you herself.”
In the two days since Giles was shot, Miami had spent a lot of time with Tobi. Lilly’s men had taken her on a short vacation. When she’d asked Tobi where they’d gone, the petite blonde giggled like a schoolgirl.
“They’re staying at a kink resort on a small island off the east coast owned by Ian McGregor. He’s a friend of Kent and Kyle’s. He also owns Club Isola. The place is supposed to be BDSM heaven, and the club is one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. Lots of whosy-whos from D.C. I want to go there someday, but my Doms are afraid I’ll drool all over the celebrities.”
“I swear you can get lost in your thoughts so quickly, it’s frightening. I may have to tie a big rock to you so you don’t float off into space.”
She knew Essex was kidding about the rock but suspected he was genuinely concerned about her lack of what they called situational awareness. It was a legitimate worry and something she would need to work on if she ever wanted to work in the field with the other members of the Prairie Winds teams.
“Are we going to the club? What about Giles? Will he be angry if we go without him?” Miami didn’t want to do anything to upset him. She was a force to be reckoned with in her career, but in her personal life, Miami always went to great lengths to keep the peace.
“No, he won’t. One of the common threads in successful poly-relationships is spending quality time one on one. You will soon learn neither Giles nor I will ever be jealous of the time you spend with the other. We may joke about it, but let me assure you, it will all be in good fun. Our hope is you’ll learn to appreciate the time we spend alone, and my guess is there will be times you want to spend time without either of us underfoot. Knowing you are being well taken care of when one of us is sent on a mission will go a long way to put our minds at ease. For us, one of the perks of a polyamorous relationship is pinch-hitting for each other.”
Miami had been listening so intently, she hadn’t realized they’d parked outside a glossy black glass building. The white scroll script on the door simply saidThe Boutique.
“Giles and I had planned to explain our expectations and detail how we hoped things would work between the three of us. He decided to step in front of a bullet and threw our timeline into a tailspin.”
“What do you mean he decided to step in front of a bullet?” As far as she knew, none of them knew Cruz was going to pull the trigger.
“Giles knew the man was going to pull the trigger a heartbeat before it happened. Cruz was aiming for you, baby. Giles put himself between you and the shot.”
Miami gasped as the world tilted on its axis. It had never occurred to her that Giles had nearly been killed because he’d ignored every instinct of self-protection to ensure her safety.
