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I smiled.
The hospital would be a perfect venue for a Costa family reunion—nice and close to emergency care when fists started to fly.
“I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind helping me with something—for Sofia, er… Raven?” Leo asked.
“Sure thing.”
For Raven, there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do, but damn, didn’t I sound like an agreeable son of a bitch?
***
Thiswas not what I’d had in mind when Leo asked for my help.
Thishadn’t even crossed my mind.
“Not much of a dog person?” Leo guessed, grinning at me from the passenger seat of my Porsche.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, actually. Never had one.”
In truth, I couldn’t remember being within ten yards of a dog in my life. When Leo had asked for my help, I’d imagined he’d wanted to get Raven flowers or maybe one of those giant teddy bears with a sappy-ass message scrawled across its chest, and just needed a ride. Or perhaps, if he was a man more like me, he’d wanted to go back for Berlusconi to lay the motherfucker’s head at her feet—I’d thought about it, but I didn’t think Raven would share the sentiment.
So I had absolutely no idea what to do with the furry four-legged creature that currently paced back and forth across my back seat, no doubt poking holes in the leather with every step.
“He was the first and only pet my father ever bought. And he bought him for Sofia. You should have seen her with the mutt. She was so enthralled. I kept waiting to see the little guy walk on water or something. So far, he only swims.” Leo shrugged. “But he’ll grow on you. Trust me. Dominic used to have that same look on his face around Bullet that you’ve got,amico.”
At the mention of his name, the dog yipped and hopped into the front seat. He walked across Leo’s lap, then crossed the middle console and wriggled onto my thighs beneath the steering wheel.
He looked up at me with his enormous puppy dog eyes as I swerved into the hospital’s parking lot.
I had to admit, I didn’t totally hate it. The mutt was kind of cute.
As I shifted the car into park, Bullet hopped out of my lap, traipsed across Leo, then was back on my legs in a flash.
“It looks like Bullet’s decided whose company he prefers,” Leo joked, giving the dog a mock glare while he handed me the dog’s leash.
I fastened the leash through the loop on Bullet’s collar. The moment I opened the car door, he bounded out, then ran in circles on the pavement until I’d followed him out.
Two steps toward the hospital door, Leo stopped. “I don’t think dogs are allowed in there. I’ll go get—”
“Raven’s going to be happy aboutthis?” I asked, nodding to the dog.
“Damn right. You and I are getting major brownie points today,amico.”
I had no idea what Leo was talking about, but it was hard to deny that the dog’s enthusiasm was rather infectious. Glancing at the yipping four-legged mutt, the smallest grin quirked my mouth upward.
Hospital rules be damned, I clenched my jaw, gave Bullet’s leash a gentle tug, and set out toward the hospital doors, staring down every person I passed.
I quickened my pace at the thought of Raven’s cheeks turning pink, my most favorite color now.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Raven
“You’d better not lie to me ever again. Do you understand me?” I said, waggling my finger at the two as they nodded in unison.
The two sat on the hotel room sofa, neither of them speaking, heads bowed.
Seeing them side by side now, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before. It wasn’t like they were identical twins, but the familial resemblance was there. Something in the shape of their faces and eyes, and the stubborn jut of their chins.
