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She moved away from the straw. “What happened? I don’t remem—” She froze, and her eyes went wide. “Oh my god. Sheila. Joe, you don’t underst—”
His fingers gently touched her lips. “Shhh. It’s all right. You need to rest your throat. The smoke—”
“No,” she interrupted, her heart racing. “You don’t understand. Sheila—”
“Is a nutcase,” he finished. “Don’t worry, baby, they got her.” She opened her mouth again, but he brought the straw back to her lips before she could speak. “I’ll explain everything to you. You’ve just got to stop talking.”
She took another sip of water. And then another. Who knew water could feel so good?
“How do you feel? Honestly, Roxanne.”
“Like I was on the wrong end of a meat tenderizer.” She frowned. “Make that a rolling pin.”
“Holy shit,” Joe said. “Too soon, baby. Too soon.”
Her lips quirked, and she took a moment to scan the hospital room. “Where am I?”
“Virginia Mason Medical Center.”
She raised a brow. “In Seattle?”
“Yeah.” He leaned toward her, caressing the side of her face. “After the fire, they airlifted you to Harborview in Seattle. You had pretty severe smoke inhalation.”
She frowned. “Then why am I at Virginia Mason?”
“Because while Harborview is the only level-one trauma center in the region, they don’t have a hyperbaric unit like they do here.”
That seemed like a lot of moving around. Her frown deepened. “What day is it?”
“It’s Sunday, baby.”
Her jaw dropped, and her mind scrambled. Three days. She’d been out forthreefreaking days?
“The doctors kept you sedated so you could heal. Not only for your lungs, but... you also got bashed in the head pretty badly.”
Sheila and the damn rolling pin. The memories flashing in her mind had goosebumps rising over her skin. “Am I going to be okay?”
Her heart stuttered when he kissed her softly on the lips. “You’ll be good as new. You sprained your ankle too. Now, you just have to rest. Dad should be here any minute and he can explain all the medical jargon.”
“And Sheila?”
“She’s in jail. The person who called in the fire saw Sheila and reported it. Quinn said when they went to her apartment, she confessed to all of it. Breaking into your café, knocking you out, and starting the fire. She admitted to sending you the photos over the last month. Said she’d seen your folder of press clippings and that you deserved to be taken down a few notches.”
The muscle in his jaw twitched, and she squeezed his hand.
Joe cleared his throat. “Apparently, she didn’t believe she’d done anything wrong. Ranted about how it wasyourfault for telling lies about her, stealing men away from her. Me, Jeremy, Eli, Cade, Gavin... even Quinn. He said when they searched her apartment, she had a room filled with photos of you.”
The hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she shivered. “Oh, wow. I worked with her practically every day, Joe. She just spent the night at our house...” Her heart hurt.
“I know, baby,” he soothed, running a hand up and down her chilled skin. “She fooled everyone. She’s not right in the head, Roxanne. None of this is your fault. At all. Do you hear me?”
Roxie nodded. Holy crap, she was lucky. So very, very lucky to be alive. She caught his steady gaze and held her breath. “And us, Joe? Are we okay?”
He framed her face in his hands and kissed her on the lips again. “You have to believe me when I say that I wasnoton a date with Candie. I know it looks bad, but I swear to you it wasn’t like that. The JBLM guys missed their ferry, so dinner was off. She happened to call right after I got off the phone with them and wanted to talk about some business thing. I was hungry and thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. I figured she and I could eat and talk at the same time.”
Roxie fought a smile. Thatdidsound exactly like Joe’s brand of logic.
“You know me, Rox. You may not like me all the time—which I completely get—and I know I can be an asshole, but you know I’m not a cheater. You know that’s a deal-breaker for me.” A blush bloomed over his cheeks, and he covered his embarrassment with a cough. Then, tipping his lips up in a playful smirk, he shrugged and added, “Besides, I’m lazy. I’ve never dated more than one woman at a time. That takes too much planning and deception and effort.”
