“Sal?” Hutch shook his head. “Nope. My name is…”
“She’s asking if you want salt.” At least one of them spoke a little Spanish. And Case had listened to a bunch of Mia’s stories in between long sessions in bed. When the group would sit and have meals together, she’d talked about her adventures in South America and a few of the odd things she found fascinating. Mia liked to try the local cuisines and apparently one of the customs here was putting salt on their ice cream. Hutch was not as open to new experiences as Mia. “He’s a pure sugar boy, miss. And I’m going to need you to write down that address for me.”
His heart started to race a little. His brother was here. He could feel it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Mia glanced down at her cell phone before picking it up. There was no way she could avoid this call. If she did, Drew would send someone after her. She might be able to dodge one, maybe two calls without her oldest brother sending in a security team, but this was his third call in as many days and he would get antsy.
She knew most people would call him overprotective and overbearing, but most people hadn’t been forced to save their younger siblings. Whenever she got frustrated with Drew, she reminded herself that he was the one who’d seen their parents’ bodies, heard the shots that killed them. Drew had been the one who’d come to her room, lifting her six-year-old body up and holding her tight as he guided them out of a burning house. He’d been the one to figure out they’d been locked in. He’d been the one who’d broken through a window so his siblings could live.
It’s going to be okay, Mia. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I’m going to keep you safe.
She sighed. Yeah, Drew might remember the horrors of that night, but what she remembered was how brave her brother had been. She owed Drew everything, including being all right with his need to know she was okay. Mia flicked her hand across the screen. “Hey, Drew. Sorry I hadn’t called you back. I was sleeping. Had a crazy day researching yesterday and it went pretty late. The libraries here don’t get great cell reception. What time is it?”
Her brother’s silky voice came over the line with the soft growl of a predator. “It’s time to explain why my airplane apparently carried three corpses in it.”
Damn the freaking cartel. Why could no one offer good service these days? Three little bodies. It was all she’d asked. Except she hadn’t actually asked. She’d let the boys handle it. She should have damn well known that cleaning up after a couple of murders was definitely woman’s work. “It was no big deal.”
Sometimes when Drew was quiet, there was a silent scream in the air. This time it was nearly deafening. It was a relief when he finally spoke again. “No big deal?”
She knew her brother well enough to hear the threat behind those quiet words. “Drew, it was fine. A couple of your employees turned out to be kidnappers. That’s all. Case took care of them. I took care of the plane. And that was days ago. We’ve had zero kidnapping attempts in a whole four days. So it’s no big deal. But the Morel Cartel is getting a hearty bad review on their cleaning services. Surely there’s some kind of Deep Web Angie’s List and I’m trashing them there.”
Sometimes the best way to deal with overprotective men was to brazen right through.
“Put Case on the phone,” her brother commanded.
“He’s not here.”
There was another pause. “All right. I’ll be down there in roughly ten hours. I’m calling the hotel and sending a security detail.”
Score one for Case Taggart and his horrible taste in lodging. “I’m not at the hotel and I’m not alone.” She yawned and stretched, her every muscle a little sore because Case believed in a certain athleticism in his lovemaking. Days of being Case’s lover had turned her into a satisfied kitten. “And you are seriously killing my buzz, big brother. I should be lying in bed thinking about how amazing this morning was, but no.”
“I don’t even want to know what you mean by that. Mia, this is serious.”
She put him on speaker and found her robe, wrapping it around her body. “I know, but Case and his team are working on it. I’m safe. I’ll be home as soon as the job’s done. I’ll have Case send you a report on what happened on the plane. I suspect it was nothing more than a plot to get money out of you. It wouldn’t be the first. I’m sorry it scared you. I did intend to get that cleaned, but apparently the job got screwed up. Should I be worried about the authorities? Did the airport call them in?”