The Missing

go.”

    That made Dante laugh. Then he looked at Taige, shaking his head. “Yeah, like she’s ever done a damn thing just cuz I told her she ought to.” Dante sighed and opened the box at his side. “Let’s get you cleaned up. And Taige, if I tell you that you need a doctor, you’re going, even if I have to throw your skinny ass over my shoulder.”

    Rose smacked Dante lightly on the arm. “You watch how you talk to her, boy. And don’t worry. You say she needs a doctor, she’s going to a doctor, and there isn’t a damn thing she can do about it, either.”

    “SO did she make you go to the hospital?”

    The shadow fell over Taige, and she opened her eyes, squinting up at Cullen. The sun was at his back, and she couldn’t make out his face very well, but she recognized his voice. He crouched down beside her, and she lifted her sunglasses onto her head, meeting his eyes. He winced and touched his fingers to her swollen left eye. “Ouch.”

    The touch was gentle. It didn’t hurt at all. But Taige wished it would have. Hurt would have been a little better than her reaction. Heat. Just that gentle touch had her heart pounding in her chest. Taige had always snorted when she read things like that, how just some guy’s touch could do that, but until now, she hadn’t ever had it happen, hadn’t ever believed it could happen.

    But with her heart racing away in her chest, she had little choice but to believe just that. “It’s just bruised. Dante tried to make me go, said there could have been scratches on my cornea or something.” Then she shrugged. “I waited until the doctors’ offices opened and went to the clinic. Dante’s got a friend that works there, and he took a look at me. Made Rose happy, and it got Dante off my back.”

    “They family?”

    Taige shook her head. “No, at least not by blood. Rose knew my mom and dad, though. I’ve known her since I was a baby.” She grimaced and added, “And the way Rose acts, you’d think I still was a baby.”

    “She was worried. Can’t blame her for that.”

    He dropped down on the blanket next to her. His leg brushed against hers, totally by accident, she was sure. She just hoped he couldn’t see the look on her face. Nonchalant as possible, she shifted away. Not because she didn’t want him touching her, but if she wanted to actually carry on a conversation with him, he couldn’t be touching her. She’d start mumbling and stammering and acting like some stupid . . . girl. How embarrassing.

    “Since you didn’t go to the hospital, I guess you didn’t call the police, either,” Cullen was saying.

    “No reason to,” she said, shrugging. “I wasn’t hurt, not really.” Then she grinned, a mean, nasty grin. “Dante came home the next day, and his mama had to play doctor on his hands. He looked like he went a few rounds with a brick wall, the way his hands were torn up.”

    Cullen laughed. “Well, that would explain it. I ran into one of those guys at the store. He saw me and took off in the other direction, but not before I saw his face. He looks like he got hit by a brick wall. A few times.”

    A breeze drifted by, and she caught her hair in her hand, holding it out of her face as she stole a glance at him. “I don’t know if I remembered to say thank you.”

    He reached out, caught a thick curl, and tucked it behind her ear. “Nothing to say thanks for. Anybody—”

    She shook her head. “No. Not anybody would have done it.” Sadly, she knew that not even half of anybody would have gotten involved. Sucked knowing the things she knew sometimes.

    “Yeah, well . . .” He shrugged it off, and she grinned a little as she realized he was uncomfortable. His cheeks were tanned, but not tanned enough to hide the dull rush of color as he blushed. He focused his gaze out over the blue green waters of the Gulf. “I’m glad I saw you out here. We’re heading back home day after tomorrow, and I’ve been worried. Didn’t know how to find you, except going back out to your friend’s house. And I tried that. Got lost.”

    Taige grinned, hiding the rush of pleasure at the thought of him looking for her. Then she felt like an idiot. He was a nice guy. After what he’d done, she knew just how much of a nice guy he was. So he’d been worried. No reason to read anything else into it.

    But she knew it wasn’t going to keep her from thinking about him after he’d gone. She realized she was still staring at him and grinning