Page 108 of Everything We Found

“Yes. I want that too—you and all the messy, complicated truths that come with.” Her heart soared through the fireworks she felt and she kissed him again. His uninjured arm came around her back and he deepened their kiss. How she wished he was home and she could show him how much she loved him. But there would be time for that later.

Lots of time.

He slowed their kiss and she lifted her head, resting her forehead against his. They smiled at each other, their love radiating. Then he grinned.

“You need a shower.”

She scoffed. “I’ll shower when you brush your teeth.”

A throat cleared behind them and Nadia looked over her shoulder. James stood in the doorway.

“Mind if I interrupt?” he asked.

Thomas met Nadia’s gaze. “All right?”

She nodded. “I’ll go find that shower.” She eased off the bed. “And maybe a change of clothes and real food, too.” She might even fit in a short nap. Now that he seemed more like himself, she felt comfortable enough to leave him and check into a hotel room until he was released.

“He’s all yours,” Nadia said to James. She collected her few belongings scattered about the room. At the door, she paused beside him. “Thank you for saving him,” she said, meeting his eyes. If he hadn’t notified the FBI, Thomas surely would have been lost to them.

James nodded. He didn’t have to say anything. Thomas was his brother. Despite the animosity between them, there was also a great deal of love. There had been no question about coming to his rescue.

Nadia left the hospital feeling lighter than she had in days. The future stretched before her again. Only this time, it included Thomas.

36

THOMAS

Thomas hurt. His back ached from lying prone in bed for three days. His arm throbbed, and his leg… he couldn’t really feel that, so maybe it was a good thing for the moment. He’d been in so much pain lately he didn’t want to do much of anything but sleep it off. But his heart was full.

Nadia wanted him. She loved him. Despite it all.

They had much to discuss, but there was time for that later. Plenty of time. Time where he no longer needed to track the news and his other undisclosed sources for the Hidalgos’ movements. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder anymore. Maybe he’d stop waking up in the middle of the night in a full-blown panic, coated in a cold sweat.

Thomas tracked James as his brother crossed the room, wary about what he’d come here to say. He might be just days past from being at death’s door, but it was good to see him. James looked healthy, alive. He carried himself in a way that suggested life was treating him well.

“How are you feeling?” James dragged the chair Nadia had been using back so it wasn’t so close to the bed.

“I hurt. Better,” he amended when his brother gave him a look that told him he needed specifics. “My head finally feels clear.”

“You seem more alert.” James settled in the chair.

Thomas glanced at the door. “Where’s Mom?”

“At a follow-up with her doctor. She’ll be up after.”

“Tell me again what happened to her.” He only remembered bits and pieces from what James already told him.

James leaned forward on his knees. “They broke into her house, took her hostage, roughed her up some where they’d held her. Other than cutting off one of her fingers, I don’t know what was done to her. I haven’t asked for specifics. That’s between her and her doctor.”

“She won’t tell us.”

James shook his head in agreement. “The Hidalgos tried to get out of her what she knew about us, where we were. They tormented her with his… the parts…” James stopped.

“I get the picture.” Thomas briefly closed his eyes on an awful grimace. So that was what they’d used Phil’s hands and feet for. To extract information from her.

James squeezed his nape where he carried his tension. “She didn’t give us up—not that she knew where we’d been relocated.”

Thomas felt pressure in his chest. For all of Claire’s faults, one didn’t mess with her boys. He discovered the extent of her rage when he confessed he’d faked James’s death. He’d been lucky to leave her house with his head intact given the damage she inflicted on the room. Shattered china. Broken furniture. Torn curtains.