Page 35 of The Love Fix (The Sunrise Cove #8)

watching, her voice nothing more than a whisper for him alone. “We’ll be quick.”

He didn’t move a muscle, his gaze still locked on the security guards, who—judging by the tic in his jaw and the hair standing at the back of her neck—were staring at her ass. “We’ll be okay, we just need to get it done.”

His eyes slid to hers at that. “Right. So you can leave.”

“Here?” she asked in disbelief. “You want to do this here?”

“You’re not going to back down.” He made a sound that was the embodiment of male frustration. “Of course you’re not. You’ve

never backed down, not one day in your life.”

Very true, so she had no idea why she let that sting. But here was the thing. This wasn’t about him, or them, or even her.

It was about Daisy. Through these letters and the strangers Lexi had met delivering them, she’d learned so much more about

her mom than she’d ever known or thought possible. She’d learned about herself too. She wanted to see this through, but her

reasons had changed. She no longer cared about whether there would be money left over for her. Whether she admitted it out

loud or not, this trip to Sunrise Cove had changed her life. For the better. “In and out, fast,” she promised. “Just stay

here, right outside the door.”

“A lot can happen behind a damn door, Lexi.”

“We’ll be fine. I promise you.”

Resigned, Heath looked into her eyes and nodded. “I know you will.”

Something warm in her chest turned over. Always believing in her, a shockingly powerful feeling. So she took Ashley by the

hand and together they walked into the office.

The door immediately shut at their backs. And at her side, Ashley sucked in a breath. Lexi didn’t look at her but instead

at the man who sat behind his desk looking like a gym rat who ate steroids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And Lexi began to doubt.

But not Ashley. Nope, her tiny little badass sister walked right up to the desk and held out her hand. “Hi, Vinny. I’m Daisy Fontaine’s daughter, Ashley. This is my sister, Lexi. It’s really nice to meet you. Your dad and our mom were great friends.”

Vinny studied her a long moment, then Lexi, face cold as ice. “My dad doesn’t have friends.”

Still smiling sweetly, Ashley leaned against his desk. “You clearly didn’t know my mom. She could befriend a...” She seemed

to struggle for the right word and glanced at Lexi for help.

“A mob boss in pinstripes?” she offered.

Ashley bit her lower lip, trying to hide her smile.

Vinny didn’t look amused, but he took the envelope Lexi pulled from her back pocket. Pulling out the letter, he read it silently,

but Lexi, who’d spent a whole bunch of years spying treasures in plain sight, had long ago learned to read upside down.

Dear Vinny,

I once promised you that I was a woman of my word. I know it took me longer than expected to pay you back, but the money’s

here in full. Thank you for being such a class act and not breaking my kneecaps.

Daisy

Vinny set the letter aside and looked at the check dispassionately. “This isn’t enough.”

Lexi tilted her head. “So you do remember her.”

Vinny met her gaze, his still cold. “My dad charged twenty percent interest. I charge thirty. And for every second you stand

here, it goes up.”

“You do realize we didn’t have to deliver this money to begin with,” Lexi said, subtly scanning the room for options to escape in a hurry that didn’t involve screaming for Heath, who she knew would burn this place down to the ground to get them out safely if he had to.

“And yet,” Vinny said, “here you two are, delivered like a Christmas present. And to think, I haven’t believed in Santa since

I was five years old.”

“The debt isn’t even owed by us, it was between Daisy and Vinny Sr.,” Ashley said.

Lexi whipped her head to her sister, who’d said Daisy , not Mom. “Ash—”

“ Not now ,” her sister snapped.

Vinny looked amused. And something else, something much darker, that had Lexi’s heart kicking into a higher gear—which was

saying something, since it’d been close to stroke level since they walked into this office. She quickly grabbed her sister’s

hand. “We’re going now.”

Vinny stood up. “You aren’t going anywhere until that interest is paid.”

“Bummer, because I just remembered I left my oven on.” Ashley flashed a smile short of her usual wattage. “I don’t like wasting

energy.”

“You think this is funny?” Vinny’s eyes were hard as he came around the desk. “I’ll show you both funny—”

“Stop,” Lexi said, backing up and yanking Ashley along with her. “Take another step, and we’ll start screaming.”

“You think one single person out there’s going to give a shit? Scream away. Even if someone’s dumb enough to barge in here,

they’d have to get through Brett and Bones first.”

“No problem,” Ashley said. “My sister here has a black belt ten times over.”

Vinny’s mouth quirked. “Brett and Bones are black belts a trillion times over.”

Fine, so he had a sense of humor after all, but Lexi didn’t, not when he reached for Ashley and shoved her up against the

desk.

Lexi moved without a plan, grabbing an industrial-size staple gun off the top of the filing cabinet at her right, as well

as a hefty glass baseball paperweight. To get Vinny to turn away from her sister, she said, “Hey, what am I, chopped liver?”

In the movies, they always slo-mo’d these scenes, but in real life, it happened in a blink. Vinny grabbed her wrist, twisting

it to try and get her to drop the staple gun. So she chucked the glass baseball.

At his head.

Unfortunately, he ducked, and as it smashed into the wall behind him, he straightened and smiled at her. “You’re going to

be fun.”

Worried someone was about to come running to investigate the noise of the glass breaking, she reacted without thinking, reaching

out and... stapling his nuts. Actually, she wasn’t positive if she’d caught the frank or the beans. Mostly because she

might’ve closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

With a squeak, Vinny keeled over, hitting the floor hard.

Ashley pushed up from the desk, eyes wide, pupils blown with shock. “Oh my God, is he dead?”

The groan that escaped him told her no. It also told her they had only seconds before he called out for help, which would

cause No Neck and Goon Two, aka Brett and Bones, to go after first Heath and then them.

“What do we do?” Ashley panic-whispered.

Lexi’s thoughts raced as fast as her heart. “We’re going to walk right out of here like nothing happened.”

They slipped out the door, quickly shutting it behind them. Brett and Bones stood five feet in front of the door, their backs to the office. Lexi tugged Ashley past them, giving a little wave and an everything’s-perfectly-okay-and-your-asshole-boss-certainly-didn’t-just-have-his-nuts-stapled smile.

Heath straightened from where he’d been leaning against an unused pool table just beyond the guards, facing them. Though everything

about his relaxed, calm body suggested someone at ease, there was a tightness in his face, a coiled-up energy that gave away

his worry. At the sight of them, he relaxed only marginally as he seemed to linger on Lexi’s face, taking her pulse without

having to touch her. At whatever he saw, he didn’t say a word, just hustled them across the room toward the exit, opening

the front door for them.

She couldn’t help but let out a breathless laugh. “We’re running from bad guys, and you’re taking time to open the door for

us?”

“Chivalry isn’t dead,” he said in a calm voice that somehow soothed her nerves.

She still had a grip on Ashley when they cleared the building. “You okay?”

“Yes.” Ashley beamed at her. “You were amazing back there.”

Heath was scanning their surroundings as they moved quickly but casually to the parking lot. “What happened?”

“You should’ve seen it,” Ashley said. “Lexi stapled Vinny’s nuts.”

Heath’s head swiveled to Lexi.

“I told you I could handle myself.”

There was a small smile about his mouth as they got to his car. “Get in, badass. I don’t want to have to tangle with the B

team. I don’t have a stapler on me.”

“She had a big, heavy glass baseball too. Shattered it against a wall. It was awesome.”

Heath smiled, looking impressed. As they tore out of the lot, Ashley poked her head over the center console from the back.

“How’s your wrist?” she asked Lexi.

Heath frowned. “What’s wrong with your wrist?”

“Vinny twisted it to get her to let go of the glass paperweight,” Ashley said. “But don’t worry. She didn’t let go. She threw

it at his head. Too bad he ducked.”

Heath didn’t say anything, but Lexi was pretty sure he was almost smiling. At the first pharmacy they passed, he stopped.

He vanished inside and came back out with a bag of supplies. He opened Lexi’s door and pulled her from the vehicle. Gently

pushing her sweater up her arm, he examined her arm, probing a little. When she grimaced, a twinge of ire hit his eyes as

he dug into the bag. He wrapped her wrist, then pulled her into him, pressing his cheek to the top of her head. Just holding

on to her. Like she meant something.

“I’m fine,” she said, but she held on too. He cared about her, like, truly cared. She’d almost missed it, since his whole

vibe was so chill. Even taking care of everyone in his orbit, and some who weren’t, he liked to live his life as stress-free

as possible. He could do that because he knew what it was like to be overworked, overwhelmed, and anxious all the time. These

days, he made a point of trying to enjoy every moment.

Lexi wanted to learn to do the same.

“You need to rest the wrist,” he said.

Ashley leaned out the back passenger window. “You know she’s too stubborn to rest, right?”

Lexi huffed against Heath’s sternum. “I’m not stubborn.”

Heath gave her an amused look. “Only you would be stubborn about being stubborn.”

Ashley rolled up her window, giving them the illusion of privacy. Heath said something about being serious that she shouldn’t

use her wrist. Lexi nodded. He said something about taking care of herself. She nodded. He said something about staring at

his ass. She nodded— Oh, damn.

With a laugh, he nudged her back into the car, getting them onto the highway and pointed toward home.

Home...

When they’d merged with traffic, Heath slid his gaze to her. “Remind me to never tangle with you.”

A pang reverberated in her chest, but she gave a small smile. “Too late for that.”