“Thank you, ladies, for the good conversation. I hope you know you’re safe,” he added as he started away from the table.
Amaryllis tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow, slowing him down. “Thanks for looking after my man for me while I worked.”
“Thanks for lending him to us,” Linda said.
Lorrie and Lexie looked pouty, and neither said a word as they walked away.
Malichai looked down at the top of Amaryllis’s head. Her hair was that silvery platinum blond that shone like a waterfall. His breath caught in his throat. What if someone was targeting blondes?
“Malichai?” Amaryllis looked up at him, her blue eyes like twin jewels. “What is it?”
He placed his plate very precisely onto the table and looked around the room, noting each person, pushing them into his brain so he would remember them. “Just something crazy the loony sisters came up with, excluding Linda. She’s not nearly as loony as the other two.”
“What did they come up with?”
“They were speculating that the killer is a serial killer after blondes. Anna’s hair was nearly the same color as yours.”
She slipped into the little chair facing the room. He always moved his chair to the side where the wall was. No one could come up behind him and he could see anything coming at him.
“You know that’s crazy. Anna is the only woman reported dead. And they killed Bryon as well. He had dark hair. Honey, really, those women are just determined to scare themselves.”
He nodded. He did know it was crazy. Ezekiel had interrogated a hit man who had confirmed that he had targeted several people connected to the San Diego Convention Center. This wasn’t about a serial killer. This was about something altogether different. He just wanted his woman tucked safely away somewhere—like in another state.
“Your friends haven’t been in. I thought they might come for the food.”
That was blatant fishing. She wanted to know what had happened after she went back to the bed-and-breakfast. He couldn’t blame her, but he couldn’t tell her yet either. “Tonight, on the roof,” he said.
She nodded. “What do you think of the ribs?” She pushed over the plate she’d heaped ribs on for him.
“I’m so in love with you, baby, we need to get married immediately. You don’t just cook in the kitchen and bake, you actually grill.”
She burst out laughing. “You’re going to marry me because I can grill?”
“Sex first. I’m marrying you for the sex, baby. After that, for your awesome culinary abilities.”
“You don’t know if I’m good in bed or not, Malichai. I’m beginning to think the loony tunes have rubbed off on you.”
Deliberately, his gaze drifted over her body and then moved back up to her face. “Babe.”
She raised her eyebrow and picked up her corn on the cob. “That supposed to mean something to me?”
“I’ll show you what it means tonight.”
She blinked her feathery lashes at him and then started laughing. “You’re so insane, I don’t know when you’re serious and when you’re not.”
“There’s two things I never joke about, Amaryllis.” He leaned toward her, looking her in the eyes so she knew he meant what he said. “I don’t joke about sex, not when it comes to you. I’m absolutely serious about it. And there’s never joking about marriage. That’s a sacred, serious topic.”
She went very still, her long lashes sweeping down to cover her expression. He just laid it out on the table for her. He expected sex and marriage.
“I’m not a patient man when it comes to those things. I just discovered that about myself. I thought I could be, but I’m not. I want you wearing my ring. I want you in my bed. And I want it now, not some time in the future.”
She regarded him as she chewed her corn, her gaze steady on his face. “Malichai.” She swallowed the corn, those blue eyes finding the way inside him. “The fiancée thing wasn’t true. We used it to get us out of trouble.”
“You agreed, that’s what I heard.”
“I certainly did not. You didn’t ask properly.”
“If I’d asked properly you would have said no.”
“Exactly,” she confirmed. “I barely know you.”
“So why would I ever be dumb enough to ask you when you’ve already agreed to be my fiancée? That would be stupid on my part and I assure you, you’re getting an intelligent man.”
“It’s hardly intelligent to want to marry someone you’ve known for a week.”
“We’re past the week.”
She burst out laughing. He loved that laugh. It was crazy how much he loved to hear her laugh. He watched her face, the way it lit up, the way her eyes gleamed like sapphires.
“You’re really serious, aren’t you?”
“Yep. No going back now. It’s off to the swamp we go. I’ll build you a house you’ll love, one all our own where we can raise our children and protect them from anything that might come along.”
She sent him a small smile. “How could I possibly leave Marie?”
“You know already that I’ve arranged for Marie’s debts to be paid and for money to go into a fund for Jacy’s doctor bills. She’ll be able to hire within the Navy community. We’ll reach out to the wives and girlfriends and see if any of them want jobs first. We can even find a general manager, so it frees Marie up to travel with Jacy if she wants to. The bed-and-breakfast makes money. It’s never been a problem. It’s the amount of debt she’s accumulated from hospital bills.”
“How do you do all those things so fast?”
“I haven’t gotten the workers for her yet. I haven’t even had a moment to talk to her about it. And, Amaryllis, this doesn’t hinge on whether or not you go with me. As soon as I got to know Marie, I knew I was going to take the load off her shoulders. There are Ghost-Walkers attached to the Navy. They instantly wanted to help. They’ll go up the chain of command and figure out how best to get her the workers she needs. The right ones.”
She was silent for a long time and then she looked down at her hands. “I wish I could find them. The two others that escaped when I did. Silver and Coral. They were nice girls. Strong. Smart. They would have loved it here and they would have loved Marie and Jacy. I think, given the chance, they would be perfect to run this place.”
Malichai studied her face. No matter how much he reassured her, she was always going to feel responsible for the other women. They were grown, and they’d taken their chances just as she had. Most likely they were grateful to her, whether they’d succeeded or not in their escape.
“I can have the other GhostWalker teams try to find them, if you want. They’ll have to do so very carefully so as not to alert Whitney that anyone is looking,” Malichai offered.
She raised her incredibly blue eyes to his face and there was a look of wonder, of near adoration, which he didn’t deserve but any man would want. “You would really do that for me, wouldn’t you?”
“Anything in the world that I’m capable of giving you, Amaryllis,” he assured.
She shook her head. “It’s better if we leave them alone. Otherwise Whitney might lock on to them. He’s so good at finding us.”