Ensenada Escapade: Destination: Desire, Book 6 by Crystal Jordan Page B

No. He wasn’t going to go there. “The truth is what it is, Nora. I don’t need to lay anything on thick.”
    She hummed but made no other reply. He didn’t know what that meant, if anything. She didn’t believe him? She didn’t care what he thought in any case? The problem was he’d so rarely been sincere with her, so rarely allowed any vulnerability to show. Because they’d exploited weaknesses in each other for so many years, it was just a default. They expected it now. He thought they’d made some strides toward changing that in the last two days, but it would take more time than that to break the cycle.
    Time was the one thing he feared they didn’t have.

Chapter Six
    “We made it.” Nora sighed and flopped back on the dilapidated couch that seemed to be standard issue for any college student’s apartment. If yesterday had been insane, today had been hell. She really wasn’t doing well at the moment, and her sister was doing worse. Of the Kirby girls, Hazel was the closest to her in age, and they had always loved as fiercely as they’d gotten on each other’s nerves. It was inevitable when all those teen hormones hit at the same time. That had faded to a good friendship as they’d become adults. It was difficult to see her so unwell. Sure, Nora saw unwell people for a living, but it wasn’t the same when your loved one was the patient.
    Today had only been beaten out by the time she’d gone to stay with Camille after her auto accident. God willing, nothing would ever top that. She closed her eyes and shook her head, feeling leaden with exhaustion. Why were her sisters determined to send her to an early grave from worry?
    “Yep, we survived.” Ben dropped down beside her, offering his signature dimpled half-smile. “I had my doubts there for a while.”
    “You and me both.”
    “Nora,” Hazel’s plaintive wail carried from her bedroom.
    “Poor thing.” Nora heaved to her feet. “I’ll check on her and Priya. You might see if you can crash on this lovely sofa for a while.”
    “I’m going to go put some gas in the car, if you don’t mind. Then we don’t have to think about it in the morning.” He rose beside her and walked with her toward the hall, which was also the direction of the front door. He picked up the keys to the Impala and Hazel’s house keys, both of which had been dropped on a side table.
    “Good idea. Thanks for doing that.” She braced her hand against the wall. Otherwise she might have actually wilted to the ground. About twelve hours of sleep would be welcome after the last couple of days.
    He brushed a soft kiss over her mouth, and she didn’t even have time to react before he slipped out of the apartment. She heard the snick of the deadbolt sliding into place.
    Of course, he wouldn’t leave them alone with the door unlocked, especially knowing how wiped they all were. That warmed her heart the way she knew it shouldn’t. Or should it? Hell, she didn’t know anymore. Everything with Ben was muddled, and she was too tired to dwell on it now.
    Poking her head into Priya’s room, she found the young woman sprawled on her back, snoring loudly enough to rattle walls. Holy crap, they weren’t kidding about that. No wonder she’d seen a white noise machine on her sister’s nightstand earlier.
    She headed for Hazel’s door, knocking softly. “You decent?”
    “Never.” Her sister retorted, sounding utterly spent. “You know me better than that.”
    After pushing into the room, she went to curl up beside Hazel on the queen-size bed, propping herself up on the spare pillow. “You’re well enough to tease, so that’s an improvement.”
    “I feel like road kill. Day-old road kill.”
    “It might be a couple of days before you feel any better. Do your ribs hurt from all the heaving yet?”
    “Yep.” She rolled bloodshot eyes. “I swear someone took a baseball bat to me. I never knew puking could hurt so fucking bad.”
    “Ibuprofen. It helps reduce