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she is in the worst part of town and driving this piece of shit. Still she’s bound and determined to find her brother when the cops and social services can’t.” Mason shook his head. He couldn’t believe her gumption, and it sent a shiver of fear up his spine. What would have happened if he didn’t have insomnia and hadn’t been there to help her?
    “Got it.” Drake gave him a solemn nod.
    When they got to the diner it was the middle of lunch hour, but there was a table with a reserved sign on it. Apparently it was not the norm by the grumbling of the patrons in line waiting to be seated. Sophia was taking orders so she missed them when they came in, but when she turned around she smiled.
    “She’s beautiful, Mase.” She was. She also shouldn’t be working. Even from there, Mason could see the lines of pain around her mouth. He looked around for Margie and caught her eye. Margie bustled over to him.
    “I’m so glad you’re here. She came down about an hour ago and put the reserved sign on the table for y’all. I couldn’t stop her from working until you showed up. Even though Brenda and I have things mostly covered. Now that you’re here, please sit down for lunch.” Margie patted Mason’s arm.
    “Hello,” Sophia stopped in front of him. She smiled at Drake.
    “Sophia, this is my friend Drake Avery who I was telling you about. Drake, this is Sophia Anderson. Sophia, come sit down and eat with us.” Mason smiled at Sophia, taking in the bruising on her face.
    “After you explain why you’re working. Are you out of your mind, girl?” Drake demanded. Oh, this was not going to go well. Of course it was exactly what he was thinking, but he would have said it with a little more tact.
    “This way to your seat.” She turned and ushered them to the table with the reserved sign. Mason held out a chair for her but she ignored it and walked towards the back of the diner. Yep, tact would have worked better.
    “What the hell?” Drake said loudly.
    “Shut it,” Mason hissed. He followed Sophia towards the kitchen. He thought she might be going back there to work, and then saw a small door to the right that had to be to the upstairs apartment. She fumbled with the doorknob with her left hand and he took the opportunity to put a gentle hand on her uninjured shoulder.
    “Honey, can we talk?” He tried to catch her eye, but she kept looking at the doorknob.
    “I’m going to wait upstairs until you’re done with lunch.” Dammit, she probably hadn’t even eaten lunch. He was going to kill Drake.
    “I missed you, and I sure would like it if you’d have lunch with me.” She paused and turned to him, her green eyes unsure.
    “You did? Me?”
    “Yes, you. I would really like to spend more time with you. If you don’t eat with me, I’m stuck eating with just Drake. Would you really force me to endure that?” Her eyes twinkled at his teasing.
    “He can be a little overbearing, can’t he?” Seeing her smile hit him in the gut. He’d love it if she’d do it more often.
    “He’s a SEAL—it’s in the job description.”
    “Holy crap. Are you one too?” Her eyes widened.
    “If I answer this wrong, will you still have lunch with me?” She hesitated. Damn, most women were all over him when he said SEAL. “Sophia?”
    “I don’t want to take up too much of your time. You must be busy and I can look for Billy by myself.” Yep, being a SEAL was counting against him.
    “Let’s go have lunch and put Drake in his place. Then we can talk about my schedule and how best to find Billy, okay?” He waited and she finally nodded. Okay, he’d managed to get past another hurdle and he breathed a sigh of relief.
     
    ****
     
    She was having lunch with two Navy SEALs. The last twenty-four hours couldn’t be more surreal. Maybe it was a waking dream. She’d hardly slept since they’d told her Billy ran away. She’d slept for a few hours in the hospital thanks to the miracle of painkillers, but the bad