Yeah.
Right.
Whatwasthe protocol for strong-arming a prince?
Dave was waiting for some kind of response, so Rio managed to make a noncommittal-sounding grunt as he navigated around one of the larger potholes in the airfield parking lot. There were five other vehicles—four pickups and a patrol car—already there, and he could see at least as many people gathered in the small, open-air hangar. Just the sight of them pissed him off. God help them if they questioned his authority or otherwise slowed them down in the slightest.
But that wasn’t the only reason they pissed him off.
“You’re from a small town, right?” he asked Dave as he killed the engine.
“Yeah, sort of,” Dave said, climbing out of the SUV and stretching. “Damn, it’s cold. I mean, North Port’s lots smaller than Sarasota. But even Sarasota’s not very big, so... I’ll go withyes.Why?”
“My small-town radar sucks.” Rio opened the back, and unlocked the weapons locker. Time for a little concealed carry—that he wouldn’t bother to fully conceal. He slipped on the nylon shoulder holster, then covered it with a jacket but didn’t zip up. “I walk into a place like this, you know, population seven-hundred-and-something—that’s like half the size of my high school graduating class—and I assume everybody in town must know everybody else. Like, there’s probably someone in that hangar, right now, who directly knows someone who’s on the payroll of the asshole who torched the Ustanzian ski lodge.”
Dave nodded as he grabbed some extra ammo. “That’s a healthy assumption,” he agreed.
Which meant that thanks to the impetuous and spoiled prince, they’d not only just lost a shitload of time, they’d also just given up the element of surprise.
Perfect.
Rio locked everything back up, double-checking that it was secure.
“Ooh, maybe the airport has working WiFi!” Dave already had his phone out as he searched for a connection. But his enthusiasm immediately faded. “Damn it.”
And now Jon-without-an-H, who still hadn’t texted Dave any response whatsoever, was pissing Rio off nearly as much as Little Prince Motherfuckin’ Tedric was.
“Let’s get this over with,” Rio said, leading the way toward the hangar.
* * *
Thomas had bludgeoned her with a friend-and-run.
I’m glad we’re fffrrriennndddsss again, Tash, gotta take a shower, k, thanx, bye!
This was definitely her cue to take her book and vanish into the bedroom, so they didn’t have to sing verse nine-hundred-and-twelve of the Awkward Song after his shower.
He’d failed to take the pink sweatshirt in with him, so when he did come out of the bathroom, he’d be not just freshly scrubbed and sweet-smelling, he’d have all those powerful Navy SEAL chest and back and shoulder and arm muscles on full display. And that, combined with his thin flannel pants with their draw-string waist worn low on his hips...
Thomas had referred to them as clown-pants, but nuh-uh.
Nope.
Shewas the only clown in this rodeo.
And while Tash told herself she was sticking around merely to apply more antibiotic ointment onto the back of Thomas’s head, she was lying.
Except when he finally came out of the bathroom, he’d wrapped himself in the red robe that she’d hung on the back of the door. He’d always looked good in rich colors, but this robe was...
It was an equally fantasy-inducing costume, but the plotline had a decidedly different essence than shirtless-from-the-shower. It was a different flavor of delicious.
He didn’t seem surprised to see her still sitting on the sofa with her book, but then again, he had a truly great poker face. It was only when he spoke that she could tell if he was lying or telling the truth.
“I hung my pants up to dry in the bathroom,” he told her, no doubt feeling a need to explain why his legs were bare beneath that decadent-looking robe. On him, it wasn’t floor length. On him, the robe ended mid-powerful-looking-calf. He hadn’t bothered putting on the slippers and his feet were bare, too.
“That’s okay,” she said. “We’re safe. I’ve got my jeans on under here.”
He gave her hisReally? You went there?face, so she gestured to the coffee table, where she’d already laid out the first-aid kit.
