Casey leaned over and kissed him—and kissed him and kissed him.
From the front seat of the SUV she heard Chief Skelly’s voice. “Whoa, what did I miss? Suddenly he’s gay, but hey, that’s cool, I love you man, whatever, but—ouch! What the hell, Bob? Rio’s kissing his fiancé’s sister and I’m supposed to not notice...?”
Jon chimed in from the back: “What about Dave and… Wait, who the hell is Rio?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Curtains closed at all times,” Ella instructed as she made one last circuit of the gorgeous hotel suite. “I’ll text you when Chief Skelly gets back. In the meantime, you want anything, more room service...? You tell me, I’ll order it and bring it in. But I’m the only one you let in that door, is that clear? Someone will be in the hall, on guard, at all times. I’ll either be there or in Jon’s room.”
Casey knew that Ella was working hard to finally give her and Rio a little privacy. “Thank you,” she said. “And thank you again for not quitting.”
“Yeah, you’re giving me a raise. Lock the door behind us,” Ella said taking Jon with her as she looked one more time from Casey to Rio and back, before the door closed behind her with a click.
Rio was sitting on the sofa, wearing one of the plush white robes that had been hanging in the bathroom. He’d put it on after taking a shower because his clothes were a sweaty, bloody mess.
One of his friends, a SEAL named Wes Skelly, had run home to get a change of clothes or two for him—they were about the same size and build.
And before he’d left, Thomas King had bandaged Rio’s arm—and his foot.
That was an unhappy surprise. Rio had pulled off his boot to reveal that he’d kicked a very sharp knife with bare feet while fighting off his attackers. “Oops,” he said as he came out of the shower limping. “Forgot about that.”
It must’ve hurt like hell to run on an injured foot—toward her. Casey had had to sit down.
Meanwhile, Jon struggled to make it make sense as Thomas cleaned out that wound, too. “Why on earth were you barefoot?” he asked Rio.
“He was wearing flip-flops.” Casey said it at the exact same time that Thomas said, “He always wears flip-flops.”
“Kicked ‘em off when shit got real,” Rio explained, drawing his breath in. “Whoa, that stings.”
“Maybe now you’ll learn to not wear them,” Thomas told his longtime friend as he patched him up.
“Not a chance,” Rio said. “My feet get hot.”
“Just a heads up,” Jon said, “I’m getting inundated by congratulatory text messages. On my impending nuptials to Hot Feet over here.” He looked at Rio. “Your proposal’s had over a million views. It’s going to go even more viral when people find out that you were really talking to Casey.”
Casey had told Jon the whole long, fake-boyfriend story while Rio was in the shower. Her brother had gotten really still, just listening, all the way through to the news that Dave was now in London with the real Luc. His one comment was a quiet, “Wow, Dave felt like he needed to do all that. I must really be a dick.”
“I was a pretty big dick, too,” Casey told Jon. “But if Luc’s anything like Rio, Dave’s got a real shot at being happy.”
Jon was silent, so she felt the need to say, “Do not go to London. Do not even think about it,” and he’d given her his best injured face.
“I wouldn’t,” he said.
“Yeah,” she said. “You would. So don’t.”
“How am I gonna get to London? I’m in lockdown, too,” he said.
“No, you’re in lockdown, and Rio and I are in lockdown, too.” It was Jon’s mess, but she hugged him because, damn she was glad he was safe.
But yeah, the mess that needed to get cleaned up included her scheduling a live-stream to tell her millions of followers the truth.
But not until this was over.
Which hopefully would be soon.
Ella, who had thankfully not quit, had been in tight communication with the FBI, who were currently searching Frank Miller’s compound in Laguna Beach. Apparently the raid had been planned for months. And hopefully Miller would be arrested, his gang rounded up, and it would all be over and they could... open the curtains and enjoy the view?
Casey didn’t want to go home.
