My mind went to Carson and my heart squeezed when I realized how dangerous a job he had taken on. How would I feel, sitting at home, knowing the risks he was taking every time he walked out the door on one of his "operations?"
I thought about that for a minute, and it suddenly occurred to me that I was already used to that scenario. I was a cop's daughter. I knew the risk my dad took every time he put his badge on, and I was fiercely proud, just like I was of Carson. I would deal with it, just like I always had with my dad, this time, knowing that the man I loved was doing work that fulfilled him, and made him a hero to those who truly needed him. Pride swept through me for the tenth time in the last couple of days.
Carson called me when we were about two hours from Vegas and told me to follow him off the freeway so that we could find a place to eat lunch.
When I pulled Dylan's SUV up behind his truck in the parking lot of a roadside Denny's and got out, he was walking toward me, smiling. I smiled back and ran the last few feet to him and jumped up, wrapping my legs around his waist. "I missed you," I said.
He was laughing. "I missed you too."
I kissed him for a minute, a gross display of PDA that I was sure was getting us plenty of "get a room" looks. I was okay with that.
I hopped down, kissed him one last time and said, "Do we have time to eat lunch?"
"Yeah, but we need to hurry."
We ate a quick lunch and were back on the road half an hour later.
When we pulled into the garage at Trilogy, I followed Carson to the back where he must have used a remote in his truck to open a roll-up door that upon first inspection, looked like a storage area.
He drove his truck in and I followed him, the door rolling down behind me. A light blinked on and I got out and looked around at the large, mostly empty area containing two other black SUV's, and now Carson's truck and Dylan's SUV.
Carson got out of his truck and I walked over to him. "What is this?" I asked.
"Just a more private place for us to park so no one can get in and run our license plates. Dylan doesn't usually park in here. His background wouldn't look interesting to anyone. But the rest of us do, and we keep a few extra vehicles here."
I nodded, the fact that Carson was involved in a bona fide secret operation suddenly very real.
We walked through a door and up a back staircase that opened into a hallway. Carson grabbed my hand as we rounded the corner and waited for an elevator.
When we stepped on, Carson pulled me to him and kissed me, hard and wet. He broke away and smiled down at me as I swayed on my feet.
"God, I love elevators," he said, and winked.
I laughed as the doors opened.
I followed Carson through lavish hallways to what looked like an office door. He knocked and opened it before getting any response.
He took my hand and we both stepped inside.
Three men turned their heads toward us. I didn't know the first man, tall and muscled, with black hair, wearing a deep frown on his face.
I recognized Dylan although he looked slightly more rumpled than a couple days before, and like he had been running his hand repeatedly through his messy, blonde hair.
I also recognized Josh Garner from his mug shot. I had thought he was a good-looking guy when I first looked at the picture, but it didn't do him justice. He was… well, he was no Carson Stinger, but he was easy on the eyes, that was for sure. He had dark brown, slightly spiky hair, a strong jaw and, yup, dimples. I knew this because he was walking toward us smiling.
He bumped Carson and Carson took a step to the side at the impact, and then Josh stepped in, holding out his hand to me. "Hi, I'm Josh," he said, smiling what I was sure was his best panty-melting smile. I couldn't help but laugh.
Carson stepped back next to me and pulled me to him before I could reach out for Josh's hand. "Yeah, fucker, this is Grace Hamilton, the prosecutor on your case. She was on board to help you, but you just reminded me why it might be a better idea to let her do her job well."
Josh laughed, dropping his hand. "Down boy. I was just making the lady's acquaintance." He winked at me. "Also, I think it's in my best interest to get on her good side."
"She's on my good side, and that's the best you should hope for," Carson said, giving Josh a searing look and moving us past him to the other guys. But I smiled at Josh as we walked by.
"Grace, you met Dylan," Carson said, gesturing his head to where Dylan was standing and then turning to the taller man, "This is Leland McManus. He owns Trilogy."
"Hi, Leland. Nice to meet you," I said and he nodded and smiled back, saying, "It's nice to meet you too." He had the most piercing blue eyes I'd ever seen. I suddenly realized that I had seen him before. He was the man I had run past that day in Carson's office. That had been less than two weeks ago and yet it felt like a lifetime.
I turned to Dylan. "Hi, Dylan. Thanks for letting me use your SUV." I grinned.
He looked between me and Carson and his face broke into a big smile too. "No problem. I can see it worked out well."
"Yeah, you could say that," I said, smiling up at Carson. He smiled back, his eyes soft.
"Okay, lovebirds, we all get the picture. There wasn't a lot of skiing going on in Snowbird. Let's get down to business here," Josh said, joining us and rolling his eyes as he looked around.
Dylan coughed and Leland stifled a laugh. Carson furrowed his brow at Josh, but one side of his mouth quirked up.
A cell phone rang and Leland pulled it out of his pocket, answering, "Hello?"
He looked over at Josh and nodded. "Okay, he's on his way down."
He hung up the phone and looked at Josh. "Your services are required, Doc," he said.
Josh nodded. "Okay. Anyone want to assist me here?"
Leland held up his hands. "I've got a hotel to run."
Dylan held up his hands. "I've got computer programs running that need monitoring…"
Josh rolled his eyes again. "Grace?"
"I don't mind helping," I said, looking at Carson.
"No way you're going down there with him alone," Carson said, narrowing his eyes at Josh.
"I'm going down there to deliver a baby, Carson. I'll be kinda busy."
"You're never too busy to be inappropriate," Carson returned.
Josh pretended to think about that. "True," he finally grinned, looking proud.
"Uh, guys, it sounded kind of serious down there," Leland interrupted.
We hurried out of Leland's office and Carson took my hand as we all three rushed to the elevator. Josh put a key in and then pressed forty-five and we rode down a couple floors.
There was a guard just outside the elevator and he nodded at us when he saw Josh and Carson. "Sounds pretty intense in there," the guard offered.
"Intense situations are our specialty," Josh said, raising his eyebrows. The guard laughed.
We walked down a hallway and heard yelling just beyond a door to the right.
Josh took out a key and opened the door and we all three took in the scene in front of us.
Carson
I had been in this room a hundred times over the last couple months but I tried to imagine what Grace was thinking now as I took in Maria lying on her side on the bed, hugging a pillow for dear life, and moaning loudly. Yoselin was putting a wet cloth on her forehead and Gisella sitting on the side of the bed rubbing her lower back.
The only other girls in the room were Deisy and Vanessa, both twelve. They were sitting huddled on the couch, watching a show on television, their eyes darting to Maria every few minutes. I looked over at Grace and motioned my head toward them. They were obviously scared.