Stinger (A Sign of Love Novel)

"And," I continued, "I think you will too."

"Well, if he's someone who's got your love, Gracie, I gotta figure he's okay. What happened to the one we went to dinner with in Vegas? I forget his name now."

I laughed, knowing very well he didn't forget Alex's name. "We were just better off as friends."

"Well, better you realize that before the wedding, than after, so good job there." He paused. "I love you, Gracie."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "I love you too. Merry Christmas. Did you get the package I shipped?"

"Yup. Just about to rip into it. You'll have to get your presents at Easter."

I laughed. "Okay."

"Okay, Gracie. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Dad."

I hung up, sniffling and smiling at the same time. Then I texted Julia and Audrey a group text: Merry Christmas! Miss you! Love you! Group call ASAP next week! Xxoo I turned off my phone and smiled over at Carson, scooting over and snuggling into his side. He hugged me to him.

"Everything good?" he asked quietly.

I smiled up at him. "Yeah, everything's good."

He grinned down at me and just as he was lowering his lips to mine, his phone rang.

Carson's brows snapped down and he answered it as I sat up and moved to my side of the cab.

"Hello?" he answered.

He listened for a couple seconds.

"Okay," he said, strain suddenly in his voice. "We're leaving now."

He then turned to me, worry in his expression.

"We need to get back and take a quick shower and pack. There's a situation back at the hotel. We've gotta go."

**********

Carson had given me a quick run-down of what was going on as we showered very quickly and packed up the cabin.

Apparently, Dylan thought he was close to pin-pointing the location of the guy who had set Josh up, and they needed all the guys close-by, just in case.

There was also a situation going on on the forty-fifth floor with one of the women. She was pregnant and although she didn't know her exact dates, the doctor who had originally examined her thought she was about eight and a half months along. They all thought they could get her home before she had her baby, but she had gone into labor that morning. Likely, she was further along than they thought.

They had two doctors on the payroll that performed their services under the table, but both of them were out of town for Christmas. They would bring her to the hospital if necessary, but questions might arise there. They thought a better option would be to bring Josh in, since he had been a corpsman and was plenty qualified to deliver a baby.

We had to drive back to Vegas separately since we had two vehicles between us. That kind of sucked since I really wanted to use the time to discuss Josh's situation in more detail with Carson. Instead, I used the time to try to get things straight in my mind about the details of my own case against Josh, and whether there were any loose threads that could potentially be used to exonerate him. I went over each piece, but I couldn't come up with anything. Unfortunately, the evidence against him was overwhelming, and included plenty of DNA. Juries loved DNA–they'd come back with a guilty verdict in ten minutes. The more I thought about it, the more depressed I got. The only thing I could do was bungle the case so badly that Josh got off on a technicality. Of course, that would be career suicide. But I couldn't let an innocent man spend his life in prison. I groaned out loud. It felt like an impossible situation.

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."