Page 13 of Casey's Hero

Jacob frowned.

“What?” Hawk held up his hand. “Kalea said I couldn’t touch. She didn’t say anything about looking.”

Casey shook her head and marched as best she could in the platform heels to her SUV. She removed the shoes before climbing in behind the steering wheel. No use risking a wreck because she wasn’t wearing the proper foot gear. Thankfully, she’d stored all her clothes in the trunk and wouldn’t have to return to the bar to get anything. She was afraid that if she left the two men alone, they’d leave without her. She wanted to make absolutely sure the groom made it to his hotel room before she let him out of sight. Her promise to the bride, her best friend, hinged on her making this wedding perfect.

Her business depended on it. Nothing like a little pressure to make her night more complicated. She resisted the urge to pluck the string out of her butt crack and slid into the driver’s seat of the SUV.

Jacob held the door for the groom to drop into the back seat. Then he shut the door and climbed into the passenger seat beside Casey.

She would rather have had him sit with the groom in the back seat. Already, she’d been too close to this man too often that evening. Every time they touched, she felt tingly, like an electric current was coursing through her veins. The more distance between them, the better she could concentrate on what needed to be done to pull off this short-fused wedding.

Yes, distance between her and Jacob was what she needed.

As soon as she saw Hawk to his door, she’d skedaddle back to her own apartment and get a restful night’s sleep. Thankfully, all the preparations were scheduled or done. All she had left to dowas a rehearsal and to make sure the bride and groom arrived at the church on time on Saturday.

She had this wedding in the bag.

What could go wrong?

Jacob satin the passenger seat, wanting to call Casey out on her disguise. He bit down hard on his tongue to keep from doing it in front of Hawk. Kalea had hired Casey to plan her wedding. Did she know Casey was taking on more than wedding planning? Did she know her wedding-planner best friend moonlighted as a stripper?

“You have a ten sticking out of your…” Jacob pointed to her crotch and then sat back, his gaze on the windshield in front of him.

Casey glanced down at the juncture of her thighs, ripped the bill from beneath the shorts and looked like she would fling it at Jacob. At the last second, she retracted her hand and stuffed the bill in the cupholder. She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main drag in front of the Big Wave and headed in the direction of their hotel.

“Don’t you want to know where we’re staying?” Hawk asked from the back seat.

Casey glanced into the rearview mirror. “I know.”

“Good, because I’ve already forgotten,” Hawk said.

Jacob shot a glance over his shoulder.

Hawk leaned back his head and closed his eyes.

Jacob let go of the breath he’d been holding. As long as Casey got them to the hotel all right, the rest of the night should be a slam dunk.

A black cat darted out into the road.

Casey slammed on her brakes in time to spare the cat’s life but not in time to keep it from crossing in front of them.

She shot a look in his direction. “You’re not one of those people who believes in bad luck, are you?”

Jacob frowned. “No.”

“Good.” She pressed her bare foot down on the accelerator, and the SUV lurched forward.

Though he’d said he didn’t believe in bad luck, he’d been in operations that had gone south for no apparent reason. No matter how much they’d planned and trained, nothing seemed to go right. But a black cat crossing his path? He shook his head. Nonsense. At the same time, a cold chill rippled down his spine. It was just a cat.

A black cat.

The ride to the hotel went smoothly from that point. When they arrived, Jacob got out, opened the back door and woke Hawk, who’d tipped over in the back seat and was snoring louder than a freight train. “Kalea has no idea what she’s getting into,” he murmured.

Hawk sat up and rubbed his hand over his face. “Is Kalea here?”

“No, she’s in her room getting her beauty sleep for your wedding on Saturday,” Casey said, hopping on one foot as she pushed her feet into her high-heeled platform shoes. “She has her spa day tomorrow. Come on. Let’s get you to bed so you can sleep it off.”

“I didn’t drink that much,” Hawk said.

---