Page 51 of Sizzling Nights

Theresa sighed. "Yes, that would be great. Thank you."

Mitch slowly ushered her out as she continued dabbing at her dress. Her chest started to feel sticky, whatever Kelsey had in her drink was sugary.Out in the hallway, her heart pounded. Her breathing was slightly unsteady.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue," she said. "That almost felt like she did it on purpose. The way she spun around and spilled that drink, it was almost like she tossed it."

"Yeah, Gabby told me she was giving you the third degree, working way too hard to get you out of the room."

"It was so weird. And I didn’t know her dad owned a paper manufacturing company."

Mitch responded. "He doesn’t. At least, not this Kelsey’s dad. Luckily, I’m familiar with the employees at the Sandbar, and I had Gabby do a quick check on her. She was lying."

Theresa's stomach dropped. "Oh my God. Kelsey..."

Marco rushed up to them."There you are! What happened?"

Theresa quickly explained everything.Marco put his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes as he softly said, "It’s okay, honey. It’s okay. Let’s just finish our job and get back to the cabin, where we're safe."

33

Marco kissed Theresa’s lips softly.“You good?”

She nodded. “I’m good. But now I’m pissed. I don’t want to leave yet, not until we figure this all out. For one thing, if Kelsey is dirty, I don’t want her working at the Sandbar. I don’t want her getting Margo and Jace in trouble. I don’t want her profiting from being dirty.”

Marco huffed out a breath. “I know. I get what you mean. We can take a different approach, just tell Jace and Margo that we have suspicions.”

“I don’t want to do that. I want to know what those suspicions are. I want to know why she’s here. We know she lied. She doesn’t have a father who owns a paper packaging company.”

“Okay, so what’s your plan?”

“I’m going to get her attention. As soon as I see that she notices me, I’ll walk out and head to the restroom. You’re welcome to come and stand nearby and make sure everything is okay. If it looks like she’s trying to lure me into something, you’ll all be there. But I want to know what she’s up to.”

Marco’s stomach twisted. He knew they had a job to do, and he willingly accepted their role in it. But if Kelsey was dirty, if she was working for the Celtics or someone associated with them, they could have more manpower out there than they realized.

“Mitch, what do you think?” Marco asked.

Mitch shook his head. “You know, I think it could be a setup. But as long as we’re prepared and ready, we can keep Theresa safe. And Theresa, no heroics. Do you understand? Just do what we talked about. Let Marco and I handle the rest.”

He watched her throat constrict as she swallowed. Her beautiful brown eyes locked onto his.

“I won’t do anything heroic. I just want to flush her out.”

“Okay.”

Marco held her gaze a moment longer, then leaned in and kissed her lips softly.

“Okay.”

Mitch clapped his hands together. “All right, give me a minute. I’m going to text some local PD friends and have them stay close by. For now, why don’t you two head back to the ballroom and walk around? Get Kelsey’s attention. I’ll position myself in the hallway near the women’s restroom and act like I’m taking an important business call. Most people here will understand that.”

“Sounds good,” Marco agreed.

He held out his arm, and Theresa locked hers with his as they entered the ballroom.They sauntered around the edge of the room, scanning for Kelsey. It didn’t take long.

“There she is,” Theresa murmured.

Marco followed her line of vision and spotted Kelsey deep in conversation with two men he didn’t recognize. Both wore tuxedos, and their discussion looked intense. Kelsey seemed almost… scared.

They moved closer, and just as they neared, Kelsey’s eyes met his. Then she flicked her gaze to Theresa.

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