Carter stared up at the ceiling and would give anything to have Aniyah run in and shoot him in the toe. “We’ll be right outside,” his mother said, kissing his cheek before they headed out. Cy did not move a muscle.
“Wet cat?” Cy asked leaning forward so his face was right in front of Carter’s. Only . . . was he smiling? It was hard to tell because Cy rarely smiled fully, but his lips were twitching as they slanted in an upward direction.
“I’m sure I can’t be the only one to tell you that,” Carter said, relaxing a bit. His father-in-law wasn’t going to kill him, yet.
“I was going for jaguar.”
Carter shrugged. “It was more Hello Kitty.”
Cy smiled fully then. “You’re lucky I like you. And you saved my daughter’s life. But then if you touch my daughter . . .”
“Psst,” Carter said as Cy leaned in closer. “We’re going to have sex. And I bet anything Matt and Riley are having tons of sex since they’re trying to have kids. You’ll live. I’ll probably live. Matt might not. He kinda freaked with that twin thing. Of course, if you want us to not have sex, I guess you could give up having sex too. You know, to set the example.”
“But I’ve got four weeks.” Cy smirked before standing up. “Doctor’s orders.”
Reagan looked at them both wondering what they’d been whispering about. Cy held out his hand then and Carter shook it.
“Feel better, my badass son-in-law. I’ll be right outside if either of you need anything.”
* * *
Cy walked out the door with a smile on his face. They’d all been wrong about Carter, and he’d be the first to admit to it. No one except his family talked to him like that. Not even Matt. Cy guessed Carter was going to rub off on Matt and soon he’d have two smartass sons-in-law.
“What are you smiling about?” Gemma asked as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“How lucky we are. We have one hell of a family.”
“You think so now? You didn’t think so a couple days ago,” Will challenged.
Cy grimaced. “I’m sorry, Will. And to you too, Kenna. Carter’s a great man. I got a little carried away by the lying and might have overreacted a little. Carter and I have already worked things out. I’m proud to call him my son, with your permission.”
Will held out his hand and Cy immediately shook it. “I think we can say we’re family now.”
“You always have been,” Cy told him as he leaned forward and kissed Kenna’s cheek. “Now, we have a second wedding and a reception to plan. My baby girl needs to have a white-dress moment. How’s three months from now so Carter can walk her up the aisle?”
29
Reagan couldn’t stop kissing her husband. He groaned as he pulled her to his chest and placed his chin on top of her head. “Stop or I’ll never make it the four weeks.”
Reagan laughed and looked back at him. He traced the small bandage on her cheek and frowned. “It’s okay. It’s just a cut. I got an X-ray and there’s no fracture,” she told him to ease his worry.
“Who shot Mick and me?”
“I don’t know yet. Nash and Ryan stayed at the scene. I’m sure someone knows something by now, but I haven’t wanted to leave your side since you got out of surgery.”
Carter’s lips thinned, and he tightened his grip on her hand. “I’m so sorry. I brought all this on you. Suzanne was my friend, and I recommended you to fly Miss Mambo.”
Reagan felt her heart constrict. “Oh, Carter. It wasn’t your fault. It was Mick’s fault. I have to call Diego’s family still. It’ll be hard, but I have no doubt whose fault it was. It was Mick’s and Mick’s alone.”
Reagan watched Carter nod as he absently stroked her hand. “I’ll help in any way I can.” And she knew that he would.
Carter traced her engagement ring as they sat quietly for a moment reflecting on the loss of the past day. “Are we really married?”
“I think so,” Reagan said with a small laugh.
“We better do it again. I want to make sure you’re mine forever, but this will always be our anniversary. Plus, at the next wedding, I’ll finally get my wedding night.”
“Excuse me, but you are not going in there,” Reagan heard the nurse call out. The door was pulled open, but then it suddenly slammed again as she and Carter heard Cy and Will’s raised voices.
“What’s going on?” Carter asked, pulling Reagan closer as if he needed to protect her again.
“I don’t know, but my dad is growling again. This time it sounds like a rabid dog, so he’s really pissed.”
Suddenly the door was flung open and Reagan looked around for a weapon. A man in a charcoal gray suit ran inside before two hands grabbed his shoulders and yanked him back.
“You are not speaking to my daughter right now,” she heard her father say a second before the man was pulled back out the door.
“FBI and you can’t do anything to stop me,” the man said, raising his voice.
“Want to bet?” Will was heard asking a second before the man shoved his way back into the room with the help of two men who had FBI written all over their clothes. They were wearing bulletproof vests with FBI across the front and windbreakers with FBI across the back. One even had an FBI baseball cap on.
Reagan stood, blocking them from her husband. “What is the meaning of all this? Can’t you see my husband is recovering from a life-threatening injury?”
“Martin Spizer,” he said, flashing an FBI badge. “And I’m in charge of this criminal investigation. We’re here to ask you questions about the suspicious deaths of Suzanne Bristol, Diego Castillo, Mick Connors, and Sam Basques. I’m also here to ask you questions about the purposeful crash of your Keeneston Air flight.” Martin said as one of the FBI agents began to read them their rights.
Reagan saw red. Apparently everyone else did too. “Sam Basques?” Carter asked as Deputy Luke Tanner and her cousin Ryan shoved their way into the room. They had gotten past the Rose sisters, her family, and Aniyah who looked dangerously close to pulling a gun from her purse.
“He was the man murdered at the base of the mountain,” the younger man in the FBI get-up told them before identifying himself as Agent Morrison. “Now, you need to clear the room.”
Aniyah snorted and reached into her purse. Miss Lily disappeared and a second later come back into the room with a mop. Ryan appeared close to losing control. His jaw was clenched so tightly the muscle ticked in spasm.
“I already told you that was a justifiable shooting. Sam Basques shot Mick Connors, who was in police custody, and then fired on Reagan and Carter,” Ryan ground out.
“He was hit with several different bullet types, Agent Parker. Or should I say, agent for now,” Morrison snapped back.
“Don’t mind him,” DeAndre said, putting a steadying hand on Aniyah’s arm, preventing her from pulling out the gun she likely had stashed inside her purse. “This is the horrible trio of undisciplined agents. That’s why they travel in a pack. Spizer here slept with a witness. Morrison beat up an innocent suspect and was put on suspension for three months, and Pryor here was drunk on duty.”
“How do you—?” Spizer sputtered in anger.
“We have given our formal statements,” Luke said, stepping in. “Furthermore, we have told you, along with the witness I provided you, that Mick Connors sabotaged the plane with the express intent of killing Suzanne Bristol and the horse, Miss Mambo, for insurance payouts.”
“We can’t take the word of some hick cop,” Morrison snorted.
“You need to come with me, right now. I want a drug test and I need to question you,” Spizer ordered.
Reagan recoiled as Spizer reached for her. Carter struggled to sit up as her father leapt in between Spizer and her.
“No,” Cy said in a deadly tight voice.
Ryan was speaking rapidly into the phone, trying to get to get in touch with the Director of the FBI Inspection Division.
“Arrest him,” Spizer ordered as Morrison and Pryor reached for her father. “He impeded our investigation by going after Miss Davies and Mr. Ashton in the first place. In fact, arrest them all.”