Page 36 of Temptation and Treachery
“I was pretty sure you’d be all right. Even figured one of you might need to be carried out.” The corner of her lips went up. “I’m just glad it was you.”
Celeste scoffed. “Yeah, like anyone could bring down Rio.”
Kari’s smile faded. “Don’t be so sure. You have a lot more going for you than you think.” Celeste frowned. “Rio’s a hard-ass. Always has been. We’ve all had to prove ourselves in one way or another before we got an inch of respect.” Kari exhaled, shifting to face her. “When I first started here he was all medic this and medic that. He wasn’t exactly thrilled to have a woman onsite.” She grimaced. “And it wasn’t until over a year later, when I made a suicide run to get to one of the guys, that I graduated to Parker.” She grinned. “But yesterday, when he knocked the wind out of you, he got the shit scared out of him, and he finally used my name. Oh.” She held a hand to her heart. “And he said please. You have no idea how sweet that sounded.”
Celeste didn’t know what to think, not knowing Rio well enough to judge his reaction.
“You’ve knocked him off his stone throne.” She scoffed. “Did you see his face when we ran him out of the infirmary.” Kari dissolved into laughter, making Celeste smile. “I’ve never seen him looking lost. It’s the total opposite of his usual self, especially since he got back.”
Her chest tightened. “What do you mean?”
Kari sobered, and it seemed like she was choosing her words instead of blurting out what was in her head at the moment. “I get that whatever happened between you didn’t end well. He came back different.” She nodded, as if she’d agreed with her description. “Like he needed to do penance or something. Whatever he’s working through personally, he’s almost run the team into the ground. I’ve treated more guys for sprains, blisters, and heat exhaustion these past weeks than I did the entire rest of the year combined.”
Celeste winced. Had she caused that? “I didn’t expect…” She hadn’t thought he’d be affected. Wouldn’t have felt the same loss and desperation she did after leaving. If she’d known, would she have left with Leonard and the men she thought worked for her father?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have pictured him flipping out over a woman. No offense,” she added quickly. Then she tilted her head to one side. “But you’re different. You look like you belong here,” she said with a thoughtful note. “In his bed.”
Celeste gave a jerky shrug, pulling her knees up to her chest, tightening her hold around them. The heat of embarrassment spread across her face. Vix nodded, agreeing with Kari as she settled at the foot of the bed. So maybe this was her insecurity rearing it’s ugly head. That’s usually when Vix came to her rescue.
“Trust me.” Kari offered a thoughtful expression. “I’ve known these guys long enough to know when something’s up.” Kari was perceptive enough to pick up on her thoughts. She wrinkled her nose, making a face. “Noooo, nothing like that. Not with anyone here.”
Vix gave a sidelong glance. “I won’t lie; I wondered,” Celeste admitted. “He treats you different.”
“Well, I don’t put up with his shit.” She tilted her head, raising her brows. “But I think it’s the big three. You don’t screw with the guy that signs your check, the one that feeds you, or the one that keeps you alive.”
Celeste loosened the death grip around her knees.
“Can you imagine? Oh, medic,” Kari deepened her voice. “Your stitches, they’re so straight. They drive me wild.” Both chuckled. “Besides, he wouldn’t let me near his cave. I’m sure he’d be worried I’d use his toothbrush to scrub the toilet while he slept.”
“Kari. You’re horrible.” Celeste said in mock outrage.
“Guys like the ones that thrive in this life aren’t for me. I’m a small-town girl who likes the strong, silent type. Give me a cowboy and a little place in the middle of nowhere.”
“So what are you doing here?”
Her eyes clouded. “We’re all out here for our own reasons. Some want to change their lives, some want to save it. Others want to forget it all.”
“Will you leave this place?”
“Eventually.” Kari’s lips pulled into a smile, but the rest of her features didn’t follow suit. “But for now, we need to get you and your man on the same page.”
“Ugh. This is an impossible situation.” She pushed her hair back over her shoulder. “He’s an ICE agent, and you know what my father does.” Even now, having everything laid out for her on a timeline, she still had trouble with Oz’s life.
Kari grinned. “Well, things could be worse. You could be the drug lord.” She gave a narrow-eyed glare. “You aren’t secretly a kingpin, are you?”
Celeste rolled her bottom lip, feeling the corners tilt upward. “No.” She shook her head again. “My father’s made sure I’m not involved in his life. At all.”
“I get you, girl.” Kari shrugged. “You can’t choose your family.”
You certainly can’t. Celeste picked at a snag in the bedspread, pulling the material to smooth out the thread. If she had a choice, would she choose someone other than Victor Ayala and his beauty-queen girlfriend as her parents? Especially knowing her mother, and her own birth had changed her brother’s life.
“Well, I better get going. You need to scrub and be ready to go.” She got up, heading toward the door. “Swing by once you’re done. We’ll have breakfast together before the briefing.”
It wasn’t until Kari turned the knob that she realized she wasn’t going to have an escort.
“Hey,” Kari called from the doorway. “Just remember, he’s a guy, so you kinda have to lower the bar sometimes.” She scrunched her nose, nodding. “But he’s one of the good ones.”
Celeste nodded thoughtfully. One of the good ones… That was the very reason she’d never fit in his life.
