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Surveillance videos of the backstage area were suspiciously missing for that night. The venue supposedly uploaded all videos to a secure cloud server, but when they went to pull the data there was nothing. The files were deleted. Nothing “deleted” is ever truly gone, though, and Ryker’s most trusted tech guy was working on recovering the video footage ASAP.
Ryker needed that final piece of evidence to confirm his suspicions, then he could remove Rosé from the equation. He hoped the info would come in soon so this could all be done before they went back on tour. For now, the team was watching their two suspects until they got official confirmation.
Ryker shifted the truck to park after they pulled into the parking lot of the small town Walmart.
“There really are Walmarts everywhere,” Jade said.
Ryker laughed. “There really are. There’s a Dollar General, a grocery store, and some smaller mom ‘n pop shops nearby, but Walmart is definitely the ‘go-to’ shopping spot around here.”
“This is a really cute little town. Great find, Ry.”
“Thanks. I actually grew up a couple of hours from here. My family used to come out to the lake fishing every year. The cabin was a rental vacation home for us, so it was nice to buy the place and fix it up when it went up for sale. The town happened to come with it.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at her. “I’m glad you like it here.”
“I really do. Does your family still live nearby?”
“My parents live about two hours from here. They’re actually closer to the airport.”
“Maybe we can stop by on the way back. I’d love to meet them.” She sucked in a deep breath and looked at him with wide eyes. “Oh, wait. Sorry, I’m jumping too far too fast, aren’t I?”
Ryker chuckled and pulled her hand to him so he could kiss her knuckles.
“We’re dating and practically engaged, baby. There are wedding plans in the works. You can meet my family anytime you want. They’re going to love you as much as I do.”
He grinned and teasingly bit her knuckle when her eyes whipped to his in disbelief.
“Did you say what I think you said?”
“What do you think I said?” he asked.
“Well, for one, I think you roundabout told me your mom will want to marry me as much as you do.”
He laughed. “She might. You are really hot. If any woman could tempt her, it would probably be you.”
“Ryker! Not funny.” She glared and smacked him.
“Okay, fine. Seriously. I’m saying my family is going to love you because I love you.” He kissed her inner wrist. “I love you, Jade.”
The most beautiful smile crossed her face. “I love you too, Ry.”
He grinned. “I know. You talk in your sleep.”
“I do not! But what’s that got to do with anything?”
“You’ve confessed your love to me every night since we watched the sunset by the lake.”
“What? No way!”
“Yes way. And I’m going on the record right now to say that you may have said it first in your sleep, but I said it first when we were conscious, so my ‘I love you’ counts as being first.”
She glared. “Whatever. If this was a competition, my sleep talk would definitely count as first because my love is so strong that I talk about it while I’m sleeping. But it’s not a competition.”
He quirked his eyebrow. “Sweetness, everything is a competition with you. Years from now, you’ll be retelling our love story to our grandkids and when it comes to the part about who said ‘I love you’ first, you will try to take credit. I’m setting the record straight right now. It was me.” He grinned and leaned across the middle console to kiss her before she could argue.
He wove his fingers through her hair, deepened the kiss, and kept it going until he felt her body relax and the argument leave her.
He pulled back and stroked her cheek with his fingertips. He said, “No matter what crazy stories you make up to tell our future spawns, I’ll still love you. You’ve got me. I’m yours, Jade.”
“My goal in life is to be the crazy old lady the neighbors always look at and say ‘I wonder what she’s up to now...’ I’m telling you up front. Life with me will never be boring. Are you cool with that?”
