Page 85 of Blame It on Rio

Casey’s heart was in her throat but she had to laugh.

But Rio still wasn’t done. “I’m in,” he said. “I’m all in. If this—” he gestured around them “—is you giving me a second chance, and I really hope it is, I’m grabbing it with both hands, and never letting go.”

Casey moved to the floor, just on the other side of the coffee table from Rio, reaching her hands across for him. He immediately intertwined their fingers.

“Hell, yes,” she whispered, because Rio’s WWLD approach worked for her, too.

Rio leaned across the table and kissed her.

And then picked her up and carried her to bed.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Monday

The Del was great.

The food was insane.

The view was awesome. Rio knew this strip of the beach rather intimately. It was where rock portage—an unforgettable part of BUD/S—had taken place, where the SEALs still regularly did PT and trained. But seeing it from this window, with this incredible woman at his side—standing back quite a bit, because Ella was nothing if not highly skilled and professional—was unbelievable.

Spending time locked in with Casey was amazing.

But the news that the FBI task force, with help from the SDPD, had successfully raided Frank Miller’s syndicate was fucking epic.

Jon’s recording of the man confessing to a recent murder was icing on the DOJ’s cake.

Apparently, the FBI had had Miller in their crosshairs for quite some time. The raid had been been in the planning stages for months.

When Jon showed up, knocking on law enforcement’s door, seemingly eager to provide evidence against the drug kingpin, the agents in charge of the operation assumed he was being sent in as a mole or a spy, to try to find out as much as possible about the case against Miller. Which was why they’d told him precisely nothing. And badasses that they were, they'd stayed on schedule, taking Miller out just a few hours after he’d left the Infinity Lounge.

According to Miller’s sole henchmen who’d survived the raid—Miller and his brother and most of his top people died in the firefight just outside of Miller’s compound in Laguna Beach—Miller had suspected that the hammer was about to fall, and was getting more and more frantic. He’d suspected Jon—who’d dropped off the face of the earth for two months—was somehow involved.

He was, of course, dead wrong.

And now he was dead, and it was over. Almost over. They were just waiting for word from Ella, who was in touch with the FBI team leader. As soon as they got the official thumbs-up, they could leave their lockdown, leave the hotel.

Return to reality. Which was pretty damn sweet these days.

The irony, as Casey had pointed out, was that if Jon had spent just a few weeks more in rehab, he would’ve emerged into a world in which Miller and his syndicate were already gone. No more debt, no more threat.

And that might’ve been true, but the way it all went down, Jon got to do the right thing. Yeah, it had put them in danger, but Casey’s brother was a better man for it.

Not good enough for Dave, though, thanks very much.

Dave was still in London, with Luc. Rio took that as the very, very good sign that it was.

“And... it’s officially over,” Casey announced after pulling her phone from her pocket. “Ella just texted with the all-clear.” She looked up at Rio, a gleam in her eye. “What do you want to do first? A walk on the beach? A drink at the bar? A live-stream explaining why you proposed marriage to my brother...?”

“You mean, instead of to the person I was really proposing to, AKA you...?” Rio said because life was short and WWLD. What if it works was his new battle cry.

If Casey was surprised, she didn’t show it. She laughed, just a little, but she didn’t look away. She just held his gaze as if daring him.

So... “Marry me...?” Rio said.

And now Casey full-on laughed. “Say it,” she said, after she composed herself. “I need you to say it.”

“Too soon...?” Rio held his breath.

“No,” she told him. “And yes.”

Rio and Casey, and Luc and Dave followed a long-standing Rosetti family tradition and had a double wedding.

They all lived very, very happily ever after.