“So what do you say, guys? Will you please continue to be my security team?”
Rick chuckled, and my heart leaped with joy as he nodded. “Yeah. I’m in.”
“I’m in too,” Parker assured me.
All eyes turned to Seth, who pursed his lips for a long time before snorting and shaking his head. “Shit,” he muttered, but at the same time gave my hand a squeeze. “My big sister’s going to be pissed at me.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I’m going to have to tell her that I’m missing her wedding to stick with the tour. I told her I was going to be there in my old Marine blues. Guess I’ll come up with something.”
“No… no, you can be there,” I assured him quickly. “I’ll pay for you to fly first class if need be. I mean, it’ll just be a day or two, right?”
“Something like that,” Seth said, laughing softly. “Okay, I’m in. What do we tell the team downstairs?”
“We tell them the truth,” Rick said.
My head snapped in his direction. “Truth? What do you mean, truth?”
The guys looked at each other with what I could swear were guilty expressions.
“What? What’s going on?”
Parker looked down, shuffling his feet. “Well, Lacey, the alarm you heard? It wasn’t… real.”
“Huh?”
Seth chimed in. “Yeah… it was a set up.”
A set up? I had no idea what that meant.
“We… felt you needed to be taught a lesson,” Rick said. “So, we taught you one. There never was a break in or any other breach of security.”
What? What?
“That… that is a dick move,” I snapped. “You just wanted to get me in my bedroom so you all could teach me a lesson? Get into my pants?”
Rick nodded. “More or less. You were getting unbearable. No one could stand to be around you.”
The whole fucking thing was fake? Like a false alarm?
For a moment, anger surged through my veins, and the old Lacey was in the neighborhood, ready to dress everyone down for simply breathing.
But then, I understood. The guys had wanted to make a point. Which they had. Very successfully.
As if it was all no big deal, Rick turned to Seth and Parker. “You guys go home, grab some sleep. I’ll watch Lacey… professionally, for the rest of the night.”
“Cool,” Seth said, getting off his stool and giving me a kiss on the cheek. “G’nite, Lacey.”
Parker kissed my neck, sending a little thrill through me. “Goodnight.”
After they left, my legs trembled, and Rick scooped me into his arms. “Door’s on auto lock,” he explained as he carried me back to the couch. “I’d put you in bed, but… well, we left some puddles. I’ll clean that up while you sleep.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, smiling as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “How long did you want to do that before tonight, Rick? You know, kiss me? And stuff?”
“A while,” he said, smiling.
He laid me out on the couch, disappearing but returning a minute later with a clean throw blanket from the closet. “Here,” he said, tucking me in. “Just in case you get cold.”