“Being your friend has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life,” Parker replied. “You were there for me when I was trying to figure out what to do after being a police officer. You didn’t judge. You encouraged me to examine the feelings I had for Riley. You are the best friend a person could ever have.”
“As your best friend, I will give you another piece of cake.” Avery cut another slab of the cake. “And some advice. Follow your heart.”
There was only one person in the world who made her feel safe and who loved her just the way she was.
Parker sighed. “If I did, it would lead me to Riley. He’s the one.”
“Doesn’t it feel good to say it out loud?”
“No. Now I feel like something’s going to come along and mess it up.”
“Not going to happen.” Avery sipped her wine.
It felt good saying it. She hoped she and Riley would get to talk when they were on the island. She wanted Riley to know that she was invested in the relationship and looked forward to it blossoming even more. The tropical backdrop would be the perfect place to talk about their future.
Chapter Ten
Parker squirmed in her seat trying to get comfortable. She and Riley may have been in the Premier Club, the restaurant for elite travelers with the airline, but their chairs were like fold-up chairs compared to the supple leather of the lounge at the private airport the family used. They had another hour before they were to board the plane for the Ambrosian Islands, and she was going stir crazy. It had been eons since she’d flown commercial; getting a private plane ready for you at will was definitely more appealing.
“What’s up with you?” Riley looked up from his cell phone.
“I am going to say something and sound like a total elitist, but this commercial flying is for the birds. Those coach seats weren’t meant for tall people like us.”
He put his arm around her shoulders. “Technically, the birds wouldn’t need a commercial plane with that God-given ability to fly with their wings.”
“Ha ha.” She put her head on his shoulder.
He glanced at his cell phone again. “Aubrey says hello and she wishes you all the luck in the world and that she’ll text you later.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet of her. How’s she doing with the hiking?”
“She said she’s having fun, but she’d kill for a five-star hotel, room service, and a spa.”
“Good.” She laughed. “We warned her, but I guess you do crazy things when you’re in love.”
“I guess so.”
“I’m proud of you for being supportive of her. I know it took a while, but it was the right thing to do. You gave him the obligatory big brother ‘I’ll kick your ass if you break her heart’ speech. I think he heard you loud and clear.”
“He’d better.”
“And I threw in a little speech of my own.”
“Oh yeah? What did you say?”
“I said if you break Aubrey’s heart, you break Riley’s too, and that would make me very angry.”
“You’re always looking out for me.”
“Yes. I saved you too. You were becoming an overbearing combo of J.J., Seth, Deke, and Solomon all rolled into one protective monster.”
“I’m honored,” he mused.
“You shouldn’t be.”
“Thank you for reeling me in.” He looked over at the complimentary buffet table. “Do you want any orange juice or maybe a scone?”
“No. I pigged out on those waffles. I hope they don’t expect any competing today. I couldn’t jump over a pebble right now.” She rubbed her tummy.
“I told you stress eating doesn’t solve anything.”
“You ate twice as many waffles as I did,” she grumbled. “Curse your high metabolism. I can’t wait to get some sun and frolic on the beach. I want you to get some sun too.”
He raised an eyebrow. “First off, did you just say frolic?”
“I did, and I’m not taking it back.”
“Second, we’re supposed to be in investigative mode.”
“Fine.” She shrugged. “I’ll just have to take a walk on the beach in my new fuchsia bikini all by myself.”
“New bikini? You never play fair.”
Her cell phone pinged, she had a notification. “Melissa and her husband are in the airport looking for us.”
“You want to invite them in here?”
“No. I think we’d better show our faces. I’m sure they’re already talking about us. I think Jax saw us coming in here.” She stood.
By the time they made it to the waiting area, most of the show was there. She looked around at all the faces and wondered which one was the person behind the sabotage. Whoever it was had to make sure they were going to the island. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people going. Contestants, the show’s staff and setup crew, and the professional hangers-on that the show paid for publicity purposes. People were taking selfies and yapping away while they sipped on coffee. Jen and Jeremy were walking around with clipboards talking to the contestants. Everyone looked so jazzed about going, but she knew one of them had malice in their heart.
“There’s Melissa and Todd.” She waved to them.
“Go ahead. I’ll be over in a few minutes.” Riley walked toward the counter.
She headed toward the couple until Jeremy blocked her path.
“Hi, Jeremy.”
“Parker. I just need to check you in. Here’s another media packet. I hope you don’t mind, we revised the itinerary a little bit. We’re going to do another interview segment with you. Jen said she promised no more surprises, so we have a copy for you to review. It’s a last-minute thing. Everyone else will get it tomorrow when we have the morning meeting.”
“Thanks for the heads-up. I hope it’s not some crazy stunt.”
“The showrunners know who the world will be tuning in to see, and they want to capitalize on it, but in a respectful way. So we won’t ask for Riley to join you.”
“Eh.” She shrugged. The experience was coming to an end. She’d done a good job of keeping him out of their evil clutches. After the event, she’d never do something like this again. Perhaps it would be fun to have a sit down together. “If he’s up to it. I’ll ask if he wants to do it.”
“That would be great! I’m sure he’ll say yes. He loves being with you.”
“No full-blown media-whoring.” She held up a finger. “But I’m willing to show a little leg to wrap up the show. This will probably be the last time I’m on camera for a good reason.”
“Never say never. Between you and me, I think you’re a shoo-in to win. The powers that be have even discussed adding a few new perks providing you’re the winner.”
“What kind of perks?”
He moved closer. “The prize money of course. There are advertisers interested in you, and there’s talk of a spokesperson position for the show. We’ve been approached about launching a fitness campaign with the Department of Health and Safety to promote kids getting active again. You and the runner-up would go around giving speeches. Kind of like making the rounds like a pageant winner would do.”
“I don’t know about all of that.”
“Think about it. I hedged my bets on you the moment I saw you. You embody the Ultimate Champion way.” He grinned.
“We’ll cross those bridges if we come to them.”
“Cool. I’ll let Jen and Wes know about the interview with you and Riley.” Jeremy made a beeline for Jen.
Parker kept on to Melissa and Todd.
“Hey, you two. How are you?”
“Nervous.” Melissa smiled.
“No need to be nervous. You killed it on the courses, and you’ll do the same at the end of the week. You’re getting a free vacation. Enjoy it.” Parker smiled. “Todd, I’m glad you could get the time off from work.”
“The company was so excited about Melissa being on the show. They’ve been treating me like royalty and insisted I go with her. But I will be working a bit.” He
tapped the bag slung on his shoulder. “I brought my laptop.”
“The enjoyment part goes for you too. I hope we can all have dinner together at least one night. A real dinner away from the fake it til you make it squad.”
“I’d like that.”
“Attention please,” the ticket operator at the desk said over the intercom system. “Can Melissa and Todd Renner report to the ticketing desk?”
“I wonder what they want?” Melissa bit her lip.
“Let’s go find out.”
As Melissa and Todd walked toward the desk, Riley was coming toward Parker.
“Hey, babe. Is everything OK?”
“Everything is fine.” He kissed her.
“Can I get a pic of the two of you for my social media?” Rita, another contestant, asked.
“Sure.” Riley put his arm around Parker. “Can you use the hashtag Team Bruiser?”
“Absolutely.” Rita flashed Riley a big grin.
They stood still while the cell phone flash went off.
Rita continued. “My husband and I would love to have dinner with you one evening. He’s a huge fan. Sometimes I think he loves you and the Tomcats more than he loves me. He didn’t want to say anything, but he’d love your autograph. He even brought one of your jerseys with him.”
Parker looked at Riley. “I don’t think Riley would mind. Do you babe?”
“It would be my pleasure, Rita. What’s your husband’s name?”
“Steve.”
“I’d love to meet him. Where is he?”
“Great!” Rita’s eyes widened. “Come with me.”
Parker watched as Rita was the envy of the crowd as she took Riley by the arm and led him over to her husband. Rita was a nice person, and she’d chatted with her a few times. Unfortunately she’d fallen in with the clique that included Sunny and there went any kind of connection. She avoided the Sunny-ites like the plague.
Melissa and Todd came back.
“What did they want with you?”
“Uh. We were upgraded to first class.” Melissa had a confused look. “I don’t know why.”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Todd said. “We’re flying in style. First class costs a gazillion mileage points and a kidney just to fly from Texas to New Jersey. Maybe this is a good omen.”
“We are now boarding our first class passengers,” the attendant said over the loudspeaker. “First class passengers, please approach for boarding.”
To no one’s surprise Wes, Jen, and Jeremy gathered their things and got in the first class line.
“Enjoy. I’ll be shooting you evil looks from coach.” Parker laughed as they went to the counter.
Riley approached. “Come on, babe.”
“Come on where?”
“We have to board.”
“First class only right now.”
“I know.” He waggled his eyebrows and held up the tickets. “First you had to sit in that awful Premiere Club with their mediocre leather chairs. I’ll be damned if you’d have to sit in a seat not meant for tall people like us.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
The looks she and Riley got were twice as bad as the looks they’d shot at Melissa and Todd. But she didn’t give a damn. She’d put on her noise-canceling headphones and sip on champagne to drown out the hate. As they walked down the corridor to the plane, she decided she had to ask.
“Did you pay to upgrade Todd and Melissa?”
“Yep.”
Parker and Riley took their seats, right behind Todd and Melissa. As the people associated with the show passed them, she was pretty sure if one of them had a BB gun they’d get it right between the eyes. Sunny definitely gave her the ‘if looks could kill’ side-eye when they were standing in the waiting area. It was fun when Sunny passed by trying her best to casually check out Riley, who looked quite sexy today in a fitted shirt and a pair of jeans, as he fastened his seatbelt.
Some may have been stewing about her sitting in first class, but one of them was stewing for a different reason. Someone among them was going to try to derail the final show, and their motivation had probably ramped up since they hadn’t been able to stop production of the show. It would have been awesome if Sunny was the saboteur. But the level of animosity that had been manifesting didn’t fit Sunny’s profile. She was as deep as a mud puddle and twice as vain.
She’d learned a long time ago that things weren’t always as they seemed. But she was determined to catch whoever the perpetrator was just the same.
* * *
Riley slapped on some cologne and ran a comb through his hair. It had been a busy day from the moment they touched down. There was a welcome meet-and-greet with the sponsors of the show. He had to admit there were some heavy-hitting companies that advertised on the show. Company representatives were flocking to Parker, but she answered them all in the same disinterested way when they mentioned the possibility of being a spokesmodel. Half of them didn’t care if she won; they liked her look and wanted to do business. He was getting the feeling she probably should hire an agent, but he knew Parker wouldn’t go for it. She’d considered this time in her life as a one-off, no matter the hype around her potential to win first place.
The attention drew the ire of some of the contestants who were much more prepared to sell themselves than Parker. It reminded him of the frenzy of the football draft. The energy was electric as careers were being made and image-makers were molding their future meal tickets. After the food and drink, there was a slideshow presentation of the many obstacles that would be constructed for the final event. It was going to be a tough one. The course was designed to test the contestants’ strength, endurance, and mental acuity. He’d also noticed there were a few people trying to be subtle but stood out as security to his eye. The show had hired a security firm, and the agents were doing a bad job of blending in. Knowing there would be security in place was the only way Parker was able to convince Carmichael not to send an army with them.
He knew as soon as they exited the plane and took a whiff of that tropical air that he’d be doing his best to get Parker alone this week. She had responsibilities and she’d be doing interviews, but the rest of the time he wanted her to himself.
The show had spared no expense for the crew, but a room in the main hotel would not do. He’d spoke with the desk clerk and had their reservation upgraded to a three-bedroom bungalow. Parker protested initially, but when she saw the view of the ocean from their deck on the secluded beach, her argument fell apart. Besides, he had another surprise for her later in the week and he’d need the room. It was funny how she wanted to be down to earth, but there was nothing average about their lives. He loved to pamper her because she appreciated it. He’d dated women before who burned through thousands of dollars of his money on an afternoon shopping. Parker was practical, and she resisted frivolous things. But he bought her expense things because he wanted to give her the best of everything.
“Wow,” he said as Parker walked into the bathroom wearing a red floral sarong dress that stopped at the knees and hugged her curves. They’d just been on the island for half a day, and he could see she’d tanned a bit. The deep shade of her brown skin was glistening from the fancy body lotion she used. He’d happily spend an eternity just looking at her long, smooth, toned legs. “You look amazing.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “You look quite fetching yourself.”
“Hey, if you’re going to be eye candy, you have to go all in.” He grinned.
“You were great today. I appreciate you answering questions and the sound bites for the show.”
“Anything for you.” He walked over to her. “This is a piece of cake compared to Super Bowl week before the game.”
“I was thinking.” She put her arms around his neck. “Tonight we could cut out early and come back to the bungalow.”
“I’d love that.” He kissed her.
Parker’s cell phone rang in the other room. “That might be Carmichael calli
ng us back.”
Riley and Parker padded through the bungalow to the living room to answer the call.
Parker hit the talk button. “Hey, Carmichael. What’s the good word?”
“The security firm the show hired has a pretty good reputation. They mainly work with Hollywood types. I’m friends with one of the executives of the company. He tried to recruit me before I joined Regency.”
“Oh yeah? Why didn’t you work for them?” Riley asked. He looked at Parker and shrugged. He was curious.
“Frankly, Regency has a badass reputation. I couldn’t turn down the best to work for the second best.”
“I hear you,” Riley replied.
“Anyway. I talked to him, and they’re going to be keeping an eye on you. They know Parker is a Regency employee, and they’ll back you up without question. So now it’s a joint effort. I have to say I feel much better knowing you have backup.”
“My gut’s telling me that it’s someone close to the show. Someone who wouldn’t look suspicious being in the off-limits areas.”
“I’ll relay that to them. Nothing popped up when we did background checks on everyone. I know you’re going to investigate whether I ask you to stand down or not. So, stay alert. You have the inside track.”
“Eyes and ears are open,” Parker said.
“That goes for both of us. Thanks, Dean,” Riley replied.
“If you need anything, we can be there at breakneck speed. And Parker, try not to do too much damage on that island.” Carmichael laughed and ended the call.
“It’s good to know that the security team is in the loop.” Riley picked up her shawl from the arm of the couch.
“I guess so.” Parker picked up her purse. “But you heard what Carmichael said. It’s up to us to keep our ears perked up. A little recon is on the dinner menu. I can ask discreet questions, and you be your charming self. People seem to like telling you their life stories.”
“When I’m finished, I’ll know the color underwear of everyone in that room.”
“Here are the rules.” Parker held up a hand. “No charming the ladies. You talk to the guys. Sunny would be on you like white on rice.”
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