Meg stared at him, seeing through his tactics. “You’re playing dirty.”

“Do you trust your friend Rick?”

“Of course.”

“Then he can help me here. And when we have something, I’ll come to you.” He kissed the tips of her fingers. “I want more of you,” he whispered.

“Now you’re really playing dirty.”

He leaned forward and kissed her, briefly. He didn’t dare risk more and shorten her breath. When he pulled away, he noted her half-closed lids and sighed. No, he wasn’t done with her . . . not anywhere close.

He tucked a loose hair behind her ear, waited for her to open her eyes.

“I’ll go.” She slowly opened her eyes.

Alonzo stood beside Gabi outside the plane. They stood much closer than they had the night before, his sister smiled up at her fiancé before he pulled her in for a tender kiss.

Val looked away, giving them the privacy he could.

“Thank you for everything.” Michael shook Val’s hand. “We’ll be in touch.”

Ryder said his good-byes as well before the two men boarded. Judy kissed her husband and followed her brother.

“Call me when you land.”

Margaret offered a frown. “If I felt even a tiny bit better, I wouldn’t be leaving. I think you should know that.”

He smiled for the both of them. “Noted.”

“Hey, Meg? Are we going or what?” Judy yelled from the hatch of the airplane.

“I gotta go.”

Right.

Val stepped into her space, flattened her body to his, and lowered his lips. The kiss would have to do for a while, so he took it.

“The majority of investigative work is anticlimactic and frustrating.” Rick Evans looked up from the surveillance cameras and lifted his index finger. “Eventually, however, someone makes a mistake and that’s when we find our guy.”

“No offense, Rick, but you don’t strike me as a kind of guy to sit around frustrated for long.”

The phone in Rick’s pocket rang, reminding Val that he hadn’t yet heard from Margaret.

“Hey, babe.”

“No, he’s right here.”

Val tuned into the conversation when Rick made eye contact.

“No. I’ll tell him. Yeah, I will. Love you, too.”

Rick put his phone back in his pocket and started tapping on the keyboard again. “That was Judy. They made it back OK. Meg’s wiped out and already in bed.”

His heart ached at the thought.

Rick hit enter with a grand gesture and turned in his seat. “Back to my sitting around? You’re right. Sitting sucks. All that data is en route to Russell. My man loves to sit, fiddle, and find. He’ll follow the e-mails, watch your feeds, look for anything out of place.”

Val felt his left eye twitch. “All my camera feeds are off the island?”

“You can still access them here.”

Val wrapped a hand around his own neck.

“Easy, Val. I understand security.”

“So does Lou.” His main guy was briefing their on-island team on Rick’s presence and working on the install of more cameras in the service corridors.

“Good thing about another set of eyes. Russell doesn’t know Lou from you. He’s going to question everything he sees. Whoever we’re dealing with knows the island, knows your rules, procedures, and has your trust . . . or at least that of the staff here.”

“No one comes on the island with a private camera.”

Rick leaned back in the office chair and cradled his head. “Exactly how can you guarantee that?”

“Guest luggage is screened. Cell phones are placed in holding and the on-island cameras are all accounted for and checked before they leave the island.” Val went on to talk about client excursions and how their charters were handled.

“There are watches that have cameras,” Rick pointed out.

Val ran a hand through his hair. “The photos taken were with a long lens. While I’m sure the military can take pictures from space, I don’t think anyone here can. Besides, my guests covet the privacy of the island as much as I do. It’s why they’re here. Everyone is contracted to my privacy policy. If there’s a breach, they stand the risk of litigation in which I will not lose.”

Rick studied the wall behind the computers. “I don’t think we’re dealing with a guest.”

Val didn’t either.

“Which leaves my employees.”

“Losing their job wouldn’t compare to some of the money they could acquire from the pictures they take or the stories they could tell. And what about contracted workers? I’m sure there are repairs needed here all the time.”

“I run Sapore di Amore like a cruise ship. Housekeeping has designated areas they are allowed in, my waitstaff is the same way. Maintenance of common areas is taken care of after my guests have left. Emergency situations require the presence of security.” Val had gone over everything already.

Rick stood and stretched his back. “Then we start at the lower decks. Those who have the least to lose and work our way up.”

Val took his jacket that was lying on the back of a chair.

Rick grinned. “It’s still eighty degrees out there. Why the suit?”

Val straightened his tie. “It reminds my employees that I’m the boss.”

They started at the dock, where many of the employees never left.

One of the first things that Rick caught was Alonzo’s yacht docked along the wharf. “Yours?”

Val shook his head. “Gabi’s fiancé.”