This is Reckless (Checkmate Duet 3)

“I’m going to change, and then we can go find someplace to eat,” Courtney tells me. She presses a quick kiss on my mouth and then grabs her suitcase.

I lie on the bed and take it all in. I’d never been to Vegas before, and I couldn’t think of a better person to experience it with.

Dozing off, I’m brought back to the scene from two days ago, except this time he doesn’t put the gun in his mouth. He puts it in mine. I feel the anxiety creep inside and before the trigger clicks, Courtney is shaking me awake.

“Drew, wake up, baby.” Her voice is music to my ears as I realize I’d fallen asleep. She’s towering over me; concern etched all over her face. “You were rustling in your sleep. Are you okay?”

I rub my hands over my face and blink. “Yeah, fine. Just a dream.”

I don’t tell her what about because I don’t want to worry her or ruin our time here.

“I’m ready. Should we go?” she asks, smiling down at me.

Looking at her, a smile forms on my face. “You look beautiful.” I grab her hand and press a soft kiss on her knuckles. “Too beautiful. I’m going to have to fight anyone who looks at you now.”

She chuckles, wrinkling her nose at me. “Don’t worry, Deputy. I’ll make sure they all know you’re the only one I have eyes for.”

“Good. I’d hate to have to punch someone out.” I smirk.

We grab lunch and walk the strip hand in hand. It feels nice being with her and I’m so glad she suggested we come here.

“There’s so much to do! I don’t know what to do first,” she says as we look around. It’s a little overwhelming. “Are you afraid of heights?”

I laugh. “No.”

She smiles.

“You look like you’re up to something.”

“I’ve always wanted to try zip-lining,” she confesses. “I saw it when I was looking up ideas for us to do here.”

“I think I’ve seen it,” I say, contemplating. She looks up at me with hopeful eyes and I know I can’t deny her. “Let’s do it.”

She smiles wide as we make our way to Fremont Street. Every minute with her eases my mind and takes me further and further away from that night.

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this,” I tease as they strap us in.

“You’ll love it!” She’s smiling so wide, I can’t even pretend to be upset.

We opt for the eleven-foot upper zoom line versus the seven-foot where you fly across the line on your stomach like superman. It feels a lot higher than I was anticipating, but there’s no greater time now than to live in the present.

“Are you ready?” I shout, gripping her hand. “No going back once they push us over!”

She smiles with a giddy laugh. “Ready!”

It’s the most thrilling experience of my life, and I can’t stop smiling as we zip-line down Fremont under the video screen. It provides an amazing view of the strip and the five blocks we zip down go too fast.

“That was incredible,” she says as we catch our breaths.

“It was.”

“So, I looked on one of those romantic-things-to-do-in-Vegas sites, as cheesy as it sounds, but I totally want to visit the Love Locket, visit a fortune teller, and maybe a couple’s massage?” The excited look in her eyes makes me so damn happy to be here with her.

“Let’s do it all.” I bring my lips to hers and playfully nibble on her bottom lip. “I’ve heard they have a place where you can get your picture taken to look like you eloped. We should do that and send it to Viola and Travis.”

She laughs and nods her head, agreeing. “Totally! They will freak!”

We do as many things as possible before we stop for dinner around ten p.m. We hit up a buffet and take pictures of the number of plates we load up. She posts them to Instagram, knowing Viola will be religiously following her.

“Let’s take a selfie by the fountains in front of the Bellagio and post it since we’re close by.” She’s so cute when she gets all excited.

We stumble back to the hotel room sometime after three a.m. and before the sun rises. We ended up taking fake wedding pictures and less than two minutes after posting them, Viola calls Courtney.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hear Viola scream. “You eloped in Vegas?”

Courtney is dying with laughter, loving the way she’s getting her worked up. “You said you wanted nieces and nephews,” she reminds her with a laugh.

“I swear to God, you two!”

“Relax, Lola! It’s not real!”

“I’m going to kill you both!”

We both crack up laughing before hanging up and end up at the hotel bar. Once we sit down, we find a show to see the next night and purchase some tickets online. We make a plan to gamble beforehand and whatever else we can find. But I’m so hopelessly in love with her, I can barely keep my hands off her, and the only thing I want to do right now is get her into bed and fuck her wild.