Casio's POV

I watched her leave; my eyes fell to her ass as I took a sip of my coffee. She was something else, someone I could stare at forever. As she stepped out of eyesight, my eyes searched for the guy who smiled at her. Spotting him, my gaze darkened. There was a fine line between being kind and being flirtatious, and this guy was clearly being flirty with her.

My gaze lingered on him as I finished my coffee. Setting my cup down, I placed money on the table and walked past the guy. I put my hand on his chest, holding a card. The card had my contact details on it. Looking at him, I grinned. He took the card and looked at it as I made my way out of the coffee shop. Climbing into my car, I made sure the guy saw. I could tell he didn't want to waiter; he wanted to have a job that paid well.

I know my bait was set, and now I just need to wait for the call.

Looking at the time, I saw it was just past two, so I made a turn at the liquor store to buy a nice bottle of wine. I stood in the queue waiting to pay, then a woman tapped me on my shoulder. Turning to face her, she gave me a bright and warming smile, "Hi, I was wondering if it was possible for me to get your number?"

"No," I said sternly and turned around. Placing the bottle on the counter, the woman scanned the bottle of wine while looking at me with fear in her eyes. I handed her the correct amount of money; she took it with almost shaky hands. Really, I wasn't that harsh. I didn't want to engage in a further conversation with her. What was wrong with saying no?

I grabbed the bottle of wine and headed straight to my car. Climbing in, I felt an uneasy sense wash over me. My eyes scanned the area before pulling out of the parking lot. It was almost four when I stopped in Andy's driveway. Climbing out, I still felt the same uneasy feeling as I did when leaving the store. Looking around, I spotted nothing out of the ordinary, but something felt off.

I reached the door and knocked. Ashley's face peeked through the door, and she smiled brightly, "Casio! Hey, come on in." She stepped to the side to let me pass.

"Hey, Ashley. I brought wine." I handed her the bottle, and her eyes widened. "What's the matter? You don't like that wine?" My voice was laced with concern.

"No, no. It's not that, do you know how expensive this bottle is? Shit..." She quickly made her way to the kitchen and set the bottle down. I chuckled; it was almost like she was holding a bomb. "Don't you dare laugh at me!" She gave me a death glare; I lifted my hands in a defensive gesture. "Andy is outside."

I nodded, "And Whitney? Is she here?"

"That girl is always late; I believe she will be showing up just in the nick of time." She shook her head and continued making the salads. Nodding, I made my way outside onto the patio. Andy was wearing a 'Kiss the Cook' apron, and I looked at him with confusion and curiosity. "And why on earth would you wear that?" I asked as I leaned against the table.

"Hey." Andy looked at his apron and smiled, "Why not? My soon-to-be wife loves it." He laughed, and he prepared the grill. "Besides, have to live a normal life somewhere."

"True." I nodded, "Do you have something to drink?" Andy pointed at the mini fridge standing by his outside bar. I walked to the fridge and saw there were only beers. "Do you seriously only have beers?" Grabbing two and removing their lids, and handing one over to Andy.

"What? An ice-cold beer just works wonders on a hot summer day."

Shaking my head, the sound of Whitney's voice echoed through the house. I looked through the glass door to see her stepping inside. I know I saw her earlier in the day, but fuck, she was stunning. The woman stepped outside, and Whitney hugged Andy, and she gave me a warm smile. Fuck, this woman's smile was something I wouldn't mind seeing every day.

Her gaze fell to my arms; I had rolled up my sleeves, and my tattooed arms were showing. I always wore long sleeves, due to always wearing a suit. She bites her lower lip slightly as she turns away and looked at Ashley. "So, Andy, hope you won't ruin the meat this time." Whitney teased.

"That was only one time, and we were all past drunk." Andy let out a chuckle.

We all laughed. Then Whitney stood next to me, "I missed this. Missed hanging out with them."

I looked at her, her hair vibrant in the sunlight, "Why did you leave in the first place?" I asked, then she looked up at me with her glass blue eyes.

"Work. I got a job offer in L.A., the money was good. But then the old firm I worked at offered me a partnership. The old man wants to retire, and his daughters want nothing to do with the business. Plastic surgery isn't for them. So, I happily agreed. To have my own practice someday, it's a dream come true." I could see the excitement and happiness in her eyes. "I never did ask, what do you do for a living? Clearly it pays well, seeing by the bottle of wine you brought."

I chuckled, "I run my own company. So, yes, it does pay well." Giving her a smile. "But, it has its ups and downs. And Andy works for me."

Andy stepped closer, "Yeah, been working for him for the past year now. Some days I want to quit, but then again, I don't think I would find another job."

Whitney's eyes narrowed. "Why would you say that?"

Andy noticed he spoke too quickly without thinking. "What he meant was, he gets a decent salary, and he won't get that kind of money at another company," I said quickly, yet calmly, then glared at him. Andy just nodded and turned his attention back to the grill.

"Oh, that makes sense. Well, I'm just glad I got this offer; otherwise, I wouldn't have met you." Her cheeks turned red as she turned away, "And I wouldn't get to spend time with my friends."

I smiled and chuckled softly. Then there was a knock on the front door, and Ashley excused herself and disappeared into the house. A few moments later, she returned with a worried expression. "Darling, here are two men asking to speak with you." Then her eyes met mine, "And apparently you as well, Casio." I looked at Andy with a concerned look, then thanked Ashley and entered the house.

Andy opened the door, and two men in black suits stood on the sidewalk. Closing the door behind us, we greeted the men. "What can we help you two gentlemen with?" I asked my voice calm.

"I'm Detective Morgan, and this is my partner, Detective Jordan. We're from the special unit's force. We are investigating a murder. We would like to ask you two just a few questions. If you don't mind." His voice was calm, but it had a hint of overconfidence in it. I nodded, gesturing for him to continue; Detective Jordan took out a picture and handed it to me. Andy and I studied the photo; it was a dead body at the crime scene. I glanced up and met Morgan's gaze.

"Assuming this is the victim?" I handed the photo back to Jordan.

"Yes. Do you recall ever seeing this man? Or had any interactions with him?" Morgan asked, taking out his little notepad.

"Can't say that we have. He doesn't seem to jog my memory. Andy?" I turned to look at him. Andy just shook his head. "If that is all, we have a barbecue to return to." A fake smile appeared on my face.

Morgan nodded, "Thank you for your time. If anything does come to mind, please give us a call." He handed me his card. Glancing at it, it read: Jay Morgan, special unit detective, with his phone number at the bottom of the card. Placing the card into my shirt pocket, we shook hands.

"If something does come to mind, we will surely give you a call." Andy and I watched as the men left.

Then Andy turned to me and spoke softly, "Why would they be investigating that guy's murder. I thought it was all taken care of."

"That is my thought exactly. We will have to look into this, and quick. But let's get back before the girls wonder and ask too many questions." I take one more glance at the men as they climbed into their black SUV. Following Andy into the house, the girls were already standing ready to ask questions.

Whitney's POV

Ashley and I watched as Casio and Andy walked into the house. Casio raised one eyebrow, as if he knew we were going to ask a bunch of questions. Andy wrapped his arm around Ashley and me, "Let's continue, shall we?"

Ashley climbed out from under his arm and crossed her arms over her chest, "Spill, mister." She said with a stern voice.

"It was only work. There was an issue that they needed our insight on. There is nothing to be worried about." Andy stepped towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I promise. We just talked, and now they can continue with work." Her eyes narrowed, giving him some sort of death glare.

I shook my head and headed outside; Casio followed me shortly after. "It's best to leave them to talk alone. Ash can be a bit overdramatic when she wants to be." I took a sip of my drink, "So, if I may ask, why couldn't this issue have waited until tomorrow?"

Casio glanced at me and he smiled slightly, "Unfortunately, in our line of work, issues can't wait until the next day. It has to be dealt with immediately. And some things can't be discussed with people outside of the organization. Hope you understand that there are a few things I'm unable to tell you." He met my gaze; his eyes were filled with concern.

Smiling at him, "I get it. But sometimes I don't think Ash does." I looked through the glass door and saw Ashley fuming with rage at the moment. "I should probably go and save Andy before he gets killed." I laughed nervously and made my way into the living room. "Ash." She looked at me with a glare that might kill me, "Let's get a drink and leave the men to prepare the meat?" I said hesitantly, then she gave Andy one more glare. She took a big breath and gave me a smile.

Damn, this woman was scary at times. If her looks could kill, then most of the people I knew would have been dead by now. We entered the kitchen, and she popped open and bottle of wine. "Sweetie, are you okay?" I asked her, my voice soft and soothing.

She slammed the bottle opener onto the table, "No!" Then a sigh escaped, "Why can't he tell me what is going on? I'm going to be his wife in less than two months. Doesn't he trust me?"

I tilted my head and smiled weakly. I placed my hand on her shoulder, "Sweetie, sometimes there are just some things you can talk about your work and some things that you can't. Take my job, for example, I can say which procedure I did, but I can't tell you the person's name. I just think it's better to leave some things a mystery."

She stared into my eyes for a while, then smiled, "Maybe you're right. Shit, I must have seemed like a crazy person." She chuckled.

"Just a little bit. But let's not ruin the rest of the evening. Okay?"

"You're right. Can you please call Andy for me? I need to apologize."

I nodded and made my way outside; I gestured for Andy that he should go inside. He gave us a smile, "Wish me luck." He disappeared into the house.

I let out a sigh of relief and rubbed the back of my neck, "So, I'm assuming your talk went well?" Casio asked, and he stepped towards me.

"You can say something like that. She realized she was overreacting. So, yeah, night saved." Casio stepped closer, and I met his gaze. His beautiful brown eyes were stunning when the light caught them just right. He tugged a strand of hair behind my ear, and his hand lingered longer than planned. My heart started to race, and I could feel my cheeks burning up.

His thumb rubbed my cheek as a smirk appeared on his face. He leaned closer and his lips hovered over mine, "Do I make you nervous, Little Daisy?" His eyes were fixed on my lips. Then his eyes met mine, "Mm?" He tilted his head slightly to the left.

"I... Um..." I stuttered. The fuck was wrong with me? I have never been so flustered by a man's touch. I wanted to say something, but the words didn't want to form. Then someone cleared their throat and made Casio casually stand straight. I looked back to see both Ash and Andy standing there. Ashley had a massive smile on her face, and that made me blush even more.

Casio leaned in and whispered in my ear in a soft growl, "I'll be driving you home, and we can finish our discussion then." He stood straight and gave me a grin, and walked over to Andy. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. Ashley stood next to me and shoved me with her elbow; I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"So?" She smiled brightly.

"Nothing. We're just two people getting to know each other. That's all." I sat at the table and took a sip of my drink. "Anyway, I was wondering do you maybe have extra curtains lying around?"

"Why? You hate using curtains."

I went into my messages on my phone and handed Ash the phone, "Because of that. And to top it off, after the last message, he was standing on the other building's fire escape. Looking straight into my room. So, it might be time to put up some curtains."

Andy stepped closer, "What are you two talking about?"

"Whit here has a stalker." Ashley blared out.

"Dude! Seriously? Tell the entire neighborhood why don't you?" I snapped, grabbing my phone from her.

Casio stepped closer, "A stalker? Have they threatened you in any way?" He held out his hand, silently asking to see the messages.

I handed him my phone, "No, they started messaging me this morning. Then the creep stood on the other side of the building, across from my fire escape, and looked at me. So, I'm just going to put up some curtains and pretend nothing happened." Casio narrowed his eyes at me, "What?" I looked at him with concern.

"You can't take things like this lightly. Send me the number, then I'll have a look. See what I can find. Because he knows where you live, and he has your number. There is no telling what he is capable of doing. It could be nothing, but just to be sure." He hands me back my phone. I nodded and sent him the number. He leaned in closer to me and spoke softly, "Don't worry. I won't let anything or anyone harm you, Little Daisy."

As the night went on, we laughed and told jokes. Just enjoying the night together. Ashley handed me an extra pair of curtains she had lying around. Casio took the bag from me, and we greeted Andy and Ashley, then walked over to his car. My eyes widened. "Fuck me..." I said softly, and I could hear Casio chuckle. "Is this your car?"

"Yip." He threw the bag onto the backseat and opened the passenger door for me.

"This car costs millions. How..." I was stunned by the car I was about to get into. Climbing in the seats were so soft, as if it was made exactly for my butt cheeks. And it still had that new car smell. Casio closed the door and climbed into the driver's side, and gave me a smile. "Oh, my word, Casio. This car is amazing."

A smirk played on his face as he started the engine. The sound echoed through the street. Everything about this man was mysterious but thrilling in a way. My mind flooded with questions, then I thought, save it for another day. Then I felt a hand on my face, and it turned my head to face Casio. His eyes were dark now, almost black. "Little Daisy," he said softly, making my heart race. The way he calls me that makes me want him, "Back to my one question, do I make you nervous?"

I froze for a moment before I spoke softly, "I wouldn't call it nervous." My eyes fixed on his. "More in the line of... Excitement."

A grin played on his face, then he leaned in, and our lips met. The kiss was passionate; his tongue danced with mine. My heart pounded in my chest as if it was ready to escape. He broke the kiss and stared into my eyes, "Good." He said softly.