He took a few steps back and flopped down on his coffee-colored leather sofa. His teammates sat around him giving him support. He messed up, but they would help him through it. It’s what brothers did.
“I can’t lose her.” He confessed. A flash of her pale, shaken face haunted him. For the first time in his life, he felt ashamed of himself. As leader of his team, he always did what he thought best for the team. He had let that mentality get the better of him.
“Then take our advice,” Vincent said. “Give her a few days to cool down, than explain yourself.” Charlie nodded his head in agreement. It was sound advice. Give her time to cool down and then he would explain everything. He wasn’t willing to give her up.
Chapter 16
For three days, Catherine ignored all his attempts to reach her. He tried calling, texting, showing up at her work, and even her house. She never returned his calls, and was always conveniently not at work or on break, and her door always remained firmly shut. He knew she was still angry at him but how could he make things right if she wasn’t willing to listen to him? His team kept telling him to be patient, but patience wasn’t his forte.
He had received a call from Midas saying he was sorry that he hadn’t called before and there had been little warning before Commander Brady’s capture. As a make-up, Midas was asking him and some of his teammates to come out to California to assist in the capture of Alejandro Ferrera.
As much as Charlie was itching to jump on the first plane and assist, he wanted things to be right between him and Catherine first. He couldn’t leave things the way they were. After his last rendezvous with Alejandro, he didn’t know what would happen to him. The man was not to be trifled with. They had blown up his compound, and now his leak was dead. The man would be gunning for blood.
Charlie called Ortiz and Daniel, and told them to be ready to leave in the morning to head out to California and explained the situation. His commander would not be happy, but he had to finish the mission. The rest of the team would go on the reconnaissance mission. Alejandro was trying to set up a base on the west coast and was working with arms dealers and drug dealers. The man was already connected to ISIS. He needed to be stopped, once and for all. With any luck they would be in and out, and back home in a few days.
Charlie waited outside of Catherine’s house. Since she refused to see him, he had to take drastic measures and wait outside her house until she showed up. When she pulled into the drive, he looked at the time and cursed. Why was she still closing? She said she was done doing that for at least a week.
He got out of the car and came up behind her before she reached the front door. As she was putting her key in the door, her body tensed, and she whipped around to confront him. Her expressive face flashed fear, relief than anger. He deserved that.
“Charlie,” she said crisply. “What are you doing here? You scared ten years off my life.”
Seeing her after being apart for three long days, Charlie felt the tightness in his chest finally ease. How could she look even more beautiful? If it wasn’t for her anger and the fact he had some explaining to do, he would show her how much he missed her. His fingers itched to touch her, but her stance told him she wouldn’t appreciate that. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”
Catherine arched a well-manicured eyebrow at him. “Why? So, you can bug my house?”
Ouch. He had never seen Catherine so angry before. What he had done was wrong. He knew that now. If the past few days with her ignoring him had taught him anything it was that he didn’t want to live without her and that he needed to listen to his friends more often.
“I messed up.”
Catherine snorted. “What was your first clue, Sherlock?”
Charlie realized he would have to do a lot of groveling to get back into her good graces. He messed up. He broke her trust. Catherine said she didn’t give second chances, but he would fight for them until the bitter end. She was it for him, and failure wasn’t an option. He would make it his personal mission to get her to forgive him. “Can we go inside so I can explain myself?” He looked around at the empty street. What he was going to say was sensitive information, and he felt exposed standing outside with no cover; anyone could walk past them and hear them.
Catherine nibbled her bottom lip in debate. He knew he broke her trust, but he hoped after an explanation and a lot of groveling that he could make it up to her. After a few intense moments where Charlie thought she would send him packing, she shook her head, more at herself and mumbling about being too nice. She opened the door fully and ushered him in.
She closed the door behind them and set her things down on the table, before sitting down in the rocker. She was giving herself enough distance from him and not allowing him to get too close. The pang returned to his chest, but he ignored it, for now. The distance would help him stay focused on telling her the story, instead of trying to touch her. And damn did he want to touch her. He wanted to erase all the dark circles under her eyes. He wanted to see her smile again. He wanted to see the warmth back in her reflective eyes, instead of the cold indifference towards him, even if he caused it. He would give up all his guns, just for her to forgive him. Catherine waved him on to start when he stood there staring at her.
Charlie cleared his throat and began. “When we first started dating, you told me you were at Fort Hood and had an ex, Martin. Any time I tried to ask you about him, you clammed up and changed the subject.”
“So, that gave you the right to have someone look into me?” Catherine interrupted.
“Please, let me finish and I’ll answer all of your questions.” Catherine didn’t appear mollified, but she clamped her mouth shut and waited for him to continue. “I know a group of men who are stationed at Fort Hood, and around the same time that you left, a young teen had been kidnapped.” Charlie watched Catherine’s face to judge her reaction, and as he thought, she turned away and winced. He knew she had nothing to do with the kidnapping but she had known about it. “When you refused to talk about your ex, I made an executive decision to have him looked into. Because I didn’t know his last name, I had to look him up through you.”
“And what exactly did you discover, Sherlock?” Catherine whispered, fighting back the tears that Charlie could see pooling in her eyes. He hated that he did that to her. He’d rather cut out his own heart than cause her tears or a moments pain. Her ex had done enough of that to her.
“I know that you were in the hospital around the time of the kidnapping. It was when you turned him in.” If Charlie ever saw that little prick, he would return all the pain he caused his woman tenfold. And she was his woman, even if Catherine didn’t realize it yet.
“He helped arrange for a teenager to be kidnapped and was breaking a man out of prison. I couldn’t stand by anymore and pretend it wasn’t happening. I did that before and it got a woman and a child kidnapped.” Catherine said hollowly as if she was reliving the memory.
“Emily and Annie,” he said nodding. Unable to keep away anymore, Charlie closed the distance between them and knelt at her knees, and enfolded her cold hands in his. “Do you remember that first night we met? In the rain?”
Catherine smiled down at him; it was small but there and it was enough to ease some of the tension. “How could I forget?”
“I can’t tell you about where I was before we met that night, but something had gone wrong because someone said something they shouldn’t have. After putting the pieces together about your ex and Fort Hood, I thought maybe he had been responsible. That’s why I had him looked into.”
Creases formed between her brows. “You think Martin had something to do with what happened to you? What had been said, that could justify having someone look into my past or suggest tapping my phone?” She sounded skeptical and still hurt, but he didn’t blame her. It had been a long shot at suspecting the man, but Charlie had probable cause.
“I did.” Past tense. “And I can’t tell you what was said or done. Not because I don’t tr
ust you.” He quickly assured her when she glared at him. “But because I literally can’t talk about my job. And when I said to tap your phone, I wasn’t thinking. I knew I had to find him, and I thought there was a small chance he had been trying to contact you.”
“You don’t sound so sure now.” Her voice hardened. He had a long way to go still in earning her forgiveness.
“Tex, the guy that told me about you and Martin, told me that the person that had said something had already been taken care of.”
“So, what are you going to do about Martin?”
“If he ever comes near you again, I’ll kill him.” He said in a low tone and caused Catherine to sit further back in her chair. He wasn’t a vengeful person by nature, but Martin had hurt the woman he loves and no one fucked with the people he loves.
“I haven’t spoken to him since before I left. When he…” A dark look came into her eye and Charlie had a suspicion she was reliving the last time she saw him. When he put her in the hospital. He couldn’t have that.
Charlie sat up to clasp her face in his hands, making her focus on him. Her eyes looked wild and unfocused. “I believe you. I’ll let the Martin issue go. I was wrong to handle it the way I did. If he’s in your past, then that’s where he’ll stay. We’ll focus on the here and now. I love you, Catherine.” Catherine zeroed in on him at the last statement.
“What did you just say?” she asked bewildered.
He would shout it from the rooftops if it made her feel better. “I said, I love you. I don’t expect you to say it back yet. I know we’ve only been together a few weeks, but I can’t imagine my life without you in it. The past few days, with radio silence between us, has all but killed me. I need to hear your voice every day. I need to see you and that beautiful smile that rivals the sun it’s so bright.”
“You know for a man who doesn’t say much, you certainly know the right things to say.”
“To everyone else, there wasn’t much I ever had to say to them. With you, it’s different.”
“I’m scared,” Catherine confessed quietly.
“Of what? Me?” He would never hurt her. Yes, he had broken her trust, but from here on out things would be different. He would talk to her about everything that he could. He would listen to his friends too.
“You broke my heart. I couldn’t survive it a second time.”
“Never again. I will never give you cause to doubt me again.”
“And if Martin does by some miracle show up? Are you going to think I’m in league with him?”
“Never,” he answered quickly. “You never were before.”
“I’m not a good person, Charlie. You shouldn’t love me.” Catherine hung her head in shame.
Charlie pushed her chin up with his forefinger. “You are the most deserving person of my love.”
Catherine tried to turn away from him, but he wouldn’t let her go. “I knew what Martin was doing a year ago, and I didn’t stop him. I heard him with his buddies plotting and planning. Talking about how their leader was blackmailing a poor single mom. She worked at the PX with me. I saw what it was doing to her, and I didn’t stop it. I gave her food when I could, but Martin was always watching me or having me followed.” Tears tracked down her face as she confessed her deepest darkest secrets.
Charlie pulled her face towards him, and he kissed her gently on the lips. “You’re a survivor. No one faults you for what happened.”
“What if one of them had died because I kept my mouth shut?”
“But they didn’t. Their men were De...good men. They wouldn’t have let anything happen to them.” He had almost slipped and told her they were Delta Force. What was wrong with him? He had never told anyone what he was before. But he wanted to tell Catherine. He could never tell her where he went or what he did. He never knew how long he would be gone for. Could she live with that?
“What were you going to say before good men? You stopped yourself?” Leave it to his woman to pick up on that. He would always have to stay on his toes around her. This should be the part he evaded her question and changed the subject, but to completely earn her trust back he needed to be honest with her. He would have to tell her what he did for a living.
“If I tell you, you have to promise you will never tell another living soul. It is a closely guarded secret.” He was putting a lot of pressure on her, but he had to stress the importance of what he was about to tell her.
“What like your FBI undercover or something?” Catherine scrunched up her nose at that.
“And what if I was? You don’t want to move to DC?” He couldn’t resist teasing her. He had missed this witty banter side of her.
“I just moved here. I like it here. Stop playing. You’re not really FBI, are you?”
“No, I’m not FBI. I’m part of a group called Delta Forces.”
Her face, as usual, was so expressive. Shock then confusion. “I don’t know what that means. Are you James Bond or something?”
“Or something.” He chuckled. Damn, this woman was priceless, and hard on his ego. “I’m much cooler than James Bond.”
“You don’t have the fancy car or gadgets.”
“There is nothing wrong with my jeep. And I don’t need his fancy gadgets.” He said affronted. He loved his jeep. He would probably own nothing but jeeps until he was too old to drive.
“I’m sorry. I love the jeep.” She said petting his chest. “So, what is a Delta Force if not James Bond?”
Charlie would give her something else to pet here in a minute. His dick was screaming for some attention, but he ignored it. After the talking, they could get to the loving. His dick twitched in agreement. “We’re a secret group of the military. Even more so than SEALs. What I do, no one knows about. It never airs on TV, we’re ghosts. The government tells us where to go and when. I can’t ever tell you where I’m going, when I’ll be back, or even what I’m doing.”
Chapter 17
Catherine tried to process everything Charlie had told her since he arrived unexpectedly at her house. Three days ago, she felt her world at been ripped out at the seams, and she had just been going through the motions since. She ate, slept, worked, repeat. After Charlie had suggested tapping her phone she had turned the stupid electronic off. What kind of man suggested tapping the phone of their girlfriend?
She had seen his friends stop in at the PX and saw Charlie once. Nadine was actually helpful, and would send her somewhere else or tell her to take a break when she saw one of them. They had never been friends, but she was thankful she had helped her out. Catherine hadn’t wanted to see the pity looks from his friends, or have them try and convince her to give Charlie another chance. She had given Martin another chance and look what that got her? Several broken bones and having to move.
Seeing Charlie again even after such a short time apart was like being lost in the desert ,and he was a tall glass of water. He didn’t look as torn up about their separation as she had, but appearances could be deceiving. He had tried to see her at work and home, but she ignored him. She feared she would make another mistake like she had with Martin. The snake had a glib tongue and had coiled himself around her until she couldn’t escape him. Charlie wasn’t as adept with words, but she knew in her heart he would never do anything to physically hurt her. The fact he hadn’t warned her he was looking into Martin hurt the worst. Had he told her it was Martin he wanted to know about, she would have told him. All the sneaking around pissed her off.
After Charlie’s explanation on why he had looked into her past it made more sense. Martin was not a topic she liked to talk about. She remembered Charlie trying to engage her in conversation about him more than once, and she had shut him down. Did that justify snooping into her past? Not so much but he thought Martin had something to do with endangering his life. Now knowing he was Delta Force, she still wasn’t sure what all that entailed, explained why he would clam up when she would ask about work. He literally couldn’t tell her anything about it. She remembered asking h
im once if what he did was illegal, and he had looked offended. She was dating the James Bond of the Army. It was cool and scary. He didn’t have to worry about her telling anyone because she didn’t know anyone. Catherine had always been a loner, so she didn’t have any friends. Her parents had died when she was young and had been raised by her grandparents, whom she shared the occasional phone call and card a few times a year with.
“What is going through that beautiful mind of yours?” Catherine ducked her head so he couldn’t see the blush spreading across her face. “Now I really want to know.” He teased her.
“You don’t have to worry about me telling anyone what you do. I don’t have any close family and friends.” At Charlie’s puzzled look she explained. “My parents died in a car crash when I was four. I grew up with my grandparents after that. I never really felt like I fit in with them or anyone, so it was always hard for me to make friends. My grandparents owned a ranch, so they were pretty busy with their lives to mind me.”
“I’m so sorry about your parent’s, babe.” He said gently stroking her face. She leaned into the touch. She had missed it so much the past few days. Before Charlie’s phone call at the barbeque, she had thought to stay the night with him, and they could finally make love. Catherine had finally felt ready to make love to him. She couldn’t take the sexual frustration any longer. Obviously, that plan had been ruined. But now they were being given another chance to be together, and she didn’t want to miss a thing. Charlie knew about her painful past, whether she had been ready for him to know or not, and yet was still here. It was enough for now.
Catherine shrugged. “It was a long time ago. I don’t even really remember them.”
“And what was the blush for?” Catherine pretended she didn’t know what he was talking about and shook her head. “I told you that you have a very expressive face. There was humor and lust in your eyes, then they turned to sadness. I’m guessing the sadness had something to do with what you just told me about your parents, but I don’t know where the humor and lust came from.”
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