Leo closed the hotel room door and took note of the fact she even had the window open, letting in the hot air from outside. “That kind of defeats the purpose of the fan,” he said.
“It’ll get my hair dried faster.”
As soon as he saw her try to fold one of her skirts one-handed, he gently pushed her out of the way. “Let me.”
“I can fold my own clothes,” she protested.
“It’s painful to watch. I can do it faster. This way you have time to explain why you’re leaving all of a sudden. Don’t bother lying to me; this is suddenly because Doug doesn’t even know about it yet.”
She slowly lowered herself to the bed with a wince. He wondered if she had been icing her hip.
“I was going to tell the team after I told you. Obviously, I’m putting everybody at risk here, and I can’t stand that thought. I’m going home so I can keep people safe.” He saw the anguish in her beautiful gray eyes.
“I applaud your thought process, but this is rather abrupt. Don’t you want to say good-bye to the people at the camp?”
Leo watched helplessly as her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t risk it. Don’t you realize that with my need to glorify myself I’m essentially the same as my father? I’m putting my own ego above the real needs of the people I say I care about.”
He threw down the shirt he was folding and crouched down, grimacing in pain. Then he went to his knees instead. “You’ve done nothing self-aggrandizing. Everything you’ve done has been to try to help from a humble and honorable point of view. You have always, and I mean always, thought of everybody before yourself. If you ever thought that something you were doing would put people in harm’s way, you would do exactly what you’re doing now. Leaving. All I’m asking is, is if you want to say good-bye. I can make sure it’s safe.”
“You can’t, Leo. Look what happened today.” Her lip trembled but she firmed it up, then stood up, and walked around him. “By the way, no more crying in hotel rooms for this woman.”
He chuckled.
“Okay, no crying. No visiting. What do you want to do?”
“I’ve done it. I’ve booked my flight. I’ll tell my team that I’m leaving, and now we can talk.”
Leo stood up. He didn’t like the sound of this at all.
She walked toward him then turned around with her back to him. “I can’t reach this with my arm in a sling. Can you take off my necklace?”
“Sure.” He took off the St. Christopher necklace and tried to hand it to her.
“No, you keep it. I want you to give it to Abia. I’ll have you record a video of me on your phone for her.”
“Jesus, Daisy, are you sure you want to do it this way?”
“Positive.”
“And me? Do I get a video kiss-off too?”
Her mouth fell open. “That’s not what you want, is it?”
“No way, not this time. You tell me what you’re doing. Tell me what you want. I keep walking out on the ledge, now it’s your turn.”
She tried to lift both hands up to touch his chest and gasped in pain.
“Without hurting yourself. That’s the caveat—tell me what you want without hurting yourself.”
“Maybe I’m leaving you before you can leave me.”
“Daisy—”
“No. I got you shot. How could you want to stay with me?”
“We’ve been over this, and you know I’m not going anywhere. I promised. Now tell me what you really want.”
He looked into her eyes and finally saw her take down the walls. “I want to spend time with you back in the States. A lot of time. But I don’t know how. I don’t even know where you live.”
“I know where you live, your headquarters are in D.C., and coincidentally I live in Virginia Beach.”
Her eyes got huge. “Really?”
“You really want to spend a lot of time with me when we’re back in the States? No more blowing off my calls and texts?”
“I was told by a very domineering man that there were new rules that stated I had to return the texts and answer the calls. I agreed to those terms, don’t you remember?” Her smile was pure sin.
“I vaguely remember. The problem is, you were naked at the time, so my memory is addled.” He traced the line of her jaw, and she stretched so that he was soon touching her cheek.
“My plane doesn’t leave for five hours.” Her invitation was obvious.
“Then you just have time to go talk to your team and take a real nap. You need to rest, Daisy. Please say you’re not traveling coach.”
“Of course I am.”
“Not when you’re injured.”
“I refuse to spend money willy-nilly.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Leo pulled out his cell phone and tapped out Doug Prentiss’ number. He explained the situation. Doug promised to pull the other members of the team together for a meeting before Daisy left for the airport. He also said he would get Daisy upgraded to business class.
“I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Believe it,” Leo said with a fierce grin. He went over to the house phone and called down for ice, and almost a repeat of the food he’d ordered a few days before. “But bring the ice as soon as you can. Thank you.”
“Who said you could come in and take over my life?” Daisy was smiling so Leo knew he didn’t have to worry.
“Never would I try to take over your life. Share it? Yes. How does that sound?” he asked softly.
He saw her throat moving but no words came out.
“What, Honey?” he asked as he went closer to her and gently put his arms around her. He tilted her chin up so she was looking at him.
“It sounds scary-wonderful.”
“Which part more? Scary or wonderful?”
“I’m pretty sure wonderful, with scary sprinkles on top.” But there were no tears, just glittery determination in her eyes.
24
Leo had called Daisy every day when he was still in Yemen, and by some strange miracle, she answered each and every one of his calls. He sure as hell wished he could go straight to D.C. and spend time with her, but duty literally called. He’d had all the playtime he’d put in for, and had to show up at Little Creek. Max was not going to be happy to find out he’d been shot while on leave.
He’d called and left a message on Max’s phone so that he’d have more than a minute to digest the news before showing up in his office on Monday.
“Come in.” Max’s voice sounded ominous.
Leo went into the small office and found Max and Kane waiting for him. Max was glowering and if Leo had to guess, Kane was smothering a bit of a smile.
“I want to hear every little detail of how in the hell it came about that you spent your leave in Yemen of all fucking places. What’s more, how in the hell did you end up saving Dr. Ethan Squires’ daughter’s life? Would you mind telling me this? Because this picture is not in focus for me, and I don’t like it when things aren’t in focus.”
“I told you, Max—” Kane started
“Shut it, McNamara, I want to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Now tell me.”
“Maybe he should sit down, seeing as how he was shot in the leg and all,” Kane said.
Yep, Kane was enjoying the hell out of this.
“If he were gut shot, I’d think about letting him sit down. Think about it. Now, in nice, small-syllable words, explain yourself, Perez.”
“There’s a humanitarian crisis in Yemen. I went there to help.”
“Humanitarian is not a small word,” Kane said.
“Shut up, Kane,” Max growled.
“What made you decide they needed your help?” Max demanded to know.
Leo hated this. He didn’t know what answer Max wanted; did he need him to give him cover for the brass, or did he want the truth?
“I want the truth,” Max shot out.
Great, now my boss can read my mind.
“I got to know Daisy while we were in A
fghanistan. I followed her to Yemen. I offered my skills as a security consultant for the internally displaced person camp in Aden, it has over a million people.”
“I’m aware,” Max nodded.
“Daisy was there trying to figure out how her Women’s Charity could be of benefit, and she had come up with a very needed and ingenious way to help.”
“Go on.”
“Unfortunately, there were some men in Yemen who were taking offense and felt like she was trying to elevate women, when all she was doing was giving them a fighting chance in the camp.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you got shot.”
“Apparently, with all the talk going on some dipshit got it in his head that Daisy needed to be killed. I saw him in the crowd and got Daisy and the kid to the ground before he could shoot her. I just took a slight graze.”
Max’s lip twitched. “Now you can sit down.”
“I told you another one would fall on a mission,” Kane said.
“What the hell is up with that?” Max groaned. “Seriously, no more women on missions. This is getting to be ridiculous. So, what are the next steps?”
Kane snorted. “Max, this isn’t a deployment.”
“Bullshit. He wants her, he goes after her. Therefore there are next steps involved. You’ve followed her to Yemen. You’ve gotten shot saving her life. Are you going to close this deal, or what?”
Leo’s eyes widened—was this really Max Hogan asking him this question?
Max must have seen his incredulity. “Look, Leo, I’ve already seen it before when one of you has your attention focused elsewhere. It is bad for my team. So, are you cutting her loose, or sealing the deal?”
“Hopefully sealing the deal, but it’s going to take some time. I’ve yet to really go on a date with her.”
“Room service?” Kane asked.
Leo glared at the man.
“Go see the doctor and find out when you’re ready to train with us again. In the meantime, you’re going to help me with some administrative work, and I get to go play on the jungle gym.”
Max picked up a six-inch stack of files from his desk and handed it to Leo.
He finally smiled. “Welcome back.”
At six-thirty Daisy texted Leo.
What are you doing?
Paperwork. What are you doing?
Wondering what time you get off work, and whether I can interest you in seafood?
Daisy, what are you talking about?
I’m down the street at Waterman’s Surfside Grille.
She giggled, imagining the look on Leo’s face when he realized she was here in Virginia Beach.
I can be there in twenty minutes, fifteen if I make all the lights.
See you soon.
She put her smartphone down on the table and nodded to the hovering waiter. “I’ll take a bottle of sparkling water and put in an order of oysters and calamari.”
Daisy nudged up the strap of her sundress that kept wanting to fall down. It was a beautiful day looking out over the boardwalk at the water. Daisy could barely keep herself calm at the idea of her first real date with Leo Perez. When the waiter poured her glass of water, she drank half of the glass immediately, anything to soothe her frazzled nerves.
This is going to work, right? I haven’t been imagining things, have I?
She reached up to touch her St. Christopher’s medal, but it was gone. It wasn’t in her purse or around her neck. Too bad she couldn’t go back to that nun and ask for another one. But she wasn’t traveling now, was she? Or was she?
She imagined what Abia was doing right now. She knew that the drawing pads and colored pencils that she’d sent to the children hadn’t arrived yet. She had desperately wanted to send an entire toy store but instead kept herself focused on the things that would really matter.
She took another sip of her water.
“Daisy.”
His voice almost caused her to drop her water glass. She gazed up and he looked so much better than she remembered. Was it his eyes? Had she ever seen such warm eyes? He stood there beside her, not touching, not saying another thing, just watching her.
“Excuse me, sir.” The waiter put the plate of calamari down on the table. “Would you like to have a seat, sir?” he asked.
Leo looked at the waiter and gave a wry laugh. “Sure.” He sat down opposite Daisy. The waiter poured him a glass of sparkling water. “Your menu is right there, I’ll be back to take your orders in a minute or two.”
Leo gave her a slow, sensual smile. “What brings you to Virginia Beach?”
“A man.” Daisy smiled back. “I answer the phone when he calls and I return his texts.”
“Wow, that sounds serious,” Leo said with a grin as he grabbed a piece of calamari.
“So serious that I followed him this time. I’ve got a reservation at the Hilton in town.”
“Cancel it.”
Daisy felt herself go all gooey inside.
She asked “What?” just so he could do the commanding voice again.
“I said cancel it, Daisy, you’re staying with me.”
“Okay. So what kind of home do you live in? Typical bachelor pad?”
“Mirrors on the ceiling and a waterbed. You’re going to love it.”
She crinkled her nose. He motioned for her to pick up her menu.
It still blew him away that Daisy was here, in his house. It had taken a little persuading for her to leave the rental car at the restaurant and transfer the luggage to his truck so he could drive her to his townhome. He’d finally gotten her to admit that it kind of hurt to drive with both hands on the steering wheel because her shoulder still wasn’t healed.
“You sure do travel light. When I tell my sisters’ husbands that it’s one suitcase and a laptop bag, they’re going to want to marry you.”
“How many of your sisters are married?” Daisy asked as she preceded him up the steps to the front door.
“All three of them. So are my three brothers. I’m the only unmarried one left.”
Daisy stopped on the top stair. “How many nieces and nephews do you have?”
“Fourteen and two more on the way.”
“Holy smokes! No wonder you did so well with the kids in Aden.”
“Come on, move your tush, we can talk inside.”
Daisy stepped up onto the porch. Leo punched in the security code and unlocked the door and had her go in first. He closed the door, then reset the alarm. He saw Daisy peer curiously at his alarm system. He gave an inward sigh. He’d bet his bottom dollar that she didn’t have an alarm system. Another thing he needed to put on his to-do list.
“So why was the big-bad SEAL doing paperwork?” Daisy asked.
“Come in and get settled on the couch and I’ll bring you something to drink. What would you like?”
“Just water. But tell me why you’re doing paperwork,” she called after him as he walked over to the refrigerator in the kitchen.
Leo pulled two bottles of water out of the fridge and gave one to Daisy. “This week, no training for me until the leg heals up a little more, so in the meantime, I’m going to be handling a lot of my lieutenant’s paperwork. He might have been mad to begin with, but after this, I’ll have totally scored points with the man.”
“He’s mad about how you spent your vacation?” She opened up the bottle and took a sip, then looked up at him. “But why would he be angry? You were helping at the camp, how could he object to that?”
“It wasn’t the camp, it was more about you,” Leo explained as he sat down next to her on the couch.
“Why me?”
“He realizes just how special you had become to me in Afghanistan and he wasn’t really happy about it. Max isn’t thrilled with us getting involved with civilians during missions. As a matter of fact, it’s been pissing him off.”
“Wait a moment. That means that this has happened before, maybe more than once.”
Leo grinned. “Yep. This would be the fourth time.
Well, fifth time if we count Zed, and he might be Night Storm, but he was working for another lieutenant when he found Marcia, so that doesn’t count.”
“Huh?”
“Long story. Suffice it to say that yeah, we go on missions but there are some lucky times where we find special women and work damn hard at making sure they stay with us.”
“You’re losing me, Handsome. But right now I could use a welcome to Virginia Beach kiss.”
He set down her cases by the hall table, then picked her up. “I think I can do a little better than that, Baby. Wanna see my bedroom?”
“Be careful of your leg!”
Leo laughed. It was the best he’d felt since the last time he’d seen her. “My leg is fine, Daisy.” He walked down the hallway to his bedroom and placed her on his mint green and gray duvet cover.
“You really do make your bed,” she said as she sat in the middle of it.
“I wouldn’t lie. I’m not going to lie about this either; you look beautiful in my bed.”
Her smile was incandescent. He flipped on the light on his nightstand so he could admire her even more. “Do you think we know how to do this in a real bedroom, or are we only good at this in a hotel?”
“That’s a good question, Ms. Squires. It deserves a good deal of research. Do you know what else needs to be investigated?”
She shook her head, which only made her glossy brown hair shimmer all the more. “What?” Her voice was hoarse.
“This strap keeps falling down your shoulder. I think it’s time to get you out of this dress.”
“The zipper is in the back,” she whispered.
He bent low for a kiss. As soon as their lips met, it was electric. He gathered her into his arms, spearing his fingers into her silky chestnut locks while his other hand had the pleasure of unzipping her dress. All he felt was the satiny softness of her back. Good God, she wasn’t wearing a bra. He pressed her back down onto the bed, his lips never leaving hers.
She pushed at him. “Get this dress off me,” she complained.
He huffed out a laugh. “I’m trying to.”
Her Sensual Protector: A Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 5) Page 17