by Susan Stoker
“I had to walk a mile to get here. My driver refused to go any farther,” Caite informed them.
Rocco’s head was throbbing. He couldn’t fucking believe this. “You walked a mile in this neighborhood?! Alone?”
Caite nodded.
“Fuck! It’s a miracle you made it here in one piece,” he hissed.
“I know.” Her response was soft and wobbled a bit.
Rocco felt like shit. He hadn’t meant to scare her, especially when it was obvious she knew as well as he did how dangerous the area was.
Something else struck him then. She hadn’t ventured far from the base because she was so uneasy. And yet she’d come, by herself, to one of the worst neighborhoods in the city…because he’d needed help.
He knew for a fact that nothing he could ever do in his life was as brave as what Caite had done tonight.
“How’d you know they were talking about us?” he asked Caite, putting his hands on her shoulders, needing this one question answered before they left. “For all you knew, they were talking about a drug dealer in the neighborhood or some other asshole.”
“They called you soldiers. And said something about the US Navy. I don’t really remember all of it. After you didn’t show up Friday night, I checked the computer and saw that the three of you hadn’t checked out of housing. I thought you might’ve just decided you didn’t want to go out after all. I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you had, but then those guys started talking about three asshole soldiers and killing them on Sunday night and I just…I had a feeling it was you guys. It was stupid.”
Rocco put his finger under her chin and forced her head up so she had to meet his eyes. Her face was flushed with the heat and he could see sweat beaded on her forehead. He couldn’t see any other part of her. Not her hair, as it was covered by the hijab, and not her body, as it was similarly engulfed in the miles of material of the abaya. But her eyes told him all he needed to know.
She’d been hurt when he hadn’t shown, just as he knew she would be.
He hated that he’d disappointed and upset her, even if it hadn’t been his fault. “It wasn’t stupid,” Rocco told her. “You saved our lives, ma petite fée. I’m not sure we can ever repay you for that.”
His praise obviously flustered her. “Anyone would’ve done it.”
“You’re wrong,” Rocco told her. And he wasn’t lying. Time and time again, they’d come across people who were more concerned with saving their own skins than helping others. And that included fellow navy sailors, SEALs, and civilians. He could name on one hand the number of people in his life who had surprised him as Caite had.
“Rocco…” Ace warned.
He knew his time was up. “You ready to get back to your apartment?”
“More than,” she said, obviously relieved at the change in subject. “I’m never leaving again.”
He smiled at her.
“We’ll follow you two. We’ll attract less attention if we’re not all together.”
“Oh!” Caite said, and she dug in her pocket and pulled out some bills, holding them out to Ace. “Here. It’s a mix of Bahraini dinar and American bills. I wasn’t sure which the taxi drivers would take.”
Ace reached out and took the wad of cash. He thumbed through it, taking half, and gave the rest to Rocco. “Best you take this, just in case.”
Rocco nodded. The last thing he needed was for Caite to be caught with money in her pocket. It would be a miracle if they were able to make it back to the base without encountering one of the city’s more unsavory residents.
“We’ll meet you back at the base, Rocco,” Gumby said.
He nodded. They needed to get the tablets to Commander Horner and debrief. “You okay on that ankle?” he asked his friend.
Gumby smiled. “Walk in the park.”
Rocco knew he was downplaying his injury, but they couldn’t do a damn thing about it right now. They’d have to wait until they were back on base. Same with his wrist and Ace’s head.
“Be careful,” was all he said.
“You too,” both Ace and Gumby returned.
Rocco watched as Ace untied the rope from the table and the spool and shoved it under one of the shelves. Gumby pulled the rope ladder back up and out of the cellar and returned it to a hook on the wall. Ace closed the hatch and both men moved the table back into place. They carelessly placed a bunch of the African carvings back on top.
“There. It looks as normal as it’s gonna. It’ll buy us some time if anyone looks in here, and it’ll give the brothers quite a shock when they come to off us tomorrow night,” Ace joked. “They’ll be wondering for days how in the hell we escaped.”
“How did you get in here?” Gumby asked Caite.
She pointed to the window. “It was unlocked.”
“Damn,” Ace said, and shook his head. They all walked over to it and Ace went out first. It was a tight fit, but nothing they hadn’t been through before. Gumby followed.
When Rocco was alone with Caite in the store, he took her face in his hands and put his forehead against hers. “I’m pissed at you,” he told her tenderly.
“I know,” she replied, and held on to his forearms with a death grip.
“You could’ve been killed.”
“I know,” she repeated.
“Raped.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Pressed into prostitution.”
She nodded wordlessly this time.
“Thank you,” he told her in a whisper. Rocco had seriously thought he’d never see her, or anyone else, ever again. He’d come to terms with his death and had actually looked forward to going down fighting. But one look at Caite lying flat on her back in the last place he’d expect to see her had made him realize how much he wasn’t ready to die.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered back.
“Roc?” Ace whispered from outside. “Pass her out.”
“Ready to get out of here?” Rocco asked her.
“God, yes,” she said with enthusiasm.
Knowing if he kissed her now, he wouldn’t be able to stop with just a chaste peck on the lips, he pulled back and turned her so she was facing the window. “Put your arms over your head. Pretend you’re diving out the window. Ace and Gumby will be there to grab you. Keep your body tight until you’re out. Got it?”
She nodded and dutifully put her arms up. Rocco easily lifted her and she did exactly as he’d asked, and it was only a matter of seconds before she was out of the store.
Taking one last look around, and shaking his head, Rocco followed close on her heels. The sooner he got Caite out of this dangerous part of the city and back to her apartment, the better. He had a ton of questions for her, but not until they were safe. He wanted to know what the fuck was going on more than he wanted his next breath, but he’d wait. Her safety came first. Period.
Chapter Six
Caite breathed a sigh of relief when the taxi turned into her apartment complex next to the base. There had been several times when she hadn’t thought she was going to make it back in one piece.
But looking at Rocco, she couldn’t be sorry that she’d taken the risk. He looked awful, but as she’d found was typical of a lot of soldiers and sailors, not one complaint had left his mouth. His eye was practically swollen shut and the bruises on his face were alarming.
He hadn’t had any problem helping her out the window back at the grocery store, but he’d shifted in his seat several times. If his face looked as bad as it did, she assumed the rest of him was probably also bruised as well. His hair was disheveled, and if she’d run into him looking the way he did now, she’d probably have walked quickly in the other direction.
The taxi came to a stop and Caite climbed out and waited for Rocco to do the same. They’d made it out of the area where Mr. Bitoo’s store was located by the skin of their teeth. A group of men had followed them almost from the second they’d appeared back on the street. Rocco had made her walk at a fast clip for over a mile. The men beh
ind them calling out taunts and threats the entire way.
They’d said things in Arabic, then English, and even some French. Rocco didn’t react in any way. He behaved as if he couldn’t even hear them. But the iron grip he had on her arm belied his relaxed outward appearance. Every muscle in his body had been tense, and at one point, he’d whispered for her to run if anything happened.
As if. She hadn’t risked her life to find and save him, only for Rocco to get knifed or shot on the street. No. If the men had made a move, she’d been ready to do what she could to help.
But in the end, it hadn’t been necessary to do anything. A taxi happened to drive by right when things were getting ugly. Rocco had literally stepped in front of the car, forcing it to stop or run him over. It really wasn’t a surprise that the driver had done as Rocco ordered and stayed put until they could both get inside. He was big, beat all to hell, and pissed off.
Rocco had stuffed Caite inside and hadn’t even needed to tell the driver to floor it. The second the door was shut, they took off, leaving the group of men yelling and shaking their fists behind them.
Caite hoped Ace and Gumby had also been able to get a taxi, but when she’d opened her mouth to ask Rocco what he thought the odds were that his friends were okay, he’d shaken his head and motioned to the driver. Understanding that he didn’t want her to say anything that could be overheard, she’d bitten her lip and tried to control her breathing.
Rocco had taken her hand in both of his and held it tightly the entire trip back south toward the base.
The second they exited the taxi, it took off, heading back toward the center of Manama.
He walked her to a lighted area near the doors that led into the apartment complex, then turned to face her. “I don’t have a lot of time, Caite, but I need to know how you found us.”
Taking a deep breath, she told him the CliffsNotes version.
When she was done, Rocco frowned. “I can’t believe you found us with so little information.”
Caite rubbed her temple wearily. “I can’t remember absolutely everything they said now. I was freaked out and scared that they’d realize I could understand what they were saying. It’s all kind of a blur, if I’m being honest. I just remember the bits and pieces I told you. Then I looked up their conference paperwork and found the address of the store. It was really luck more than anything else.”
“Are you sure you don’t remember anything else?” Rocco asked.
Caite frowned. She was so overwhelmed after everything that had happened. It felt like it was weeks ago that she’d heard the brothers talking. She shook her head.
“Okay, don’t worry. I’m sure if you remember something important later, you’ll let me know, right?”
“Absolutely.” Caite wasn’t sure there was anything more to remember. And she really just wanted to forget about it altogether at this point. “Do you want to come up?” she asked, changing the subject.
He looked down at her with an expression she couldn’t interpret. On the one hand, she knew he had stuff he needed to do…but she didn’t want him to go yet.
“I wish I could.”
Caite grimaced. “Right.” She tried to take a step back but he tightened his hold on the hand he hadn’t let go of for the last twenty minutes.
“Stop,” he ordered.
She froze.
“There’s nothing I want more than to come up to your apartment and spend time with you. If I could get away with it, I’d let you make me a huge sandwich, because I’m starving after eating the shit that was down in that cellar. I’d sit on your couch and you’d tell me every second of every minute that passed since I didn’t show up for our date. After I wrung a promise from you that you’d never, ever, ever do something that foolhardy and dangerous again, I’d follow you into your bathroom, strip you naked, and make sure you’re clean from head to toe. Then I’d take you to bed and show you exactly how proud and in awe of you I am, by making love to you for the rest of the night.”
Caite stared up at him with huge eyes. Her heart was beating out of control and she shifted on her feet.
She wanted that. Every single thing he’d said.
She’d never had a one-night stand before, and instead of his words being creepy and too forward, after what they’d been through and what she’d done for him, they sounded exactly right. She wanted to feel him inside her, to know in the most carnal way possible that he was alive and well.
Tonight had been too close. She knew as well as anyone that they’d been lucky. If she didn’t know French, or if she hadn’t been paying attention, or if someone had stopped her, or if she didn’t have an abaya to wear…so many things could’ve gone wrong. But they hadn’t. And she wanted to reaffirm that they were both alive and well in the most basic way possible. Sex.
“But I can’t.”
His words jolted her out of the erotic fantasy she’d already begun to weave in her head of the two of them rolling around naked on her bed. Caite wanted to protest. To tell him that he could. That she needed him. But instead, she licked her lips and waited for him to continue.
“Ace and Gumby are expecting me. We need to get those tablets to the authorities and talk to our commander and tell him what happened. We’ll have to be involved in meetings with the local authorities and give them our statements. There are still four tablets missing, the brothers will have to be rounded up and questioned. There’s a million and one things that have to be done…and not one of those feels like it’s more important than you right now. I want you to know that. But I don’t have a choice. I have to do what I came here to do.”
“Will I have to testify or talk to someone?” she asked.
Rocco shook his head. “No. You’re done. You’re out of this. I don’t want anyone knowing you had anything to do with this. Not because I’m not proud as fuck, but because I want you safe. You’ll be here for another eight months, at least. The last thing I want is someone targeting you for retribution.”
Caite hadn’t even thought about that. It was extremely frightening. She nodded and asked, “How will you say you got out of the cellar?”
“We’ll just say it took us a while to overcome our injuries enough to figure out a plan to reach the hatch, and that it opened easily when we finally managed it.”
Caite wasn’t sure Commander Horner would believe that, but she didn’t contradict Rocco.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly.
“Yeah. You?”
“I’m alive, and that’s more than I thought would happen when that hatch opened,” he said dryly. “It’s hard to surprise a Navy SEAL, Caite, and tonight, you surprised the hell out of all three of us.”
“I’m sorry.” It was the first time he’d admitted to being a SEAL.
“Don’t be,” he told her immediately. He brought her hand up to his lips. “I’ll never forget what you did for us. For me.”
It sounded like he was saying goodbye, and that sucked.
“So this is it?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“It?”
“Goodbye?”
“For now,” he said sadly. “We’ll be busy with meetings and briefings, and then we’ll be heading back home to the States and the rest of our team.”
“Oh.”
“But that doesn’t mean that when you get home, I wouldn’t like to meet up. Have a drink. Take you out for that dinner we didn’t get to last night.” His words were hesitant, as if he wasn’t sure she’d agree.
“I’d like that,” Caite said immediately.
“I’ll give you my number,” Rocco said. “But only if you promise to use it. Don’t make me use my connections to hunt you down,” he teased.
“You think you’d be able to find me?” she asked.
“Absolutely. If you give me the slightest bit of encouragement, ma petite fée, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
“You don’t even know me,” she protested, even though she loved hearing that.
“The hell I don�
��t,” he retorted. “I know all I need to know in order to be absolutely certain I want to see you again. That I want to take you out. That I want to see where things between us might go…and I’m not just talking sexually. I have no doubt that in that area, we’ll be combustible.”
She blushed. “You can’t know that.”
“Ma petite fée, every time I get near you, I get more excited simply holding your hand than I can ever remember feeling with any woman in the past. And if those two short kisses were any indication, we’re not going to have any problems in bed.”
He was right. She’d felt the same way; it was part of the reason she’d been so disappointed and hurt when he hadn’t shown up on Friday after work.
“If I give you my number, will you remember it?” he asked.
She nodded.
He recited his phone number, and made her say it back several times before he was sure she’d remember it. “Text me the second you land back in San Diego,” Rocco ordered. “I’m going to be counting down the days.”
“You’ll…” Her voice trailed off.
“What? You can ask me anything.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you a question. I was just going to tell you to be careful. I guessed you were a SEAL before you told me tonight, and I know what you guys do isn’t exactly safe.”
“It’s usually a lot more boring than what happened here,” he told her.
“Uh-huh,” she said skeptically.
“I’ll be careful,” he said. “I’ve got this gal I want to take out when she gets back to San Diego,” he said quietly.
She blushed harder.
“And I want you to meet the rest of my team.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Yeah.”
“Because I have no doubt they’re going to love you as much as Gumby and Ace do.”
She grinned. “How can they love me? I’ve known them for like two-point-three seconds.”
Rocco chuckled. “They know all the important things about you. That when push came to shove, you overcame your fears and did what had to be done. It wasn’t smart, you could’ve been killed, but you did it anyway. We wouldn’t have thought less of you if you hadn’t done anything, but the fact that you did solidified your place in our hearts and minds. In case you somehow managed to hit your head and get a concussion on the way home that I didn’t notice, and you forgot…you saved all three of our lives tonight. We were stuck down in that cellar with no way out. Like you said, the Bitoos were going to come back and kill us. Bubba, Rex, and Phantom are gonna bend over backward to make sure you understand how much you’re appreciated.”