Thinking about Dax and the email he’d sent her earlier made her stomach feel like she’d swallowed rocks for supper. Her ex had no business creeping back into her life; no right to say how much he missed her or to ask her to meet with him, so they could talk about what had happened between them and a possible future together.
There was no future. Dax didn’t want her back. He just wanted her because she’d inherited a lot of money, as well as her father’s shares in Ground Zero.
Truly, it was a blessing Dax had left her when he did. Once they’d broken up, it had become crystal clear how selfish he was while they’d been together. If Outdoor Energy hadn’t already put the wheels in motion and given Dax a huge signing bonus before her parent’s accident, he would’ve never left.
Logan ended the call and twenty minutes later escorted her outside. Before leaving, Weslee pulled on a hot-pink hoodie over her shirt. The fitted sweatshirt was a limited edition that featured a lime green embroidered logo of Ground Zero on the upper left side of her chest.
Logan waited for her at the bottom of the steps, scanning their surroundings. He didn’t have a jacket on, and the new shirt he’d changed into fit him almost like a second skin. His muscles really were impressive. They weren’t huge like some of the steroid-induced, vein-popping muscles she’d seen at the various gyms she’d been to over the years, but they were rock solid and very capable of protecting her.
She noticed that he still wore the thin-corded bracelets and was sliding his thumb along the outside of one of them as he searched the perimeter. Again, she wondered where he’d gotten them. According to Sutton, Logan had never been married. Of course, that didn’t mean he hadn’t fathered a child.
He dropped his hand and looked up at her as she descended the stairs. Before heading out, she slipped off her shoes and dropped them next to the stairs. “Thank you for doing this,” she said, letting her toes sink into the cool sand.
“You’re welcome.” He moved aside and indicated with his hand for her to start walking. “Lead the way.”
She headed for the shoreline, and he followed close beside her. He was quiet, his teasing mood from earlier completely gone. She hoped his reticence wasn’t because Inez had filled his head with her romantic ideas that he and Weslee were destined to be together.
They walked in silence for several yards until Weslee couldn’t stand it anymore. “Since we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, I’d like to know a little bit more about you.”
“Like what?” he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
She sidestepped a clump of seaweed. “Like, where did you grow up or have you always lived in San Diego?”
He didn’t answer her right away. It wasn’t until Weslee looked at him again that he finally spoke. “I spent most of my childhood in Colorado.”
“Only most of it?”
He regarded her with another long look. “My mom and I moved to Colorado after my dad passed away.”
“I’m sorry,” Weslee said, feeling another connection with him. He knew what it felt like to lose a parent. “How old were you?”
“Ten,” he said, staring straight ahead.
Weslee wanted to know more, but his rigid body language suggested he didn’t want to talk about it. She got that. It had taken a few months before she could talk about her parent’s death. Everyone handled grief differently. Logan had only been a child when his daddy had died, which had to make healing so much harder.
“Goodness,” she said with a squeal as the water rushed in and covered her bare feet. “That’s cold.”
Logan reacted lightning fast, taking her by the hand and pulling her back. The warmth from his touch radiated through her, stealing her breath. She raised her face to look at him, and their eyes connected. She wished she could read minds…she had no idea if Logan felt this pull between them like she did.
“You should’ve left your shoes on,” he said, abruptly dropping her hand.
The gruff tone of his voice left her feeling like she’d been doused over the head with a wave of cold water. If he did feel anything for her, then he hid it well or didn’t like it. Either way, it was for the best.
Shoving her hands into the large pocket of her hoodie, she gazed out over the water. The setting sun lit the sky on fire with brilliant colors of red and orange. Logan moved to stand next to her and awareness spiked through her. She reminded herself his proximity meant nothing romantic. It was his job to remain close to her.
Her chest suddenly felt hollow. Loneliness as vast as the Pacific Ocean swallowed her until she felt like she couldn’t draw in a breath. Emotion pressed against her throat, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. She was so alone. Yes, she had Inez and Jon, and she loved them both, but they weren’t her parents. She missed them so much. Missed the love they had for each other and for her. She wanted a marriage like they had had and was grateful Dax had betrayed her before she’d married him.
“I’m ready to go in,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. Although the sunset was picture-worthy, the tears were coming, and she did not want to have a breakdown in front of Logan. Turning away from him, she started back toward the house.
She wasn’t fast enough. Logan caught up to her in a few short strides and stepped in front of her, cutting off her path. “Hey,” he said. “Are you okay?”
Weslee made the mistake of looking in his eyes. The unexpected tenderness she saw was her undoing, and a sob broke through, unleashing a flood of tears.
Chapter 4
Logan had faced danger many times as a Navy SEAL but dealing with a crying woman made confronting an ISIS cell feel like a walk in the park. He wasn’t sure what had happened. One minute he and Weslee were staring at the beautiful sunset, and then the next thing he knew she was sobbing.
Not sure if he should say something or give her a hug, he glanced over his shoulder to gauge how far away the house was. They weren’t close enough for him to get immediate help from her housekeeper. He was sure Inez would know what to do.
Rubbing a hand across the base of his neck, he turned back toward Weslee. She’d covered her face with her hands, but it didn’t hide the torrent of tears streaming down her face. It was up to him to deal with the situation. Man, he sure wished he had some backup. Unfortunately, he didn’t have Inez’s number. Calling his mother was out of the question. For one, she was on a cruise with some of her quilting ladies. Secondly, she’d be so excited he was calling about a girl that she’d lose focus.
He certainly couldn’t call any of his friends. It was bad enough a couple of Sutton’s guys were here doing counter surveillance. They were probably watching the whole thing right now.
“Uh…I’m sorry, Weslee,” he said, hoping an apology might help.
“You. Didn’t. Do. Anything.” She sniffed in between each word, making him feel worse. “I’m. Fine.”
She was not fine. She was upset and probably could use a hug. He wasn’t a hugger, but his mother was. The pretty girl standing in front of him was not his mother. Hugging her would definitely not be the same.
Shifting his stance, he considered his next move. He’d thought that by wearing the Outside Energy shirt the teasing might eliminate his attraction toward her. He realized how wrong he was about that the moment she’d stepped close to him to tug on the hem of his shirt. Her nearness had hit him square in the chest like a heat-seeking missile striking its target.
She made a quiet noise of distress. Shoot, he had to do something. Slowly, Logan loosely put an arm around her shoulders and patted the side of her arm. If he could prod her forward, then he could get back to the house and have Inez take over. Amazingly, the simple contact did the trick. Weslee’s tears subsided as she drew in a shuddering breath.
He was about to suggest they go inside when his plan completely backfired. As gracefully as a dancer, she turned into him, circled her arms around his waist, and pressed her cheek against his chest. Then she started crying again. Not as hard as before, but still crying.
Logan didn’t know what to do. His one-armed embrace was kind of awkward. He was holding her but not really since his other arm hung limply to his side. He either needed to let go of her or fully embrace her.
An older woman walked by with her dog and glanced their way. The expression on her face was a mixture of concern and censure. It reminded him of a look his mother had given him a few times over the years. Thinking about the scolding his mom would give him if she were to see him right now, he slowly wrapped his other arm around Weslee and tightened his hold.
Dang, she felt small and soft and smelled unbelievably good, like peaches and cream. An explosion of awareness rocketed through him. He swallowed hard as she snuggled in closer, pressing her fingers against his back. Not sure what to say, or if his voice would work properly, he remained silent and just held her.
He hadn’t held a woman that wasn’t his mother for a long time. So long he’d forgotten how good it could be. The enticing scent of peaches and cream swirled around him, filling his head with all kinds of thoughts. Faint alarms pinged in his head, warning him of impending danger. He needed to let her go and let someone else do the comforting. Heart thudding inside his chest, he loosened his grasp only to have her nestle in closer.
She let out a small sigh of contentment, giving Logan a sense of male satisfaction he hadn’t ever felt before. It wouldn’t hurt to hold her for a few more minutes, right? He liked helping people, and this was clearly helping her because she’d nearly stopped crying.
On the downside, Logan’s awareness for her increased with each beat of his heart. Tendrils of her long hair brushed against his arms, his bare skin flushing as hot as the blood racing through his veins. Without consciously thinking it through, he slid his fingers through the length of her hair. Shoot. It was just as soft and silky as he’d imagined, eliciting another forbidden desire. He wanted to kiss her.
As if she’d read his mind, Weslee lifted her tear-stained face to look at him. Most girls didn’t cry pretty. Weslee wasn’t one of those girls. Framed by dark, spiky lashes, her eyes glistened like the aquamarine stone representing his birth month. Even her flushed face was appealing. And her lips…her cherry-colored lips were slightly swollen and looked so kissable.
Don’t do it, Steele. Kissing her is a very bad idea.
He repeated the edict to himself over and over. It took every ounce of self-discipline the Navy had drilled in his head to release his hold and step away from her.
“Feeling better?” he asked, wincing at the tone of his voice. He sounded like he’d just finished a brutal round of PT.
“Yes.” She ran a fingertip under her lower lashes. “I…I’m so embarrassed.” Her forehead creased as she pointed to the tear-stains darkening the fabric of his shirt. “I’m so sorry. I’ll buy you a new shirt.”
“That’s not necessary.” He thought about the Outdoor Energy shirt he’d stuffed into his duffle bag. She’d been upset about the shirt and not just in a healthy-competitive-way. She’d said there was a story behind her reaction. Perhaps the shirt had been the catalyst for her breakdown. “But I wouldn’t mind buying a Ground Zero shirt.”
A small smile curved her mouth. “I can help you with that.”
“I probably need to buy more than one, since I packed two other Outdoor Energy shirts,” he said, purposely mentioning the rival company to see if she would talk to him about what had happened.
Her smile dimmed “You don’t have to replace your shirts, Logan.” Sighing, she looked down at her feet. “I promise I’m not always this emotional. It’s just been…a trying day.”
It was the opening he needed, but he still hesitated. Delving into her personal life for anything other than the mission was risky. However, in order to fully protect her, he needed more information than the intel he already had. “Want to talk about it?”
Her head snapped up, and she studied him for a long moment. “I suppose I do need to tell you about Dax.”
“Dax?” he asked, wondering what kind of parents would saddle their kid with a name like that.
“Dax Hamilton worked for my daddy.” She pushed a loose curl behind one ear. “He was also my fiancé.”
“Was?” Logan asked, wondering how recent the breakup had been. He already knew she’d been engaged. Her dossier mentioned a brief engagement, but he’d thought nothing about it since the police had cleared the man as her stalker.
“We ended our engagement shortly after my parents died.” She rubbed her lips together and looked out over the ocean. “He emailed me a few hours ago asking me to meet him so we could talk. Apparently, he wants me back.”
Logan felt like someone had just dumped a bucket of icy water over him. His gut tightened with unreasonable jealousy as he processed Weslee’s words. “Are you going to meet with him?” he asked, keeping his tone even and his expression neutral. As her security detail, he needed to vet anyone wanting to meet with her. As a man...that was more complicated, so he compartmentalized his personal feelings and became her bodyguard.
Weslee started walking, and Logan fell in step beside her. His dislike for her former fiancé intensified with every soft-spoken word that fell from her lips. The guy was a snake, deserting her when she’d needed him most. Not only that, he’d betrayed her further by crossing enemy lines to work for Outdoor Energy. Like any traitor, the man had also taken confidential information from Ground Zero and called it his own.
By the time she finished her tale, Logan understood why Inez had wanted him to dispose of his shirt. On top of everything else, the shirt he’d worn had been designed by Dax, although the original concept had been Weslee’s.
“Can’t you take legal action against him?” Logan asked.
“Jon is working on it, but his contract has a few clauses added in that protect him.” She sighed. “Jon believes the contract is fraudulent. He would’ve never allowed Daddy to hire Dax with the current contract. But so far he hasn’t been able to prove anything.”
Logan was good at finding hidden documents, but he would need access to the guy’s computer to perform an in-depth search. “Any chance Dax’s computer is still at Ground Zero?”
“No, he took it with him.” She looked at him sidelong. “You think you could find something on it? Even if he permanently deleted it?”
“If it was ever on his computer then I’ll find it.”
“Really?” She stopped walking, scrutinizing him with a half-smile. “You don’t look like a computer nerd.”
Logan’s gaze narrowed. “I’ve never been called a nerd in my life.”
She laughed, a soft sound that went straight through him. “No, I’m sure you haven’t.”
A sudden gust of wind sprayed them with a mist of water. Weslee shivered and shoved her hands into the pocket of her sweatshirt. “We better head back,” Logan said, noting the last vestiges of daylight were fading fast. No matter how many eyes his buddies had on them or their surroundings, being out after dark was dangerous.
As they walked back to the house, Logan asked her how she’d gotten into archery and found out her father had introduced her at a young age. Apparently, she’d been a natural. Instead of being in beauty pageants, Weslee had honed her archery skills until she’d become somewhat of a celebrity in the hunting industry and the face for Ground Zero. Logan wished he could see her in action. The competitive side of him would love to challenge her. He was deadly with a gun, skilled with a knife and was an expert in hand-to-hand combat, but he’d never once picked up a bow and arrow.
“You don’t actually hunt, do you?” he asked as they ascended the porch steps. He couldn’t reconcile this Southern beauty with hunting.
Pausing on one of the stairs, she turned to face him with one eyebrow raised. “Yes, I hunt. And any meat I obtain doesn’t go to waste. Once it’s processed, I keep some of it, but the majority is donated to local food banks.” A trace of sadness flickered across her features. “Daddy and I used to go every season. I couldn’t bring myself to go this past season.�
�� She looked wistfully beyond his shoulder. “It isn’t the same without him.”
He wanted to volunteer to go with her, but chasing bad guys was the only hunting Logan had ever done. “I’m sorry,” he said, hoping the moisture gathering in her eyes wasn’t the start of another crying session. As much as he’d enjoyed holding her, he didn’t like her tears. Tears made him feel helpless. It reminded him too much of the times he’d caught his mother crying after his dad was killed in action.
“Goodness,” she said, blinking a few times. “I don’t know what is wrong with me tonight.” She offered him a genuine smile. “I apologize for all this emotional drama. I promise I’ll be back to myself tomorrow.”
Weslee went straight to her room, claiming a headache. Inez and Jon also retired shortly after. Although they’d been here for over a week, they were still on the Eastern time zone.
He glanced at his watch and saw it was way too early for him to hit the sack. Besides, Sutton was sending over a tailor to fit him for his tux. His cell buzzed in his pocket with an incoming text from one of the men he’d called to watch over them. He reported that all was clear and asked if they needed to stick around. Logan sent a reply they were good to go, grateful none of the guys from his SEAL team had been available tonight after all. They would’ve razzed him about getting too friendly with his client.
The tailor arrived a short time later to take his measurements. It didn’t last long, so once he was alone, Logan grabbed his laptop and settled onto one of the oversized leather chairs to do some recon on Ground Zero. He clicked on the about-our-company link and saw a picture of the founder, Marcus Wesley Campbell. He read the brief bio on Mr. Campbell that also named his wife, JoAnne, and their daughter, Weslee Anne. Apparently, his client had been named after both of her parents.
His eyes drifted further down the page that had several pictures of Weslee either dressed in curve-hugging athletic clothing or equally curve-hugging camo. She looked amazing in both, but Logan’s vote was for the camo. It was pretty hot, especially the pics with her shooting her bow and arrow.
The Rogue Warrior: Navy SEAL Romances 2.0 Page 5