She held out the phone for Weslee to see. “I don’t care what Jon says. The two of you make such a cute couple.”
“We’re not a couple.” Weslee refused to look at the phone, telling herself that if she looked at the images they’d be forever imprinted on her mind. The dream was hazy and would eventually fade. Seeing the pictures would solidify it had happened and make it real.
She must want to torture herself for the rest of her life. Without consciously making a decision, she wrapped her trembling fingers around the phone and viewed the first picture.
Oh. My. Goodness. Why did she have to look? Logan held her in his arms like she weighed nothing. The gray dry-fit shirt he wore barely contained his bulging biceps as he confidently carried her down the stairs of the plane. Weslee tapped on the screen repeatedly, each shot making her body feel lighter and lighter until she was sure she would float away. Inez had shot more than a few pics. It was as if she’d captured every movement so if you played them in succession it would create a movie.
The closer Logan got to Inez’s proximity, the more details Weslee picked up on. She might have slept through the whole thing, but that hadn’t stopped her arms from circling his neck, or from snuggling in close to his chest. She paused on the next photo, studying the amused look on Logan’s face as he gazed down at her.
She prayed she hadn’t talked in her sleep. She’d been known to do that before, and she wasn’t the kind of sleep-talker that mumbled nonsensical words. Once, she’d had a whole conversation with her mama, divulging the name of a boy she’d kissed at a party the night before. Weslee was close to her mother, but at the age of fifteen, she would’ve never intentionally confessed she’d kissed a boy.
That was the last picture. Before she lost her head and started scrolling backward, she handed the phone back to Inez. “You should probably delete those.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because it’s embarrassing.” She placed a hand over her stomach, trying to quell the butterflies knocking around inside. “Does Logan know you took those pictures?”
“If he does, he didn’t say anything to me.” Inez gazed down at the last picture visible on the screen once more. “I think this one is my favorite. If y’all get married we can have it printed and display it at the reception.”
“Inez!” Weslee said in a voice louder than was necessary. She gently cleared her throat and softened her tone. “Please, stop saying things like that. He’s just my bodyguard.”
“Are you tellin’ me you don’t like him?” Inez shook her finger at her. “And don’t you dare fib to me. I’ve known you since before you said your first word, and I’ll know a lie if I hear it.”
“No.” Weslee licked her lips, knowing she had to tread very carefully. “I like him…as my bodyguard.”
“I know you like him as your bodyguard,” Inez said with a dramatic eye roll. “But what about as a man? Like a man you could fall in love with?”
Dropping her eyes to look at her bare feet, Weslee thought about how to reply. Inez would drag the truth out of her one way or another. So perhaps if she gave her just enough information then she would leave it alone. She couldn’t tell her former nanny that she’d kissed him and might already be half in love with him, which seemed absolutely insane. But then hadn’t her parents fallen in love the first time they met? Then they’d married three weeks after their first date and had just celebrated their forty-fourth wedding anniversary the month before they died.
“I like him as a man too, but that doesn’t mean you can start planning a wedding.” She raised her chin and lifted one shoulder up in a shrug. “Besides, just because I like him doesn’t mean he likes me back.”
“He likes you, darlin’.” Inez pumped her eyebrows up and down. “I know a smitten man when I see one, and he is definitely smitten.”
The smitten man suddenly appeared down the hall and started walking toward them. Weslee couldn’t let him see her like this. She pulled Inez into her room and slammed the door shut. Turning around, she leaned against the door and closed her eyes. Hopefully, Logan would take a hint and leave her alone.
“What has gotten into you?” Inez asked.
“Nothing…I just wanted to show you my toe.” She kept her voice to a whisper and held out her foot. The toe hardly looked red at all. “The lamp fell on it. I thought it was broken.”
“Are you sure it didn’t hit your head?” Inez asked dryly.
Another knock sounded at the door. Weslee stifled a yelp and put her finger up to her lips. “Shhh,” she whispered, hoping the older woman would just go along with this.
Inez let out a huff and shook her head, muttering a prayer to the Lord for more patience.
Another knock sounded at the door. “I already know you’re awake,” Logan said in his deep voice. “And I know you’re dressed, so I could walk right in.”
Weslee reached behind her and locked the door.
He snorted a laugh. “You seriously think that is going to stop me?”
“No, but it’ll at least deter you,” she called back. Then she pointed a finger to her face. “I look horrible,” she whispered to Inez. “I don’t want him to see me like this.”
Inez snapped to attention. “Go get in the shower and I’ll take care of this.” She motioned for Weslee to come away from the door and then pushed her toward the bathroom. “Take all the time you need.”
Weslee hurried back to her bathroom and closed the door. She snickered when she heard Logan’s exasperated voice. “I really need to talk to her.”
“You can talk to her once she’s out of the shower.”
“Right, and then she’ll need to fix her hair and put on makeup. I can’t wait that long.”
Weslee couldn’t help hoping he couldn’t wait that long because he wanted to kiss her again. No, you are not to think about that kiss again. She hoped if she told herself this over and over eventually she’d actually listen.
“What’s so important that you need to see her right now?”
“I need access to her computer, but the password Jon told me to use doesn’t work.”
Weslee covered her mouth so she didn’t groan out loud. She’d been prompted to change her password the week before and had put in the first thing that popped into her head. It had been right after she’d run into Logan when she didn’t know he was Logan. She’d planned on changing it, but had forgotten to do it until now.
“Let me get it from her,” Inez said. She knocked on the bathroom door. “Weslee, Logan needs your new password for your laptop.”
Beads of sweat broke out across her forehead. What should she do? She could hurry and turn on the shower and hope they’d think she hadn’t heard them talking. No matter what, she couldn’t reveal her password with Logan standing right there.
Tiptoeing across the floor, she turned the water on and winced when it made a loud squealy noise.
“Weslee? Did you hear me?” Inez asked through the door.
“No.” She slapped a hand over her mouth and then realized it was too late for that. “I’m getting in the shower. I’ll talk to you when I get out.”
There was silence, so she quickly stripped out of her pajamas. It occurred to her that once she was in her room someone had helped her undress and then put on her PJs. Surely Inez wouldn’t have let Logan do it. No matter how determined her nanny was that Logan was the one for Weslee, she would never resort to such unladylike tactics.
She stepped in the shower and screamed loudly as icy cold water sprayed over her. With another squeal, she moved out of the line of fire so she could adjust the temperature. Suddenly, the bathroom door flew open, forcing Weslee to move closer to the faucet so she was hidden by the tiled wall. She screamed again. The water was still ice cold, and a Navy SEAL had just busted down her bathroom door.
“Don’t come any closer!” she yelled out, fumbling with the handle to get hot water. “I’m…nak…not decent.”
“Why did you scream then?” Logan demanded. �
��You scared the sh—.” He stopped mid-sentence and then finished with, “Was someone else in here?”
Finally, the water turned warm and she could think again. “No, the water was freezing.” Then she peeked her head around the tile and scowled at him. “And the only person in here other than me is you, so please get out of my bathroom.”
Even with the shower on, she could hear Inez laughing from her bedroom. If any other man had just barged into her bathroom while she was showering, her nanny would have killed him first and then asked questions.
Logan looked like he was going to argue with her, maybe even press her for the password. She would rather risk exposure than reveal what it was. “Please leave, Lieutenant Steele. And close the door behind you.”
That prompted him to look at the door, which was splintered around the doorknob. “Sorry about that. I promise I’ll fix it.”
“Thank you.” She risked sticking her hand out and shooed him away. “Now go, please.”
As if he just realized where he was, a slow grin spread across his face, making him look every bit like the hot-boy-next-door kind of guy with a healthy dose of mischievous rogue added into the mix. She’d never been attracted to a rogue before. Heaven help her, but she was attracted to this one. Still, he needed to get out of her bathroom.
“I can shoot an arrow straight through a bulls-eye, so I’m fairly certain I could nail you dead on with a can of shaving cream,” she said in her scariest voice. “You have five seconds to leave before I test my theory.”
The skin around his eyes crinkled, and she could swear the man was mentally counting down. Her fingers curled around the can of shaving cream. “I’m going,” he said when he had two seconds left. He grinned, then laughed out loud as he turned and finally left. When he tried to close the door it popped back open, but not quite as far. “Sorry,” he called out with a snicker. “And hurry it up. I’ve got work to do, and I need your password.”
Chapter 10
Logan was in so much trouble. Not because he’d broken down Weslee’s bathroom door or lingered longer than he’d needed to once he established her stalker wasn’t hiding out in her shower. No, he was in trouble because his prediction that his life would change forever was going to come true. He’d tried getting Weslee out of his head. Tried resigning as her security detail, but Sutton wouldn’t have it.
After Logan explained what had happened, the man had simply smiled and asked him if he wasn’t competent enough to protect Weslee Campbell. Logan was competent. He just worried he was compromised. Then Sutton asked him if another agent would value Weslee’s life more than him. Logan couldn’t answer yes. He would give his life for her. Had been willing to give his life for her. Another agent might hesitate to get in the line of fire, and in those few precious seconds, she could be hurt or fatally wounded.
So, Logan hadn’t quit. He was here to find the identity of the stalker and put him away so he couldn’t bother Weslee anymore. Then he wanted to see if this thing with Weslee was the real deal. It went against everything he’d ever believed—that falling in love wasn’t worth it because of the risk of losing them. What he hadn’t understood before was that missing out on loving a woman like Weslee was far worse.
It was a little crazy how fast he’d come to that conclusion. It made him feel guilty about suggesting to the team that they cut all ties with their girlfriends before they left on their last mission. The worst had happened. Well, almost happened. They’d been captured, tortured and presumed dead, but they hadn’t died.
Watching his friend, Blaine, suffer when he’d thought he’d lost Elena for good had gutted Logan. Creed had been in a similar boat, but he’d fought for Kiera and won her back.
He got why they’d been so torn up, but wasn’t ready to admit his feelings to any of the guys yet. Jace still didn’t know that Weslee was the same girl Logan had run into on the beach and then couldn’t stop thinking about. He cared about her more than any other girl he’d ever dated. He still had reservations about the whole thing and wasn’t ready to call it love, but his feelings grew stronger every moment he spent with her.
The shift had really started last night on the airplane when he’d comforted Weslee after the nightmare she’d had before landing in North Carolina. Logan had still been wrestling with everything he’d discussed with Sutton when the pilot mentioned he hoped Miss Weslee was doing okay. Apparently, she was afraid of flying, mostly on take-offs and landings. As they approached the runway in Chapel Hill, Logan had left the cockpit to check on her and found all three passengers sound asleep.
Weslee had looked so peaceful. Settling into the seat across from her, he decided to take a few minutes just to look at her. She was so incredibly beautiful. More beautiful now that he knew what a kind heart she had. Logan protected people, but Weslee nurtured them.
Since the plane was on approach, he didn’t return to the cockpit. He had just closed his eyes when she’d cried out in her sleep. Logan had tried waking her up, but the medication had really knocked her out. It wasn’t until he’d taken her hand that she finally calmed down. That’s when he knew how much he wanted to be there for her. He wanted to wake her up from bad dreams, kiss her whenever he wanted to and find out if they had a shot at forever.
But first, he needed to find out who was sending her cryptic messages, making her protection his first priority. He rubbed his thumb along the outside ridge of the simple bracelets he’d worn for the past year, which were a reminder of his pledge to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. They had been a gift from a mother of two little Syrian girls Logan had saved when their village had been under attack.
In the midst of enemy fire, Logan had spotted the two little girls standing in the street crying and frozen in fear. Logan had Jace and Baron cover him while he dodged the spray of bullets pinging off the ground. It was like running through a massive hailstorm, trying not to get hit by one of the balls of ice. Logan had swooped in and picked up a girl in each arm and then dove for cover behind a crumbling stone wall. Both girls clung to him, no longer crying. He liked to believe it was because they felt safe, but part of him wondered if they just found comfort in knowing they wouldn’t die alone.
Logan wasn’t sure he or anyone else would survive. They were outnumbered and outgunned. Then three US Pave Hawks had appeared on the horizon and rescued them by dropping AGM missiles with deadly precision to silence the enemy gunfire. When it was all said and done it was a miracle there hadn’t been any casualties. Plenty of civilians and soldiers had received wounds, but none of them had been mortal.
Before he and his team had shipped out, the mother of the girls had given him the two homemade bracelets to represent her two daughters, thanking him over and over in Arabic for saving their lives. Logan hadn’t taken the bracelets off since then. It reminded him of why he’d become a SEAL and why he risked his life fighting for freedom for those who had never had it before.
Now they reminded him of why he would risk his life for Weslee. Only now the drive to protect her wasn’t just out of duty.
Still standing outside of her bedroom, he cupped his ear against the door and heard a blow dryer. At least that meant she was out of the shower. Shaking his head, he backed away and took the stairs to the first floor where the kitchen was. Standing around wasn’t going to get him the password to her computer any sooner. He couldn’t wait to find out why she was being so secretive about it. According to Jon, it had never been a secret in the past. So why now?
She’d slept in this morning, so he and Jon had gone over the security of the house, property and surrounding homes. The two of them had talked with the security guards at both entrances and agreed to give Logan a list of all those admitted each day. The head of the security needed to clear it with the other residents but didn’t feel like anyone would object. They all loved the Campbell family and wanted to keep Weslee safe.
Jon had given Logan the password to Weslee’s laptop just before he left for a three-day legal conference in Atl
anta where he was one of the keynote speakers. Logan could tell the man was hesitant to leave. Mr. Curtis had tried getting out of the obligation without success.
“I promise to guard her with my life,” he’d told Jon when the car arrived to take him to the airport. That’s when Jon had come right out and asked Logan about his feelings for Weslee. Logan couldn’t lie and told him that he cared about her more than just his client.
He’d expected the man to react with anger, possibly fire him. Instead, he’d smiled and clamped a hand on Logan’s shoulder. “I’m trusting you to take care of her.” The pressure on his shoulder increased as Jon met Logan’s eyes. “Don’t do anything to break that trust.”
He hadn’t broken that trust, but he had broken down Weslee’s bathroom door. In his defense, her scream had turned his blood to ice, which, ironically, was the result of an ice-cold shower. It hadn’t even registered to him that she had zero clothes on at the time he’d busted the door open. It wasn’t until she threatened bodily harm that he realized how compromising of a situation they were in.
It was a good thing her pseudo-uncle was gone for three days. Logan needed to have the door fixed by the time Jon returned home.
Inez pulled a fresh pan of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven just as he walked in. He inhaled the delicious scent as he took another glance at the rustic looking farm kitchen housing appliances that cost more than his truck. He knew this because one look at the elaborate stove and actual pizza oven made him look up the unfamiliar brand names online.
He sure hoped the cookies tasted as good as they smelled. If not, they’d wasted a lot of money on a fancy oven. “Are these up for grabs?” he asked Inez when she glanced over and spotted him watching her.
She glowered at him, placing her hands on her hips. “I should say no, you scoundrel.”
“Scoundrel?” he asked with mock indignation. “More like a superhero. Did you see how fast I broke that door down when we thought Weslee was in trouble?” He emphasized the “we” on purpose. Weslee’s blood-curdling scream had scared Inez just as much as it had scared him. Her face had gone so white that Logan worried she was having a heart attack.
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