SEAL's Secret: A Navy SEAL Romantic Suspense Novel (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 24)

by Flora Ferrari

  “I hope not. He’s a drunk.”

  “Wrong again.”

  “Well, he was passed out in the bushes last night. Found him just above Main Beach.”

  “Passed out in the bushes. Right …”

  “Seeing is believing. He was totally out of it. A real wreck.”

  “And you didn’t bring him in?”

  “You owe me one.”

  “I don’t owe you anything. If anybody owes anyone anything, it’s you who owes me an apology. Snooping around in my business, talking behind my back. Are you a police officer, or are we back in elementary school on the playground?”

  Dudley shook his head and went about his way. Donna had tried to play the politically correct game. It wasn’t her modus operandi.

  She told herself in the early morning hours at her desk, just before she passed out, that she was glad to have him out of her life. She was sad about the way that it happened, but it was for the better. Plus, why did she think she could trust someone?

  The news from Dudley was meant to distract her she told herself. Drunk in the bushes? Hardly. But why would he make it up? Something didn’t ring true.

  Everything had been going so well up until last night, and now she was back to square one, alone and burying herself in her work. She didn’t want to give Cain a second chance, but she knew that wasn’t fair. Moving from Chicago to Laguna Beach was her second chance. Her second second chance actually. If she gave herself one, how can she not be tolerant of others? And based on what she just heard, maybe there was a lot more to the story.

  She texted Cain. You okay? Nothing came back right away, but she didn’t expect a prompt response. If he really was passed out in the bushes, seven in the morning was an unlikely time for him to be awake.

  CHAPTER 26

  Donna worked through the morning. She was still trying to make sense of the doctor’s multitude of foundations and where the motive might come into play. For all she knew they weren’t connected, and the killer was long gone.

  At noon she decided a quick run home for a shower and power nap were in order. She left her office and walked out into the day. The fresh air slapped her in the face and provided a much-needed pick-me-up. She’d been in that office so long she forgot what real sun on her skin and oxygen in her lungs felt like. Fluorescent lighting and air conditioning weren’t a suitable replacement.

  When she arrived at her front door she put the key in the lock and turned. It moved freely and there was no click of the latch. She took a step back and removed her service weapon. She pushed the door open a crack and peered in from behind the outside wall. Nothing.

  She entered her apartment quietly and scanned the room with her weapon. Nothing. She heard a rustling in her bedroom and moved along the wall until she reached the door.

  There was a man in black rummaging through her nightstand. He had already flipped over the mattress and emptied the clothes from her closet.

  “Police!”

  The man looked over his shoulder like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

  “Freeze. Hands in the air.”

  He slowly raised his hands toward the air. She could see he didn’t have a weapon in either hand. Suddenly he lunged at her, hitting her midsection and driving her into the wall. She felt the air knocked out of her, but had the wherewithal to lean forward and put the man in a reverse headlock.

  The man swung wildly with his hands but it was too late. He was on his way to passing out. At the last second he slid his hand up in between the inside of her elbow joint and his neck, allowing some much needed air into his lungs. He continued with the upward movement slowly separating her grip from his neck. She was in a sitting position with her back against the wall and he was on top of her. She knew she had to do something to get the upper hand on a man who surely outweighed her by at least fifty pounds.

  Donna rolled to her side, landing on top of the man. She placed her right hand on the back of his head, keeping it pressed into the floorboard. With her left hand she reached to remove her plastic handcuffs, but he was bucking so wildly she was afraid she’d lose her positioning. She kept her weight on top of him, but it would only last so long.

  She slid forward into a rear naked chokehold, hoping the second time would be the charm, seeing as he hadn’t fully recovered from the first. She held with all her might as he rolled them over like turtles. She maintained her grip so he started flopping like a fish. Donna was too practiced, and too determined. Ten seconds later he began to go limp and ten more he was out cold.

  CHAPTER 27

  “So this is the guy?” Chief asked. He watched the interrogation through the one-way glass.

  “We’re not sure, Chief, but we’ll have a better idea after the interrogators are done with him.”

  “Well, it’s a start. He fits the profile. Why he decided to show up at your place is a mystery though.”

  “Yes, sir. I was wondering that myself. But it’s the second time he’s targeted me.”

  “Stalkers get fixated on one target. Unfortunately you were it.”

  “Or maybe it was fortunate.”

  “Come again?”

  “I can hold my own,” Donna said.

  “Well, young lady, that could have gone another direction and we’d be having a much different conversation.”

  “But it didn’t, because I didn’t let it.”

  “Fortunately, yes.”

  “But we’ll have to wait and see what he knows about the murder.”

  “True. I’d like nothing more than to put this behind us and feed this guy to the press. If they get their murderer their TV vans will be out of town by sunset. Case closed.”

  “You’d like to, but you have a feeling?”

  “Hard to say at this stage. Just on looks alone, he doesn’t look like someone who could do such a thing.”

  “May I say something, Chief?”

  Chief took his view from the interrogation to Davis. “I have a feeling something’s coming my way, but I’ll bite. Go ahead.”

  “Are you going on your intuition?”

  Chief looked down at her and smiled. “Point taken, Detective.”

  Donna walked outside the station and sat on a park bench nearby. She needed some fresh air and to put the puzzle pieces together.

  It didn’t add up. This guy broke into her house, left the door unlocked, and she was able to choke him out and cuff him. Sure, he tackled her once, but he really didn’t get in any good blows. It just seemed like an amateur job by someone who wouldn’t be capable of something like what she saw at the murder scene. Then again some of the deadliest people she ever met were the most unassuming, mild mannered wallflowers in their public lives. It just goes to show, you can’t always judge a book by its cover.

  She wondered what he was looking for at her place. If he was a freak who wanted a pair of her panties or something like that he could have taken them from her closet and been long gone. He was going through her documents and personal things. He was looking for something more. He knew exactly what he wanted and he was after it.

  She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she had a good idea what that might be.

  CHAPTER 28

  “We haven’t gotten a confession yet, but he’s our guy,” Dudley said.

  “How are we sure?” Donna asked.

  “His DNA ties him to the scene.”

  “In the girl’s room?”

  “We haven’t found anything in her room yet, but we have it in the yard.”

  “Is that enough?”

  “Guy with no ID. New in town. Arrives at the same time as our first murder in years. DNA at the scene. We’re well on our way.”

  Donna didn’t say anything.

  “I was wrong about you. My mistake.”

  “It’s okay, but I have a weird feeling about this.”

  “What do you mean? It will be a slam-dunk by tomorrow. We’ll just keep grilling him until we get the confession.”

  “What has he sa
id?”

  “Nothing yet, but he doesn’t need to. We’ll have more than enough evidence soon and then we’ll figure out the motive. We’re looking into him. How he got here. Stuff like that.”

  “He hasn’t said anything?”

  “Nothing. But that’s not entirely unusual.”

  “He speaks English?”

  “He definitely understands it. But so far we don’t know what languages he speaks.”

  “Good work, Detective,” Chief said as he entered the room. “You’re earning your keep right off the bat.”

  “Thank you, sir, but I have my doubts.”

  “About what? We’ve got him.”

  “Something’s off.”

  “Please don’t tell me we’re back to intuition again?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Detective, you did your job. Did it well. Go home. Get some rest. It’s been a long day.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Donna turned to leave.

  “And, detective …”

  “Yes, Chief.”

  “Take tomorrow off too. Swing by the clinic and get looked at. He tackled you pretty good.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Donna returned to her apartment still in a state of confusion.

  In her professional life, everyone seemed to think Donna got the right guy and the confession would be coming soon enough. She wasn’t so sure.

  In her personal personal life, everyone seemed to think Donna chose the wrong guy. She wasn’t sure of that either. Even though she had enjoyed their brief time together, she was still angry with Cain.

  She decided to take a shower to unwind. She’d been on the go since yesterday. Her quick power nap planned for lunch got interrupted by a breaking and entering. It was going to be nice to sleep in a bed tonight instead of face down at her desk.

  She carefully washed her hair in the sink, making sure not to put her head under the faucet, and then took a shower. A couple minutes later she got out of the shower and made herself a cup of tea.

  As she clicked through the multitude of options on her television, the doorbell rang. She got up and looked through the peephole. Of course it was him.

  CHAPTER 29

  Cain saw the peephole darken. He already knew by the light coming from the living room that she was home.

  “Donna, I’m sorry. Can I come in? I just want to talk.”

  Donna took a deep breath and exhaled. The day that would never end. Might as well try and tie up another loose end and start tomorrow fresh.

  The chain slid away from the door and Donna slid the door open.

  Cain stood in the doorway with remorse in his face. Donna stepped aside, moving back to her couch. Cain followed her, but didn’t sit.

  “I’m sorry,” Cain said.

  “What happened?”

  “I should have told you,” Cain said. “I thought it was behind me, but apparently it’s not.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I had a flashback. I blacked out.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My team had an op not long before I got out. Everything was going as planned, it was supposed to be an easy in-and-out. Last second the op changed. New orders came in on our comms, but they didn’t make any sense. Anyways, I was the team leader. I insisted the orders were flawed, but supposedly intel changed and we were backing out into a safe area.” Cain looked down at the floor and shook his head. “Except it wasn’t safe. We were sitting ducks.”

  Donna could see the pain in his face and responded in kind. A tear began streaming down her face.

  “Doctors diagnosed it as agoraphobia. Said I have a problem with open or public places. Places where you feel trapped or helpless. Public places where crowds gather are the worse. That’s what happened to our team. We were trapped in the public square. Literally the definition of agoraphobia.”

  “I didn’t know,” Donna said.

  “Of course not. I never told you. It’s my fault.”

  “It’s not your fault.” Donna’s anger had disappeared and been replaced with empathy for his situation.

  “Anyways, I was coming to the beach. I was almost there. Just above about to walk down the steps when I saw the crowd. The beach was packed with lots of motion everywhere. The sun was setting over the ocean, adding more flashes of light. Lots of reflections. It was just too much at once.” Cain paused. “I hope you can forgive me.”

  Donna lifted herself from the couch and ran to Cain, throwing herself around him in a massive bear hug.

  “Thank you for coming here to tell me about this. I’m sure it’s hard for you.”

  Cain kept his arms around Donna, but put some space between them. He looked down into her beautiful eyes, which were filling with tears.

  “Not as hard as losing you.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Cain leaned down and kissed Donna passionately. Donna felt a ball of fire in her chest. The pent up emotions, the suppressed lust, was boiling and about to erupt.

  Cain scooped her up in his arms and kissed her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt safe in his arms. Protected in his presence. Lustful in his grasp.

  She wanted to be his and wanted him to take her. To unleash their desires now. She had to have him.

  Cain couldn’t contain himself any longer. His pants bulged, and his veins throbbed. He felt a hunger deep in the pit of his stomach, a hunger that could only be satisfied in the flesh. His bare skin against her bare skin only.

  He sat her on the edge of the desk in the living room. His hands on each side of her face as he kissed her deeply. His tongue exploring each nuance of her mouth.

  His scruff rubbed against her cheeks. It was a light scratch to remind her of his masculinity. It was rough around the edges, just like him. Just how she liked.

  His hands wandered over her body, sliding down to her hips and squeezing. Then making their way down the outside of her legs, switching to the inside of her thighs as they made their way back up her body, brushing over her most delicate of parts. The tingling sensation gave her goose bumps of anticipation and sent chills down her back.

  She thought she was going to melt, explode, or burst into flames, or all three at once. Whatever her fate was it was destined to be smoldering.

  Cain reached behind her and lifted her in the air. His strength supported her. She felt weightless. She wrapped her legs around his back only to draw him closer. To ensure as much of their bodies as possible were touching.

  Cain changed his grip supporting her backside with his left hand and stroking the side of her face with the other, as they continued to be connected as one at the mouth.

  She had never felt so feminine before. So light and so beautiful. Her entire being was fully supported in a single hand of this manliest of men. His strength, legendary. His lust, primal.

  He stepped away and towards the bedroom, stopping to position her against the wall. A painting shook and a vase rattled. Neither of them noticed. They were lost in each other.

  As the entered the bedroom, Donna reached behind Cain and lifted his shirt up. She locked onto his midsection with her legs as he lifted his arms up and forward, allowing her the angle to remove the shirt from his chiseled frame.

  She ran her hands over his chest. She squeezed his pectorals. They were like two tectonic shelves rippling before an earthquake. Her fingertips drifted south and over the ridges of his abs. She had never seen a man’s body sculpted so perfectly, let alone traced such contours with her own hands.

  Cain fell forward onto the bed, catching his weight with his knees and elbows with Donna safely landing on her back underneath. She felt like a little girl staring up at the storm brewing above, excitedly helpless to feel the power of the rain and dance in its fury.

  Cain slid his hands along the sides of her waist hooking his fingertips in her belt loops and then ripping her pants down past her ankles. He turned his hand over and rubbed his palm over her mound, applying pressure in just
the right places. He reached down and kissed her panties. Up and down, and then along the outside taking time to drag his tongue slowly back around the perimeter of the cotton cloth before driving it back against and along her folds.

  Donna was about to explode. Cain could sense it and lifted his head and removed her shirt in one motion. He slowly began working his way up the middle of her body. Kissing every inch until he reached her chest.