Her Devoted HERO (Black Dawn Book 2)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  At her words, she watched his face go through a magical transformation.

  “Poppy, we’ve been communicating for almost two and a half months.”

  “Two months,” she immediately countered.

  “Okay two months. But you have to admit I’m someone more than you barely know.”

  “Fine, a few e-mails, a couple of phone calls and two dates.”

  “And you’ve had me investigated.”

  She felt like stomping her foot. “Don’t make this some sort of game.”

  “God, Kenna, the last thing I want to do is make this a game. Someone is already fucking with your head. I’m trying to support you. I want to be someone you can lean on.”

  “I don’t believe in that,” she said loudly. Really loudly.

  Fuck, had those words just come out of her mouth?

  God, she was mortified.

  Dex looked over his shoulder to the backyard. A couple of heads had turned their way. He picked up her purse and pulled her further into the house to his office and shut the door. Dex opened his arms.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I want to give you a hug, Poppy. You need one.”

  Kissing him was one thing, but taking a hug from him when she so desperately needed one? No way. Nuh Uh. Not going there.

  “Kenna, come here. I promise I won’t let you down.” She looked into sincere brown eyes. Soulful. Kind. Compassionate. Kenna hesitated. Just this once she wanted a man like her father that she could trust and lean on. Please don’t let her be wrong.

  She stepped into his arms, and he enveloped her. His hand cupped the back of her head, and he kissed her hair.

  “Talk to me, Baby.”

  “It’s stupid. I haven’t really been all that scared until you pointed out Jean was murdered. I’ve just put it down to some creep, ya know?” Her voice was muffled against his chest, and his arms clutched her tighter.

  “I’m sure it is just some creep, and the two things aren’t related at all,” he whispered.

  She pushed away from his chest to look him in the eye. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better, aren’t you?”

  “Yep,” he nodded.

  “Don’t do that Dex. I’m a big girl, I put on big girl panties, I can handle the truth.”

  “What kind of panties? I’m partial to thongs.”

  She laughed. How could she be laughing? She hit his chest. Hard. He caught her fist and kissed her knuckles.

  “Big girl panties mean granny panties,” she explained.

  “I’m not partial to those.” His lips feathered over the back of her hand, then he uncurled her fist, and pressed a kiss to her palm. She shuddered. “I think I’m going to make a stop at Victoria’s Secret for you,” he said.

  “Goddammit, stay on track. We were discussing the fact that you were lying to me to make me feel better.” That was twice in twenty minutes she felt like stomping her foot. What, was she five?

  “Kenna, I’m not going to make any kind of guess. What’s the point? Let’s wait and see what the experts say, okay?”

  He hugged her closer. She shut her eyes and melted into his warmth.

  “Okay.”

  ***

  He arranged for Griff to take Rosalie home, then he followed Kenna and Austin to their house to pack. He helped them unload at Penny’s house and kissed Kenna goodnight afterwards he headed home where he hit his computer. He placed a call to Detective Warren, told him to call him first thing in the morning, if not fucking sooner. Then he went to work.

  He had three pieces of information to go on. The unidentified callers coming into her cell phone. The flowers. The fact that the caller had referred to her as Mary Poppins. He was going to leave the first two things to the cops, the flowers were going to take a lot of legwork. The call was going to take hacking into the wireless company, and that would take time. Right now, he already had a way into the dating site, so that’s where he would start.

  “I’m going to find you, you motherfucker.”

  Chapter Eight

  Dex joined Kenna on Monday afternoon when she met with the detectives about the case. He had caught her look of surprise when he’d arrived at the police station. She needed to start getting used to things. Yep, even in such a short amount of time, she was pretty damned important to him. She was special. He hadn’t met that many special people in this lifetime. She shone. Thinking of how she was with Austin was a miracle after what he’d witnessed in Egypt. She deserved this kind of care from him.

  Warren and Sanchez seemed to know what they were doing. They didn’t share a lot about what was going on with Jean’s case since it was an ongoing investigation, but it was obvious they had someone in their sites.

  “Ms. Wright, there was someone in Ms. Baldwin’s life who is of particular interest. We are currently closing in on him. This has nothing to do with the dating site, so the fact that your caller mentioned your dating profile name suggests these are two different men,” Detective Warren said.

  “Thank God. That means I can stay at home tonight.” Kenna said.

  “How sure are you that you have the right guy?” Dex asked.

  “We need a few more days to make our case and get a search warrant, but it’s looking good,” Sanchez said.

  “Good enough that Kenna shouldn’t worry?” Dex asked.

  Sanchez leaned forward across the interview table. “Ms. Wright, you are being stalked. It’s not a good sign that somebody has your phone number and your employer’s address. We’re homicide detectives. This isn’t our purview. We’ll get your set up with someone who can take a report.”

  “What good will taking a report do?” Dex demanded. “Will they track down who sent the flowers? The telephone calls?”

  Both detectives looked uncomfortable. Kenna looked at them, then at Dex. “Don’t worry, this is some kind of weird stalker who’s just into me. It’s not a murderer.”

  Dex turned to the detectives. “This is more than a stalker, isn’t it? He’s gone to a lot of trouble to learn a lot about Kenna. Doesn’t this shit normally escalate?”

  “If it is somebody in her past, like an ex, then yes, it does. If it is just a crazy, then they can find a new target. You can’t predict crazy,” Warren said. “But seriously, this isn’t the murderer.” He turned back to Kenna. “Ms. Wright, we’ll get you in touch with someone in our department who specializes in this, and you’ll need to keep them informed. If you’re approached, they’ll up their investigation, and you’ll be able to get a restraining order.”

  Kenna smiled. “I’m just thankful I don’t have to worry about a murderer. A stalker I can handle.”

  Dex saw red. To his way of thinking there was not one damn thing to be thankful for. He’d culled the dating site the previous night and found that Kenna had received over a thousand e-mails. It amazed him that for some reason she had replied to his profile. It made him uncomfortable since it hadn’t even been an e-mail he’d written. Granted the picture had been his, and the basic facts about his life. But still, the woman had been inundated, how in the hell had he made the cut?

  He went with her when she made out her report to the police officer. The cop was sympathetic, but she explained there wasn’t much she could do at this point. She gave Kenna her card and told her to keep her informed if she was contacted again.

  “At least I don’t have to stay at Mom’s tonight,” Kenna said as they stepped into the San Diego sunlight.

  “Was it really that much of a hardship?” Dex asked as he walked her to her car.

  “I like having my own space. Austin ends up sleeping on the pull-out sofa in the living room, and I hate that for him.”

  “You would.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you’re a good mother.” Dex opened her car door.

  “Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Hell no. I think it’s sexy.”

  She gave him a confused look.

  “I’ve seen shit
ty mothers. Fuck, I’ve seen absolute monsters. Seeing someone who is so into her kid is like seeing sunshine.”

  Kenna smiled wide.

  “That’s got to be the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.”

  “Well stick around, I’ve got a lot of nice things to say to you. Unfortunately, we’re doing some maneuvers for the next few nights so I won’t be able to ask you out. Promise me that you’ll get someone to walk you to and from your car at night when you leave the hospital?”

  She gave him an exasperated look. He stared down at her. Eventually, he won.

  “All right, I promise.”

  “If I say, ‘good girl,’ how will you respond?”

  “Do you want to be kneed in the nuts?”

  He chuckled and cupped her cheeks. He kissed her. Soft.

  Kenna responded. Sweet.

  He lifted his head. “What was that for?” she asked.

  “I get turned on by being threatened.”

  “I’ll remember that. I like being kissed by you,” she admitted.

  He liked that. Straight up. She just said what she thought.

  “Normally, I love spending time with the team, but not this time. I won’t be calling either,” he frowned.

  “That’s all right.”

  “No, it’s really not.” He made a decision. “Kenna, I’m going to drop by the hospital in a couple of hours with a friend of mine. I want you to meet him so that you’ll know who you can reach out to while I’m out of touch.”

  “I thought you said your team would be with you.”

  “He’s on one of the other teams. He’s a good guy. You’ll like him.”

  “Dex, isn’t this over kill? I mean the cops don’t think this is a big deal.”

  “Let me do this, okay?” He stroked her cheek with his thumb.

  “Okay.”

  ***

  They grew all of the SEALs big. But it was hysterically funny to see this big man squirm around and look as guilty as her son did when he didn’t finish his homework. Dex had introduced him as Clint Archer, the man who had played the practical joke on him with the dating site. He was also going to be her go-to guy if anything odd came up while Dex was on maneuvers for the next four nights.

  “I’m not sure how comfortable I feel with Clint,” Kenna said quietly. Truthfully, she felt fine, but it was fun putting the wood to the man. It was clear he hadn’t thought his joke through, he had only regarded it from Dex’s point of view, not from the women’s. Kenna relished the idea of making him feel just a little bit bad.

  “Ma’am, my wife couldn’t make it. But if she had you’d see that she has already kicked my ass all the way to Tijuana and back for this prank. If you ever call me and I need to be at your house, it’s more than likely that she’ll come with me. You’ll like her, and the two of you can rake me over the coals together.”

  “Don’t listen to him, Kenna. He’s just playing that up in hopes that I won’t retaliate,” Dex said.

  The three of them were sitting in the hospital cafeteria.

  “No, I’m not,” Clint protested. “Hell Dex, Lydia will probably help you concoct whatever kind of retribution you have in mind. She said that playing with the hearts and minds of women crossed a line.” He looked across the table at Kenna. “I understand why you don’t trust me.” Clint gave Kenna a sincere look. “It looks like something good might be happening out of this, but still, I screwed up. In the meantime, you’re going to have to allow me to back you up while Dex isn’t around.”

  Damn, she really liked the man. Kenna smiled. Time to take him off the hook.

  “I trust you just fine. Dex speaks highly of you. Personally, I think the joke was pretty funny...in retrospect. Dex was really nice about it, the way he replied to each woman.”

  She saw Clint fight back a grin. Yep. It was almost like dealing with her son and his friends. Suddenly his demeanor changed.

  “Dex tells me that you’ve promised you won’t be taking any unnecessary chances while he’s away.”

  “Huh?” She looked between the two men. “What are you talking about?”

  “Kenna, you promised you would be walking to and from your car with someone.”

  “That was when we thought it was the murderer...” her voice trailed off as both men shook their heads at her.

  “No. You have a stalker. At all times, you are on alert. That means when it is dark, you do not walk to your car by yourself, are we clear?” Dex was deadly serious. Who was this man, and what had happened to the easy-going guy she was used to?

  “Isn’t this overkill?”

  Both men stared at her, there was no give in either face. “Fine.” She sighed. “I promise.”

  “The minute you are contacted by this whackjob, you contact Clint first, then the police. Hand Clint your cell phone, okay?”

  “Why?”

  “He’s going to look at a couple of things that will allow him to track the caller the next time they call.”

  “What’s your password?” Clint asked her when she handed him her phone.

  She hesitated.

  Dex looked at her. “Honey, normally it would be me doing all of this, I just don’t have time. I have to check in at noon. Clint could do everything he plans to do without your knowledge and without your password, but we’re trying to be upfront with you.”

  “What all are you planning to do?” she asked them.

  “He’s going to monitor your calls from unidentified callers,” Dex explained.

  Clint looked up. “Kenna, if he calls, try to keep him on the line so that I can pinpoint his location, okay?”

  “Just like on TV. Okay.”

  “Also, Clint is inserting a tracking device so we can find you.”

  “Oh, I have that on Austin’s phone,” Kenna smiled.

  “We’ll have you set up with the rest of the women of Midnight Delta,” Clint said.

  “Midnight Delta?” Kenna asked.

  “That’s Clint’s SEAL team. Mine is Black Dawn,” Dex explained. “Obviously, Black Dawn is the better team.”

  Clint coughed as he took a sip of coffee. It sounded a lot like he said the word ‘bullshit.’ She grinned at the two man/boys.

  “Why are you putting tracking on my phone?” she asked.

  “For my piece of mind,” Dex said.

  “Yep, that sounds like why I arranged it with Austin. But seriously, it makes sense between Austin and me, but not for you and me.”

  Dex pushed up from the booth. “Kenna, can you come take a walk with me?”

  “Huh?” She looked up at Dex, as he towered over her and then looked across the cafeteria table to Clint who was busy staring at her phone.

  “Kenna, come outside with me for a second. I want an opportunity to bask in second hand smoke.”

  That about summed it up she thought as they walked out of the cafeteria, down the hall, and outside past the group of smokers.

  “What did you want to talk about? Because Dex, I don’t think I need you tracking me. Sure, checking my phone for the unidentified caller fine, but the tracking me I just don’t get,” she said as he brought her to a halt in a small alcove near the parking garage.

  “Let me explain it to you.” He speared his fingers through her hair, whisking the scrunchie into the bushes. His head descended, blocking out the California sun and she sank into the wonder of his kiss.

  All higher-level thought fled as the sumptuous feel of his lips devouring hers took over her mind, her body, her soul. It was her toes that finally got through to her. She was standing on them, and they got cramped. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked at Dex. Her insides melted. The look on his face was incredible. His eyes opened, and his head lifted just a little.

  “Did that help explain things?” he asked softly.

  She nodded her head. “But I would love it if you’d kiss me again.”

  “First the words Babe. I’m staking my claim. As such, your safety is paramount. You have a whackjob after you, so I wa
nt to make sure I can get to you if you need help. If I’m not around, I want the best of the best to be there in my place. That’s Clint and his guys. You got me?”

  “What answer gets me another kiss?”

  Dex’s smile shone brighter than the California sun. “I like that you’re a smartass.”

  “You didn’t answer my question. Nor am I being kissed.” She pulled at his neck.

  “Poppy, did you hear me?”

  “I heard that you’re going to be gone for four days. I heard that you need to be at the base by noon. I want my kiss.”

  Dex’s eyes went dark when he saw she was serious. “Did I say I like that you’re a smartass?”

  She nodded.

  “I like that you are the most upfront woman I have ever met. No games. No artifice. Just you. You are amazing.” His fingers splayed out against her jaw, and his thumb teased her bottom lip. “God Kenna, I so owe Clint.”

  This kiss was different. Just as lush, but flavored with tenderness and magic. Kenna floated in his arms suffused with joy. When she felt tears beginning to form, she looked up at him and scowled.

  “What?”

  She hit him on his chest with the flat of her hand. Hard.

  “What did I do?” he asked again.

  “That’s for starting to make me care.”

  Chapter Nine

  It was Saturday morning, and she was at Lundquist House on University Avenue in San Diego. Kenna had a toddler on her hip and was talking to the child’s mother.

  “They’re going to help me find an apartment,” she was explaining.

  Kenna was trying to pay attention, but her phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. It was making her purse shake. She should have just turned the damned thing off, but she always worried that Austin or her mom might need her.

  “Excuse me, I need to check my phone, it might be my son.”

  The young woman smiled and took her son from Kenna’s arms.

  The display said, unidentified caller. It was probably the whack job, but still, it could be from one of Austin’s friends, or it could be an emergency about Austin. She had to answer.