by Jen Talty
Declan pressed the gas pedal, hitting eighty in a fifty-five. He passed three cars before slowing down to sixty-five. They needed to get there quickly but getting pulled over for a speeding ticket would only slow them down.
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to bring your sister home.”
She glanced in his direction. “Thank you for being here for me.”
He nodded. The words ‘I love you’ formed in his mind. But this wasn’t the time or place. “Text Wolf back.”
“I’m just going to call him.” Becca hit the speaker button and waited three rings before Wolf picked up.
“Hey, Dec, how far out are you?” Wolf’s deep voice boomed out of the cell.
Declan had met Wolf a couple of times through his buddy, Dude, who had been a SEAL teammate of Wolf’s. Declan and Dude had served together on a special mission back when Declan had just finished fire protection training. It had also been the first time he’d met his captain, Ace Enders, and also fellow senior firefighter, Jax Stravos. Two of the finest men the Air Force had to offer and some of Declan’s best friends.
“Declan’s too busy driving like an ass,” Becca said, holding on to the bar above her head as he once again weaved into the other lane to pass an eighteen-wheeler. “He should only be allowed in the cockpit of a plane.”
“This must be Becca,” Wolf said with a hearty laugh.
“Yep. And we’re about five minutes from Route 58.”
“I just turned left onto Chautauqua Boulevard. I’m going to share my location with Declan’s phone, that way I don’t need to keep texting, though I’ll let you know when we come to a stop and where you should go to stay under the radar. We don’t want to spook this kid.”
“Any idea what he’s doing? Or who this girl is?” Declan asked. “And when did she show up?”
“First time I saw her was when he left the apartment with her a bit ago. I snapped a couple of pictures of the girl and sent them to Tex. She seemed kind of out of it. Either severely hungover, or maybe drugged. She looks to be about the same age as Trish.”
“My sister’s journal mentioned that she thought Byron had cheated on her with more than one girl,” Becca said.
“So far this is the only girl I’ve seen him with.”
“Thanks,” Declan said, gripping the steering wheel as he punched the gas once again to pass some slower vehicles. “Anything else we should know?”
“Yeah, but you’re not going to like it,” Wolf said.
Declan laced his fingers through Becca’s, glancing in her direction.
Her normally confident blue eyes were wide with the fear of the unknown. He knew her concern for her sister was stressful enough, but add in the baby, and the fact her mother had found out, that had to be taking a toll.
And they hadn’t really discussed much in the car. He tried, but Becca wanted to wait until after they found her sister.
“James Rossini is in town.”
Declan blinked while Becca squeezed his hand so hard his fingers turned white.
“Has he had contact with Byron?” Declan asked.
“Not that I’ve seen, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Then how do you know he’s in town?” Becca asked.
“Tex found a credit card trail. Turns out his uncle owns a place on Buckeye and the boys get a lot of gas at a marina on the lake. They might have been living here for a while, but considering the amount of money these two have, and they own more than one house in multiple states, who knows where they call home.”
“What do we know about the uncle?” Becca asked, tugging her hand away. She pulled out a notepad and pen. “Was he involved in the human trafficking case against Gandolfi?”
Declan admired her composure and professionalism. If it had been his sister, he might be going ballistic right about now.
“None that anyone could prove, but he’s on the FBI watch list, so they certainly think he’s up to something. Look, I better go. He’s making another turn. I’ll be in touch,” Wolf said, then the phone went dead.
“Look in my phone for a guy by the name of Chuck Wilson.”
“Who’s he?”
“A buddy of my dad. They went through the Academy together, and Chuck happens to work for the FBI. He might be able to get us some intel. I should have called him sooner.”
“You didn’t know James and Kenny’s uncle lived in the area.”
“I still should have called him, but maybe my dad did.”
“You called your dad?” she asked. She’d met his parents at Brodie and Harper’s wedding. She spent more time with them that night, than she had with him. It was as if she’d given up on him all together. Part of why he followed her home that night.
“I thought he might be able to get information we couldn’t.”
“Thanks for doing that.” She set the phone on her thigh, flipping the mode back to the find my iPhone feature. She pointed to a street about five hundred feet away.
“Hello? Declan?”
“Hey, Chuck, how are you?” Declan tapped the brakes as the map indicted he needed to turn right.
Becca pointed again to another street about a half-mile away.
“I’m good, but I heard from your dad late last night. He told me your girlfriend’s sister is missing?”
Declan swallowed, stealing a glance at Becca, who gave him a puzzled expression with an arched brow.
“Yes. And we believe she got tangled up with a young man who has been hanging around the Rossini brothers, and we just found out they have been at their uncle’s all summer.”
“You mean Anthony Gandolfi?”
“That’s the one. I understand you can’t give me any official information—”
“I’m going to cut you off there, son.”
That interruption only served to send the acid in Declan’s stomach to his throat.
“I can’t get into the details but trust me when I say we’ve got eyes on him and if things go my way, he’ll be indicted soon.”
“Can you tell me if he was in any way connected to the human trafficking that sent his brother away?” Declan asked, taking a turn.
Becca held up his phone, showing a message from Wolf.
“I’m sorry, Dec, I can’t comment. And I need you to stay clear of him.”
“I can’t promise that. If he has anything to do with the abduction of my girlfriend’s sister, I won’t back down. Nor will she.”
“Fair enough,” Chuck said. “I’m going to contact our agent that is there and let him know what is going on. I’ll send you his contact info. I’d appreciate it if you keep him, and me, informed. His name is Bo Ingalls.”
“Will do. Thanks, Chuck.”
“Hope to see you soon. And make sure you bring that girlfriend.”
Becca tapped the phone. “Wolf says to go to Ricki’s Diner, which is right there. He’s inside, and Byron is down that dirt road in some old house on the lake.” She shifted in her seat. “Care to explain the girlfriend thing?”
If he wasn’t mistaken, she tried not to smile, but the twinkle in her eye gave her away. “I called my dad yesterday from your folks’ farm. They think I’m your boyfriend, so I figured my parents should think the same.” He shoved the gearshift into park and leaned across the center console, tipping her chin up with his thumb and forefinger.
Her rosy, plump lips parted.
“Besides, we need to spend time together as a couple and see how we really feel about one another.”
Her thick lashes fluttered and before she could protest, his tongue slip into her mouth. The kiss came as a promise that he’d do whatever it took to show her how much he cared and that he wanted to be with her, even if there wasn’t a baby.
Something he knew would be harder to prove, but he had to.
“Declan,” she whispered.
“What?”
“We should get inside. We can deal with all this later.”
He cupped her face a little more harshly than he’d plann
ed, but he needed to get his point across. “I care a great deal about you, Becca. I made a mistake a month ago walking out of your house. I got spooked, and I’m sorry.”
She let out a long breath, circling her fingers around his wrists. “Thank you for that, but I can’t deal with this until after I get my sister home.”
He nodded. If he loved her as much as he thought he did, then giving her space while they searched for Trish should be an easy thing to do.
Chapter 10
Becca couldn’t help but feel a little giddy inside when she heard Chuck call her Declan’s girlfriend. But as she told him, she needed to put Declan and the baby on the back burner.
“Over there,” Declan pointed to a man sitting in a booth, drinking coffee, and eating a piece of pie. “That’s Wolf.”
“He’s nice on the eyes.”
“Not only is he married, but I can be a very jealous boyfriend.” He rested his hand on her hip and leaned in, giving her a lingering kiss on the cheek. “I hope I’m nice on your eyes.”
“If you weren’t, I wouldn’t have slept with you,” she admitted, inhaling his rich pine scent. “For the record, you’re a hell of a lot sexier than that guy over there.”
“Flattery will get you whatever you want.” He led her through a maze of tables until they came to the far end of the diner.
Wolf nodded. “Have a seat,” he said. “I’m going to skip the pleasantries and get right down to business.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Becca swallowed. She took Declan’s hand and squeezed.
“I wish I had better news,” Wolf said, leaning back, resting his arm on the back of the booth. “I don’t know if your sister is in that house, but we do know there are armed guards and at least a dozen girls there.”
“Shit,” Declan said.
“Why are we sitting here and not down by the house?” Becca asked, her leg bounced up and down, rattling the table.
“My buddy, Abe is there as well as Mozart.”
“When did they get here?” Declan asked.
Becca had met Mozart a few times. Great guy. She had no idea who this Abe fellow was, but she suspected another SEAL buddy of Tex’s.
“I asked them to come in last night. I also contacted Brodie and Ace, who contacted the rest of your crew. Not sure who is coming in, but we should have a good team assembled by nightfall, giving us time to make a plan. We just have to hope they don’t try to move the girls before then.”
“You called a bunch of firefighters?” Becca asked, blinking. Sure, they were all military, and some had even seen combat, but their role was to fight fires. Whether that be on land, at sea, or even in the sky. Not to carry out a sting operation.
Declan laughed. “You’ve heard all the stories about Ace’s wife and what went down at their marina.”
“Yeah, and I helped fight that fire at Harper’s when Brodie got burned, so I get we’re all capable, but these men have families and—”
“We’re about to have a family, and it’s not going to stop us from going in,” Declan said with a tight jaw.
“That’s different. This is my sister.”
“Our team is a family, you know that,” Declan said.
She nodded. “I just hate pulling them away from their wives and children.”
“It’s what we all do,” Wolf said, holding up his mug. “When one of our own needs a little helping hand.”
Her phone buzzed and so did Declan’s.
She yanked hers from her purse and stared at a group text. “Ace, Jax, Brodie, Zach, and Garret are all less than two hours away.” She glanced at Declan, catching his caring gaze. “None of them had to come.”
“If you got an SOS from any of them, what would you do?” Declan asked.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’d be here in a heartbeat,” she said, setting her phone on the table. As the only woman on the team, she sometimes felt like the odd man out, even though none of her crew ever made her feel that way. The only one that had ever treated her differently had been Declan.
Looking back on that now, she realized that Declan did care about her. That was the only thing that made sense in how he had treated her. One minute the consummate gentleman, the next just another one of the guys, and the next, flirting like there was no tomorrow. One thing she understood was the confusion of caring for someone that you felt like you shouldn’t and worried they didn’t return the same feelings.
The waitress came by the table. “What can I get you folks?”
“I’ll have a cheeseburger, fries, and a coke,” Declan said, nudging her. “You should eat. You need some extra calories now.”
Wolf coughed. “Dude, not what you say to a pregnant lady.”
“I’ll have the same,” she said, glaring. The last thing she needed was the world to know she was pregnant and then treating her like she was some little woman that needed coddling.
“I’ll be right back with your drinks,” the perky brunette said as she bounced away.
“So what else do we know?” Becca asked. The idea that her sister could be held captive, perhaps beaten or even raped, sent a cold shiver across her body.
Declan put his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder.
He was such a sweet and kind man. Even when he acted weird in the last month, he still had a heart of gold. Their child was lucky to have him as a father.
“Abe is still doing recon. Now that you two are here, I’m going to head down to help him.” Wolf slid a small envelope with a plastic key card across the table. “I’ve got two rooms down the street at the local inn. You two can have one to yourself. The rest of us will make do.”
“You’re leaving?” Becca stared at him, ignoring the idea that she’d have a hotel room with Declan while half her team hung out in the room next to them. The only one she’d talked to about Declan had been Brodie, but only because he’d walked in on a conversation she’d had with Brodie’s wife, Harper.
“We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with, so we can make the best plan. I’ll be back once we have more men here, so we can rotate eyes on the house while we develop a plan to get those girls out and hopefully your sister is one of them.”
She reached out and grabbed his hand. “I know you don’t know me from Adam but thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Wolf stood tall, tossing a twenty on the table, and strode out of the diner like he hadn’t a care in the world.
She scooted to the other side of the booth. When she moved, she hadn’t expected to be staring at Declan, but now that she was, she couldn’t tear her gaze away.
The waitress came, setting their food and drinks in front of them. Her stomach growled, but still, her eyes remained locked with his.
“I’m not ready for anyone on our team to know I’m pregnant, so could you please stop with the extra calories and shit?”
“Sorry, I didn’t think.” He dipped a fry into a hunk of ketchup before plopping it in his mouth. “I just worry about you and also, well, if I haven’t told you, I do want to have this baby with you.”
She wished she hadn’t taken a sip of her soda as she coughed and gagged, and it ended up coming out of her nose.
“Shit,” he muttered, handing her a bunch of napkins, but that didn’t really help as she knocked over both their sodas, which landed right in her plate, and then her plate landed in her lap.
The waitress raced over with more towels.
Becca’s cheeks heated with embarrassment as she continued to cough while trying to down a glass of water.
“Can you just get us two orders to go and the bill?” Declan asked.
“Sure thing,” the waitress said.
Declan made his way next to her, still cleaning up the mess she’d created.
Her coughing had subsided, but her mortification hadn’t. “And this is why my family calls me klutzbutt.”
“That was all me. My timing really sucked on that one.” He patted down her jeans. “But I meant what I said. I know you want to put off ta
lking about this, but we’re going to be parents, together, and I want a second chance. You haven’t said no, but you haven’t said yes, and that’s shaking my confidence and honestly making me crazy.”
She jerked her head. “You’re incredibly overwhelming right now.”
“I know. But you needed to know how I felt last night when you told me about the baby. I need to know now how you feel about me.”
Her mouth dropped open. She snapped it shut. Her mind went totally blank, but her heart fluttered and swelled with the kind of love a woman should share with the father of her children.
“I like you,” she mumbled, unable to say the words she desperately wanted him to hear. “A lot and I want us to date too.”
“I want more than that.” He palmed her cheek, giving her a tender kiss on the lips. “A lot more.”
“Slow down, please,” she begged. While she wanted the world with him, her thoughts were somewhere else. “I promise, we can sit down and have this conversation after I get Trish home.”
“All right,” he said, pressing his loving mouth against her cheek. “But I’m telling you now, I’m going to show you how much I care about you. That this isn’t just about the baby.”
“You don’t know when to quit, do you?”
“I won’t quit until you know just how much you mean to me. After that, if you don’t want to be with me, well, then okay. But until then, I’m going to keep pushing.”
Chapter 11
Declan had hoped for a little more alone time with Becca, but their room soon filled with his crew and they needed a plan.
Mozart sat at the desk. The only one of the SEALs in the room while Abe and Wolf kept a watchful eye on the house.
His captain, Ace, leaned against the wall with his arms folded. Brodie stood next to him in the same position. Brodie had been promoted to Crew Chief, and he made a damn good one. If Declan had a best friend, it would be Brodie, though all his brothers-in-arms were family.
Jax sat on the floor with Garret and Zach. Jax was a senior firefighter and both Garret and Zach had been recently given the same title. They were a few years younger than Declan, but a few years older than Becca, which meant she was the only peon in the group.