The screams ceased and he just knew the man had killed her, then rounded a corner to find Sage tied to a chair, terror in her eyes and a masked man holding a knife to her neck.
He woke with a start, breathing heavy and his Glock in his hand, training it around the room in search for the enemy—who wasn’t there.
He slumped back against the pillows, barely able to draw breath through the terror and adrenaline pumping through his system. “It was just a dream,” he said aloud, to hear himself speak. The house was too quiet. He needed a dog or something to break up the monotony.
He dragged himself out of bed and down the stairs to the kitchen where he grabbed a bottle of cold water. Maybe if he woke all the way, he’d be able to reset his brain and go back to sleep.
Or maybe not.
The dreams used to be all about his days in the SEALs, but now they were mixed up with Sage and her family, the danger they’d been in, the threat he felt, even though he had no idea which way to look. She had become important to him; he couldn’t let anything happen to her, so she got mixed up in it all.
The phone rang and he snatched it up, adrenaline pumping through him again as he recognized Sage’s ring tone. “What’s wrong?” he barked out.
“I was going to ask the same thing. I had the feeling that you were upset and I should call you.” Her voice was light and calming.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m fine, just a little on edge. What are you doing up at,” he checked the stove clock, “two a.m.?”
“Couldn’t sleep. This whole thing is making me jumpy. I decided to make a cup of tea.”
Joel moved to his computer and clicked through to the cameras in the main areas of the house. There were some in the bedrooms too, but they were on a separate loop that could only be accessed from inside the house to ensure privacy unless they had an incident.
He watched her cross into the kitchen wearing boxers and a skimpy tank, rumpled and beautiful as a siren. Closing his eyes, he turned from the monitor, feeling a little like a peeping Tom even though she knew about the camera. “Sorry to hear that. You want to talk about it?” He wasn’t sure whether he wanted her to say yes or no.
“Nothing to talk about really. I’m just paranoid and edgy again. I’d gotten used to not feeling that way.”
He glanced at the monitor and saw her dispensing hot water from the cappuccino machine, then select a tin of one of her home-made tea blends. The moves were graceful and economical, as always. “I know. I wish it could be different for you.” More than he could say.
“I’ll deal. And how about you?” she asked as she packed one of her plethora of tea balls with the loose tea. “I called because you were upset.”
“That’s one weird sense of radar you’ve got.” For a moment he almost wondered if she had cameras in his place. “But it’s fine. I’m better already.” And she was partly responsible for that. Watching her, talking to her, soothed him.
“Good. Then I’ll drink this and go back to bed. Get some sleep if you can. Tomorrow’s another long day.”
He smiled at her authoritarian attitude. “Sure thing, boss. Good night.”
She reciprocated and hung up. He watched her take her first sip of the tea, then closed down the program before he gave in and watched until she returned to her room.
He swallowed half the icy cold water in one go, then rubbed the bottle against his brow, thinking about the dream that had woken him. He’d been dealing with nightmares for years; why did these seem so much worse?
“I really don’t want to do this. I’m not going to carry a gun. You know people who don’t know what they’re doing usually end up with the gun turned back on them,” Sage protested when Joel pulled up to the shooting range. This was not how she wanted to spend her first afternoon off in weeks—particularly since it was her birthday.
“Which is why you’re going to learn how to use a gun right.” Joel got out of the Range Rover and circled to open her door.
When she gave him a pleading look, he lifted his brows. “Do you really think that’s going to work on me? Come on.” He took her hand, his touch gentle, yet insistent.
Sage pressed her lips together but followed him. She wasn’t going to carry a gun, but it wouldn’t hurt for her to know how to use one. Especially since he was Mr. Weapons. She’d caught a glimpse inside his gun safe the previous month—he had a whole arsenal.
He handed her a bag from the back seat, then removed a long case. When she gave him a hard look, he took her hand and led her over to the bench that had been set up a little way back from the targets. “We’ll go through the basics of loading ammo, and practice shooting.” Joel pulled out a box of bullets and set them on the shelf, then removed the clip and showed her how to load it. He had her empty and refill the clip, then cock the top to load the first bullet. “Now you have one in the chamber, even if you drop the clip, there’s still one in the gun, so you need to be careful to make sure it is totally unloaded if you don’t want to shoot someone accidentally.”
Joel put the gun down on the shelf, pointed toward the targets, then came to stand behind Sage. “Okay, set your feet farther apart to give yourself stability.” His hand came to rest at her waist on the right and he tapped her left leg. “A little more. You want them about shoulder-width apart.”
“I feel stupid.” Sage couldn’t help but focus on the warmth of his hand on her waist, his masculine scent drifting to her in the slight breeze. How could she be this attracted to a stoic man who didn’t let anyone in?
He ran his hand up her rib cage, and back down to her hip. “You feel good to me.”
He’s teasing, don’t make anything of it. Goosebumps lifted on her skin as they always did on the rare occasion that he did something that smacked of flirting. He never meant anything by it, and then withdrew, acting as though it had never happened. Trying to keep her focus despite the way his touch made her heart clench, Sage reached for the gun in front of her. “Is there a safety?”
“No safety, so make sure to keep that pointed away from me, okay?” There was a smile in his voice, though she couldn’t see his face.
“I can do that.” She lifted it with her right hand and directed it at the target.
“Okay, the right hand goes on the handle, then the left comes around and helps to cradle the handle. Keep your thumbs away from the back. You don’t want them to get pinched.” His hands covered hers, adjusting them on the grip, his fingers warm and hard, his palm cupping hers. He shifted her hands until they gripped the handle more securely. “Just like that.” His breath feathered across her ear. “Now line up the sites, aim and pull the trigger.”
Sage couldn’t think straight with him standing so close, the heat of his body surrounding her, his aftershave teasing her senses. She stared at the gun in her hands and focused, pressed her eyes shut, then squeezed the trigger. The force of the kick surprised her, though with Joel’s hands still on hers, it was a little more controlled than it would have been.
“Not even close. Lift it a little. You’re shooting low,” Joel said.
She tried again and again. When she’d shot through the clip, he had her reload it and try again, though he returned to leaving his hand on her waist instead of practically wrapping himself around her. Then he switched to a different handgun, smaller and lower caliber.
He helped her adjust her stance, learn how to sight down the barrel, and drilled her on safety precautions. The fact that he never moved more than two feet away from her, and hovered just behind her made it difficult to focus. Cami’s suggestion that their dad had intended for Sage to get together with Joel had only increased her awareness of his every move—as if she needed to be even more aware of him. She loved the thought that their father could see how much she would come to care for Joel, and hated that the feelings wouldn’t be reciprocated.
When she’d emptied the clips of both guns several times, he pulled out a rifle.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Sage protested. “L
ike I’ll ever have an excuse to fire a rifle. It’s not exactly going to fit in my shoulder bag.”
He put on one of his rare lazy smiles. “Hey, as long as we’re training you, I want you to know how it works. Hopefully you’ll never need to use firearms away from the shooting range.” Sage grumbled some more, but she enjoyed the feel of his hands on hers, and his closeness behind her as he taught her how to hold the rifle steady and aim.
If he’d wanted a way to drive her crazy, he’d found it.
Sage was surprised when she and Joel walked into her house and found everyone—all of the other sisters, as well as Vince, Blake and Harrison—gathered in the great room and kitchen. There were helium balloons, streamers and an enormous birthday cake decorated like a big pot of wheatgrass. “Surprise,” Rosemary said, her hands showing off the cake like one of the ladies circling the prizes on The Price is Right. “You like?”
“It’s fantastic! Is that really cake?” Sage was blown away by the realism of the confection.
“Of course. I told you I had plans for celebrations this year. And because we have a regular pastry chef, I don’t have to work on anything I don’t want to. Yay me!” She pushed her long, straight, blond locks back behind her shoulder.
Sage appreciated the thought Rosemary had put into the project. “Thank you.” She gave her a quick hug, then embraced, squeezed hands with or kissed the others on the cheeks as she made the rounds. She stopped at Cami and gave her a severe look. “You said dinner. You said nothing about a pile of gifts and an incredible cake.”
“Wait until you taste it—then we’ll talk incredible,” Rosemary called from across the room, ever humble about her skills in the kitchen.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do about that girl’s modesty. It’s too much,” Cami said, deadpan.
“She really should learn to take pride in her work.” Sage nodded and felt Joel’s hand on her elbow. She could always tell when he was nearby, even if she didn’t see him. His presence was like a hum of energy flowing across her skin. No way was she going to admit that to him, though. He never said it, but she could tell he didn’t buy into her belief in fate and the sixth sense. Though she wished he took her more seriously, it wasn’t the first time she’d encountered the attitude, and she didn’t take it personally.
They ate some terrific Italian takeout—Rosemary said the cake was enough work; someone else could provide dinner—and opened presents. Sage felt vaguely guilty for accepting all of the attention. They were all so worried about her stalker that they’d overbought. As the first of them to celebrate a birthday since their move to Colorado, she’d never given any of them gifts before, which made her more determined to reciprocate when it was the others’ turns.
“One more package.” Jonquil set the red-wrapped box on the table. “It’s not really big enough to be the indoor solarium Dad would have wanted for us.” Though they were all named after flowers and herbs—a passion of their father’s—only Jonquil had picked up the gardening bug and had wished more than once that the house had a solarium so she could bring some of their father’s plants from Chicago.
“Me, growing things? Are you crazy? I have the worst black thumb you’ve ever seen,” Sage said as she ripped off the paper to expose the brown Amazon shipping box.
“Wrong, that title goes to me,” Lana stated.
“You’re both mistaken. I’m the worst plant-killer alive,” Delphi protested. “I can’t keep a philodendron from dying—and I tried at least five of them. Dad actually asked me once if I was sure I was his kid.” There was a slightly pinched expression on her face when she admitted that.
“It sounds like we have amazingly bad skills with plants considering who our father was.” Sage opened the box flaps and pulled out tissue paper and then a pile of red silk, freezing in place when it was halfway out of the box. It could have been from one of her sisters, trying to tease her, but in that moment, she knew it wasn’t. The air locked up in her lungs and Joel snatched the silk and lace negligee out of her hand, moving the box away.
Nobody said a word.
Sage felt slightly lightheaded when Joel removed a small envelope and ripped it open. She didn’t know of anyone who would have bought her something like that.
Joel’s grim face turned hard. “Where did this box come from?”
“It was sitting in the foyer when I came in from work,” Jonquil said, the color draining from her face. “Just inside the door. I figured someone set it down and forgot to add it to the stack. I didn’t think…”
Though Sage’s heart pounded and she began to hyperventilate. He’d been inside their house. He could get in their house. She touched Jonquil’s arm. “You didn’t realize.”
“But I should have.” Joel looked at Sage, his brows lifted and he crossed over to her. “Hey, take a deep breath. It’s going to be okay.”
Sage closed her eyes, humiliated that everyone was looking at her, and her hands start to tingle and turn numb as they always did when she had a panic attack. He—whomever he was—sent her a present for her birthday. Lingerie. He knew when her birthday was. How? Why wouldn’t he leave her alone? She sucked in air, her panic worsened by her difficulty breathing.
Joel’s warm hands closed around her upper arms and he spoke low. “Hey, look at me.” When she didn’t comply, he gave her a small shake. “Look at me, Sage.”
She opened her eyes and stared into his, though she couldn’t bring his face into focus. “He’s never … going away.” She barely heard her words as she whispered them.
“I’m going to find him and we’re going to stop this. Do you understand?” His brown eyes stared into hers. “It’ll be okay. Do you trust me?”
“I... it’s been months. You haven’t … found him yet.” She fought to speak though she was short of breath. “Maybe you won’t. I can’t do this. I have to go.” Her mind was fuzzy; she needed to get away—away from everyone’s worried gazes, away from the man who wouldn’t leave her alone. Even away from the man in front of her who looked at her every day, saw everything and nothing at the same time. He was her world now, and he saw her only as a client. She tried to pull from his grasp, but he didn’t release her.
“Let’s go in the other room. Come on.” He pulled her up and led her to the cozy little sitting room downstairs. Harrison tried to follow, but at the bottom of the stairs, Joel shut the door in his face. “Not now, Harrison.”
Tears had begun to fall down Sage’s cheeks. One plopped onto her hand and she curled up in the corner of the beige sofa. “I can’t do this. I have to leave, disappear. He’ll never let me go.”
Joel sat beside her and set a hand on her knee, his touch electric, even in her panic. “Take a deep breath for me. Come on.”
Her breath hitched as she tried several times. “I can’t. It’s too hard.” She felt like such a wimp.
“Try again. It’s okay. You’re allowed to be scared, he’s got you rattled. I’ve had my share of terror-filled moments. We’ll work through this together.”
“Right. You can assemble bombs, crack a security system, and tear down a rifle in one-point-two seconds.” She wiped at the tears that kept falling down her cheeks, stumbling through the sentences. “When have you ever been scared?”
“It takes more than one-point-two seconds,” he said with a teasing glint in his eye. When she just looked at him, still shaking with terror he continued, “I get scared like everyone else. Being a SEAL was fun, adrenaline packed, but not exactly predictable. Things went wrong all the time, but it made me better and smarter. I’m still here, and you’re going to be okay, too.” His hand glided over her curls, soothing as much as his voice, which had turned silky and comforting.
Sage met his gaze, saw the honesty in it, and felt her panic begin to ease. “I can’t handle going through all of this again. I know that makes me weak—” She stopped when his finger slid over her lips.
Their eyes met and he held her attention, utterly calm. “You’re not weak. This is scar
y stuff. It’s why we need to be careful, take this seriously. But I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
As her lungs loosened and she began to breathe easier, Sage wondered how he intended to keep his promise when they each had their own jobs to do at the resort. He couldn’t be her shadow as he had been in California. “How can you be sure?”
He tucked a curl behind her ear. “Because I’m the best at my job, and I’m going to make sure you’re okay. We’ll start with better deadbolts that are harder to pick. I have some on order already, and you and your sisters are going to keep them locked all of the time. I’ll add one to the kitchen door so he can’t get into the house by using a garage door opener from one of your cars, and I’m going to check out the video feed from today. I’ll catch him. Trust me on this.”
Though she should have felt reassured, as Sage looked Joel in the eyes, she found herself disappointed. It was his job. Of course.
“Feeling better? Ready to join the others upstairs again?” he asked after a moment.
She realized the panic had passed and she felt steady again. The thought of facing everyone else made her wince. “I’m so embarrassed. How can I face them after I freaked out in there?”
“They care about you. And if they give you a hard time, I’ll give them a black eye.” He said the words deadpan, but she knew he wouldn’t hurt the others. The sentiment was welcome, though.
Sage chuckled despite herself. “That’s a good way to get fired.”
“From the resort maybe, but they can’t fire me from protecting you. We’ll be fine.” He brushed his fingers along her jaw and chin, making her skin tingle. His lips curved slightly into what passed as a smile most of the time, though she knew the difference between this polite social smile, and his real one.
SEALed With Love (DiCarlo Brides book 2) (The DiCarlo Brides) Page 5