“Of course you’re scared.” Joel was terrified he would lose his best friend. “I’m closer than you are. If I can get a flight soon, I’ll be waiting to meet you when yours arrives.” He glanced around the room and his eyes landed on the monitor, which showed Sage leaving the treatment room.
His heart sank. Sage. He couldn’t leave her there unprotected, but he had to go to the hospital. Joel thought about taking her with him, but they could be gone for days—a week if things didn’t go well—and he honestly didn’t think she’d go for it. He could really only push her so far before her stubborn streak kicked in.
Trudy was still speaking, “I knew you’d come. I’m glad. My parents won’t be able to meet me there until tomorrow and his parents are in Mexico.” She sniffed and her breath hitched. “I need you to be there. He needs you too.”
The refusal that had settled onto his tongue when he thought about Sage wouldn’t come now. “I have a couple of things I have to figure out. I’ll be there, hold on.” He wrote down the information for the hospital and for her flight. He’d have to try to book one for himself while he headed to Denver—an unlikely scenario since the twists and turns on the road made cell coverage spotty at best.
Joel snatched up his jacket and radioed to Mick, the other security guy on duty, that he was leaving early.
He caught up with Sage in the spa’s reception area while three of her staff stood at the counter talking. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Seeing her assistant in Sage’s office on a phone call, Joel took Sage by the arm and drew her toward the hallway.
“What’s wrong? Was there another email or something?” Sage asked.
“What? No. It’s nothing like that.” Joel waited for the door to shut between them and her employees, though it was only glass, so it didn’t give them as much privacy as he could wish. “I got a call from a friend’s wife, Trudy. My buddy Wade; he was hurt while on maneuvers. I have to go to the hospital. I can’t stay here when he’s hurt so bad.”
“Of course not.” Sage put a hand on his arm. “Is he going to be all right?”
“She didn’t know. We’re hoping. It’s just that I can’t leave you here.” He gripped her elbow, wanting her to understand how important this was. “Come with me.”
Sage blinked in response. “Joel, I can’t leave. I have too many things going on here. I have important meetings with corporate—they’re flying in tonight. And I already promised Wendy the next few days off for her sister’s wedding. I couldn’t possibly get enough coverage in the spa if we’re both gone.” Still, panic slid onto her face, as if she didn’t want him to leave her, either.
His divided loyalties were pulling at him from both sides and Joel felt trapped. “I can’t leave you unprotected.” This was impossible. She couldn’t stay here alone. Just having her at home every night with a security system, a gun in the nightstand, and five watchdog sisters nearly killed him—even though he was next door. Leaving her here while he left town pulled his stomach into tight, twisty knots.
She put her free hand on his cheek and met his gaze, steady as a rock. “I’m not alone. I’m surrounded by people. I’ll be fine. I promise to take extra precautions. You have to go to Wade. I’ll never be alone, not for a minute, okay?”
Her touch was soothing, she was soothing. Joel wished he could take her with him for that alone. He wanted to toss her over his shoulder and carry her out with him regardless. Instead, he decided he didn’t have a choice but to leave her—he couldn’t let Wade and Trudy down. A day or two away from her might be a good chance to strengthen his defenses. “Don’t be surprised if I call several times a day. Or if I have everyone stopping by to check on you. This feels like a bad idea.”
She smiled softly. “I’d come if I could, if only to ease your paranoid mind.”
“Hey, my paranoid mind is the only reason I’m still alive.”
“Good point.” She slid her hand from his cheek, down his neck to his shoulder, pulled him closer and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I hope he recovers. Check on him, take care and come back soon, okay? I promise I’ll be careful.”
Her lips were like silk on his skin—the best thing that had ever touched him—and made him yearn for more. “I will. Stay safe.” He stared into her eyes. “Promise me.”
She smiled. “I promise. And I’m going to call Gina and have her book your flight and a rental car so you don’t have to worry about it. Which airport?” She released him and stepped back. He told her and she waved him along.
Joe took the hint, but before he got out of sight, he already had his phone out calling Vince to let him know what was going on and to ask for his help.
Sage returned to the spa and picked up an extension, dialing Lana’s office manager. “Yes, Gina, could you make a reservation for Joel? He has a family emergency and is headed for the airport already.” She gave the assistant the information she needed, then hung up, turning to her staff, who watched with avid interest. “Don’t any of you have appointments?”
“Mine’s running late,” Wendy said.
“I don’t have one for fifteen minutes,” Damon said.
“And I still need to clean my treatment room before the next one shows up,” Esther said, then slinked away.
“So, that was a touching scene. And you’re getting the boss’s assistant to make the reservations. That’s interesting. I didn’t know the wind blew that direction,” Wendy teased.
“You haven’t noticed the way Watts hangs around here, like a sad little puppy?” Damon asked as he stared at the spot from which Joel had just disappeared. “Where have you been?”
“It’s nothing. He was upset. That’s all.” Sage pulled up the schedule again as one of the treatment rooms opened and a woman came out wrapped in one of their trademark blue robes.
Wendy let out a little sigh and whispered, “I want all the gritty details. After my appointment.” She put on a big smile and approached the guest.
“You can save the gritty details for Wendy,” Damon said, though his expression said otherwise. “I don’t want them.”
“Yeah, well, there’s nothing to tell anyway. I’m just a job to him.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness completely out of her voice. “I gotta go talk to Rosemary about menus.” Sage picked up the folder she’d been looking over earlier, her mind already back to the grief and desperation she’d seen in Joel’s eyes—it mirrored what she’d seen that morning while she meditated. While she was sorry, so sorry that his friend was hurt, she was a little relived his grief wasn’t about her. “I shouldn’t be long.” She headed for the door.
In the hallway she ran into Mick. “How are you doing today?” he asked. “Joel mentioned he’d be out of town for a while and said I should keep an extra close eye on your department.” Amusement teased his wide mouth. “Does he think terrorists are going to target those who crave mud baths?”
“We don’t have mud baths,” she corrected him. “But aromatherapy—that’s another issue entirely. All kinds of infidels enjoy that.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Sage chuckled with him, though she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the dark-haired man. Something about the way he hung around the spa made her uneasy, though she tried not to show it. Wendy seemed to like him well enough. “Well, this is my stop,” she said as they approached the kitchen.
“I’ll swing by later, then.” He peeled off, heading toward the conference center.
She wasn’t sure if that was supposed to comfort her or not.
Sage wasn’t surprised to see Mick walk past several times that day, peering in the front doors or stopping in to talk for a few minutes. Nor were the impromptu visits from her brother, Blake and most of the sisters, unexpected. Vince and Cami stopping by to cart her off at six o’clock was another matter.
“Come to dinner with us,” Cami said. “We’re going to his parents’ place and Etta has been asking us to bring you with us sometime.”
Sage had met Vince’s mother when he in
vited Sage and Cami to join them for the local Fourth of July activities. Etta was a sweet woman, and Sage would like to see her again, but she didn’t think that had originally been in their plans for the night. “You don’t have to coddle me, you know. I’m not going to curl up and die because Joel had to take off for a couple of days.”
“We’re not coddling you.”
“Bull.”
Vince leaned on the counter. “Look, Joel didn’t like leaving you here without his protection. He asked me to pick up the slack until he gets back—for his peace of mind.”
“And mine,” Cami added.
“Everyone’s worried about you,” Vince said.
“Why you? Why not Blake or Harrison, my overprotective brother?” Sage held up a hand to ward off anything he might protest. “Nothing against you, Vince. You seem capable enough.”
“As far as I know, none of them has a concealed-carry permit. I do,” Vince said. “I’ll spend the night at your place and see that you get back to work safe in the morning.”
Cami’s eyes swiveled to her fiancé. “You’re carrying a gun? How often do you do that?”
Sage found that a little amusing. Cami didn’t know?
“No, hon.” Vince touched her nose. “I don’t usually carry, just when I have a need—which usually means when I’m going to the shooting range. Or when there are crazy psychos I might need to be ready for.”
Cami didn’t look overly comforted. Sage, on the other hand, had gotten used to the idea and was actually a little relieved despite her preference for peaceful solutions and discomfort with the idea of carrying a gun in her purse. “So you get temporary bodyguard duty? And I’m sure spending the night with Cami is going to be a real trial for you.” Her lips quirked.
“We all take your safety seriously.” His eyes danced as he slid his arm around Cami’s back. “Come on. We need to stop to buy dessert on the way to my parents’ place.”
Sage grabbed her shoulder bag, told Wendy she was in charge, and followed them out. Maybe the change of scene would do her good, but she couldn’t get Joel’s friend off her mind. She pulled out her phone to call him.
Trudy’s plane landed only fifteen minutes after Joel’s so he waited at her terminal. When she got off, her face was pale, her eyes red from crying, and her normally immaculate hair and clothes were rumpled. She caught sight of him the moment she exited the tunnel and hurried over, collapsing into his arms. “Joel. Thanks for waiting for me.”
“It’s no problem. I just got in myself. It took a while to get a flight.” She was such a tiny thing, not much bigger than Sage, and looked fragile, like she might break if he held her too tight. “Come on. Let’s go. I have a rental car reserved.”
Thankfully there wasn’t much of a line at the rental agency and they were on their way to the hospital quickly. Joel ignored the twisting in his gut while he peppered her with questions about her kids and news from the other team members’ wives. When she was a little calmer, he asked her again about what she’d been told of Wade’s condition.
Every few minutes his mind returned to Sage and what she was doing. He’d called and left a message on her phone while he’d waited for Trudy to get off of her plane. Not hearing from her made him nervous and he decided if she didn’t call back by the time they arrived at the hospital, he’d try again—her and as many other people as he needed to be sure she was safe.
Of course he was hassling with rush-hour traffic when his cell phone rang. He held back a curse at the sound of the ring tone—he didn’t generally answer his phone while driving, and especially not when traffic was like this. “Answer that for me, will you?” he asked Trudy. “It’s in my jacket pocket.”
She pulled it out and pushed a button. “Hello, this is Joel’s phone. Yes, he’s right here, but he’s driving.” She covered the microphone. “She says her name is Sage and to tell you she’s fine. She’s going to dinner with Vince and is under guard.” Her brows lifted at this last bit.
Relief swept through him. “Good. Tell her I’ll call again when I get a chance and thanks for calling.”
Trudy relayed the message and returned the phone to his pocket. “Now you have to tell me who Sage is, why you have her under guard, and why she sounded unhappy about me answering your phone.”
Joel kept his eyes on the road and his face as blank as possible. “I’m her bodyguard, she has a stalker, and Vince is her sister’s fiancé. I asked him to step in for a bit while I’m here.”
“I thought you were working in hotel security and you didn’t answer my last question.”
“Security is a way for me to watch out for her and her sisters if need be.”
“And the rest?” When he didn’t answer her, she pushed on, “I don’t remember the guys ever talking about you having a girlfriend. Dates, yes, but you’ve never gone out with anyone steady—as far as I know. She must be special.”
“Is now really the time for this discussion?” he asked.
“It’s distracting me from my worries for a few minutes. Humor me.”
He glanced over and saw the pinched look to her face, the worry in her eyes and had to capitulate. “There are a few women I’ve dated repeatedly.” Not that any of those relationships had been anything beyond the string of dates he’d worked into his schedule when it was convenient. Joel had never felt a connection with any of them. “And I’m not dating Sage. I’m protecting her.”
“But there are feelings—and I’m thinking not only on her side.”
Joel had never been one to talk about his feelings, and he had no one to discuss it with at all in Colorado. He trusted Trudy, she was family, so he decided to make an admission. “Sage is special, okay? She’s not like any other woman I’ve ever known. But we’re not involved like that.”
“Do you want to be?”
More than anything. But he shook his head. “We’re from different worlds. It would never work, so we’ll remain friends.” Except the memory of her soft hand on his cheek, the brush of lips along his jaw made him ache for more. At first he’d thought the assignment would only last a month or two at most. He hadn’t expected to become enmeshed in her life. Then they moved to Colorado and the stalker had stayed away—but he’d known it wouldn’t last. As time passed, he’d been pulled closer to Sage, wrapped in her until part of him hoped the situation would never end, because if it did, he’d have to leave. On the other hand, he didn’t know if he could leave her. Being this far from her made him feel like he was suffocating—but maybe that was because of the stalker. If he told himself that, maybe it would make him feel better.
“Here we are.” Joel was relieved when he pulled into the military hospital parking lot. He didn’t want to discuss this anymore, and there were more urgent things to worry about.
“You’re off the hook—for now.” Trudy had gotten some of her color back while she was teasing Joel, but it leeched out again.
“Hey, chin up. No news is good news. If something bad had happened, someone would have called.” He got out and came around to her door, holding it for her before locking the car and hurrying her to the entrance.
Wade was still in surgery when they arrived and the other SEAL team members were gathered in the waiting room. “Hey, It’s Watts and Trudy!” Greg said, standing and raising a hand in greeting. “I didn’t think you’d make it. We’re still waiting for word from the doc.”
Joel took his hand and pounded the guy on the back with his other one. “Haven’t seen you in ages. Looks like you’ve got a new scar in your pretty face.” The guys always teased Greg about his more refined features blaming it for his luck with women.
Greg rubbed the pink scar that ran through his left eyebrow. “The chicks dig it, man. You’re just jealous.”
“He still thinks he’s God’s gift,” Riley said, coming over to exchange back slaps. He had several inches on Joel and was built like a tank. “They never stay long after he opens his mouth though. He just scares them away.”
“Just because
you’ve been practically married to your girl since you were five, doesn’t mean the rest of us have to settle.” Greg shot back.
“You’re looking a little soft there,” Terry greeted Joel. “Enjoying the easy life? Found yourself a girl yet?”
“It’s champagne bunches and pate every night,” Joel said with a roll of his eyes. “I could still take you, anytime.”
“But apparently the girl is F I N E fine,” Trudy interjected from where she was embracing Riley.
“How would you know?” Joel asked her as he shook hands with a couple of other guys who had joined the team after Joel was discharged, so he didn’t know them well.
“I can tell from the way you talk about her. Or the way you don’t talk about her.” Trudy winked at him, though worry still gilded her face.
“Nah, he never talks about women at all—he’s no fun. Is this one serious?” Riley asked Trudy.
Joel rolled his eyes and changed the subject by asking what they’d been up to. He knew he would only get generic details, but it felt good to melt back into the familiar camaraderie he had missed so much.
It seemed to take forever before the doctor pulled Trudy aside to tell her the surgery was successful. It was hours later before they allowed anyone but her to visit Wade. She stayed in there with him, but the others were allowed a couple of minutes each, one at a time after Wade awoke.
The walk down the hall to Wade’s room was insanely long. Joel forced a smile before entering the room and managed not to blanch when he saw Wade’s face. It looked like he’d gotten in the way of a bomb—shrapnel of some kind. Wade would never be able to talk about the mission or what happened, but Joel knew the signs.
“Look at you—decided to take a break and got yourself injured so you could have your woman fuss over you for a while?” Joel patted Wade on the shoulder.
“I’d been gone too long. We’ve been out three months and I missed her.” Wade winked at Trudy. “What brings you out here? I thought you were working in some hoity-toity hotel and golfing every day.”
SEALed With Love (DiCarlo Brides book 2) (The DiCarlo Brides) Page 10