Southern Delight (Southern Desires Series Book 3)

by Jeannette Winters

  Kevin reached out and grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “He’s got people watching out for him, Bailey. The man’s not a fool and has guts of steel. He’ll take every necessary precaution. All you can do is let him do what he needs to do and wait.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “Far from it, Bailey, but Mark will do everything in his power to ensure Don makes it out in one piece.”

  “Then why are you here with me when you should be out protecting him, too?”

  “Because, my job, sweet Bailey, is to protect you. Or did you think I really wanted a road trip of shopping and dog sitting?” Kevin arched his brow while driving.

  Actually yes, I thought you did. “Am I the only one who thought we were friends?” The hurt in her voice was crystal clear.

  “We are, Bailey. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. Mark would’ve sent one of his team to watch over you if I didn’t insist on being the one to make sure you’re safe.”

  She looked at him searching for any sign that he was lying but couldn’t see any. Bailey wasn’t sure if she could trust what her eyes told her any longer, never mind her own judgment. She was dealing with people whose profession ensured they knew how to be incognito.

  “Then I guess Savannah it is,” she said.

  Kevin handed her back her phone. “Just remember, Hannah knows even less than you.”

  Or so he thinks; that woman can be very resourceful. When I’m there, I’ll know. And if she truly doesn’t know anything, then Mark is going to have to answer a lot of questions when he gets back from his honeymoon.

  Bailey leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. Don is going to have a lot of questions to answer as well. He better make sure he stays safe and comes back to me. I can’t have survived cancer just to lose the one person I love. There is no way life can be that cruel. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she looked out the window. Nope. It can’t be that cruel.

  Daniel pulled up in front of the building. Don was only going to need a few minutes in his penthouse.

  “I’ll keep the truck idling, but don’t be long,” Daniel said as he scoped out the surroundings.

  It had only been thirty-six hours since he’d left The Mountain and already the hackers had infiltrated the database and had accessed the fake file. He knew they were acting quickly. Don felt leaving Buffalo seemed overly dramatic, but Daniel thought otherwise.

  In all the years Daniel had worked for him, this was the first time Don had seen him like this. It was beginning to make Don a bit jumpy himself. He could understand it if they were on The Mountain, but here in his hometown, the heart of Buffalo, it didn’t make sense.

  Don wasn’t even going to try to convince Daniel of that. The look on his face said he was focused intensely and all business. Ever since that phone call with Mark and Kevin, he’s changed. Why? Is there something going on that he hasn’t told me? Because, there’s been no sign anyone’s on to us. Then again, I pay Daniel to be cautious. I can only imagine what he’d be like if he knew exactly how damn evil these guys are. What they did to Derrick’s family, to Hannah, and God knows who else.

  “I need to clear the apartment before you go in. But leaving you out here alone isn’t an option either. So stay close behind me. Understood?”

  “Daniel. We are not entering this building with guns drawn. Hell, the police will be here before we even make it to my penthouse.”

  “My job is to—”

  “Do what I say. If I see anything suspicious, I’ll turn around and come right back out. But I’m going in alone.”

  “You’re not thi—”

  “And you’re not coming in. Give me thirty minutes.”

  “You have ten,” Daniel barked without even looking at Don.

  Don wanted to remind him who the boss was, but he’d heard that tone in Mark. Nothing he was going to say was going to make a damn difference. Shaking his head, he got out of the truck and entered the building. Once inside his penthouse he turned on the lights and scanned the room. Everything was exactly as he’d left it before he went to Savannah. Until a few minutes ago, that was exactly how he’d expected to find it, but Daniel’s manner had him on edge. As he went into each room, it appeared as though no one had been there. If I were them, I’d have been in and out unnoticed as well.

  It wouldn’t have surprised him to find his place ransacked. He knew if he were one of the guys looking for information, he would’ve gone in while no one was around, got a good feel of who he was dealing with, searched the place, then left it looking totally untouched. Much like what I see now. For all I know, they’ve been here. If they have, what would they want? There’s nothing here to use against me.

  Don went over to his desk and opened the drawers, searching for any clue that something was touched. He couldn’t find any. Great, Daniel, now you’ve got me thinking shit’s going down.

  He went to his bedroom and grabbed his suitcase from the closet. The clock was ticking, and he didn’t want Daniel coming to look for him. They had important things to handle right now.

  Daniel was able to confirm their system had been hacked and someone retrieved the false photos and documents. They had no way of knowing when, or if, they’d figured out what they were looking at was purposely planted as a trap. Daniel’s right. This is not the place I want to be when they come for me. Too many unsecured ways in, and it’s one hell of a long way down if they decide to see if I can fly.

  Don packed only what he couldn’t live without: clothes and a photo of him and his parents before cancer tore their family apart. He took the photo out of the frame, folded it up, and put it in his wallet. He didn’t bother turning off the lights or locking the door. Nothing’s going to stop those assholes from getting in if they decide it’s payback time.

  Daniel glared at him as he exited the building. He knew he’d gone over the time limit, but it was his neck on the line. If he took twelve minutes instead of ten, then they all could get over it. No one knew they were here or that he was packing.

  “Where are we going, boss?” Daniel asked as they pulled away from his building. “Savannah?”

  He had no idea where Kevin was with Bailey. The last he’d seen either was at Hannah and Mark’s. It would’ve been logical for them to stay there, a place where Mark’s team could easily protect them. Yet she wasn’t one to do something just because it was asked of her. She had a mind of her own, and he loved her for that. At times like this, not so much, but he understood why she didn’t do as he asked. He wasn’t there for her, so she wasn’t going to be there for him. Something inside of him said she wasn’t doing as he’d asked. Staying put. “Anywhere but Savannah, I’ve got a target on my back, and so does everyone I associate with.”

  “I know you want to keep Bailey safe,” Daniel said, shaking his head and smiling. “That’s noble, it really is, but I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice: don’t let go today of what you can’t live without tomorrow.”

  “I’m not sure how many tomorrows I have left,” Don said. Mark hadn’t been shy when providing him the odds of making it back in one piece. He’d beaten those odds during his most recent visit to The Mountain, but if he rolled the dice long enough, eventually he’d get snake eyes.

  “Neither am I,” Daniel said. “I could choke on a doughnut or get struck by lightning, and that’s it; I’m gone. Bailey is no exception. I know you don’t want to hear it, but she could slip down a flight of stairs and die, or maybe she’s not in remission and this time the cancer is terminal. That’s just how it is.”

  Thinking of his own mortality was something he could deal with. Bailey’s wasn’t. “Shut up,” Don ground out.

  “I’ve been you before,” Daniel said. “If you don’t want to hear it, you can always jump from the truck.”

  Don gave him a skeptical look. He’d never asked Daniel any personal questions. He’d always kept business separate from his personal life. Since he might not have either shortly, breaking his own rules didn’
t mean a thing.

  “I’ve never asked you about your life; hell, I don’t even know if you’ve got a family. If you’ve got a family to look out for, then you need to cut your ties with me immediately.”

  “Don’t sweat it. I’m married to my work. Have been since you hired me sixteen years ago,” Daniel said.

  Don knew there was more to it than that. Normally he didn’t pry, but talking about Daniel meant not talking about himself. “What happened?”

  Daniel took the onramp to the highway. “It’s not so different from what’s going on with you and Bailey right now.”

  You mean living in hell because you can’t be with the one person you don’t want to live without, yet the choices you made require you to do exactly that? “There’s nothing between Bailey and me.”

  “Bullshit, Don. I was within earshot when you were talking to Kevin. Your face turned red when you knew she was with him.”

  “I wanted to make sure he was keeping her safe. That’s all.”

  “Kevin will give his life for her if he must. It’s what we do.”

  It was true. This really had nothing to do with Kevin or anyone else. He needed to follow his gut; staying away from her was his wisest course. “This isn’t about what I want or need. It’s about doing what is right. She isn’t safe with me. Not now, maybe not ever. I’ll have to live with that, and so will she,” Don said.

  “When you let the right one go, trust me, there is no living after that. It becomes your greatest regret, takes the color and music from the world. Trust me. I’m too old to try again, but you’re not.”

  “You’re not that old, Daniel,” Don said. “You can always chase after her once we get out of this damn mess we’re in.”

  “That door is closed. I was maybe ten years younger than you at the time, but I fell in love, hard. I’d just returned from deployment, and I met the most amazing woman, an ICU doctor at the local hospital. She was funny and kind and had the biggest heart of anyone I’d ever met. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on but a bit naïve when it came to dealing with a man like me. She had a sense of humor that’d taken me by surprise. Our chemistry was explosive.” Daniel chuckled. “But my buddies warned me about the women who lived near the bases, that they were all seeking officers to take advantage of. So when the topic of what I did for a living came up, I told her I was an engineer.”

  Hell, I never even asked what he did before. How is it I didn’t know he’d been in the military? He considered Daniel and how he acted. He should’ve seen the look, expression, control he held, just like Mark.

  “And she believed you?”

  “Yes, she did. A year and a half later I was called to deploy again and we’d just gotten engaged. It wasn’t easy, but for that entire time, I maintained the deception. Every time I went to work on base or for PT, she thought I was going to my engineering job in the city. When we went out with my friends they covered my ass, and when we were out with her friends they didn’t know any better. I hid my uniform. The damn shame was how good I became at hiding my guilt for lying to her in the first place. Sometimes I think they trained me too well.”

  “I don’t have the training, Daniel, and I seem to have picked it up myself. I think we just do what we need to do to protect the ones we love.”

  “Damn straight. But that doesn’t make it any better on the ones we’re lying to.” Daniel changed lanes to pass a line of slow-moving tractor-trailers. “Not only was I getting deployed, but I was offered a promotion from first lieutenant to captain if I re-upped. An incredible increase in responsibility and pay, and I jumped at it. Came clean with her a few days before I had to leave the country.”

  “There’s no way she forgave you,” Don said.

  “No, she did. She forgave me. She’d seen me in uniform shortly after we started dating. All that time she’d known I was lying to her face, and she still forgave me.”

  “Sounds like an amazing woman.”

  Daniel nodded. “I asked her why, and she said it was because love is accepting, forgiving, and understanding at all times. She loved me so purely, but I was young and stupid. All she asked was that I leave the Army and stay with her. As a doctor, she’d seen too many soldiers come home broken, physically, mentally, or both. She said she couldn’t bear to think of me facing the same fate.”

  I understand that. That’s why I didn’t tell Bailey what I was doing. She’d try to talk me out of it. But Mark wouldn’t have the file if I hadn’t stepped up. These guys need to pay for what they’ve done.

  “Did you quit?”

  He knew the answer even before Daniel spoke. It was the first time he’d ever seen him wince. It was as though he still felt the pain.

  “No, I took the promotion. The Army was all I’d ever known. They sent me overseas for two years, moving from one place to the next. Most times, I couldn’t even disclose my location, and that drove her crazy. I heard her sobs when we spoke on the phone. It was killing me that I was hurting her, but I had a job to do, and that came first. I told myself everything would be back to normal when I returned.” Daniel grew quiet for a minute then cleared his throat. “But after a while we grew distant; things weren’t as comfortable as they’d once been.”

  Don knew being six months away from Bailey had changed things. He couldn’t imagine years. If I get out of this alive, I don’t want to find out either. I’ll tell her how I feel. I’m not going to hold anything back. Not anymore.

  “One day I got a call from her saying it was over. She’d met someone else. At first, I was dumbfounded. I was free. She could finally love someone safe, and I wouldn’t feel guilty for holding her back. Then after dating a few different women, it hit me. No one compared to her. So when my contract was up with the Army, I didn’t reenlist. When I returned to the States, the first thing I did was seek her out. But she wasn’t in the apartment we’d once shared. No one knew where she’d gone.”

  “Damn. What did you do?”

  “Drank until I couldn’t think. Then one night when I was half shitfaced, I went to her parents’ house. Her father answered the door. I was prepared to be turned away or to have the cops called on me, but he wrapped his arms around me and welcomed be back. He broke down, sobbing like a child in my arms. He was apologizing about a promise he’d made. Her mother brought us inside and made us strong cups of coffee. They knew why I’d come. I spent an hour explaining myself and how I’d grown into a better person, how no woman could ever compare, that I’d been a fool and I’d spend the rest of my life making it up to their daughter if they could just tell me where I could find her.”

  “Did they?”

  “They told me to get in the car, and I said I’d just take mine, but they said the only way they’d allow me to see her was if I let them drive. Her mom made a call in the other room, and then we left. On the long drive, they told me about how much she’d missed me. It turns out she never dated anyone after me. A woman who’d never lied to me before had decided to do so just so I wouldn’t be with her and watch her slowly slip away, and she’d made her parents promise not to tell me either.” Daniel shook his head as though even now he couldn’t accept her decision, but it was too late to do anything about it. “I learned more about her that day than I had in all the years we’d been together. They told me all about her job, and what she’d been up to while I was away, all the things she was too humble to brag about. She’d organized an annual run to support the families of fallen soldiers; she’d put new programs in place in her hospital to better serve veterans. Her parents told me I’d inspired her and that she regretted giving me an ultimatum. She did everything in her power to support me and all the men like me. She was so proud of me and my choice to serve.” Daniel cleared his throat, trying to rein in his emotions.

  Don was regretting asking him about her. However, he could tell he was a man who understood the turmoil he was facing over Bailey. Choices he’d make that he wasn’t sure he could rectify later.

  “So they took me
to the hospital where she worked. The staff knew them by name and welcomed them with hugs. The nurses and doctors asked if I was the one, and they told them yes, I was. I was hugged by more strangers that day than I could count.”

  Don had a feeling he knew where this was going. He didn’t want to hear it. It was only going to make him think of Bailey’s struggle with her health. “Daniel . . .”

  “Let me finish; there’s a point to why I’m telling you this. We rode the elevator to the ICU. I’d visited her at work a few times before, but I hadn’t seen her making rounds. Her parents stopped to greet one of their daughter’s colleagues who was expecting us. He took us into a room and shut the door behind us. It was a single room, and there were balloons and flowers everywhere. And there she was, the woman I loved, pale and wasting away in a hospital bed. There was a machine breathing for her, another filtering her blood and pumping her heart for her. She’d become ill several months after I left.” Daniel took a deep breath. “I thought she had a cold. She’d said she was feeling better the last time we’d talked. She was very sick, and she made her parents promise not to reach out or tell me. She didn’t want to burden me; she didn’t want to hurt me. Above everything, her biggest concern about getting sick was how hard I’d take it. So she tried to hide it. Her mother told me she refused to pull the plug before I got there. They knew I’d be back, and I deserved a chance to say goodbye.”

  Don saw a single tear roll down Daniel’s cheek. He made no attempt to wipe it away. Instead, he gripped the steering wheel as though he could squeeze his pain into it.

  “Daniel, so sorry, man,” Don said. “I didn’t mean to dredge up something so painful.”

  “Damn it listen then,” Daniel said. “I had to say goodbye to her the day we reunited, but she’d been gone for months. The machines were just keeping her body alive on her parents’ insistence I’d be there with them when she . . . I tell you, Don, I’ve never loved anyone the way I loved her.”