Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Guarding Suzie (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Nicole Flockton

  The sound of a throat clearing finally registered into her consciousness. Suzie dragged her gaze from Ryan and looked at her doctor. The woman wasn’t hiding her indulgent smile. “It’s always good to see two committed parents.”

  Looks could be deceiving. At the moment, she and Ryan were anything but committed parents, they were still finding their way around the situation they were in. As if he could tell she was feeling out of sorts with the doctor’s comments, Ryan faced the doctor. “More like a nervous dad, here. Mom is in total control of herself.”

  The doctor chuckled and grabbed a tube of gel. “Okay then, let’s get started.”

  Excitement mingled with nerves as Dr. Jones, lifted her gown to smear the gel on her belly. She started as the coolness of the liquid against her heated flesh.

  “Right, what we’re going to do is take some measurements to check the progress of the baby’s growth,” she explained as she moved the wand over her stomach. Suzie’s eyes were fixed on the screen as the baby’s form materialized.

  “That’s our baby?” whispered Ryan, awe in every syllable.

  Tears filled her eyes. “Yes.”

  The doctor took the various measurements, but whatever she said to her and Ryan was white noise. Her focus was divided between the images on the screen and the man holding her hand in both of his.

  “How about we listen to your baby’s heartbeat?” The doctor flicked a couple of switches.

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

  Echoed around the room, the sound reassuring to her ears.

  “That’s amazing and so fast. Is that normal?” asked Ryan.

  “Perfectly normal. Your baby is healthy and strong. Now let’s get a good look at your baby’s face.”

  Dr. Turner worked her magic and in the next instant the image on the screen coalesced into a fully formed face, with two closed eyes, a perfect little button nose and rosebud lips.

  Suzie had heard about 3D scans but seeing it in action was amazing.

  “The next time we do a scan, we should be able to confirm the baby’s gender,” said Dr. Turner. “That is if you want to find out.”

  Prior to informing Ryan about his duties as a father, Suzie had determined that she wanted to find out what she was having. She wanted to be able to plan the nursery and start to build up the baby’s wardrobe. Now, Ryan had as much right as her to make the decision.

  “That’s up to Suzie,” Ryan stated. “I’m following her lead here.”

  “Really?” He couldn’t mean that, could he?

  “Yeah, if you want to find out then I’m totally on board with that. If you don’t then I’m okay with that too.”

  “We’ve got a few weeks before you have to make that decision. You don’t need to let me know now, I was just letting you know you have that option at your next scan.” She pressed another couple of buttons on the machine and a soft whirring filled the room. “I’ve just printed out some pictures for the both of you.”

  A few moments later she handed the papers to Suzie and another set to Ryan. He had to relinquish his hold on her hand and she wanted to snatch it back immediately. Instead she looked at the pictures. An unbelievable sense of rightness filled her at the images in her hand.

  “This is fucking amazing,” Ryan said.

  Dr. Jones chuckled. “Yes, it is. I’ll leave you both now. Don’t forget to make your next appointment, Suzie. It was good to meet you too, Ryan.”

  Suzie bit her lip to hold back her burst of laughter at Ryan’s distracted response to Dr. Jones.

  The second the door clicked close Ryan stood and framed her face with his hands. “Thank you,” he said before he leaned in and captured her lips with his.

  Thank goodness she was already laying down because if she’d been standing it was entirely plausible she would currently be a puddle of liquid on the ground. She’d forgotten what it was like to be kissed by Ryan. Forgotten how his aura enveloped her and made her forget her own name. No wonder she fell pregnant, even with wearing protection. Ryan was impossible to resist. Why she hadn’t been able to say no to him the night they went out for dinner and ended up in bed.

  “Oh sorry, I’ll come back in a minute.”

  Suzie pulled her lips away in time to see the door to the room being closed again. “Oh, geez,” she muttered.

  Ryan brushed a hand down her cheek and she lifted her eyes to meet his again. “We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

  She could only nod. They did have a ton to talk about. Only she wasn’t sure she was ready to face up to it all.

  Ryan sat in his car out the front of the complex Suzie lived in, the picture of his child in his hand. He’d lost hours gazing at the picture over the last couple of days. This meeting with Suzie had been eating away at him. He’d wanted to talk to her directly after her doctor’s appointment, but she had to go to work. He could’ve pushed her. He’d already pushed her by kissing her without even asking. It had seemed the most natural thing to do. He’d enjoyed every second of their lip lock.

  Now, here he sat, like a nervous teenager wondering if his date’s dad was going to eat him alive when he knocked on the door. The likelihood of that happening when he knocked on Suzie’s door was slim, but he also couldn’t be too sure of her reaction to him, even though it was her idea to meet at her place.

  Popping the picture carefully back into his wallet he got out of the car. His movements were becoming looser and looser with each day that passed. He’d even gone to work that day in an attempt to keep his mind off his upcoming meeting with Suzie. The guys had given him a hard time at his distraction, but he managed to fob them off with excuses about taking it easy on his leg. Which was such a lie, a SEAL never took things easy, and the guys knew it, but they kept their opinions to themselves. Although he had to distract Cowboy and Red from asking him all about Suzie seeing as they’d seen her when they visited him at the hospital.

  The building Suzie lived in had no doorman or buzzer system to let her know when she had a visitor. He didn’t like it at all. The lack of security made his skin crawl. Anyone could enter the building and accost the residents. It didn’t matter that the building appeared to be nice and clean and was in a relatively safe area. None of that truly mattered. In his time overseas, he’d seen that even the nicest looking person could be hiding a semi-automatic beneath their jacket.

  He took a couple of seconds to let the worry drain out of him. The worst thing he could do was storm up to Suzie’s floor and tell her she needed to move to a safer building. Regardless of the fact that they were going to be parents, he didn’t have a right to lecture her about her living arrangements. He also had a gut feeling she wouldn’t appreciate his demands. She may look tough, but he’d seen the hint of vulnerability within her, even though she tried hard to hide it.

  Once he determined he was in control of his emotions and wouldn’t go all heavy-handed Navy SEAL on her, he strode to the small lobby that housed the elevators.

  Thanks to Tex and his skills, he knew Suzie lived on the third floor. That was how he’d been able to get food delivered to her after he’d seen her in the hospital. The ex-SEAL hadn’t asked questions, well not too many, when he’d phoned him asking for the information. Tex had helped Italy and a former teammate Ash with their fiancée’s, so the former SEAL turned computer whiz didn’t seem to have a problem getting Ryan the information he needed as well.

  The elevator arrived and he stepped in, pressing the required disc. The cart cranked into motion. While the building looked modern, it appeared the elevator was older than time itself, or the motor was about to clap out. If it did he hoped he wasn’t anywhere near it and neither was Suzie.

  On the third floor, he got his bearings, noting where the exits were located if, for some reason, he and Suzie had to make an escape. Not that it was likely, but his training was ingrained.

  He’d almost reached her home, when a door at the end of the hallway cracked open. A head popped out and Ryan took note of the owner. He wore thin
wire-rimmed round glasses, that belonged back in the nineties. His hair was slicked over to the left and he couldn’t tell if his hair was a dark color naturally or because of all the product in it was making it look dark. Immediately the hairs on the back of Ryan’s neck stood to attention when he closed the door again. Ryan didn’t like the vibe the guy was putting out. His examination of Ryan wasn’t that of a curious neighbor. It had an almost sinister quality, which was stupid, but experience had told him to trust his gut, and his gut was screaming that Suzie’s neighbor wasn’t the type of person he could trust. He would have to ask her about him.

  Ryan made a mental note to get Tex to see if there was any information on the guy who lived in the apartment four doors down from Suzie. When he left, he’d find out the exact number. If they guy was hiding something, Tex would find it and then Ryan would do whatever it took to keep Suzie and their child safe.

  Happy he had a solid plan in place, he rapped his knuckles against her door, nerves slamming into him with the force of one of his brothers tackling him to the ground to avoid flying bullets.

  The door opened and he lost the ability to speak. Dressed in tight fighting jeans and a fluffy cream sweater that accentuated her breasts he fought down the temptation to pull her in his arms and continue on where they left off in the doctor’s office, only this time going all the way until he was balls deep inside her.

  He gave himself a mental shake. This wasn’t what he’d come here to do. There was every chance, even though Suzie had returned his kiss, the last thing she wanted was to end up in bed with him. The one and only time they had, ended with them becoming parents. Strangers to parents in the space of one night.

  “Are you planning on coming in or even saying something?”

  His mind registered her words, but a movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention from her. The guy from the down the hall now had half his body out his door and was watching Ryan avidly.

  “Something I can help you with?” he asked, directing a don’t-mess-with-me look down the hall.

  He darted back into his apartment, ignoring Ryan’s question. The protective instinct, which had fired into overdrive the second he found out Suzie was pregnant, pushed him into action and he strode into Suzie’s place. He wrapped an arm around her and ushered her down the small hallway into her living room.

  “Who’s the dude who lives four doors down from you?” he demanded.

  Suzie stepped away from him and planted her hands on her hips. “Excuse me?”

  “I think you heard me.”

  He really should’ve been paying attention to her posture. It would’ve given him a good idea of what she was about to do next. “Ow.” Ryan rubbed the spot on his chest where her finger jabbed him. “What was that for?”

  “You don’t get to come into my home and start spouting off demands. I’m not one of your teammates.”

  “Babe, I don’t hand out demands on my team. I follow them.” He winked hoping to bring a smile to her face. If anything, the way her eyebrows drew closer together it had the opposite effect of what he had been trying to achieve.

  “God, if it wasn’t for the fact that we really need to talk about the baby and what we’re going to do. I’d kick you out so fast you wouldn’t know what hit you.”

  He may go through life making jokes, but he wasn’t completely insensitive. His demands about her neighbor had triggered a response in Suzie and, if he wanted to have any chance in salvaging the evening, he needed to take evasive actions.

  Ryan rolled his shoulders to lessen the tension that had been riding him since he’d seen the asshole’s face poking out of his apartment. He took a tentative step toward her. When she didn’t back away he closed the distance and reached out and took hold of her hand, rubbing his thumb over the top of her palm. “I’m sorry, Suzie.”

  Chapter Six

  Why did he have to be so sweet?

  The unbidden thought drained away the rest of her anger. She wanted to grasp it back, cloak herself in it. Anger was much better to deal with than the wave of lust and need that had swamped her when she’d opened the door to him.

  She so didn’t need to feel this constant attraction to the guy. It would only lead her into trouble. Trouble she’d got a glimpse of when he’d marched her into her own home and demanded she answer his question.

  If they were to have any chance of a future, for their child’s sake not for her, then she needed to lay some ground rules.

  She extracted her hand from his hold and clasped them together, savoring the lingering warmth from his touch. “I accept your apology, but we need to get something straight. In my personal life, I don’t take orders from anyone. If you want to know something ask me, don’t demand.”

  His eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second and she braced herself for a fight. A how dare you speak to me that way. It’s exactly what Peter would’ve done. He would’ve got in her face and yelled at her.

  Ryan, however, did the opposite. He took a step back and nodded. “Fair enough.”

  “Really? That’s all you’re going to say? You aren’t going to tell me that you will talk to me anyway you want?”

  Why was she pushing this? The guy agreed with her. Did she really want to be yelled at the way Peter used to?

  No.

  She was done with that part of her life and her telling Ryan, challenging him, was her way of keeping in total control.

  “Yes. I respect you, Suzie. What do you want me to do? Argue with you until you see things my way. That’s not how I operate.”

  Sincerity tinged every single word he spoke. He wasn’t just saying it to placate her. To snowball her into thinking one thing about him when the opposite was true. The man standing in front of her, the father of her child, was completely different to the man she’d been married to.

  In that second, relief flooded her like a warm shower after a cold day. Relief that she hadn’t fallen pregnant while married to Peter. They’d tried to have a child over the short period they’d been married, but God or fate had been watching over her. The question was. Why had fate and/or God chosen Ryan to be the father of her child? Why now when she was in charge of her own destiny.

  Warm hands framed her face and nudged a little, encouraging her to look up at him. “I promise to be more aware of how I frame my questions in the future. But please, do me a favor and answer this one. Do you know the guy who lives a couple of doors down from you?”

  In the grand scheme of things, his initial question wasn’t an intrusive one. Her reaction had been a tad over the top. At least, though, they’d reached an understanding. And she had no doubt Ryan wouldn’t go back on his word, like Peter had done time and time again. Ryan honored the code of the Navy SEALs, the brotherhood, he would honor her. Now she could answer his question. “I think you’re talking about Jeffery?”

  Ryan released his hold on her face and grabbed for one of her hands. She liked the connection between them. “Tall, thin, slicked back hair, wire rimmed glasses dude.”

  “Yes, that’s Jeffery. What about him?”

  “How well do you know him?” he asked as he led her to her couch and sat down, bringing her with him. Their bodies bumped and a delicious thread of warmth wove its way through her. She scooted back to put a little distance between them. No way would she be able to form coherent words sitting so close to him, but he squeezed her hand, indicating the last thing he wanted was for her to move away from him.

  It took her a moment to relax with being so close to Ryan and gather her thoughts and think about his question. “I can’t say I really know him that well. He says hello and sometimes we chat about our days. Normal stuff neighbors would talk about.”

  The last thing she planned on telling Ryan was how Jeffery had seemed to be a little more stalkerish of late. Always appearing when she left for work or when she arrived home.

  Like a lightbulb going off over the head of a character in a cartoon, she recalled what Ryan said before he walked into her home. �
�That’s who you were talking to after I opened the door, wasn’t it?”

  “I wouldn’t say talking to in the strictest sense of the phrase. I’m not sure I trust him. He has a look about him.”

  The fact Ryan had honed in on Jeffery shouldn’t have surprised her. In his job, the ability to judge and read people in seconds was the difference between life and death for military guys and more particularly SEALs.

  Should she tell him what she was feeling about Jeffery? Without a doubt if she voiced her concerns Ryan would come all over protective and want to control her movements and actions. While that was comforting, it went against everything she’d strived to achieve since she walked out on Peter. Her ex had dominated every aspect of her life, except the bedroom. In the bedroom he was lackluster and she hadn’t realized how mediocre their sex life had been until the one night she’d spent with Ryan. That night she’d found out what a good sex life should be.

  “If you’re thinking this hard and long about what I said, then you must have some concerns about him.”

  Damn.

  “Okay, don’t make me regret saying anything you.” She eyeballed him, hoping to get her point across that when it came to her life, she steered the ship.

  “In addition to my other promise, I promise to make you not regret saying anything to me.”

  He smiled in a boyish trust me way and she steeled herself to stop from melting into a heap. “Over the last couple of weeks he’s been a bit more attentive than I’m comfortable with.”

  Being so close to him she felt every muscle in his body tightening until they were almost as hard as a rock. She was also aware of the way he took in some deep breaths, encouraging those tight muscles to loosen. “How long has he been living in the building?”

  Not the question she’d been expecting, but okay. “He was here when I moved in a year ago.”