She leaned her face closer to his. “My mom used to call me Sky. Mi cielo.” She paused, remembering. “It’s Spanish. It means my sky.”
He looked at her, his gaze cloudy. Unfocused.
“Thank you for reminding me of that.” She’d tried for years not to remember because it hurt. But remembering was beautiful. Was that why her father had never gotten into a relationship with anyone else?
He blinked and said, “Hi.”
Skylar chuckled. “Hi yourself, handsome.”
“Love you.”
Air hitched in her throat. She’d promised herself she wasn’t going to say it if he wouldn’t remember. But she could hardly let that go unsaid now.
She leaned close and touched her lips to his cheek, then whispered, “I love you, too, Grady. Very much.”
EPILOGUE
San Diego field office—eight weeks later
Skylar lifted her coffee cup. Empty. She pushed back from her desk and glanced over at the agent who’d taken her under his wing since she’d finished Secret Service training. The older man, whose kids were all in college and who grilled a mean steak, lifted his own mug. “Two sugars this time.”
“What is Barbara going to say about that?”
Hiller smashed his lips together. “What happens in the office stays in the office.”
Skylar chuckled. “That’s not how it goes.”
He glanced over, one eyebrow up.
Yes, that might just have been the first time since she was sent here that she’d actually laughed. He’d tried valiantly to draw it out of her, just as her father and uncle had. The two of them had sent her funny notes, cards, texts with videos of cats riding remote control cars. They’d tried really hard—and the first time she’d laughed was because of this.
Skylar wandered to the break room. No, she hadn’t seen Grady since that day in the hospital. He’d woken up again and asked for Stringer. Not her. By the time she’d realized he hadn’t remembered her telling him that she loved him it’d been late, and her father had persuaded her to go back to her uncle’s house and get some rest. She’d left her number with the nurse. In case he wanted to call.
He never had.
She’d filled both cups—one and a half sugars for Hiller because Barbara might be a preschool teacher but she scared Skylar way more than he did. She could dish out sideways looks that made Skylar want to squirm. And spill everything that was in her head.
She set the mug on his desk.
“New boss is here.”
Skylar turned to the boss’s office, which had been vacant for the past week after the supervising agent had suffered a heart attack. She’d been nice but demanding. “I didn’t know they were replacing her.”
Hiller shrugged. “Something about new blood. But I heard he’s a hotshot from DC, got injured in a gunfight. He probably thinks sun and sand means he’s going to be able to kick back here and take it easy.” He shook his head.
Skylar was already walking toward the office. An agent shot at the White House. That didn’t mean it was Grady.
The door was open, and two men stood inside. One tall, the other would be if he wasn’t hunched over with one hand on his chest.
He straightened, a smile on his face. “Don’t make me laugh. It still hurts.” He turned and saw her. Swallowed. His smile died. “Skylar.”
Stringer was the agent beside him. “I’ll give you guys a minute.” Grady’s friend stopped beside her as he exited the office. “Don’t give him a hard time. He doesn’t deserve it after the way you left him.”
She opened her mouth to argue but didn’t have time to ask what he was talking about before he was too far away. Across at his desk, Hiller had leaned back in his chair with a satisfied look on his face. He gave her a thumbs up. What was that about? She turned back to Grady.
“Shut the door please.”
She did.
“Do you want to sit?”
Skylar shook her head. “What are you doing here?”
Grady studied her. “Making a mess of things, apparently.”
“Grady—”
He held up his hand. “How about I start from the beginning?” When she nodded, he said, “The prognosis I got…well, there are a limited amount of things I can do now. And none of them are tactical. The director figured that if I was going to sit behind a desk, he’d promote me so I could ‘do something useful with my time.’” He smiled. “I wasn’t going to argue with that.”
“Why here?” It could have sounded short, but it didn’t. Her words were full of all the longing she’d felt the past couple of months. All the worry after he hadn’t called. All the temptation to pick up the phone. Or find out where he lived, just so she could see if he was okay.
Since she wasn’t a stalker, she hadn’t done any of those things. She’d waited for him to reach out.
And now he was here.
“I asked Stringer to find out where the Secret Service had placed you. I wanted to come and see you, but I didn’t know if you wanted to see me.” He smiled and wandered over to her. It was slower than he’d moved before, like he was getting used to having limited mobility. “I’ve always liked the West Coast, so when I found out there was an open position, I applied for it.”
He frowned, and she saw a flash of vulnerability she’d never seen before. “I talked to Hiller. Felt him out about how he thought you’d react if I showed up.”
Skylar let him know how she felt about that with a lift of her eyebrow.
He chuckled, then set a hand on his tie.
“The suit looks good on you.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you want to sit down?”
“I’m not fragile. But I am still healing.” He took her hand. “Hiller put two and two together and asked me if I was the reason why you’ve been moping since you got here.”
“He said that?” She was going to talk to him about it.
Grady nodded. “So what do you think?”
“About you being my boss?”
“About me being here. Where you are.”
Skylar bit her lip. “Do you remember anything from the hospital?”
“I remember waking up and you not being there.” He touched her cheek with his free hand. “I kind of thought you would be.”
“I was. Then you asked for Stringer and I left my number, and you never called.”
He frowned then. “I never got your number. And I even called your uncle. He didn’t pass my message on?”
Skylar sighed. “Maybe we should opt for face-to-face communication from now on.”
“Deal. So how about dinner?”
“Is that all you have to offer?”
“No.” He pulled her close. “There’s a whole lot more to follow. You’ll have to stick with me long enough to find out for yourself just how far this goes.”
Skylar smiled. “That sounds like a great idea.”
“I love you.”
“I love you as well.” She paused. “I loved you before you took a bullet for me.” He needed to know. “But that pretty much sealed it.”
Grady leaned in for a sweet kiss.
She said, “How is the Secret Service going to feel about our relationship?”
“There’ll be some paperwork, but I have an in with the boss. If I have to pull strings, I will.”
She smiled. “I heard that whatever happens in the office stays in the office.”
“Good to know.”
Grady leaned in and kissed her again, and she felt it. Again.
That promise of forever on his lips.
*
If you enjoyed this story, look for the other books in the Secret Service Agents series by Lisa Phillips:
Security Detail
Homefront Defenders
Witness in Hiding
Yuletide Suspect
Keep reading for an excerpt from Explosive Force by Lynette Eason
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Dear Reader,
What a fun book to write! I hope you had as much fun reading it. My trip to DC was a special time, and it was wonderful being able to add real-life details to the book. If you get a chance to go, I hope you do. It’s a great experience.
Both Skylar and Grady were moving on from past hurts. They weren’t doing a great job of moving on, but we’re all human and we all try our best in our own ways. Thank God that He doesn’t let us fumble around in the dark. He leads us with His Word, and gifts us with people who will help us. People who walk this journey alongside us.
What a blessing!
If you’d like to shoot me a note, you can email me at [email protected]. I always reply to my emails, and I’d love to hear from you.
May God richly bless you,
Lisa
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Explosive Force
by Lynette Eason
ONE
First Lieutenant Heidi Jenks, news reporter for CAF News, blew a lock of hair out of her eyes and did her best to keep from muttering under her breath about the stories she was being assigned lately.
She didn’t mind the series of articles she was doing on the personnel who lived on the base—those were interesting and she was meeting new people. And besides, those had been her idea.
But some of the other stories were just plain boring. Like the stolen medals. Okay, maybe not boring, but definitely not as exciting as some she could be working on. Like finding Boyd Sullivan, the Red Rose Killer. A serial killer, he liked to torment his victims with the gift of a red rose and a note saying he was coming for them. And then he struck, leaving death and heartache in his wake with one last rose and a note tucked under the arm of the victim. Got you.
Heidi shut the door to the church where her interviewee had insisted on meeting and walked down the steps, pulling her voice-activated recorder from her pocket. She might as well get her thoughts down before they dissipated due to her complete disinterest. She shivered and glanced over her shoulder. For some reason she expected to see him, as if the fact that she was alone in the dark would automatically mean Sullivan was behind her.
After being chased by law enforcement last week, he’d fallen from a bluff and was thought to be dead. But when his body had never been found, that assumption had changed. He was alive. Somewhere. Possibly injured and in hiding while he healed. Reports had come in that he’d been spotted twice in central Texas. She supposed that was possible. But what if the reports were wrong? What if he’d made his way back here to the base so he could continue his reign of terror?
The thought quickened her steps. She’d feel better behind a locked door where she could concentrate on the story she was currently working on.
Someone on the base was breaking into homes and stealing war medals, jewelry and cash. Whatever small items they could get their hands on. But it was the medals that were being targeted. Medals of Valor especially. People were antsy enough about the whole serial killer thing. Having a thief on base wasn’t helping matters.
She spoke into the recorder. “Mrs. Wainwright stated she hadn’t been home at the time of the robbery. However, as soon as she pulled into her drive, she could see her open front door and knew something was wrong.”
Heidi’s steps took her past the base hospital. She was getting ready to turn onto the street that would take her home when a flash of movement from the K-9 training center caught her eye. Her steps slowed, and she heard a door slam.
A figure wearing a dark hoodie bolted down the steps and shot off toward the woods behind the center. He reached up, shoved the hoodie away and yanked something—a ski mask?—off his head, then pulled the hoodie back up. He stuffed the ski mask into his jacket pocket.
Very weird actions that set Heidi’s internal and journalistic alarm bells screaming. And while she wanted to see what the guy was going to do, she decided it might be more prudent to get out of sight while she watched.
Just as she moved to do so, the man spun.
And came to an abrupt halt as his eyes locked on hers.
Ice invaded her veins, sending shivers of fear dancing along her nerves. He took a step toward her, then shot a look back at the training center. Back to her. Then at his wristwatch. With no change in his granite ice-blue eyes as he gave her one last threatening glare, he whirled and raced toward the woods once again.
Like he wanted to put as much distance between him and the building as possible.
Foreboding filled her just as a side door to the training center opened. A young man stood there, his uniform identifying him as one of the trainers. His eyes met hers, just like the hooded man’s had only seconds earlier. But this time, she knew who the eyes belonged to. Bobby Stevens, a young airman who’d recently finished his tech training. He hesitated, glanced at her, then over his shoulder.
Her gut churned with a distinctly bad feeling. With everything that had happened on the base in the last few months, there was only one reason that the man in the hoodie would be so anxious to run when it looked like he would rather do her bodily harm.
She started backing away, her feet pedaling quickly. “Run, Bobby! Get away from the building. Something weird is going on!”
Bobby hesitated a fraction of a second, then took off toward her, looking determined to catch up with her. Her footsteps pounded as she put distance between her and the building and the man behind her.
Then an explosion rocked the ground beneath her and she fell to her knees, her palms scraping the concrete as she tried to catch herself.
Rolling, Heidi held on to her screams and looked back to see part of the building missing and fire spurting from the cavernous area.
And Bobby Stevens lying sprawled on the ground.
People spilled from the buildings close to her, many on their phones. No doubt calling for help.
Heidi managed to get her feet beneath her and scrambled to stand. She raced back to Bobby and dropped beside him, wincing as her knees hit the concrete.
Already, she could hear the sirens.
Calling on her past first aid training, Heidi pressed her fingers against his neck and felt a steady, if slow, pulse. He had a laceration on his forehead and his wrist hung at an odd angle.
His lids fluttered, then opened. His brows dipped and he winced.
“It’s all right, Bobby,” she said. “Help is on the way.”
“What happened?”
“The building exploded, but you’re going to be okay.”
“Exploded? Why?” His eyelids fluttered. “Hurts.” He tried to roll and groaned.
Heidi pressed her hands to his shoulders. “I know. Just be still.”
“Hold my hand, please,” he whispered. “I’m…cold.”
She slid her fingers gently around his uninjured h
and. “I’m here,” she whispered. “Just hold on.” Bobby’s eyes closed, but he continued to breathe shallow, labored breaths. “You’re going to be all right. Just hang in there.”
In seconds, she felt hands pulling her away. First responders had arrived. Heidi backed up, keeping her eyes on the now-unconscious man who’d reached out to her as though she could save him.
“Are you all right?” the paramedic asked her.
She focused in on the figure in front of her. “Um…yes. I was farther away from the blast. It knocked me off my feet, but nothing else. I just ran back to check on Bobby.”
“Your knees are bleeding.”
She blinked and looked down. “Oh.” Blood seeped through her slacks. And now that her attention had been brought to them, her knees throbbed.
The paramedic led her to one of the four ambulances now lining the street. “Let me just check you out and get these knees bandaged for you.”
“Yes, okay. Thank you.” She drew in a deep breath and let her gaze wander past the crowd that had gathered.
Was the bomber watching the building burn? Could he see the firefighters fight against the raging flames?
She had a bad feeling about this. A feeling that this was only the beginning of something that might be bigger than any story she’d ever worked on.
And she had a feeling that the man who’d done this would be back.
Because she’d seen him.
*
First Lieutenant Nick Donovan itched to get his hands on the person who’d just blown up part of the training center. Thankfully, it was an area of the building that wasn’t being used at the moment and no animals had been harmed. Airman Bobby Stevens was reported to be in stable condition and was expected to make a full recovery. That was the only reason Nick’s anger wasn’t boiling over, even though his patience levels were maxed out.
Unfortunately, he and his bloodhound, Annie, would have to wait a little longer to do their part in figuring out exactly what had caused the explosion. Annie was trained in explosives detection, but right now, she couldn’t get near the training center, even wearing the protective booties. The area was still too hot, and firefighters were still fighting the blaze. However, Annie and he could examine parts of the building that had landed yards away.
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