I walked out of the bathroom to find Olivia already asleep in one of the queen-sized beds. She looked so fucking beautiful and tempting lying there. She looked so different than in all the pictures I’d seen of her dressed up with a full face of makeup. She didn’t need it and looked so much prettier without all that crap caked on. Why women did that shit is beyond me. It hid all their natural beauty.
I got into bed beside Olivia and pulled her close and buried my face in her soft hair. I told myself I was in her bed because I didn’t want her to wake up screaming in her sleep. I told myself I was only there because I was tired. I told myself a bunch more shit before I admitted I was a fucking liar and fell asleep.
***
Olivia was thrashing in her sleep and whimpering. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand, four-thirty.
“You’re safe, tesorino,” I whispered and kissed the top of her head.
She stilled and settled in, her head tucked under my chin.
***
“Wake up, Olivia.”
Zane had called and said him and Garrett were ready to hit the road. We had another full day ahead of us before we hit Wolf and Caroline’s house in San Diego. We’d meet up with Abe there before he took us out to a cabin he owned outside of Riverton. We would stay there until this shit with Gomez was taken care of.
“Five more minutes,” she whined.
“Nope. I gave you seven more minutes already,” I reminded her.
This girl did not like to wake up. I don’t think I’d ever seen someone sleep so much.
“Fine,” she huffed and threw the blanket off her, giving me a view of her long legs. I knew what those legs felt like when they were tangled with mine as she cuddled into me. My palms ached to touch them, too. I wanted to start at her ankles and run my hands up over her calves, kiss my way up her thighs, and bury my face between her legs until she screamed my name.
Shit.
“I have the new bandages laid out for your wrist. Get dressed, and we’ll clean it up.”
I watched as she walked to the bathroom, my eyes glued to her tight ass. The thin boxers she wore didn’t cover much, and the way she had them rolled up gave me a tiny hint of creamy ass cheek. My mouth watered, actually watered, at the thought of sinking my cock into her from behind, that full ass rippling with the force of my thrusts.
“I’m ready,” Olivia called from the bathroom.
Jesus, how long had I been fantasizing about having sex with the poor girl?
I cleaned her wrist, checked the room to ensure we had everything, and headed for the truck. I clocked Zane and Garrett at my eleven o’clock as they climbed into Zane’s SUV. Jaxon and Colin had gone ahead of us.
“I feel better. Do you want me to drive today?” she asked.
In a few short days, Olivia looked a hundred times better than she had the day we found her. Her appetite was back, and I no longer had to force her to drink. She was doing great. Even the sores on her wrists had started to scab over and were no longer red and warm to the touch. However, it didn’t mean she was going to drive.
“No. I got it.”
Once we were on the road, she put her head back and stared out her window. It looked like we were in for another day of silence.
We crossed into California hugging the Mexican border when Olivia spoke up. “How did you get the scars on your chest?”
I might’ve swerved a little at her question.
“Come again?”
“Never mind. That was rude. I shouldn’t’ve asked.”
I had forgotten she had seen the scars on my chest. Thank God, she hadn’t seen my back. It was a mangled mess.
Olivia turned her head back toward the window.
“Afghanistan,” I answered.
“How?” she asked.
I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the flood of flashbacks.
“Routine patrol with Afghan special forces. We were up in the hills. We were ambushed, and I didn’t have my plate carrier on and was hit with shrapnel.”
“Why weren’t you wearing your vest?” she asked
“I had just woken up. I took it off the night before to cool down. Hard lesson to learn.”
“What lesson was that?”
“Complacency has no place on the battlefield. We had taken that same patrol route several times with no incident. When we stopped for the night, I felt safe and removed my vest. I was complacent,” I admitted.
The scars on my chest were a constant reminder never to let my guard down.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.”
I took in the desert all around us, miles of brown barren land in all directions; it reminded me a lot of the terrain we had been patrolling. I closed the lid on that particular box and locked it back up. No good ever came from revisiting my time in the Sandbox. We were all lucky to have escaped that shithole alive. However, a lot weren’t, and those were the memories I wanted to stay away from.
“Did you know that Peter was my dad before he told me in the basement?”
Shit, fuck, and damn. After two days of driving in silence, the girl sure wanted to talk now.
“Yes. I found out when we were in a mission brief before we came and got you.” I was under no obligation to keep Peter and Pamela’s family secrets.
“Did he know? I mean has he always known he was my dad?”
“No. From what little I heard, she had withheld the truth from him as well.”
Olivia laughed. Not a shy small giggle that most girls do. No, this was a full belly laugh complete with an unashamed snort at the end. The sound was beautiful.
“Is that a nice way of saying she lied?” she asked when she regained her composure.
“Indeed.”
“So, she lied to both of us. How did the bad guys find out I was his daughter if no one knew?”
“I didn’t say no one knew – only I didn’t know. And now we’re getting close to a line I can’t cross. Telling you what I know about your parents is one thing, but I cannot jeopardize national security to soothe your curiosity.”
“You think that’s what this is? Curiosity. Jesus, you’re an ass. My mother lied to me about who my father is. You don’t think I have a right to know the story?”
This girl went from laughing to having a snit faster than any woman I had ever met.
“Now, we're back to silence. You know what? Fine, I prefer the silence anyway.”
“Let me ask you this? Why do you want to know who else knew?”
“Because I have a right to know,” she shot back.
“You do? Or do you want to know so you can manufacture reasons to be even angrier? Which I gotta tell you, is stupid.”
“I want to go back to silence.”
“I bet you do. You have every right to be mad as hell at your ma. She lied to you and to Peter. What you do not have a right to do is find reasons to beat her up because you're pissed. That is bullshit.”
“You think this is bullshit?”
“Woman, listen to yourself. You’re doing it with me right now. I didn’t say your situation is bullshit. I am telling you, your ma fucked up. She betrayed you. That is going to be hard enough to repair without you piling more shit on the heap. Don’t shovel more shit. Stay on the single topic of the lie. Find out why she did it. And a word of advice. When you do sit down with your ma, remember that she’s human and makes mistakes just like you have in the past. Remember the times that you hurt her and betrayed her trust. And then, you remember all the forgiveness she has shown you. Life is short,” I told her softly.
I know that Olivia didn’t ask for my advice, and more than likely I was wasting my breath. But I knew one big piece of the puzzle she didn’t – her ma was sick. That was how this all started. I didn’t know with what and I didn’t know how bad, but it had to be critical to make a woman who had kept a secret for twenty-five years finally come clean. I didn’t want Olivia to push her ma so far away they couldn’t repair this quickly before
it was too late.
Olivia closed her eyes and turned her head feigning sleep.
I hoped for her sake she was mulling over what I had told her – life was short.
Chapter Twelve
Olivia
It had been hours since I had last spoken to Leo when we pulled into a nice, well-manicured neighborhood.
“Where are we?” I braved.
“At Wolf and Caroline’s house,” he answered as he pulled to the curb and cut the engine.
I glanced at the house we’d stopped in front of. There was a ginormous black SUV parked in the driveway. Either these people had a boatload of kids to cart around, or the California drivers were crazier than I thought and it was necessary to drive a tank around town for safety reasons.
“Are we staying here?”
“No. We’re picking something up from Wolf and meeting Abe here. He’ll drive us out to his cabin where we’ll be staying,” Leo explained. “Wait for me to open your door.”
Leo came to my side and opened the door. The moment I stepped out Leo tagged me around the waist and pulled me to his left side. Damn, I forgot.
Before we could make it to the front porch, a man came out of the house. Holy shit he was good looking. I was beginning to wonder if Leo knew anyone that wasn’t good looking.
“Panther, glad you made it,” the man greeted. “You must be Hash. I’m Wolf, nice to meet you.”
Not only was he hot, he was tall, too. Leo was quite possibly the tallest man I’d ever met in person, and Wolf looked him in the eye just shy of matching him in height.
“Hi, Wolf. Nice to meet you, too,” I replied.
“Wolf, thanks for letting us stop by, brother. Appreciate it,” Leo said as their eyes locked in some sort of silent badass communication I didn’t even pretend to understand. Wolf finally broke the stare, and his eyes traveled down to Leo’s arm around my waist. His face breaking out in a wide smile. “Good to know,” he said cryptically.
I was about to question what he knew when a woman’s voice called out from the house. “Are they here?” The woman didn’t give him time to answer before she walked to the door. Wolf was so large I could barely see the woman behind him. Which was saying something because she was not short by any means. She had to be a few inches taller than my five feet four.
“Let’s take this in the house,” Wolf suggested and stepped aside to fully reveal the beautiful woman beside him. She was stunning with shiny brown hair that fell loose around her shoulders.
Wolf waited until the door was closed before he made the introductions. “This is my wife, Caroline.”
“Sorry for the intrusion. I hope it’s not too much trouble. I’m Leo.”
“Finally, someone who introduces themselves by their given name instead of by their nickname.” Caroline laughed. Thank goodness, I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t remember all the extra names the guys had.
“I’m Olivia. Nice to meet you.”
“I have a package for you in my office,” Wolf told Leo.
“Great, work. Let’s go in the kitchen while the guys do guy stuff,” Caroline suggested with a mock eye roll.
Before I could move to follow Caroline, Leo’s grip tightened, and he lowered his mouth to my ear. “I’ll be right here if you need anything. You’re safe in this house but don’t go outside for any reason.”
When he stood to his full height, I looked up at him, shocked to find concern in his eyes. I figured he’d be elated to get rid of me for a while.
“Okay,” I whispered.
Leo let me go, and when I turned, I found matching smiles on Wolf and Caroline’s faces. They looked like they had a secret only they knew. What was that about?
Wolf kissed the top of his wife’s head and gestured for Leo to follow.
“You’ve got to be so happy to be out of that car. Matthew said you guys drove in from Maryland.”
“Who’s Matthew?” I asked.
No one was supposed to know where we were. Only Leo’s team and now Wolf and Abe. I wondered if Leo knew that more people knew where we were going.
“Wolf is Matthew. Sorry, I never know what name they’ll use when they introduce themselves. At least Leo used his real name. Abe is on his way over now. His real name is Christopher. His wife Alabama wanted to come with him to meet you, but their son had a practice she needed to take him to.”
“Honestly, I don’t know how you keep the names straight. When Leo rescued me, he said his name was Panther. Then later the doctor said that Leo would help me, and I almost had a panic attack thinking a stranger was going to touch me.” I snapped my mouth shut, and my hand flew up to cover it. Shit, I’d messed up. I wasn’t supposed to say anything. Zane said that it was a matter of national security and people would die.
“Honey, it’s okay. I know the drill. I’m married to a SEAL. Opsec is something I’m very familiar with.” She must’ve noticed the panic on my face.
“I don’t even know what opsec is.” I thought I was about to break down and cry in front of this woman because everything was confusing.
“Come on, let’s get you something to drink.”
We walked into her kitchen. “Have a seat. Would you like a soda, water, orange juice?”
“I would love soda. Captain bossy pants hasn’t let me have anything but water filled with electrolytes in the last three days.”
The thought of having caffeine was almost enough to make me forget my gigantic screw-up. Caroline sat in the chair opposite me and pushed the glass of bubbly amber liquid my way.
“First, opsec is operational security. Basically, it means I know to keep my mouth shut. Matthew is not at liberty to tell me about his missions, and I don’t ask. You said Leo rescued you, and there was a doctor involved. I don’t want to invade your privacy, and we just met, but are you okay?” Caroline’s eyes dropped to my wrist.
I sat and thought about her question. Was I okay?
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I think I’m still in shock a little. Too much has hit me all at once. I don’t know. I’m a mess. I want to go home so I can break down alone.”
“That’s the worst thing you can do, be alone. I’ll spare you all the details, but I met Matthew on a flight to Virginia. I was moving there, and Matthew was visiting his friend Tex.” I’d heard Zane and Leo talking about a Tex. I wondered if it was the same person. “Anyway, the plane was hijacked.”
“Did you say hijacked? As in bad guys took over the plane?” I asked in amazement.
“Yep, that kind of hijacked. A group of terrorists poisoned the ice. Thankfully I smelled the poison and Matthew was able to alert Sam and Christopher and they landed the plane.” Caroline stopped for a moment obviously recalling something that was unpleasant. “My point is, Matthew, Sam, and Christopher took me in and protected me. They didn’t let me shrink away like I wanted to. If you haven’t noticed, I’m the type of woman that most people don’t give a second look. Especially three hot Navy SEALs. But they wouldn’t hear of it.”
“What? What do you mean give a second look? My first thought when I saw you was that you were stunning. You have the girl next door look. I’m amazed the guys saved the plane. Actually, I’m amazed you saved the day and smelled the ice. How did you not freak out? I feel like I am about to shatter into a million pieces. The only thing that is holding me together is that Leo is a big fat jerk and he keeps pissing me off. I know he doesn’t want to babysit me and I really don’t think he even likes me.”
“Smart man,” Caroline murmured.
“What?”
“Crap. What I meant is, Leo might recognize that you’re ready to come apart, so he’s giving you what you need in order to stay strong. Even if it means you think he’s an ass. Does that make sense?”
“Not really,” I admitted.
“Okay, if Leo coddled you, you’d probably have a nervous breakdown. You’ve obviously been through a lot. I know how overwhelming it is. Been there, done that, have two t-shirts. However, if
you’re pissed at him, your mind is occupied. I could be wrong about that. What I do know is, that man cares for you. I only met him ten minutes ago, but I know he does. I see it in his eyes, I see it in the way he pulled you into him protecting you, even from me. The best advice I can give you is to listen to every word he says. Do not go rogue and try and save yourself, do not go against anything he says about your safety. He knows what’s best. This is what these men do. It’s who they are. Listen to them, no matter what.”
“Okay.” I nodded my head in acknowledgment. I didn’t think she was right about Leo caring about me. His job maybe, the President asking him to protect me, yes. Me, not so much. However, it sounded like Caroline knew what she was talking about when it came to me listening to Leo. I wanted to live. From what I gathered, Matthew, Sam, and Christopher had saved her from something equally as bad as my situation.
“I’m going to give you my number. I know you can’t call me while you’re in hiding. But when you are back home, if you ever need someone to talk to, you call me. I’ll help you any way I can.”
Caroline got up from the table and started rummaging through a drawer in the kitchen at the same time Leo and Matthew came back into the room.
Leo scanned the kitchen, and his eyes landed on me. The look on his face reminded me of the first time I saw him when I was locked in that disgusting room. Like a Panther ready to pounce.
“Do you have any piercings?” Leo asked.
What the hell? It took me a moment to comprehend what he was asking.
“Yea. My ears and the cartilage at the top of my left ear,” I answered.
“Perfect. Put this earring in the top hole.” Leo handed me a small jewelry box. When I opened the box, it had a pair of tiny diamond earrings.
“Okay. Just one?” I asked.
Matthew and Caroline were exchanging a look between them I couldn’t make out, a small smile tugged at Matthew’s lips. I felt like I was intruding on a private moment between them. I wish I had that, a love so strong there were no words needed to communicate.
“There is a tracking device in the earring. If we get separated, I’ll be able to find you. Tex will know your location at all times.”
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