Nerd and the SEAL

by Grady, D. R.

  Silence.

  Coming from this man, the silence was good. It meant he was formulating a plan.

  “You have a plan, Lt Cmdr?” Or waiting to hear hers. That worked too.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Right now, I’ve got a former Marine medic, a large male nurse, watching him. Frederick noticed enough about Lamont to realize he’s military and although he didn’t ask questions, he’s keeping watch over him. Frederick goes off duty in an hour. It’ll look suspicious if he stays, because he’s already pulled a double shift.”

  “So we can’t entice him to stay longer.” The admiral’s tone indicated he was deep in thought. She was very thankful for such dedicated leaders.

  “No. However, if Lamont redlines, Frederick could take the body to the morgue.” Janine had to admit to herself that her plan was sketchy at best.

  “We got another friend in the morgue?” Admiral O’Riley caught on fast.

  “We do. He’s ready to retire, actually, but he spent some time in Vietnam. You might remember him. His name is Willy Peterson.”

  “Peterson. We got really lucky tonight, Morris. Willy Peterson. Yeah, he could help you save my agent. He’s very good. What’s he doing in the morgue?”

  “I don’t know, but I think he’ll be happy to help us push the paperwork through for Michael Lamont’s death.”

  “Perfect. That’ll make our traitor even bolder.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have a place to take him?”

  “I could tell everyone I’m needed for an emergency in Atlanta, but instead we’ll detour to your neck of the woods. Is there a better hospital than Walter Reed for what we need?”

  “No. And he could recuperate at my house once he recovers enough to be discharged. I’ll arrange things on my end. Including calling Willy. You talk to Frederick after you redline Lamont.”

  “Yes, sir.” Janine heard the fear in her voice, but she would do everything she could to help this man. Not only because he was the secret operative she had sworn to protect but also because KC’s brother deserved that much.

  He was also the only person who might be able to identify the traitor who wanted her newly discovered brother dead.

  Chapter 15

  Ben heard the door to Treeny’s apartment open, and something akin to glee propelled through his bloodstream. He set down the wooden spoon he wielded and strode to the kitchen door. Peering out into her living area he watched as she entered her apartment.

  He grinned when he saw her delight, hopefully at seeing him in her kitchen. Treeny dropped her things on the floor by the door and he met her halfway. Holding her so close was a marvel and agony at once. With no intention of letting her go anytime soon, he leaned down and took her lips.

  Kissing the grin off her lips proved a most satisfying endeavor. She participated with a warm, willing enthusiasm. Ben loved how her arms wrapped so possessively around his neck. How she pressed enticingly against him. He liked the throaty little sounds she emitted.

  He wanted this moment to last forever. Just kissing her did that to him. He was barely thinking of making love to her, even. This helped to further prove his theory that this woman was The One. When near perfect satisfaction came from a mere kiss and pressing her close, he could pretty much expect to spend the rest of his life with her.

  Their kiss ended and they drew apart. Ben liked the promises and mysteries he read in her eyes. He loved Treeny’s eyes – smoky blue-gray orbs shining with an enticing light.

  “Are you hungry?” He didn’t remove his lips from hers.

  “Mhhmm, but I don’t want to eat yet,” she murmured in reply. He saw her eyes were closed, and she appeared to savor the moment too.

  Grinning, he relieved her mind. “That’s good, because supper’s not quite ready.”

  Her eyes snapped open and he could see the playfulness before she opened her mouth. “What? I’ve been slaving away all day at work and you’re not even finished making supper yet?”

  Torture couldn’t make him admit to spending so long in the grocery store he barely had time to put everything together. He decided tickling her was his best defense.

  Treeny shrieked and squirmed in response to his foray into brattiness. She managed to distract him with a kiss. Ben sighed, so complete was his satisfaction. He wanted more kisses, but the timer dinged, so he reluctantly released her.

  She followed him into the kitchen. Looking around her, he saw her frown. “Where’s Pete?”

  He snorted. “Languishing in the herd’s diligent attention.”

  “Ah, is the herd here today?”

  “They are. There’re about thirty or more kids out there.” Ben pointed out the window.

  “I’m surprised I haven’t heard them.”

  “Rachel and Melly said something about taking them to the park, so that could be why.” Melly was one of Will’s four sisters.

  “Yes, Rachel says they wear out faster at the park.”

  “Meaning she gets some peace while they’re playing?” Ben raised an eyebrow in query.

  “I don’t think it’s necessarily that she gets relief, because she and Melly will still be run ragged. But to a lesser degree.”

  “I can appreciate that. Although how they still have energy after this afternoon’s activity, I don’t know.”

  “They’re kids. They’re supposed to have lots of energy. At least they don’t sit in front of the TV or play video games all summer.”

  “They do spend lots of time outside. Some of them have better tans than me,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.

  She rolled her eyes, but laughed. He loved when she laughed. Her already bright eyes sparkled with an extra glow that made her amazing to watch. Not that he was likely to ever grow tired of staring at her.

  “So, what did you do while I was gone?” He stirred the pasta, hoping it’d soon be finished. Four more minutes the timer read.

  “Oh, I went a little insane.” Her eyes were pools of shadows. But she teasingly jutted out her bottom lip. “I really missed you.”

  He padded to her side. Ben placed a finger under her chin and tipped her face up. That playful pout didn’t fool him. “I know this is going to be especially hard on you. Max and I discussed how hard the waiting is on the person left behind.”

  She nodded, her eyes serious. “I hated when you were gone, but I’m working to get used to it.”

  He sighed. He’d known this was going to be a problem. “I know. I love my job, baby.”

  “Oh, Ben,” she said and placed a warm hand on his arm. “I know you do. I love mine so I understand. I’m just telling you how much I missed you. How much I wished you could be with me.”

  “I missed you too. I’ve waited so long to contact you because I didn’t know how I could ask you to wait for me. How could I ask you to live with the sort of hours I keep?”

  “But?”

  “But lots of the other SEALs are married and have kids. They’ve all said it’s hard. But they love their families and their jobs. The couples have worked things out so they can be together.”

  She bit her lip. He tugged it from her teeth. He bent down and kissed her abused bottom lip and felt her smile as she returned the kiss.

  “We might have to work harder than other couples, but I believe we can do this,” he said as he smoothed a hand over her face.

  She nodded at the same time his timer went off. He wondered how she felt about him asking her to wait for him. To put up with his crazy hours. Something made him afraid to ask, so he didn’t.

  They set the table together. He poured the meaty sauce over the pasta and laid out colorful bowls of vegetables. Treeny studied the fare with approval. That made him ridiculously proud of his efforts.

  He said the blessing and they dug in. “So, you missed me while I was gone?”

  “Yes I did,” she answered and licked some sauce off her fork. She was so beautiful he was sorely tempted to just sit and stare at her.

  Better ask her another question
. “What did you do other than work?”

  A sweet smile curved her too kissable lips. “Janine called and invited me over to her house for a chick fest.”

  “A chick fest?” What was that? Maybe he didn’t want to know.

  “Mitch and Max both had to leave town for unexpected business purposes, and Granme and Granpy had the kids, so both Lainy and KC were also at loose ends. Janine, who missed you too, called the three of us and invited us over.”

  “What did you do?” He thought his voice sounded slightly suspicious. Oh well.

  “We ate lots of food, and drank lots of tea and soda, and we talked and laughed. Oh, and we watched a couple of chick flicks.”

  Ben hoped his expression wasn’t as pained as he felt. “Yuck.”

  She swatted him. “We had a great time.”

  “Good. I’m glad the four of you could get together. I’m sure Janine appreciated it.”

  “I know I did. I think Lainy and KC were every bit as appreciative as Janine and I.”

  “Sounds like it was a good evening.” He loved watching her animation.

  “Yes.” She grinned at him and he basked in the glow emanating from her. How could he have ever thought another woman would satisfy him after witnessing Treeny Deveau’s radiance?

  Heaven help him if he couldn’t satisfy her needs, because he doubted he could live without this woman.

  Chapter 16

  “Janine went back to Atlanta?” Ben heard the impatience in his voice and swallowed. KC didn’t deserve his bad attitude, but he wanted to spend a little time with his sister before he was called up again.

  “Yes. She was in a hurry, so I didn’t hear all the details,” KC answered absently as she stirred some pasta in a huge pot on the stove.

  “Why did she have to leave so fast?”

  “I asked her that, because it seemed strange, in light of what we overheard.” She turned from the stove to stare at him dead-on.

  He grimaced. “Right. Kind of coincidental that she’d have an emergency in Atlanta when your brother came through with those injuries.”

  “Ben, is Janine part of a... I don’t know. An elite team or something?” KC gazed at him with frustration in her eyes and he reached out to hug her.

  She flowed into his arms willingly, but he was grateful she didn’t fit like Treeny did. This was also a good thing since KC was happily married to his best cousin.

  “I don’t know. But it makes sense. I mean, have you ever heard of any Navy doctor being sent for additional training to Johannesburg?”

  “That was a trial run, as far as I know. Plus, she was full Navy. It sort of makes sense to send her there.” KC squeezed him for a moment before turning back to her pasta.

  He propped a hip against the counter and folded his arms. “Sure, but why not send others?”

  “See, that’s a good question. The Navy never sent me, but then, I was a reserve. Janine’s extra training from South Africa made her stand out against all the rookies and some of the veterans in Kuwait.”

  “Could part of the reason she was sent to Johannesburg be due to her skin color?” He hated to ask that question, but felt he had to.

  She shook her head. “I doubt it. Because there are plenty of people there with different skin tones. Janine should have blended in, but as you know, she doesn’t blend well. Her superiors would know that. She’s got ... I don’t know, a royal presence or something going on.”

  “I’ve noticed it too.” He stared at the bubbles rising in the pot.

  “Ben, the only thing that makes sense is for her to be a part of some type of special team.” KC turned beseeching eyes on him.

  “She’s retired from the Navy, but I suppose they could have called her out of retirement. Do you know how rare that is? Then this Michael Lamont or whoever he is came through and now Janine’s disappeared to Atlanta for an emergency?”

  “That man was dangerous in a scary way, wasn’t he?” She looked upset, so Ben ran a hand down her arm.

  “I can assure you, while he was dangerous, he would only be dangerous to an enemy. I’d say you’re classified on the other end of the spectrum, KC.”

  She nodded, but still didn’t look convinced. Her mouth turned down as she stirred the boiling pasta.

  “Why aren’t you more worried about him?” Ben asked the question as soon as it occurred to him. So far, KC had shown very little fear for a patient with such severe injuries.

  “He’s in Janine’s care. If anyone can save him, it’s her.” Utter confidence threaded through her statement.

  He blinked. “You have that much confidence in my sister?”

  “You’ve never seen her work, then, have you?”

  Ben stopped and thought about that for a moment. “No, I haven’t.”

  “Remember that movie line, “The best of the best of the best”?”

  “Yeah, vaguely,” Ben said, trying to remember which movie the line hailed from. It eluded him.

  “Well, Janine is the best of the best of the best. She’s the very top of her peers. That’s why she was chosen for Johannesburg, and that’s why I suspect she was chosen for some elite team. If I had to form one, and I needed a doctor, I’d choose her.”

  He closed his eyes, maybe in an attempt to shut out the world, but the motion only allowed the images to flow faster. Images of Janine as a member of a special, elite team. This formed into other visions of her bleeding or abused, or both. Then images of some of their enemies torturing her, or worse, for information. Information she might or might not possess.

  Some team members worked blindly, because it was safer for them and their team. He wondered if Janine had been a part of that type of team. He also wondered if she’d ever met another member. At least until now. Something had caused the stiffness of her spine and her adamancy that he not pursue the topic of Michael Lamont. It was odder now that he had time to think on it.

  If Lamont died, then the group after him would likely try for the members of his team. Ben had only heard rumors... But they were powerful – both the rumors and the people after the operative’s team. He could have helped. He still thought about helping Janine, whether she liked it or not.

  A hand on his arm distracted him and he looked down. KC sent him a cocked brow of inquiry. “What?”

  “What are you thinking? Because you have me worried.” Her voice was husky with what sounded like fear.

  “I don’t know if we need to be worried, KC. That man, what little I could make of him, seems to be the type who can take care of himself. If he’s the man I believe, he’s a legend. People become legends because they’re the best, right?”

  “If you say so.” She frowned. He could tell by the tone of her voice that she’d still worry. She turned off the heat under the pot.

  “Worrying isn’t going to help us. Obviously, if Janine was chosen for this, she can take care of herself. And your brother is likely in her hands. From what you say, that’s the best place he can be right now, right?”

  She hesitated and then nodded as she carried the pot to the sink and drained it through holes in the lid she added.

  “Then we need to leave this in the most capable hands. Which aren’t ours,” he remarked with what he thought was indifference, but her lips kicked up.

  “Sitting on your hands is driving you insane, isn’t it, SEAL boy?”

  “As a matter of fact, surgeon girl, I’m fine,” he lied.

  KC snorted before she tipped the drained pasta upright again.

  Ben had the fleeting feeling he wasn’t alone in his fear.

  Chapter 17

  “Welcome back to the world, son,” Admiral O’Riley told her patient.

  Janine shoved back the tendril of hair that kept brushing her face and checked Michael Lamont over.

  “Admiral...” He sounded so weak.

  “You’re a lucky man, to have ended up on the operating table of Dr. Janine Morris.”

  “Thanks...for the...best, Admiral.” His lips twisted into the sem
blance of a smile.

  “You’re welcome, although I believe I’m in quite a lot of trouble with her. She thinks I arranged for her to work at the Hershey Medical Center, when in all actuality, I only gave a reference.”

  She snorted as she checked her patient’s vital statistics.

  “Blame...me,” Michael said, looking at her with more power than she thought possible. Janine stared at him. Into those endless, bottomless blue eyes. A woman could become ensnared by those depths, and find herself drowning. A fate she didn’t particularly care to know.

  “You arranged for me to work there?” She kept up her end of the conversation, barely. Where was the rage she should be feeling? What about disgust that her own abilities hadn’t landed her dream job?

  He nodded. “KC loves...you...and a member of...my team. Living in Hershey... good.”

  She stared at him, askance. She couldn’t believe he arranged things so neatly for her. And apparently he had known her name. That in of itself was highly unusual. How had he known her? She certainly hadn’t known him. He also mentioned KC, so this man had to be Greg Gilmore.

  “See, wasn’t me,” Admiral O’Riley piped up smugly.

  She sent both men a disbelieving look before she addressed her patient. “I can’t believe you arranged for me to work there. I was trying to obtain a position on my own.” She didn’t sound quite as severe as she intended, but then Michael-Greg wasn’t as well as he could be, either. Yet. She had every confidence he’d recover. Fixing him up had taken every skill she possessed and a few she invented along the way, but she patched him back together. Once he healed, she hoped there would be little indication of what he suffered.