Snatched (Coronado Series Book 2)

by Hart, Lea

  “Do you want to go for the holidays? I can get tickets for us if you want.”

  “I can’t go now. Birdie and Mark are getting married on New Year’s Eve, and I promised to help her with whatever she needed.”

  “Did you tell me that?”

  “Yes, but I don’t think you were listening.”

  “When did you tell me?”

  “The other night when we got home.”

  “Right when we got home?”

  “Yes. I didn’t want to forget, so I told you when we walked through the door.”

  “No wonder I didn’t remember. I was busy getting you out of your clothes. Don’t tell me anything important when I’m trying to get at you. My brain has stopped functioning at that point.”

  “That doesn’t give me a lot of opportunity, because you seem to be thinking about it all the time.”

  “Write it down then, and I can read it after I become conscious again.”

  “Good to know. By the way, I’m not really complaining about how much you want me. It makes me feel desired and it’s pretty powerful.”

  “I have never wanted anything as much as I want you, except becoming a SEAL. It’s almost the same feeling for me, like there is no other choice.

  “Oh Max, I don’t know what to say to that.”

  “Don’t say anything. I just want you to know. Tell me about this wedding, how are they going to pull it off so soon.”

  “The officers club was available and James is coordinating the rest for her. Mark really wanted to get married quickly, and she wants to do this for him. She almost lost him, and it made her want to do whatever it took to make him happy. Also, she thinks that he’s not going to be cleared for active duty again, so she wants him to focus on a new beginning.”

  “Why does she think that?”

  “Because that’s what he told her. He thinks his new knee is not going to hold up to being able to jump out of airplanes. I think there is also some concern about how much long term damage his lungs have sustained. I guess the surgery was fairly extensive.”

  “He didn’t say anything at dinner last week. But that’s not unusual. When I was going through rehab, I sure didn’t want to talk about it. I just wanted to get better and get cleared for duty. Somehow if I didn’t talk about it, then it was still possible.”

  “Well you all should talk when he’s ready. You are going to be able to help him through this.”

  “I have to wait for him to come to me. That’s how it works with guys.” She started wrapping up her sandwich and cleaning up, “You didn’t like your sandwich?”

  “It was great, but I’m only going to eat half. My clothes are getting a little tight. I’m paying the price of enjoying myself over the last month. I need to get back to walking and yoga or something. Also, my stomach hasn’t been great either. Maybe I have some kind of bug.”

  “Do you want me to get you something else?”

  “No, I’m fine. I’m going back to work. I have a helicopter to buy.”

  “What are we going to do about a pilot?”

  “A couple of the guys said they could fly it. I just need to look into insurance for them and make sure they have an actual license. Can you fly a helicopter?”

  “If I have to. I have flown one twice when we had to get out of a tight spot. I’m better with airplanes.”

  “Good to know.” She leaned up and kissed him, “Thanks for lunch. I’m going back to work.”

  He watched her walk out of his office and then returned to his desk to call the realtor about the house she liked. Adam was going to get back to him today about the inspection he did. He hoped there were no major problems, so that he could go ahead and buy it. He figured it would be a great Christmas present for Rory.

  Frank walked into his office and sat down in the chair waiting for him to finish his phone call. “What’s up man?”

  “I wanted to let you know that Jackson is moving some money around, and I’m not sure what it means. I accessed the information about the sale of the hotels, and it looks like it is going to be complete in two weeks. It seems that the information is still secure and he hasn’t figured it out yet. He did have a deposit of a million dollars again into the Cayman’s account. He may be promising someone something that he’s not going to be able to deliver on once the sale is complete. I have a hunch he is laundering money for one of the suppliers and he’s getting a cut. I’m not spending a lot of time on it because I really don’t care what he does… unless if affects Rory.”

  “That makes sense. Maybe that’s why he had Gavin spy on Rory. He wanted to make sure that she wasn’t catching on. She over saw the suppliers for the hotels and had the final say.”

  I wanted to give you a heads up so you could be prepared. You could send her on a road trip, and get her out of town next week. Is she still going to visit the other offices?”

  “Yes, that’s her plan. I want to go with her, but next week is going to be tough for me. When we were in L.A. last week at Tom’s office you should have seen how the guys reacted to her. It was like they had never seen a woman before. Even Tom was falling all over himself, it was embarrassing. I had to remind everyone that she was my girlfriend more than once.”

  “What did Rory think of all of it?”

  “She didn’t really notice, she just went about her business. She was very friendly and professional and didn’t pay attention to any of the men.”

  “I think you need to get used to it and figure out a way not to go caveman every time she’s out in the world.”

  “I don’t know if that’s going to be possible, but I guess I’m going to have to try. She was getting irritated with me when we were in the office. She said it felt like I didn’t trust her.”

  “Well, do you trust her?”

  “Of course I do. It’s all the other men in the world that I don’t trust. I know I’m a little crazy when it comes to her, but there is nothing I can do about it.”

  “You might want to try before you scare her off for good. I don’t want that to happen, because I want her to stay.”

  “Why do you want her to stay so badly?”

  “Because she’s having the kitchen stocked with food and cookies and she is buying a helicopter. She also said we could build an obstacle course out at the warehouse, I just need to give her a list of supplies. She is having Adam build us a boxing ring out there as well. She thought it might help and would be better than a van brawl. How does she know about that?”

  “I told her about them a couple of weeks ago, she thought it was crazy. I didn’t know she was having all of that done at the warehouse - those are good ideas.”

  “She has a lot of good ideas. Did you know that she is making sure that Sean is going to his meetings at the Vet Center? She calls him and reminds him and then texts him after to make sure that he went. I think he goes just so he doesn’t have to listen to her give him a hard time.”

  Max sat back in his chair and extended his legs in front of him. “Neither one of them said anything to me. I guess they have their own relationship.”

  “Sean told me it’s like having the annoying sister that he never had. He’s not sure if he likes it or not.”

  “I finally got her to agree to a consulting fee. She won’t come work here full time and I don’t understand why. Did you know that she processed those security evaluations that Mark and Travis worked on last week and billed the companies? We have over a million dollars in receivables from those five reports.”

  “I think we need to do more of those types of evaluations. We need a few more men though - we can’t cover the business we have.”

  “Sean told me he may have someone for us - he met him at one of the support groups. The guy lost his leg and is a retired Delta operator. He thought if he suggested that there is still valuable work to be done, it may help him.”

  “I’m all for that. We always said that we would have a place for whoever wanted to join us. There are a lot of injured guys who could use a job, a
nd we should look into how we can help them with that.”

  “I agree. Let’s talk to Sean and he can put the word out. We have a lot of requests for services that don’t require the guys to be combat ready. Those five reports alone were worth a lot of money. They also would like to have someone on sight and go through possible scenarios.”

  “We don’t have a lot of room to put many more bodies here, but I think Rory was suggesting we build some offices at the warehouse. I know some of the guys would like to be out there, so that could give us more room here.”

  “Let’s do it.”

  “I’m going back to work now that we have solved the world problems. How is Catalina doing?”

  “She is fine. Are you still interested in her?”

  “Of course man. I can’t seem to get her out of my head. I have slowed down on my usual activities, it just doesn’t seem to hold the same appeal for me anymore. I think maybe I’m losing my taste for candy and I’m ready for a full meal.”

  “I’m not sure what you just said, but I think it has something to do with maturity. Which is a step in the right direction if you are interested in a woman like Catalina.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  They stood facing each other, neither one of them willing to back down. “Max, you are coming dangerously close to crossing the line. I’m not finding this behavior charming at all. You need to take a beat and decide if you want to push me further on this.”

  “The guy is still out there, and I’m not taking a chance on your safety.”

  “I understand that somewhere in your head this is making sense, however, in the real world it seems a little crazy. I’m not talking about crazy in the charming sense, I’m talking crazy in the ‘they may lock you up’ sense.”

  “I think that might be a slight exaggeration on your part. No one has ever been locked up for protecting their girlfriend.”

  “Yet.”

  “I promise you won’t even know I’m there - I will be like the wind.”

  “That may be true if you were out in the jungle chasing bad guys. But I’m afraid in a salon that specializes in waxing, that will not be true. Big men have a tendency to stick out in the waiting room. Plus, you will make the other people there feel uncomfortable.”

  “Don’t men go in there?”

  “Sure, but they are either gay or old. Actually, you can come with me – you just have to get something waxed.”

  “You are very funny. I’m not getting anything waxed.”

  “If you want to come, then you can have some manscaping done.”

  “I’m not sure what you just said, and I don’t want to find out.”

  “A big bad Navy SEAL is afraid of some hot wax? I find that hard to believe.”

  “I’m not afraid of hot wax, I just don’t want it coming close to where I think you are talking about.”

  “I thought you had all kinds of experience in standing up to torture.”

  “I do, but that was in defense of my country. My country will be just fine if I don’t experience whatever you are talking about.”

  “I need a break, and I have my beauty day planned. It does not include your charming company either. I’m going to land of estrogen and I’m not coming back until I have been buffed, scraped, waxed and polished within an inch of my life. I’m going to read gossip magazines, eavesdrop on conversations, and I’m going to talk about frivolous things while someone rubs my feet.”

  “I’ll rub your feet.”

  She stepped up to him and placed her hand on his face and looked at him with all the patience that she could pull together. “I know honey, but I need to have a day away. We have spent over a month together, almost exclusively in each other’s company. There are not many women at your office, and Birdie has been busy with the wedding and Mark. I need to talk to some women, and I promise to be very careful.”

  He placed his arm around her waist and pulled her in a little closer and dropped a kiss against her head. “It’s hard for me to back off, I don’t want anything happening to you. Jackson is out there, and we have no idea what he is going to do.”

  “If you don’t want me to lose my mind, then you need to back off.”

  “Can I at least drive you over?”

  “No, I’m going to go by myself. You have gps installed on my car and I know that you put a tracker in my purse. I also know you have my phone linked up to your central system. So you have eyes on me, and that will have to be enough.”

  “I don’t like it, but I understand that I don’t have a choice.”

  She leaned up and kissed him, “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

  “Oh yes it was.”

  “Don’t send Chris to follow me either. He has plenty of other work to do.”

  “Message received.”

  “I will see you at home tonight - I will have dinner ready at seven.”

  “All right, I will see you then. Call me if you need me.”

  “I will.” She walked out of his office and walked past the computer control room, she stepped in and waited for Derick to finish up. “Max is going to come here in a second and ask you to track me with all the fancy gismos that have been planted on me, my car and my phone. I’m going for a day of beauty by myself. I wanted to give you a heads up and let you know my plans. If I get really crazy, I may stop at Whole Foods on the way home.”

  She watched as Derick started laughing, “You have a really good sense of humor about this.”

  “That’s what I keep telling myself about a hundred times a day. I know he does it because he cares, but he is making me nuts.”

  He looked at her with a serious look on his face, “It’s just the way we are wired. Any one of the guys would do the same thing.”

  “I know. I told him he could come with me if he would have manscaping done, but he decided not to join me.”

  “I don’t know what that it, but it sounds painful.”

  “I know that you all are elite warriors and not afraid of anything on this planet. Yet when I put ‘hot wax’ and your ‘man parts’ in the same sentence, it seems to make you all a little nervous.”

  “Unless we are saving our country or a person, there is no way that we are going to willingly let that happen.”

  She turned and walked out the door and muttered under her breath, “Wimps.”

  “I heard that Rory, and that’s not very nice.”

  “Yes, but it’s true.”

  She walked out of the office and waved to Max as she passed his office and whistled all the way to the elevator. She felt like she had made a jail break, and she suddenly felt lighter.

  Max watched her go out the front doors and tried to remain calm. It went against every instinct he had. He walked into Derick’s office, “Hey man, can you….”

  “Rory was already in here and told me that you were going to come down here and ask me to track her. It’s all set.”

  “Why did I fall in love with such a smart woman?”

  “I don’t think you really had a choice, just consider yourself lucky.”

  ‘I do. I consider myself the luckiest man in the world.”

  “Then don’t blow it. Back off a little. I don’t know how much more she is going to put up with.”

  “I know, I can’t make myself stop.”

  “Try harder.”

  “I know.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Rory sat in the airport drinking her cup of tea, trying to get her heart rate to return to normal. Did she just break up with Max? She was pretty sure that she had. She couldn’t take it anymore.

  Was she being unreasonable? Maybe. She had asked him in every different way that she could think of over the last two weeks to back off. He could not make himself do it. She saw that he was struggling to do what she asked, but he simply couldn’t manage it. This could be the deal breaker for her. Being independent for so long made his overprotectiveness a difficult pill to swallow.

  An overwhelming sense of sadness enveloped her as she felt t
he first tear slip down her face. Why am I so emotional? Maybe the last several months had simply caught up with her. She quickly swiped the tear away and pulled herself together.

  She decided to call Birdie to see what she thought. Maybe there was another way to look at this.

  ***

  “Do you remember when I called you last week and told you that Max was making me crazy?”

  “Yes. Did he manage to get himself under control?”

  “No! I think this is it. I told him not to call me, contact me or track me over the next two weeks. I need a break from his crazy.”

  Birdie settled into her couch and reached for her cup of tea. This was serious business and she needed to be focused. “What was the straw that broke the camel’s back?”

  “I think the final straw was when he forbade me from going on this trip without him.”

  “He actually ‘forbade’ you?”

  “Yes, those were his exact words. Needless to say, I lost my mind and my temper. I think I broke up with him.”

  “What words exactly did you use?”

  “I don’t want to see your face again if this is how you are going to behave.”

  “Yes, I think those are break up words. Except you used the word ‘if’. That suggests a small window of opportunity.”

  “A very small window.” She heard Birdie call out to Mark and ask him a question.

  “Honey, what’s that thing that blows things up? No the other thing that you are always talking about. Yeah, that’s it. Thanks. No, I’m talking to Rory and Max screwed up.”

  “Why did you tell him that?”

  “Because, maybe he can talk some sense into him.”

  “That’s like asking the inmates to help the other inmates. It doesn’t help if they are all crazy. They just spread the crazy.”

  “I know, but maybe he can help calm him down. Anyway, what I was trying to get at is…. Max may see a small opportunity as a big opportunity. I think that is how SEALs think. An opportunity is an opportunity, no matter the size. They might use some C4 and blow something up if they thought they needed to.”