by Callie Croix
He’d faced enemy fire with less anxiety than he felt now. All because the woman curled up in the king-sized bed held his beating heart in her hands.
Becca stirred as he drew near, giving him a sleepy little smile when he slid in beside her. Turning over onto her side, she reached for him and snuggled into his naked chest. Reid automatically wrapped both arms around her, his fist clenched around what he held in his grip. He gently ran his other hand over her shiny hair. At her heartfelt sigh of satisfaction, he squeezed his eyes shut. God, he’d never thought he’d feel this way about anyone. The thought of having to leave her on Monday was almost unbearable.
When the tension inside him became too much to contain, he shifted and rolled her onto her back.
Becca blinked up at him with slumberous blue eyes, a frown marring her brow when she realized how serious he was. “What’s the matter? Did the police call?”
He shook his head. Couldn’t find the words he needed to say.
She sat up, her expression becoming alarmed. “Reid? What—”
He pressed her back down against the pillow with a hand on her bare shoulder. This was important; he had to make her understand how strongly he felt about it. When he was sure he had her full attention, he spoke. “I told you before I left for overseas that I’d come back to you. I promised I would.”
She didn’t respond, but the frown deepened.
Reid exhaled a slow breath and chose his words carefully. “When I give my word, Bec, it means something.” He never wanted her to take it lightly again.
“Okay.” Her expression was wary now.
“I told you I was coming back to you, yet you went out with someone else the other night anyway.”
Her eyes clouded with reproach. “I didn’t do it to hurt you. You shut me out so I didn’t think I mattered to you anymore. As of last night I know for sure that you love me, but I’m still not sure what you want out of this relationship.”
When her words registered he bit back a curse. Her uncertainty was his fault, and it made him want to kick his own ass. But after what he was about to do, she’d never be unsure about his intentions again. He just prayed she wouldn’t reject him, because doing this made him more vulnerable than he’d ever been in his life. Once he did this, there was no going back.
* * *
Becca’s heart skipped a couple of beats as she gazed up at him. The hard look on Reid’s face frightened her. She tried to swallow past the sudden restriction in her throat, but her mouth had gone dry.
Rather than answer her about what he wanted, he reached behind her head to undo the simple chain around her neck. Automatically her hand came up to stop him, but the intense look he slanted her made her lower her arm. Afraid to speak, understanding that something momentous was happening, her gaze dipped to where he pulled the delicate strand of white gold away from her neck. He had something else in his other hand, something he threaded onto the chain. She met his gaze anxiously, taken aback by the raw emotion swirling in his eyes.
Finally he raised his fist, holding up the chain for her inspection. From it dangled a gold emblem of an eagle clutching a rifle and trident in its talons, a ship’s anchor overlapping them.
“Know what this is?” he asked in a low voice.
Her heart squeezed painfully. “Your Trident,” she whispered, reaching for it without thinking. She’d only ever seen pictures of them in books or on the websites she’d used for research. Reid had never shown his to her before.
He pulled it out of reach and waited until she met his gaze. His eyes were dark, unflinching. “Do you know what it means to me?”
She knew he’d worked his ass off to earn it, that he put his life on the line every day he trained or went on a mission, that he had to keep earning it each and every day to stay a SEAL. She also knew the Trident meant so much to them that SEALs pounded them into the lid of a fallen brother’s casket. What she didn’t know was why he’d put his on her chain. “I think so.”
He shook his head slightly. “It means everything to me. It’s who I am.”
“Okay,” she whispered, hardly able to get the word out. It represented everything he was, everything he stood for. Including his word, she thought with a pang. She realized now how much she’d inadvertently hurt him by going on that date Friday night. He’d given her his solemn vow to come home to her, had tried in his own way to tell her how much she meant to him, but she hadn’t understood him. She did now. “I understand.”
“I hope you do, beautiful.” He leaned over to reach behind her and clasp the chain around her neck. “Because it’s yours from this moment on.”
Stunned, she gaped at him. “I can’t take your Trident,” she protested, blinking back tears even as she curled protective fingers around it. The pin lay solid against her breastbone, warm from his body heat. The significance of that wasn’t lost on her.
“You’re not taking it—I’m giving it.” He stroked a finger around it, tracing its shape against her skin, making her breasts tingle and swell in response. “It’s not a ring, but it makes the same promise. More so, in some ways. It means that if something ever happens to me, my teammates will come to you. They’ll take care of you if for some reason I can’t.”
Her eyes welled up. She wanted to put her hand over his mouth to stop him from even mentioning the possibility of anything happening to him, but she knew he was only being clear. His job was inherently dangerous, even the training he did.
“I want you to meet them all, plus my family, and I want to meet yours. I’m in this to stay.” His eyes never wavered from hers. “I’m all yours, Bec, if you’ll have me. And I want you to wear this every day, right over your heart where it belongs, so you never forget or doubt what you mean to me.”
Coming from a man like Reid, it was the most romantic speech she’d ever heard. To her horror, her face crumpled. A ragged sob tore free before she could stop it. She flung her arms around him and buried her face in his neck.
His low chuckle barely registered over her sniffles. “This mean you’ll wear it?”
She nodded. “Y-yes.”
Reid rolled her beneath him to stare down into her tear-streaked face. “I know I’m asking a lot of you. Being with one of us isn’t easy.”
She shook her head. “No, I know it isn’t.” She’d already gotten a small taste of what it would be like. “But it’s worth it. You’re worth it. As long as you promise to never shut me out again like you did. I can’t take that.”
“I promise.” His smile took her breath away. “You know I love you.”
It warmed her to her toes at how easily he said it. “I really know it now.”
“And so…?”
She frowned, wiped some of the tears away. “What?”
“I love you too, Reid,” he prompted, eyes dancing with laughter.
Oh, God! “Yes, yes, I love you too. Sorry.” She gave a soggy laugh. “I was a little distracted.”
He kissed the tip of her nose, laid his hand on the Trident he’d placed over her heart. “Then kiss me, and let me show you what real distraction feels like.”
Smiling, Becca twined her hands in his hair and lifted her head, offering everything to him.
His ringing cell phone rudely interrupted.
“Want me to ignore it?” he offered.
She pushed at his shoulders and sat up, a hard knot forming in her gut. “No, it’s probably important.” It was too early not to be.
Reid grabbed it from the nightstand and answered, then paused for a second. “Yeah, she’s right here.” He handed it to her.
“Hello?”
“Miss Andrews, it’s Detective Bachman. I’ve got some news for you.”
Feeling exposed, she dragged the sheets up over her breasts and grabbed hold of Reid’s hand. He sat down next to her, watching her face. “
All right.”
“I’d like to discuss it in person. Can you come in?”
She glanced at Reid. “We’re in Virginia Beach, so it’ll take a couple of hours for us to get there.” At her words, Reid left the bed and started packing up.
“That’s fine. See you when you get here.”
Hanging up, Becca got up and hurriedly started dressing. “He’s got news, is all he said.”
Reid stopped what he was doing to look over his shoulder at her, his dark gaze steady. “Whatever it is, I’ll be right beside you.”
God, she loved that man. “Thanks.”
Whatever it was, she hoped the detective had good news this time.
* * *
By the time they arrived at the police station, Becca’s stomach was in knots. Someone showed them to a conference room, and Detective Bachman joined them carrying a folder he placed on the table.
His eyes were kind as he nodded to her. “You look better today.”
“I feel better, thanks.” She kept glancing at the folder, wondering what it held. Reid’s hand tightened around hers, adding silent support.
“Thank you both for coming in on such short notice.” Leaning back, he opened the file. “Both the driver from last night and the man who broke into your house yesterday are well-known to police.” He tossed two line-up pictures of them from their arrests onto the table for them to look at. A wave of rage rushed through her as she stared at their faces. “Both suspects are in our custody and have confirmed the same information.” He paused, watching her with what she could only describe as an assessing look.
“And?” she prompted, wishing he’d just get the hell on with it already.
“Ms. Andrews, how long have you worked at your firm?”
“Almost five years.”
“And in that time you never heard or saw any activity you thought suspicious?”
“No, never.” The line of questioning wasn’t easing her anxiety level. “Why, what did you find?”
The detective rubbed a finger over his upper lip. “The illegal activity Mr. Hamilton uncovered in that file you cracked had been going on for at least two years. The data was so well hidden we were surprised he managed to find it at all.”
“David was a talented forensic accountant,” she said quietly, suddenly wanting to cry. “Did you find out who was involved?”
“We did. And the two suspects in custody gave us something even better. Were you aware that a partner at the firm had access to particular offshore investment accounts?”
Wait. “You mean, the Cayman Island operation?”
“Yes.” He watched her carefully.
“But Mr. Vane hasn’t used that since he retired—” She broke off with a single, horrified gasp, half rose from her seat without realizing it.
No. Freaking. Way.
“Bec?” Reid whispered, tugging her back.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the detective. She shook her head slowly, a movement of denial, of horror. Though he hadn’t said the name yet, Becca knew she’d already figured it out. “I don’t want to believe it.”
Bachman’s mouth tightened. “We’ve just served a warrant and arrested Kimberly Vane for being an accessory in the murder of David Hamilton.”
Suspecting it was bad enough. Having it confirmed by the lead investigator was much worse.
Becca’s mouth fell open in shock, all the blood draining from her face. The room seemed to tilt on its axis for a second. Of all the partners in the firm, Kimberly was the last one she’d ever suspect of illegal investments, let alone be willing to hire thugs to murder someone. Her father had founded the firm. Groomed her for her rise to the top. The woman had worked her ass off to get there. How was this possible?
“Oh…” was all she could bring herself to say, while her mind was screaming, Why, why would she have done this? “It doesn’t make sense. She had more money than most of the other partners. Tens of millions at least, considering her father gave her a good chunk of his shares. Why would she want or need more money so badly that she had done these things?”
“We don’t know for sure yet, but it’s possible Ms. Vane was deeply in debt.”
“How the hell could someone be in that kind of debt?” Becca stared at him, grateful for the solid feel of Reid’s hand resting on the top of her shoulder.
“You’d be surprised,” the detective said. “We’ll be bringing other charges together with the accessory to murder, and we’ve got a task force assembled to investigate the information we found on Mr. Hamilton’s personal computer and the flash drive he gave you, but it’s going to create quite the backlash. I can’t divulge too much about the contents of the file, but suffice it to say that in addition to those charges, Ms. Vane is in serious trouble with about every agency in the country if the information on the illegal investments are correct.”
Becca couldn’t even imagine the fallout over that kind of lost money. The IRS would freeze all the accounts involved, including the investors’. The firm would be ruined. “But I just saw her yesterday morning in a meeting. I trusted her. How could she…” She put a hand to her mouth, swallowed back the rest of the words. Denial was pointless now.
Reid rubbed her shoulder, his solid, quiet presence reminding her she wasn’t facing this horrible revelation alone.
“Again, we won’t know her motives until we question her and investigate further. I just wanted to let you know that it looks like all the loose ends are finally coming together. The two suspects in custody are no longer a threat to you, and Ms. Vane won’t be from now on either. You’re safe to go home now.”
Becca digested it all in silence, listening as the detective briefly outlined the procedure they would follow in the coming weeks. She answered when it was expected and finished by thanking him for letting her know everything. After she shook his hand, Reid took her straight out to his truck.
“Are you okay, babe?” Reid asked when he climbed into the cab beside her, frowning in concern.
She was still trying to process it all. It wasn’t easy to deal with the cold truth that someone she’d worked for was responsible for murder. “This is going to be big, Reid. It’ll be all over the news and in the papers.”
“Good.” His fierce expression said it was the least he thought Kimberly deserved. She agreed. The woman had been stealing from clients for two years, then had David killed to cover her tracks.
“If this is even half as big as I think it is, the firm may go under. Which means I’ll no longer have a job.”
“You really want to keep working there after this anyway?”
She frowned. “Not really.”
“You’re smart and talented, so you won’t have trouble finding a job.”
“I don’t know what the partners are going to do now.”
“Like the other partners in the firm won’t bend over backward to find you a good job after this? And who the hell cares about all that right now? The important thing is that it’s over. You’re safe.”
He had a point, yet that was only part of the aftermath she was facing. “It’s not really over for me though. There’ll be more statements, even though I don’t know anything about what was on the file, and there’ll be trials I’ll probably have to testify at.” God, at least three of them, probably more.
Reid brought her stiff hand to his mouth and kissed her icy knuckles. “Piece of cake after what you’ve been through.”
He had such faith in her. But she couldn’t imagine having to sit in a court room and look at either of the men who had attacked her and David, let alone face Kimberly.
Reid took both her hands and rubbed them between his own to warm them. “You’ll get through it, Bec. With me, your family and friends seeing you through every step of whatever’s coming next. You’ll see it through then put it behind yo
u where it belongs.”
His absolute confidence and support meant the world to her. She cradled the side of his face in her palm, overcome with love and gratitude. Her throat closed up. “I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”
“No way, beautiful. I’m the lucky one.” He drew her close, surrounding her with his warm, strong arms and holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him. And the Trident confirmed she really was, didn’t it?
Becca was lost in her thoughts when he spoke a few minutes later. “Do you like football?”
The question threw her off so much that she tipped her head back to frown at him. “I don’t hate it. Why?”
A mischievous smile played at the corners of his mouth. “One of the guys invited us over to his place to watch the game today.”
“You mean, one of your teammates?”
He nodded. “You up for it? Would take your mind off everything. Plus, when they hear about the weekend we just had, it’ll make us living legends.”
She gawked at him, ignoring his attempt at humor, understanding he was trying to jolt her out of her dark thoughts. But football? Really? “Do you want me to go?”
His smile faded, replaced by a scowl. “You think I’d leave you here by yourself?”
“No, I mean… You really want me to meet your teammates?” Today? Now?
He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. “Yeah, and their families. Murphy invited us before I left the base Friday night.”
He’d told his SEAL buddies about her?
“Originally I said no, but now I think it’s about time I showed you off.”