Her Tempting Protector: Navy SEAL Team (Night Storm Book 2)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “Yep. Not only that, I’m going to marry that woman.”

  Raiden just stared at him and gave a half-laugh. “Are you kidding?”

  “Nope, I’m serious as a heart attack.” Cullen replied.

  “I don’t understand you at all. That makes no sense.”

  “Sure it does,” Cullen laughed. “It’s a tradition passed down throughout the men in my family.”

  Raiden shook his head in disbelief. But then again, Cullen knew a little bit about his friend’s past, and he could see why he wouldn’t believe in finding an everlasting love in three days. Now he just had to convince Carys. He rubbed his jaw. How in the hell was he going to do that?

  She was higher than a kite, even though she was shaky as heck. Shada had made it through surgery and the prognosis was looking good. She didn’t want to jinx anything, but Carys was pretty darn sure the young mother was going to pull through and thrive. She would be there for her children! She would see her grandchildren, just as Carys had promised.

  She pulled off her gown, gloves and face mask, then leaned against the scrub sink. The adrenaline that had been keeping her going for the last few hours had left her. She felt like she was going to throw up. But she would do it smiling.

  “Doctor?”

  “Hmmm?”

  Warm hands were on her shoulders, they guided her past the sink and she soon found herself sitting in a chair with a glass of juice in her hand. Carys sipped it gratefully. She just needed a minute to get herself together, then she could go out and tell the happy news. She couldn’t wait to inform Cullen, he would be so relieved. He cared as much as she did.

  She had friends who were soldiers, but she didn’t think she had ever met one with a bigger heart.

  A hand took the juice from her just before it spilled.

  What?

  “You were falling asleep, Doctor.”

  Carys pushed up from the chair she was sitting in. “Can you direct me to the waiting room? I think there are some people who want to know how my patient did during her surgery.”

  “Yes, Doctor. Follow me,” the middle-aged nurse beckoned.

  As the woman went to the door to push it open, there was a loud shout. It was in English. The nurse looked at Carys in confusion.

  “Get to the nursery,” a man yelled.

  “It’s too late, we need to get to the lobby,” another man’s voice shouted.

  Was that Raiden?

  Cullen’s pounding footsteps echoed as he raced down the hospital stairs. Only four flights but he’d make it in under a minute. Raiden was one floor above him.

  Adam.

  It had to be his dad.

  He slammed the door to the lobby open. It took a half-second to orient himself.

  Left. His boot skidded and he realized someone had just mopped. His shoulder slammed into a wall as he pinballed to one side trying to stay upright.

  Fuck! Fuck!

  What was this dumbass thinking? There were Marines posted outside the hospital.

  Cullen had his gun out as he turned the corner into the lobby that still had plywood covering many of the windows. He squinted to adjust his vision, then he stopped short.

  What the hell?

  There was a crowd. Students with signs and banners, and Sudanese civilians were spilling into the lobby and the Marines were trying to stop them, but the people were ignoring them. Cullen would bet money it was a coordinated smokescreen. How Shada’s husband had managed to do that, he had no idea, but he had.

  Raiden was beside him. “I’ve got intel from a nurse. Three men demanded to know which child was Shada’s baby and she wouldn’t tell. They knocked her around pretty good and killed the two security guards. Slit their throats. That’s why we didn’t hear anything. Another nurse finally told them which baby was Adam.”

  “Rapid Support Forces?”

  “She didn’t know. She said they weren’t wearing any kind of uniform.”

  Cullen scanned the crowd. There were just too many people. The three men could have split up. For all they knew, Adam could have been passed off to one of the women in the crowd.

  He looked around, trying to come up with some sort of way to find Bubba. Like a beacon of light, he saw his solution on the wall. Then he looked up—sure as shit, there were sprinkler heads on the ceiling. He ran to the wall.

  “Grab the Marines and cover the hospital entrance,” he yelled to Raiden as he ran to the fire alarm.

  “Fire,” he yelled out in Arabic at the top of his lungs, as he pulled the fire alarm lever.

  He turned and saw the Marines and Raiden holding their weapons, stopping anyone from leaving the lobby through the front entrance. Everyone got soaked as they screamed in horror, begging to be let out. Cullen knew that he was causing havoc in the rest of the hospital, but he didn’t care. His sole focus was on finding Adam.

  Like rats on a sinking ship, he saw two drenched men in thobes coming toward him trying to exit the back way since they knew their way around the hospital.

  “Cullen,” someone yelled from down the back hall behind him. Was that Drake?

  He let the first man whose arms were empty go right by, figuring his fellow SEAL would take care of him. Meanwhile, the man holding the baby—well, he wasn’t going anywhere.

  When the man saw Cullen, he straightened up, not caring that Adam was soaked, water streaming into his mouth.

  “Let me by,” he commanded. It was clear he was used to being in command.

  “No way. Give me the child,” Cullen said as water dripped down his face and he held out one arm, his gun in the other. The man’s eyes squinted—they both knew that Cullen wasn’t going to use it; he wouldn’t risk Adam being hurt.

  “He is my son, he stays with me.”

  Cullen lifted the gun higher and the man smiled. “Try it. I still have my man watching you. You will soon die.”

  A lie. Cullen would already be dead if that were true.

  “You’re a war criminal who is trying to kidnap a baby from his mother, now give me Adam.” Cullen stepped forward, gripping his gun tighter.

  “What kind of name is Adam?” the man’s lip curled in disgust. “He will be named after my father. Nobody will deny me my son, certainly not some American thug.”

  The sprinklers had stopped, but why was wasn’t Adam crying? Water wasn’t running into his mouth anymore. Cullen saw Raiden at the edge of the crowd of students.

  Cullen heard a high-pitched scream, and Drake’s yell, then a shot fired from the hallway behind him.

  Adam finally gave a weak cry, but not because of the noise, it was because the stupid bastard was suddenly squeezing him too tight. Goddammit, the man might end up killing his own child!

  “You’re hurting him,” Cullen ground out as he pointed his gun at the man’s head.

  The man glared and pulled Adam tighter to his body. “You’ll never shoot me.” In a flash, he changed his grip on Adam, gripping the baby by his legs, causing him to dangle upside down in front of him as a shield. “Now I will walk away from here. If you try to shoot me, the boy falls and dies.”

  Raiden was directly behind him, waiting for the word from Cullen.

  Cullen took two steps toward the monster who fathered four beautiful children.

  “Now!” he shouted.

  Raiden wasted no time. With his gun pointed upwards at the base of the man’s skull, he literally shot his head off as Cullen caught Adam before he had a chance to hit the floor. They were both covered in blood, and Raiden grabbed the bastard’s body so he didn’t fall on them.

  Adam was screaming. Cullen thought he might blow apart at the seams.

  He blocked out the shouts of the crowd and the questions that swirled in his head. Instead, he cradled the child in his arms, wishing he could make him happy, but gratified he was alive to scream.

  The only thing that would make this moment perfect would be to share it with Carys.

  17

  She watched as the tiny family gathered around in
Shada’s curtained off recovery area. Leila and Aamira sat on chairs next to their mother’s bed, both of them kicking their little legs as they ate chocolate that Cullen had procured for them. Shada’s Great-Uncle Pashat from Egypt, held Farida, and Shada had Adam cuddled up beside her. It was darn near the first time Carys had seen that baby out of Cullen’s arms in the last twenty-four hours.

  She looked over at Cullen. His expression was hard to read. Funny, since she had thought that he would be satisfied, maybe even happy, over this turn of events. He looked up and caught her eye. Had he felt her looking at him? He gave her a slow smile. She felt her insides heating up. He moved away from the curtain that separated Shada’s bed from the others in the ward and came over to her and slid his arm around her waist. It felt right. She wasn’t dressed as a doctor—today she was in her travel clothes since she was going to be flying home.

  “Doctor Adams,” Shada’s voice was hoarse. “Will we ever see you again?”

  She didn’t know how to answer. She hadn’t been expecting the question, and she should have. She was definitely out of practice.

  “Shada, Doctor Adams is going to start practicing medicine in America. It is possible she might not return to Africa. It is both our hopes that you will send us letters when you settle in Egypt. I will provide you with my information so that you can reach her.”

  “And you, sir. We want to write to you too,” Shada smiled shyly. “You saved my son.” Her voice broke.

  “He gave us candy, Mama.” Leila chimed in. “I will draw him pictures of our new home. Can you send us candy when we live with our Uncle?”

  The old man beamed at Leila. “I will have much good food for you to eat, my girl.”

  “I can send you treats from America,” Cullen smiled. “If everyone approves.”

  How come Carys had a feeling Cullen sent more than a few care packages around the world? This man was not who she had originally thought he was. He was so much more.

  Carys bit her lip when she thought again about how special he was, and what he really deserved out of life.

  Aamira got down off her chair and came up to Carys. “Are you going to stay until my Mama is all better?”

  Once again, Carys found herself at a loss for words.

  Cullen crouched down so he could talk eye-to-eye to the pretty little girl. “Honey, your Mama is going to be out of here in no time. Doctor Adams did a wonderful job making sure of that. Now she has to go home.” He winked at the girl and she giggled.

  Carys appreciated him talking for her. Normally that kind of thing was not the case, but she was still reeling from the deaths of all her associates. Then there was the fact that her good friend Joyce had been killed while under custody of the Rapid Support Forces. All of it just made her want to leave Khartoum as soon as possible. It was all too much.

  Shada held out her hand. “Doctor?”

  Carys walked over and took the woman’s hand. “Yes?”

  “I will always remember you. I will tell my son many stories of you. Thank you for saving both of us. I wish that you will always walk under a thousand stars and know the kiss of the sun for your kindness is unequaled in all the universe.”

  Carys felt sandpaper scrape the backs of her eyes. “You astound me, Shada,” she gulped. “Hold your children close. I hope that I do see you again one day.” She squeezed the young mother’s hand, then waved to the girls, and let Cullen lead her out of the hospital ward.

  Cullen got to the airport in time to see her in the big holding area with the other evacuees. His last swing through the city looking for other Americans to evacuate had cost him valuable time to get to her.

  She had her backpack hanging from one shoulder. She’d arrived with more, but in the mass confusion of the uprising, she’d lost her things. As she said to him, a hell of a lot more than things had been lost. Cullen sighed, remembering she’d said heck.

  This take-no-prisoners woman looked lost as she stood with other evacuees at the Khartoum airport. He wanted to tell her not to go, to stay with him. But hell, he was here for probably another week on clean-up duty, then he was on his way home. How could she stay? She couldn’t. All civilians were supposed to leave as soon as they were located.

  Hell, he wanted her out of the country where it was safe. But damn, he wanted her beside him.

  “Carys?” His voice was a whisper, but she heard him.

  She looked up at him, her green eyes bewildered. She’d been like that since yesterday. Shellshocked.

  Goddammit, she needed him. If not him, somebody.

  “Honey, where are you going when you get home?” He asked her as she tried to get close to the barrier that separated them.

  “I left my things in storage in Eugene, Oregon.”

  “You’re not going to be there all by yourself, are you?”

  She must have caught onto the worry in his voice, because she hitched her backpack higher up on her shoulder and straightened her spine.

  “Cullen, I’m going to be fine. I’m a big girl. I’m going to go to Eugene and get my things. I know the things I put into place before I left probably aren’t there. Even if they were, I need time again before I can move forward. But you don’t need to worry, I’m fine.”

  “You need to stay with someone. Maybe Peter?”

  “No, I don’t.” She gave a bright fake smile.

  “Yes, you do. You need to be with friends.”

  He didn’t say she needed to be with him. But dammit, she did.

  “Yeah, sure, that sounds good, I’ll call him.”

  She was lying.

  The crowd started to move.

  “You have all my contact information. I need a call as soon as you land.”

  “Absolutely, Cullen. I’ll call you. But I’m not like Shada and her family, you don’t need to worry about me. I don’t want to be one more burden to you.”

  He would have pulled her into a hug, but the barriers kept them apart.

  “Dammit, Carys, that’s not what this is. I want to see you when I get back to the states, I need to see you.”

  She shook her head, denying what he was saying. She didn’t believe him.

  Then the crowd swallowed her up.

  Dammit!

  A month, it had taken him an entire damn month. Cullen was so pissed as he walked up the path of two-story Craftsman style house with rhododendron and azalea bushes flourishing in the front yard. There was a trike with pink tassels coming out of the handlebars in the front yard, so there was at least one kid that Kane hadn’t told him about. How’d he miss that? He’d told Cullen all about Sarah Kyle who was Carys’ best friend and was now married to David Sloane. The couple had been with Carys all those years ago when she had been assaulted in Santa Flores, and Kane had tracked Carys down to their house here in Washington state.

  He knocked on the front door. A pretty blonde answered. She looked him up and down and smiled.

  “Honey, who is it?” A tall, lean man asked as he came up behind her.

  Before Cullen could introduce himself, she answered.

  “If I had to guess, this is Cullen Lyons. Am I right?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

  Cullen frowned. All of his Irish charm bullshit had flown out the window three weeks ago when Carys texted him that she wasn’t ready to face him, and that she would call him when she was ready. For eighteen days after that, there had been radio silence, then when she finally called, she said she would let him know where and when they could meet in a week.

  Fuck that noise.

  The man grinned. “I’m going to be barbequing tonight. Want to join us?”

  “Is Carys here?”

  “She’s out in the backyard playing with Tonya, our daughter. She’ll be eating dinner with us. Now do you want to say yes?” the blonde asked temptingly.

  “Honey, have you introduced yourself?” The man who had to be Captain David Sloane asked.

  She laughed. It was a pretty laugh. “Why don’t you come in, have some lemonade
or sweet tea.”

  “Or a beer,” David offered. “I’m Captain David Sloane, United States Army. You’re Chief Petty Officer Cullen Lyons with the United States Navy,” David said as he held out his hand.

  “How do you know?”

  “Same way you know about me. We’ve checked one another out. I figure Kane McNamara finally tracked us down and that’s why you’re here.”

  “I forgot you’re Military Police,” Cullen chuckled as he took the proffered beer and sat down at the kitchen stool. He scanned the backyard through the sliding glass door, but the backyard was too big, he couldn’t see Carys or their daughter.

  “I’m Sarah Sloane. But apparently you know that as well,” Sarah smiled as she pulled out a tray of vegetables and plopped those down in front of him.

  “I’m surprised you managed to stay away as long as you did,” David said as he leaned on his elbows on the kitchen island across from Cullen. “I’ve been telling Carys to expect you at our door for the last two weeks.”

  “She said something about next week, but it was time to take the yak by the horns. I also wanted to do it where she had friends backing her up, in case it all goes South.”

  He wanted to ask them if it was going to go South. He didn’t think it would. He prayed it wouldn’t. David had given him a beer. Sarah had let him into the house. Those were good signs, right? But maybe this was just because they were feeling sorry for him.

  Cullen saw the diminutive girl in pink jeans running from the side of the house to the door. He then caught sight of Carys chasing slowly behind her. She was smiling. A real smile.

  “Can I have some juice?” a little voice piped up as the sliding glass door opened.

  “Tonya beat me again…” Carys’ voice trailed off as she saw Cullen.

  This was it, the big reveal.

  Carys stopped short, she couldn’t breathe.

  He was here. Cullen was actually here.

  She wanted to soak Cullen in through her skin. Just seeing him made her heart beat faster.