She’d been scared in the cafeteria when he’d shielded her with his body. What was she thinking now? His stomach roiled at the idea of her injured or in pain. He could handle whatever happened to him, but knowing that she might’ve been harmed? It was unfathomable.
Blake grabbed a woman rushing toward the exit. “Do you know a woman named Hailey? General Murphy’s administrative assistant?”
“Hailey? Yeah. She’s on the second floor. I haven’t seen her though.”
Blake nodded, and he and Grayson were instantly moving. The smoke was thicker as they took the stairs, and Blake stopped to help an injured woman as Grayson rushed forward. “I need to carry her out,” Blake yelled.
“I’m going for Hailey,” Grayson replied, running up the last few steps.
He knew Blake would never leave an injured woman alone on the stairs. And Grayson was more than capable of searching for Hailey by himself. He pushed open the door from the stairwell to the upstairs hall and gasped as he saw the destruction on the second floor. The walls had partially collapsed at one end and flames were licking upward.
The smoke was growing thicker, and he covered his face with his arm.
“Hailey!” he shouted again.
One woman glanced at him in surprise as she rushed out. “Last door on the left!”
“Shit, shit, shit!” he muttered, running toward it. She was right by the collapsed section. Hopefully she’d already gotten out, but what if she’d been injured? What if more of the building began to crumble and cave in?
The heat and smoke were overwhelming, but he’d never forgive himself if he got this far only to leave here there. She could be trapped inside, and he was so close. He tried her door, finding it locked, and then began to pound on it with his fist. “Hailey! Are you in there?” he shouted.
He tried to listen for an answer, but between the fire alarm and roaring fire, he couldn’t hear anything else. “Hailey!” he shouted again.
It was beginning to get hot as hell up here, and he knew the air wasn’t safe for him to breathe much longer. Not waiting for her to answer, he backed up and then breached the door. He’d been trained with his team, and although he usually had weapons with him when he broke into homes of people they were after, Grayson had no trouble kicking the door down with his combat boots.
“Hailey!” he shouted again.
He moved further into her space, gasping when he saw her lying on the floor, a cut on her head. She must’ve fallen in the explosion and hit her head on the bedframe or something. It looked like she’d been in the middle of getting changed. Her shirt was off, but she had a camisole on, revealing some of her creamy skin.
Her auburn hair stood in stark contrast to it, and blood ran from her forehead, matting some of her hair. He knelt down beside her, trying to ignore the swells of her breasts beneath her top. She was so fucking beautiful—like a damn angel or something. She looked fragile and innocent, and he immediately took her into his arms.
Mumbling slightly, she came to as he lifted her.
“Grayson,” she murmured, blinking as she looked at him.
“Yes, it’s me, sweetheart,” he said, standing up as he cradled her body to his. He turned and walked back the way he’d come. Hailey fit in his arms perfectly, and holding her to his chest as he walked toward the door, nothing had ever felt more right. She smelled faintly of vanilla, and even with smoke filling the air, it was the sweetest damn thing he’d ever noticed. He grabbed a piece of fabric from the top of a pile of clean clothes, smirking as he realized it was a pair of green satin panties.
Not caring what he’d grabbed hold of, he pressed it to her forehead, trying to stop the bleeding.
“Hold this to your head so I can carry you out.”
“What happened?” she asked in confusion.
“There was another explosion,” he said grimly. “We have to go.”
“How did you find me?” she asked.
He kicked the remnants of her door aside, moving into the hallway.
“Oh my God!” she gasped.
He kept walking, his gaze looking into a few open rooms to make sure no one else was there. The fire alarms continued to blare, and the smoke was growing thicker. The fire blazed all around them, moving closer to her side of the hall. He talked loudly above all the ruckus as he rushed her away from the danger. “I ran for your building with my teammates,” he said. “Raptor and I came inside to look for you. It was chaos downstairs, but I called out your name, and someone knew you.”
“You came and found me,” she said, looking at him in shock.
“Of course I came for you. Your goddamn building was on fire.”
He hurried into the stairwell, jogging down with Hailey held tightly in his arms. She wasn’t applying enough pressure to her head wound, and he cursed. He realized she was barefoot, only wearing pants and a camisole. Thank God he’d gotten to her when he did. She’d been knocked out, and who knew how long it would have taken for fire and rescue personnel to search the entire second floor. She was all the way at the end of the hallway, and by the time they’d searched every room, it could’ve been too late.
Firemen were moving up the stairs now with hoses and equipment, and Grayson hurried into the lobby and out the front doors.
“Shit, is she all right?” Ethan called out, jogging over toward them.
“She needs stitches,” Grayson assessed.
Jackson’s lips quirked as he realized Grayson was holding satin panties to her forehead but didn’t comment. “We need a medic!” he yelled out.
Two people came running to her with a stretcher. Grayson briefly gave them an update, setting her gently down as she whimpered. “Hell, did I hurt you?” he asked, looking into her green eyes.
“My head hurts. And my ribs.”
“You have a cut, maybe a concussion,” he said, gently smoothing his hand over her hair. His gaze dropped to her camisole. He didn’t see any other injuries, but maybe she’d hurt herself when she’d fallen. “You’ll most likely need stitches, but we got you out of there.”
“You got me out,” she said, looking up at him.
He searched her green eyes, aware of the people all around them. Hailey felt like the most important person in the world right now, crazy as that was. He’d known his teammates for years; he’d literally lay down his life for them, but right now, she was his only concern.
“That I did, sweetheart. I got you out of there.”
Blake came jogging over to his team. “Ghost! Everglades! The general wants to meet with us ASAP.”
Grayson frowned, looking at Blake and then back at Hailey. The medics were already tending to her, pressing gauze to her forehead and taking her pulse. One of them began rattling off some stats, and then they were ready to move her.
Grayson had rescued countless people over the years—men, women, children. It didn’t matter. He went in with his team and had seen it all. They’d dealt with horrific injuries and all sorts of situations. He’d rescued people from the worst of humanity and never even looked back. But leaving her made him pause for some reason. He frequently came to people’s aid and then moved on to the next part of his mission without thought, but something didn’t feel right about leaving Hailey.
He wanted to stay with her, to watch over her. He wanted to hold her hand or pull her back into his arms, to make sure she was okay. And he couldn’t because he had work to do. Besides, she wasn’t his damn girlfriend or something. What right did he have to hold her and ensure she was okay?
“I’ll check on you later,” he said in a low voice. “Tomorrow.”
She looked up at him, tears filling her eyes, and he felt his chest clench. Unable to stop himself, he ducked down and lightly kissed her forehead, away from where the gauze covered her wound. She gasped in surprise, but then the medics lifted her stretcher, ready to load her into a truck and drive to the base hospital. He wanted to say something else but, maybe for the first time ever, was at an absolute loss for words.
&n
bsp; He had no right to feel the way he did, but at that moment, he wanted her. Grayson wanted to go with her to the hospital, to make sure she was safe. He wanted to talk to the doctors about her injuries and make sure she had the best care and wasn’t in any pain. The tears in her eyes slayed him, and knowing that she was injured and hurting made his chest ache.
They carried her into the truck, Hailey wincing at the movement, and then Grayson turned and exchanged a glance with Blake.
“They’ll take care of her, Ghost. We’ll check on her tomorrow after our op.”
Grayson tensed. “I don’t like leaving her.”
“I know. But she’s in good hands.”
The doors to the truck slammed shut, and then it began to pull away. He watched it for a beat and then turned, nodding at his team leader. They jogged off toward the general’s office, and with each step further away, Grayson knew he was leaving a small piece of his heart behind.
Chapter 4
HAILEY BLINKED IN SURPRISE when she woke up, staring at the bright lights above her. Her head hurt and her ribs throbbed, and she realized that she was in a hospital room. There was an IV in her arm, some sort of bandage wrapped around her ribs, and probably stitches in her forehead, judging from the way her skin felt tight and uncomfortable.
“How are you feeling, Ms. Fletcher?” a military nurse asked in a no-nonsense tone, walking over to her with her chart in hand.
Hailey looked over at the woman in scrubs. “My forehead hurts. And my side.” She looked down, realizing she was in a hospital gown. When had they changed her out of her clothes? She barely remembered anything that had happened tonight, aside from Grayson.
Grayson.
Somehow he’d found her in that building. He’d picked her up and carried her out of there like she weighed nothing at all. With the fire and smoke around them, she’d been terrified. Dazed from hitting her head, in pain from however she’d fallen and hurt her ribs. He hadn’t even seemed concerned—he’d just kicked her door aside and gotten them out. Then carried her the entire way out of the building.
“You needed ten stitches for your head wound, and you also fractured three ribs. We already did x-rays to check for additional broken bones. You’ve been here sleeping for several hours. What do you remember?”
“Not much about what happened,” Hailey admitted. “I’d just gone back to my room and was changing when I heard something crash outside. Then there was a loud explosion. The next thing I remember, Grayson was picking me up and carrying me out of my room. I don’t even know how he found me. He’d come running to search my building.”
“He brought you to the medics and gave them a brief rundown of your condition. You’re very lucky that he found you as quickly as he did. They’re still searching the building for the injured right now.”
“What’s going to happen?” she asked, wincing as she moved slightly.
“You’re being sent home,” the nurse said.
“Home?” Hailey asked, blinking at her in surprise.
“Medevac’d out. With your fractured ribs, you’ll need several weeks to recover. You won’t be able to sit at a desk and continue to work. It sounds like your year-long assignment is almost up anyway, and they’ve decided to send you home early.”
“Oh. Wow.” Conflicting thoughts danced through her mind. She was in so much pain at the moment, she knew she couldn’t concentrate on work even if she wanted to. And she was thrilled to get to go home and see her family and friends again. She’d have to stay with her parents temporarily since her things were in storage and she no longer had an apartment in Arlington, but she’d be moving out to California soon anyway. Now she could actually spend a little time at home first, and then maybe have more time to get settled out in San Diego before she started her new position.
“Will I go through Germany?” she asked. Hopefully they’d wait a day or two to transfer her. Grayson had said he’d come by tomorrow, and she wanted to see him, to thank him for saving her life.
“Yes, you’ll be flown out later in the morning with some of the others. The most severe were already medevac’s out.”
“In the morning? But I won’t be able to say goodbye to anyone.”
The nurse smiled sadly. “I’m sorry. A lot of patients are being moved out quickly because of the bombing. No one can live in your building right now, and there were a large number of injuries. It’ll be better for you to recover at home. You don’t need a lengthy hospital stay, but you do need your rest.”
“Of course,” she said. “I understand. Can I call a friend of mine on base? Is she allowed to visit?”
“Yes, you can have a visitor,” the nurse said, looking at the door. People were rushing by in the hallway, and Hailey wondered if there were a lot more victims of the bombing that were coming in.
“Okay,” Hailey said, breathing a sigh of relief. “I’ll call my friend Kim.” The nurse nodded, checking some of her vitals. Hailey’s heart suddenly began to pound as she thought about her friend. They lived in the same building. What if she’d been injured, too? Hailey hadn’t even considered that at first, she’d been too shocked at waking up in the hospital and learning she was being airlifted out.
“Let me administer your medicine first, and then you can make the call.”
“Can I make sure she’s not here in the hospital? Kimberly Turner. She lives in the same building—I wasn’t even thinking, but she could’ve been hurt also. She won’t have to come visit me if she’s already here. Oh my God, I hope she’s okay.”
“I’ll check. Let me just put this into your IV. It’s a pain reliever, and you’re due for your next dose.”
“Okay. What time is it anyway?”
“Four a.m. You’ve been asleep for several hours. I know you’ve been through quite a lot, so it’s good that you got some rest so that your body can begin to heal. We’ve wrapped your ribs a bit, as you probably noticed. They’ll take the stitches out of your head wound either in Germany or back in the States. I’m guessing they won’t keep you long in Landstuhl, so it will most likely be when you’re back home.”
“Okay.”
Hailey’s mind was a whirl. The past twelve hours or so had been crazy. She’d gotten off for the day, gone to the cafeteria for dinner, met Grayson.
Grayson.
Goodness.
He’d said he was busy tomorrow. Well, today now. Was he going off on some type of mission? Not that she had the clearance to know. She hoped he’d be safe though. What would he think when he came back to check on her and she was gone?
The thought made her heart pound.
Clearly, he had a million things on his mind that didn’t involve her, but she had the feeling he’d come check on her since he’d said exactly that. Especially after he’d gone into a burning building to rescue her. And she wouldn’t be here. Should she leave him a note or something? That seemed silly. He wasn’t her boyfriend or anything—she hardly even knew him.
Hailey had been terrified last night though, and he’d held her so carefully as he’d carried her out. Grayson had helped her not once yesterday, but twice. She’d be a fool to ignore the chemistry that had been sizzling between them. Maybe it was presumptuous of her to write him a note. He could just have felt obligated to say he’d check up on her.
Blowing out a sigh, she looked over at her monitor.
She was lucky to be alive. The fact that a hunky military man had come to her rescue made her heart pound, but the reality was, they lived in different worlds. They led different lives. She’d write him a note to thank him, but she wouldn’t expect anything after that. Maybe she was moving to California, but she couldn’t really expect anything to happen.
He may not have admitted it, but she was certain he was Special Forces. He had missions to go on, other people to save. Just because he’d wanted to have dinner together didn’t mean something would come of it. And she needed to get better. To check on her friend Kim. And then fly home and move on with her life.
GRA
YSON DROPPED TO the ground at oh six hundred, crouching by the Humvee for surveillance before they stormed into the village. Blake spat on the ground beside him, cursing as they saw women and children gathered near the first house. Their team was a good distance away, ready to roll in, but again, it almost seemed like the enemy knew they were coming.
How else could they explain the fact that children were up and outside at dawn?
The villagers knew the U.S. forces wouldn’t harm innocent civilians, which made the fact that Sayed was hiding in the village all the more frustrating. He thought nothing of harming Americans, but he also seemed to care little about his fellow Afghanis. He was probably hiding amongst them, forcing the joint forces to search every home.
The first Army Ranger platoon assigned to the mission began to roll into the village, their large trucks and Humvees rumbling through. They’d go in first to secure the streets, and then Grayson’s team of SEALs would begin moving door to door, near where intelligence had most likely indicated Sayed to be.
The other Ranger platoon would begin searching the opposite side of the village, methodically moving door to door as they sought out the enemy.
If all went well, they’d be bringing Sayed in for interrogation. Another leader would always spring up after his capture, but the crippling of the enemy’s leadership would go a long way in protecting U.S. forces in the meantime.
Ethan walked over, swinging his rifle back around in front of him. “They knew we were coming.”
Blake grunted. “It sure the fuck seems that way. The general has bigger problems than Sayed if there’s a goddamn mole on base.”
Troy spoke over their headsets from the second Humvee. “What’s the word? Are we ready to roll in? The Army platoon on the other side of the village is in position and ready.”
“Affirmative. We’ll search every house, but the women and children aren’t to be harmed. Don’t shoot anywhere near them unless your own life is in danger.”
SEAL's Embrace Page 4
