Her Faithful Protector: A Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 6)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  What in the ever-loving hell?

  Nic reached behind him and his fingers touched the chair. He tugged at it and sank down.

  “Are you okay?” she asked him. She shifted in the bed, trying to turn so she could see him better, and winced.

  “Stop, don’t hurt yourself, baby.”

  Nic gave her a strained smile. Now was not the time to go into the shit of their past. Right now she needed to focus on getting better, and by God, he was going to be the one to take care of her.

  “How did you know about Harris?” she asked him.

  It was his turn to wince. “I saw that engagement announcement,” he admitted. He just wasn’t going to tell her how he got his hands on it. “But let’s not worry about that right now, we’ve got bigger things on our plate. I’ve visited my teammates when they’ve been in the hospital, and I’ve got to say, you are showing all the classic signs of being in pain, am I right?” He offered up his most charming grin.

  “But I want to know—”

  “Later, Cami, I promise. But right now I want to make sure you’re taken care of. Let me call a nurse so she can give you something for the pain, okay?”

  Again with that blue-eyed stare that he swore could read his heart, but she finally nodded. “Yes, call the nurse.”

  He got up from the chair, then bent over and touched his lips to her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

  By the time he watched Camilla settle into a pain-free sleep, Nic realized he was exhausted. He damn near stumbled to the waiting room, remembering he had left his backpack with Jack Preston.

  Jack stood up and smiled.

  “Here’s your room key,” Jack Preston said as he handed Nic a key card.

  “Huh?” Nic looked down at the piece of plastic in his hand like he had never seen anything like it before.

  Jack put his hand on Nic’s shoulder and started to push him out of the waiting room toward the elevator. “It’s night-night time for you. I’ve got you checked in at the hotel two blocks away. You, young man, need some shut-eye. A shower and a change of clothes wouldn’t be a bad thing either, because you kind of stink.”

  Nic blinked at the other SEAL, trying to make sense of what he was saying. Jack kept on talking as he led him through the hospital lobby and out into the parking lot to a big truck. “Hop on in,” he motioned.

  Jack put the truck into gear and started to slowly make their way through the parking lot. “So was that your future mother-in-law that I saw chewing up some poor doctor?”

  Nic shook his head, trying to clear it. Damn, he was tired.

  Jack laughed. “Never mind, just flipping you shit. It’s really not fair in your condition. Let’s get you to the hotel and in the morning I’ll get you the information you wanted about Lisa Garcia.”

  “Oh right,” Nic remembered. He felt bad that he hadn’t checked up on her status. He was totally losing it.

  “I checked up on her,” Jack said as if he were reading Nic’s mind. “She’s still being pumped up on antibiotics while the docs watch her status. They don’t see any reason she won’t make a full recovery.”

  “That’s good,” Nic said as he yawned. He refused to close his eyes.

  Jack pulled up to the front of the hotel and waved off the valet. “Okay, sleeping beauty, this is your stop. Your pack is in the backseat. I put in some clean clothes for you to wear. The room is paid for through the end of this week.”

  Nic was getting out of the front seat when Jack’s last words sank in. Those woke him up.

  “Man, I can cover the room.”

  Jack grinned. “Trust me, it’s not a problem. Look up the Preston Ranch in Texas some time, and you’ll see I can afford it. I need to get back to the ranch, then I’m back to Coronado.”

  Nic leaned in and offered his hand. Jack shook it. “Take care of yourself, and take care of your woman.”

  “I intend to.”

  19

  Raiden slipped into the seat beside him. On some primal level, Nic had been expecting this. Still, he had to ask.

  “I thought the team was going straight back to Little Creek.”

  “I wanted to check up on some things,” Raiden said. His trademark smile was nowhere to be seen.

  “You want the four-one-one on Lisa?”

  “Kane’s already given me everything there is to know about her status here at the hospital.”

  “I’ve got more info,” Nic said.

  Raiden raised his eyebrow. “Tell me.”

  “Nobody ever came here to claim her. It was pissing me off, so I had Midnight Delta’s version of Kane do a deep dive. Her parents are dead, she was raised by her grandmother, who passed three years ago. No siblings. No boyfriends or girlfriends. She’s your quintessential loner.”

  “How about people from her old work?”

  “The wilderness trekkers?” Nic asked. “No, that was a dead-end too. According to the woman who ran the company, Lisa did have a lot of friends, but nobody really close. Then she just up and quit two years ago. Nobody knew where she went.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “You know visiting hours aren’t for another forty-five minutes, right?” Nic asked.

  “Yeah,” Raiden gave him a sideways look. “But I was pretty sure you’d be here.”

  “You could have called,” Nic mentioned.

  “Sure could have. Wanna go grab some coffee?” Raiden was almost smiling. “Now that you’ve filled me in on Lisa you can fill me in on your Cami.”

  “First I want to know how it went with the women and kids at the village,” Nic said as they headed out to the elevators.

  Raiden blew out a breath and rubbed at his jaw. “It was hard, Nic. Really fucking hard. We only had to wait twenty-four hours for the Mexican federales and aid workers to fly in, but in the meantime, we did what we could. One of the women died on my watch.”

  Nic didn’t respond—after all, what could he say? He just led Raiden toward the cafeteria. “Why don’t you go get us a table, I’ll grab the coffees.”

  Raiden nodded.

  Nic went through the early morning line, mingling with mostly hospital staff. He thought about what Raiden said. The little girl who’d held a gun on him and her baby sister had broken his heart. What was she going to do without a mother and father? The village might have seemed poor and in the middle of nowhere, but it had been a little community of people who prayed, loved, and supported one another and it had been ripped apart.

  “Sir?”

  Nic looked up at the cashier and realized she was waiting for him to pay.

  “Sorry,” he pulled money out of his wallet and handed it to her. She gave him a tentative smile. He must not have been giving off a very good vibe. I better pull it together before I see Cami.

  Nic spotted Raiden sitting in the corner with his back against the wall. He deposited the black coffee in front of him, along with packets of sugar and cream. He pushed his chair sideways so he had a good view of the room but could still talk to Raiden.

  “Do you know what happened to the little girl who had the gun on me?” he asked.

  Raiden’s lip ticked upward. “Yeah, Leo told me about that. He pointed her out to me. They brought in some damn good people to help. I saw one of the nurses talking to her. I can tell you she wasn’t being ignored, you know?”

  “What do you think is going to happen to her and the others? A lot of those kids have to be orphans now.”

  Raiden looked at him from under his brows. “Kid, you can’t solve the world’s problems.”

  If only he had a dime for the number of times he’d heard that, he’d be rich.

  “Seriously Nic, concentrate on what you can take care of. Concentrate on Cami.”

  “I want to take her home with me. I want to take leave and take care of her.”

  Nic spun his coffee mug around, looking at the brown liquid, trying to figure out how he was going to get her to agree to his idea.

  “And her parents?” Raiden asked.

&
nbsp; “They’re ice cold. I don’t know how someone as warm and loving as Cami came from two people like them, it makes no sense. But I’m going to have a battle on my hands with her mother.”

  “Is she here?”

  “She will be. She said she’d be here when visiting hours started this morning. I just can’t wait,” he said sarcastically.

  “What does Cami want?” Raiden asked as he took a sip of his doctored coffee.

  “She already said she doesn’t want to stay with her parents. She was making noise about staying in her apartment and hiring a nurse. Over my dead fucking body.”

  “Glad to see you have some perspective on the whole situation,” Raiden smiled. “I would hate to think you were barreling in without any thought.”

  “Says the man who is here in Miami instead of in Virginia for a woman that he’s never even really talked to. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black,” Nic grinned.

  Raiden raised his coffee mug in salute, and Nic laughed.

  It was déjà vu all over again.

  “I thought you would be gone by now,” her mother was saying.

  “You thought wrong,” Nic responded.

  “You’re really not needed here,” Enid Ross’ said in her most supercilious tone. Camilla cringed. She’d always hated it when her mother spoke to her like that.

  “That’s going to be Cami’s decision, Mrs. Ross,” Nic said calmly.

  Time to enter the fray.

  “Good morning, you two.” She opened her eyes, then winced. The bright sunlight made her head hurt.

  “Camilla, you really need to tell this man to leave,” her mother said as she moved close to her bed. Camilla sighed with relief as Nic started lowering the blinds. Now if he could just do something that would stop all the pain in her arm, without giving her drugs that knocked her flat on her ass.

  “Camilla, are you listening to me?”

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked her mother.

  “I have to leave tonight. Your doctor said you’re not going to be good to fly for three more days. By then your father will be back from Mongolia so he can come and fly back with you to Virginia. I’ll have arranged a proper day nurse and night nurse to take care of your needs when you arrive at the house.”

  Her mother was looking at her smartphone, reading through her action items. How often had Camilla felt like an action item on her mother’s to-do list when she was growing up?

  Too damn often.

  “Mother, I told you I wasn’t going home with you,” Camilla said in a firm and quiet voice. It was the best way to handle her parents. No emotion. Just stand your ground. When her mother tried to run her over, Camilla just kept on marching along as if her mother had never said a thing.

  “Camilla, I already told you how it would be.” Her mother’s blue eyes glittered down at her.

  For just a second Camilla allowed herself to look at Nic standing behind her mother. She took some of his strength and used it as her own.

  “Yes, Mother, you did tell me. But I’m twenty-four years old. You don’t run my life. I’m not moving in with you. Tell Dad not to bother to come, I’ll find my own way home.”

  “Young lady, this is not acceptable,” her mother huffed.

  That did bring a smile to Camilla’s face. She hadn’t been called ‘young lady’ in that tone of voice in years. The last time had been when she was dating Nic. How appropriate he should be in the room with them now.

  “Mother, I’ll take care of myself. I have been for years.”

  She saw the moment her mother decided to take another tack. “Would you really deny me the right to take care of my only child in her time of need?”

  Camilla snorted. That was a good one.

  “Mother, you weren’t going to take care of me; you said you would hire a day and a night nurse,” she explained patiently.

  “I would have supervised.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going home with you. I’m fine on my own.”

  Her mother gave her a once-over, then sniffed. “Fine. But Camilla Ann Ross, when something goes horribly wrong, you cannot blame it on me.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence Mother,” she said to her mother’s back as she left the room.

  She looked Nic up and down. “So are you round two?” she asked.

  He grinned at her. “No, ma’am. I’m too scared to fight with you.”

  “Smart man.”

  He picked up the jug of water by the bed and poured her a glass. “Want some? All that arguing probably made your throat dry.”

  It had. She nodded. He came closer and brought the straw to her lips. She took a long nourishing sip then sighed with satisfaction.

  “Do you want more?”

  She gave her head a slight shake, anything more would cause her pain.

  “Do you need anything else?”

  “Do you know when my doctor is making rounds?”

  “In two hours, give or take.”

  “Ohh.” She didn’t know what else to say.

  “Cami, yesterday I asked you to come to my apartment. It’s got three bedrooms, one I use as my office, the guest room is really nice. I really do have plenty of leave. Taking care of you would mean the world to me. Did you consider it?”

  Cami blushed as she remembered her dream. He was smiling down at her; it was a killer smile as he tried to convince her to do as he asked. Oh, he was laying it on thick. And not like the old days thick, this was a new and improved Nic.

  “My mom lives close by,” he went on. “I’ve already talked to her about possibly coming over. She was horrified to hear what happened to you, and she immediately volunteered to come over every day and assist you.”

  “Absolutely not, I would want to hire a nurse to come in.”

  His smile was blinding, and she cringed. She realized what she’d said. She’d admitted to actually considering his proposal. Was she out of her mind?

  “Whatever would make you feel most comfortable, honey.”

  “And sit back down, I don’t need you hovering over me.”

  He sat. “Is that better?”

  She rolled her eyes. Camilla realized that in all the time her mother had been in the room she had hurt, but now that it was only Nic, her pain had receded quite a bit.

  “Nic, be serious for a minute. I need to understand why you would want to take your vacation and babysit me. What are you trying to accomplish?” When she bit her lip it hurt like hell.

  “Honey, don’t do that, your whole face is bruised, including your lip.”

  She imagined her face covered with bruises. Her jaw. Her nose. Her mouth.

  She jerked back against the pillows as flashes of fists hitting her assailed her. She shook her head, trying to get away. Then she moaned as she remembered hands squeezing her breasts, pinching her nipples. Camilla tried to throw up her hands to protect herself, but they were immobilized. Someone was holding her down. She cried out in pain as her neck and arm burst on fire.

  Hands held her head still, the pain in her neck started to stop, but she cried out, hating having someone touch her.

  “—Shhh, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe. I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe.”

  She felt a featherlight touch at her temples going in circles.

  “You’re safe, Cami. You’re in the hospital. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

  Cami, he called me Cami. It’s Nic.

  She took in a deep shuddering breath and opened her eyes. Nic looked shattered, his eyes were filled with tears.

  “Nic?”

  “I’m here, baby. I’ve got you. You’re safe. I promise you.”

  Camilla shuddered and tried to push back the memories of the men who had hurt her. It wasn’t working.

  “Please hold me. Hold me, please,” she begged. She needed good touches. Loving touches.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I need you,” Camilla whispered.

  He curled his a
rms around her head, his temple next to hers, their tears mingling. His thumb stroked her cheek with the lightest touch imaginable.

  Camilla’s arms ached to touch him, absolutely ached.

  “I’m here, Cami. I’m always going to be here,” he whispered against her temple. “You’re safe now.”

  His words were like liquid oxygen; she soaked them in and they gave her life. Over and over again he soothed her with his words, with his touch.

  20

  “I’m good now,” she whispered.

  I’m sure as hell not.

  Nic lifted his head and looked down at her blue eyes. They were no longer filled with tears. He tried to determine if she was doing better or just saying that to make him feel better.

  “Truly, Nic, I’m better now.”

  Her smile was wobbly, but he’d let it go for the moment. He looked her over—not just her face, but her bandaged arms resting over the blankets and her poor bruised face. He knew for a fact that underneath the hospital gown she was covered in bruises all over her chest. It would be a miracle if she were truly ‘good’.

  “Nic, stop that,” she said.

  He looked back up and saw her eyes flashing.

  “Was that your professor voice?”

  “Yes, it was. Did it work?”

  He gave her a slow smile. “It’s hot.”

  “You did not just say that.” Her eyes were alight with laughter. He couldn’t have asked for anything better.

  “How often do you lecture? I bet none of the boys ever pass one of your classes, they’re too busy fantasizing about you,” he teased her, wanting to continue to lighten the mood.

  “You are out of your mind.” He loved it when she laughed. It was going to be a hell of a long haul to get over the trauma of her kidnapping; laughter was good.

  “Seriously though, how are you feeling. How’s your pain level?”

  She cocked her head to the side and gave him a considering look. “It’s manageable. If I have a problem, I’ll press the call button for the nurse.”