“I agree.”
Was it his imagination or did a shudder ripple through her? No, that pale face was back again and her eyes lost focus.
“Stella?”
She shook her head. “It’s just that … my brother. He was a firefighter. And he died in an apartment fire.” She paused for a long time as if realizing she was telling this to a complete stranger.
“You don’t have to tell me,” he said quickly. “But if it helps you unload, sweetheart. I’m your man.”
Stella glanced at him sharply and he realized how his words came out, not that he didn’t want them to sound the way they did, more like he didn’t want to come on too strong, too soon, like a creep.
“What I meant was … I got you into this predicament. I’m your sounding board.”
“I don’t know why I’m even telling you this.” She massaged one side of her temples. “But yeah, they came at three in the morning to tell us.”
Jake digested this information, but wanted to figure out why she froze after shooting Gould. “Stella, when you shot Gould, is that the first time you discharged your weapon in the line of duty?”
“Yes.”
“Have you had panic attacks before?”
She shook her head. “Nothing like I felt today. Certainly not when I was at the Academy or when I had my first patrol. I felt excitement, sure. but my encounter with you guys tonight was on a whole new level.”
Her tone wasn’t accusing, more like stating facts. Still, he felt those words rattle inside him and his conscience.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was bound to happen one day. The test of grit.” She emitted a short, self-deprecating laugh. “I guess I have my answer.”
“That’s not true.”
“If I wasn’t mistaken, you were protecting me from your partner.”
“He’s not my partner,” he growled. “And don’t forget, you put yourself between me and Gould. That’s a test of grit right there.”
Stella gave a tiny smile, but he was sure she didn’t believe it. He could give her statistics. That over seventy percent of cops retire without ever firing their weapon in the line of duty.
She let out a hefty sigh. “You don’t want to tell me who you work for. I can’t form an opinion of you. My life is in your hands. You confiscated my weapon.”
“You want it back?”
“Yes.”
“Hell no.”
She glared into her cup of hot chocolate. “Figured.”
“How can I be so sure you’re not going to hold a gun at me and make me dial 9-1-1? You know where that will leave me? The guy with illegal firearms in his van.”
“So, we’re gridlocked.”
“Until the morning, at least.”
“Everything is better in the morning,” she said wistfully. “That’s what Gram used to say after Mom and Dad died in an armed robbery.”
“Fuck. I’m sorry, Stella.”
“It was a long time ago.”
She gave him a look full of wonder as if seeing him for the first time like he was a puzzle she wanted to solve. It was in a way that made his whole body aware, warm. More than lust, it was a feeling he wanted to hang on to. Something real.
“I don’t know why it’s easy to tell you this,” she continued. “I’m not developing Stockholm Syndrome, am I?”
He gave a brief chuckle, but more than finding humor in her quip, he wanted to kiss her.
Her eyes, that had been flat, now flared with want, and he was powerless not to respond, all his self-control honed as a SEAL disintegrated when luminous blue irises connected with his.
“Stella,” he said softly, aware how her body had leaned closer. Or had he?
He was going to kiss her and, dear Lord, she wanted him to.
His face got closer. She swiped her tongue on her bottom lip and he made a sound at the back of his throat.
“Stella,” he repeated. “I’m going to kiss you.”
Her reply turned into a broken gasp as she was swept into his arms and their lips crashed into each other’s. Suddenly, she was on his lap, her hands circling his neck, a side of her breast pressed up against the hard wall of his chest. He made another sound, more like a growl, and heat curled low in her belly. Wetness pulsed between her thighs. His tongue flicked hers in exploration and she tasted mint, mixing with the flavor of chocolate from hers. She couldn’t get enough of the heady sensations bursting through her in tiny sparks and she pressed closer. Squirming and twisting on his thighs, trying to get to the place that she needed him until she ended up straddling him and his very, very thick erection was centered on her heat. She rocked forward and he groaned, his fingers tightening on her thighs as he tore his mouth away from her.
His gaze was tortured, their lips a hair’s breadth away angling—one way, then canting another way, not quite touching, repelling magnets being drawn together by an intangible attraction.
“We shouldn’t,” she said.
“We can’t,” Jake said, resting his forehead to hers, his voice steeped with frustration. They were both breathing heavily. Stella could feel his heart thumping under the palm she held against his chest.
He pulled back, and they stared at each other with all neediness and want, and heat. Something akin to pain flashed across Jake’s face and he buried his nose in the crook of her shoulder. “I want to do bad things to this tight little body, but I don’t want you to regret it in the morning.”
“I don’t either.”
“You’re not a one-night-stand kind of girl.”
“I’m not.”
“I’m a Nebraska farm boy at heart,” he said, leaning away as he looked more composed. “I want to figure this shit out before this goes further.”
She reeled back as if reality slapped the stars out of her eyes. “See if I’m worth it at the expense of your job?” Stella tried to get off him, but he stopped her.
“Don’t,” he growled. “Don’t say that. Don’t cheapen what this is.”
“Jake,” she said. “We just met tonight. There is no this.”
She shoved harder to get off and he let her, but he held her arm, not allowing her to scoot too far away from him.
“No, you got it wrong, sweetheart. What I meant was, I want to do this properly. I feel a spark between us. And I know it might be the situation. Not going into this blind. I wanna see where it goes, but not while this abduction is hanging over our heads. Not starting things with you this way.”
The hurt she felt earlier when he said he needed to figure shit out faded away. She got it now. Sheesh. Overreacting much? A guy was trying to be a gentleman and she busted his balls.
“I see,” she said. “You’re probably right.”
“Why don’t we catch some zzzs, hmm?” he said. “Like your wise gram said, ‘everything is better in the morning’.”
5
But the morning was not better. The Pungo incident hit the airwaves with the six o’ clock news … that a Virginia Beach police officer had been abducted while on patrol, and the name was being withheld pending notification of family. The way the news worded it, it sounded like the police had no hope of finding Stella alive.
She couldn’t imagine what her grandmother was going through and hoped that Wolf and Caroline were keeping her sane.
Her eyes moved to Jake who was on the phone with his boss. He was speaking in hushed tones this time and seemed calmer and not as pissed as yesterday during the drive here, but Stella had been trying to control her panic attack then, so the conversation could have been more chaotic. He was facing her in profile, his cheekbones appeared sharper than she remembered, and there were shadows under his eyes she didn’t notice before. Maybe she wasn’t the only one plagued with insomnia.
Stella didn’t sleep at all despite the comfortable bed in the master bedroom. Attributing it partly to the fact that she should be on patrol, but mostly because she was worried about Gram and the repercussions of this incident to her job. Her stomach twisted up
in knots. She tried to ignore the tendril of angst related to not seeing Jake again. No man had commanded her attention the way he did. It was instant. The second he stepped into that store, she’d been aware of him and not only just as a possible threat. An attraction that was primal—sexual—and he reacted the same way.
She felt their … chemistry.
The elements were right for a reaction.
A prisoner. A captor. A feeling of vulnerability and a feeling of power. Emotions heightened, nerves and fear exposed making her receptive to any kindness or tenderness, easily brainwashed. It would explain how a kidnapping victim fell in love with their captor.
What the hell was she thinking?
Maybe she needed sleep. Her thoughts were not making sense or maybe they were making too much sense.
Gah!
She startled when Jake turned to face her. He finished his conversation with the man she now knew as Viktor Baran. “He’s en route to Virginia Beach.”
“He’s coming here?”
“Yes.” Jake blew out a breath. “There might be new intel on Schneider.”
“What?”
“This has nothing to do with selling arms to the cartel…that much I can tell you.”
His eyes wavered from hers, shifted his attention to his phone and showed her its screen, her grandmother’s number on display. “Ready to call Mrs. Hunt?”
Her desire to talk to Gram trumped her suspicion that he was avoiding giving her answers. “What do I tell her?”
“It’s up to you. I hope I treated you all right.”
“Will I see her soon?”
“Yes, but it’ll not be a good idea to tell the cops.”
“I know that.”
His smile was brief and the unsettled feeling that she would never see him again resurfaced. He pressed his thumb on the call button.
Pearl Hunt answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Gram.”
“Oh my god, Stella, are you all right? Where are you? Who has you?” Her questions came in rapid fire and she imagined Wolf was with her. This was one thing she kept from Jake, so maybe she didn’t trust him enough yet. And she didn’t know Viktor from Adam, she certainly didn’t trust him either.
“I’m fine. He said he was going to release me soon.”
“There was so much blood at the scene.”
“I shot someone. He’s dead. We left him there.”
“No one was there.” Strong Gram was choked with tears and it tore at Stella’s heart to cause her such misery. “There was blood,” she repeated. “According to your watch officer there was so much of it that no one could have survived it, least of all someone as tiny as you.” She started crying again, unable to speak, her words garbled.
“Stella?” It was Wolf’s voice and she was doubly grateful that he and Caroline were with Pearl. “All that was at the scene was the cruiser and the blood. Other items too, but that hasn’t been made public.”
“My shoulder radio and body camera that were destroyed.”
Jake had moved away, to give her privacy she presumed. He was standing facing the row of French doors. The rising sun was casting its golden rays over Little Neck Creek.
“They didn’t find your gun.”
“He took it.”
“Do you know his name?”
“I—” She cut a glance at Jake, who spun away from the scenery, scowled and gave her a signal—slicing a hand across his throat. He wanted her to end the call.
“Don’t answer that. He probably gave you an alias. Is he making demands?”
“He’s letting me go.”
A pause. “When?”
“Soon. Listen. Do not tell the cops I called. Convince Gram to keep quiet about this call.”
“Yeah, we figured that.”
“Let this play out. It was a mistake,” Stella exhaled. “Wrong place. Wrong time.”
Jake was stalking back to her side, extending his arm. “Cut it, Stella.”
“I need to go.”
“Wait, a few more seconds, we’ll—” Wolf said urgently.
But Jake already snatched the phone from her hand and swiped the end button. His eyes scanned her in a penetrating stare as if he was trying not to get pissed. He caught his bottom lip between his teeth as if pondering the situation.
“Who was that?” he asked softly.
“A guest in our house.”
“Boyfriend?”
Her eyes widened. “No! He’s there with his wife. There’s a chemistry convention in Norfolk and Gram is the keynote speaker.”
“What does he do?”
Stella’s mouth tightened.
“He was trying to trace the call,” he accused.
“He was not!” Although Stella knew that was exactly what Wolf was doing. Probably already had Tex and his computer wizardry looking at traffic cameras and now tracing the call. “He was just trying to find out what happened.”
“So, what’s his job?”
“He’s a lieutenant with the Navy based out of San Diego,” she said quickly. “I don’t know him much. I know his wife more because of my gram.” Which was a total lie, because she knew Wolf before Caroline.
He regarded her intently and she tried not to squirm. With his size and his sharp eyes and his all-over intimidating presence, the VBPD could use him in the interrogation room.
“All right, I’ll take your word,” he said finally. “But just so you know. Having the cops descend upon us and initiate a rescue.” He paused. “Bad idea.”
Then he turned away and walked to the kitchen.
Jake had a gut feeling about the call and it wasn’t good. He didn’t think much of it until he made out a man’s voice. Still not a problem until it seemed they were deliberately keeping Stella on the line, although it didn’t add up that the VBPD would act on tracing the call.
They thought it was Stella’s blood.
Which meant Schneider’s men got there first and removed Gould’s body from the scene. The last thing he wanted was Stella getting hurt in the crossfire if over-eager rescuers stormed the house. He double checked the surveillance screens in the control room and then headed back to the living room.
She was asleep on the couch.
They’d been avoiding each other after that phone call.
He glanced at his watch and saw it was ten. She’d probably been as wired as he was and didn’t sleep much this morning. But he needed to stay alert until Viktor arrived and he would take their illegal weapons back to DC—the home base of AGS.
Jake would hang around Virginia Beach until he was sure Stella wouldn’t catch any blowback from Schneider. Viktor might order him back, but he wouldn’t go even if his insubordination might just cost him his job.
The thing was—he didn’t care.
All he cared about was doing the right thing and that was protecting Stella at all costs. His lungs expanded at the enormity of his convictions. He got her into this; she risked her life to save his. He owed it to her. It had nothing to do with the cartwheels in his heart as he watched her sleep.
Her lashes swept delicately below her eyes. A smattering of freckles speckled her cheeks and her nose was slim and upturned at the tip. A heart-shaped face. And those lips. With her eyes closed, they took over her face, and Jake had the urge to kiss her.
In her sleep.
And he was being a creeper again.
Movement caught his eyes and he whipped his head toward the French doors. Trees and woodland surrounded the property. He tested the perimeter wires earlier and they’d responded as expected. It could have been a bird swooping to catch its prey, or it could have been something … or someone.
He reached for his gun tucked in his waistband and approached the glass door. He didn’t fully explain to Stella yesterday that the glass was covered with a reflective film. It was easy to see out, but difficult to see in and impossible in daylight.
“What is it?” she asked sleepily.
Jake didn’t take his eyes fro
m the dock, sweeping across the trees, tuned for movement of any kind.
“Thought I saw something.”
Stella came up beside him. He tensed and glanced at her. “Stand back.”
Fingers clasped his arm. “Come away from the glass doors.”
“Stella.”
Whoomp!
Jake crashed into Stella and they fell behind the coffee table.
The house shook like an eighteen-wheeler had sped right in front of it. Following the percussive sound, bricks crashed, and glass exploded.
That was the control room.
“Fuck!”
He surged to his feet, taking Stella’s hand, but before they could make it to the other hallway, two men in wetsuits armed with H&K rifles appeared, their weapons pointed at him. Their heads were still molded under their suit but their goggles hung loose around their neck.
Of course. They had come from the water.
“Don’t move!” One of them ordered.
The authority in their stealth-like approach was uncanny and their overall bearing reminded Jake of something familiar.
He did not expect Stella to move forward. But she did.
“Wolf?” she breathed.
“Stay behind me.” Jake grabbed her arm and shoved her behind him.
“I know them!”
“You okay, Stel-Bear?” the man called Wolf asked.
“I’m fine. Don’t hurt him. This has all been a mistake,” she said, still trying to get around him.
“We know,” Wolf replied.
A tapping behind the French doors drew their collective attention and two similarly suited men stood there. One wore a special wetsuit that allowed for a prosthetic limb. The man behind Wolf walked over to let them in.
“Christ, Wolf. I told you not to blow shit up. Viktor’s gonna get pissed.”
“Tex!” This time Jake gave up and let Stella go to the man who’d just come in. Apparently, these men knew Viktor.
“Have I been punked and this is all a big fucking party?” Jake asked sarcastically. “Or you mind telling me what I don’t know?”
It was obvious they shared the same brotherhood. Even in this moment of confusion, if Jake would ease up on his protective vigilance over Stella, he’d recognize his own kinship to these men.
Protecting Stella (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) Page 4
