Cannon felt his eyebrows shoot up, but he bit his tongue because he was dying to find out more and didn’t want to interrupt her.
“And I know you’re going to ask, so I’ll just tell you. Yes, you were my fake boyfriend way before you were my real boyfriend. That’s why I say real boyfriend now because it’s literally a dream come true.”
“When—”
“I knew you were going to ask that too.” She looked over at him, and he could feel her studying his face. “You weren’t even all the way in the train car yet and I had already claimed you as my fake boyfriend.” She hesitated and he could tell she was on the fence about admitting something else.
“Go ahead and say it,” he said.
“Ugh. I need to figure out how to keep secrets from you. Okay, fine. When you first walked in, I thought you were a little family. I thought Miss Dee and you were … Pasha’s parents.”
Cannon lost it for a second, laughing so hard he could barely keep his eyes on the road. Never in a million years could he be with someone as formal as Miss Dee. “She’s great at her job, the best, and I’m glad Pasha has her, but it would be torture for me to be in a relationship with someone all stiff and pragmatic like her.”
“I’m so glad you’re enjoying this,” she told him, but she had to admit it was funny to look back on. “So of course if you were married, you couldn’t by my fake boyfriend, but as soon as I learned you weren’t Pasha’s parents, you were my on-again fake boyfriend.”
“And to think, you made me so nervous I could barely talk.”
“Yeah right,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Wanna know something? I play, well played, a little game on the trains. When I heard footsteps on the stairs, I’d paint a picture in my mind. Like, old overweight guy with a mustache. Twin teenage boys in Polo shirts. A woman in jeans with a buzz cut and nose ring. I could usually get the big picture right, but the only time I nailed every detail was when I guessed beautiful woman in her mid 20’s. Blonde hair, blue eyes, one dimple and a smile that can light up a room.”
Her face lit up. “You identified me from my steps on the stairs.”
“I wish I could take credit,” he said. “I think it was more of wishful thinking and serendipity.”
She leaned over and squeezed his uninjured shoulder. “I loved that night. I know we won’t be on the train any more, but I want more of those late nights with you.”
“I can’t wait,” he said.
They pulled into the event center parking lot, and Daisy handed over a pass that he gave to the attendant. They parked and walked arm in arm toward the banquet area. Even though it was fun to dress up, drive the fancy company car, and eat an expensive dinner, Cannon only really cared about being with Daisy. The rest was great, and he would enjoy every minute of it, but he didn’t need it.
Before they went in the door, Cannon turned to face her. “I am all yours tonight,” he told her. “I don’t care if aliens land and offer free spaceship rides, I’m not leaving your side.”
“What are you talking about?” she said. “We’d go see the Milky Way together.”
“As long as I’m with you,” he told her. “Oh, and here, you better have this for good luck.” He bent and kissed her slowly, savoring the softness of her lips.
“Mm,” she said a moment later. “I feel like I already got lucky.”
He pulled the door open and said, “After you, Best Editor—Multiple Works nominee.”
They stopped at the coat check and Daisy handed over her jacket.
“Hold on,” said Cannon, pulling his phone out and sliding it into Daisy’s pocket.
As if on cue, it started buzzing. Cannon shrugged and turned away from it. He didn’t get many phone calls, so he wondered who it was, but it could wait a few hours.
Her smile was reward enough, and sliding her arm into the crook of his was a bonus.
Three hundred places or more were set in the banquet hall. When Cannon and Daisy entered, an usher led them to the front of the room to one of the tables closest to the stage. Another couple was already seated, people who Daisy didn’t recognize. After introductions, they made small talk. The couple were both retired doctors and patrons of the North American Literature Society. They had a million questions for Daisy once they learned she was a nominee.
Cannon’s Coms band buzzed. On the outside it looked like a normal silver band. When it was activated, blue LED lights ran along it. On the inside he could receive messages. Casually, he slipped it off his wrist.
Come in. Urgent.
Sutton hardly ever used the Coms band. Did this have something to do with the attempted kidnapping? Was someone in danger? Were he and Daisy in danger?
“What is it?” she said, worry pulling the corners of her eyes down.
“It’s … it’ll have to wait.” He knew she could read the worry on his own face, but tried to brush it off.
“Are you sure?” she asked quietly. “I know you deal with life and death situations, and even though it’s hard, I understand.”
Cannon slid the Coms band into his suit coat pocket. “It can wait.”
She squeezed his hand and they turned back to the conversation. In rapid succession, the other two couples arrived to fill the table. Cannon did his best to relax and be social, but his index of suspicion was raised so he was also keeping an eye on the room as a whole to gauge potential threats.
With the rest of the table filled, he and Daisy were able to sit back a bit more and enjoy each other’s company and the growing excitement for the awards ceremony. Cannon ignored the repeated vibrating of the Coms device in his pocket.
A suspicious-looking usher entered the room, scanning and moving between the tables. When he locked eyes with Cannon, he made a beeline for him. As the man neared their table, Cannon turned himself to interpose between the man and Daisy and did a mental inventory of all the non-lethal gadgets he carried. Cannon also had to watch behind himself and to the sides to make sure this guy wasn’t just a diversion.
“Mr. Culver,” said the usher, coming to a stop and performing a little bow.
“Yes?”
“There is an urgent call for you in the lobby.”
Why now? Why tonight? “It’s going to have to wait.”
“Cannon,” said Daisy softly.
Leaning closer the usher said, “It appears to be a matter of life and death. The caller identified himself as the Warrior’s Heart.”
That was his team for sure. Something was seriously wrong. Cannon kept wondering if the threat was for him and Daisy, but he had no supporting evidence and his gut said they were safe, even though they definitely had some enemies after last week on the train. Was Pasha okay? Maybe Sutton needed to convey information regarding her.
“You have to take it,” said Daisy. “We still have an hour until the awards start.”
In a whisper he replied, “I’m only taking it so I can make sure we are safe.”
“Can I … can I go with you?”
That made Cannon’s heart soar despite his worry. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Tonight he had only one objective, so he wanted to keep her close.
To the table, Daisy said, “Excuse us, please.”
As they followed the usher out of the room, Cannon checked their backs and just kept repeating to himself, Why, why, why did it have to be tonight?
Daisy followed the usher out of the banquet hall, keeping one hand in Cannon’s and feeling safe with him at her back. It almost felt like the dance he used to do on the train, keeping Pasha covered at all times.
Something was very wrong. This was not just a matter of one of Cannon’s buddies just wanting to reach out and say hi. The look on his face as he’d scanned that spy bracelet of his made her expect bullets to start flying at any moment. With Cannon, you could never be sure that wouldn’t happen.
Daisy was back to her old conflict. She wanted to support him, and she knew this was important, but once again, he was going to rush off to dea
l with something more important than her, and on this night of all nights that she’d been looking forward to.
At the coat check area, the attendant handed him a phone.
“Who is this?” demanded Cannon.
Daisy wasn’t close enough to hear everything but she did catch a man’s voice, a military voice.
Cannon said, “Culver. Bravo three six.”
In the car after the fight on the beach he’d given a similar code but different letter and numbers.
From the phone, she heard bits and pieces. “… bad, completely destroyed … word from Sutton … don’t know if Liz … ”
“And Agatha?” asked Cannon.
A garbled response was all the reply Daisy heard, but Cannon’s face fell, then his jaw clenched and she recognized the protector Cannon coming out. Someone had hurt someone he loved, and more than likely would pay for it.
The man on the phone said another string of words, but all Daisy caught was “boys … ever since … incommunicado.”
Cannon stared blankly into the coats and the phone fell away from his ear an inch or two.
“Big Gun,” said the voice, “you still with me?”
“Tell me one more time. Sutton’s exact words.”
Cannon was still giving the earpiece some space. The voice said, “Tell the Warriors I said, ‘Come in, boys.’”
Again Cannon went somewhere else. This must be what it looked like back when Daisy used to go away into her fantasy worlds. Just as quickly, he snapped back to reality and said, “I can’t make it, Zane. I’ll check back in six hours.”
“Culver,” demanded the voice. “We need everyone. Yesterday.”
“No can do. Not for another six hours.”
“This is not a request. It’s a mandatory—”
“With due respect, Zane. You’re not my CO any more. I’ll see you in six hours.” Cannon handed the phone back to the attendant, thanked him, and turned away. He held an arm out for Daisy as if he was ready to just escort her back to her table.
She accepted it only long enough to pull him away from listening ears to a quiet corner of the lobby. “That sounded important. Are your guys okay?”
“I’m … not really sure.”
Daisy took a deep breath and considered for half a second, but it was clear what she had to do. They would probably call it taking one for the team. “You need to go, Cannon.” How did this keep happening? Was she destined to lose him over and over and over? He wasn’t even a soldier any more. But she loved him, and this was probably one of those times where she needed to give instead of take.
He shook his head. “The only place I’m going is back in there to watch you win your award.”
Daisy felt petty for making such a big deal about something so inconsequential in the scheme of things. “I’m pretty sure you have a duty,” she told him. “You owe it to those boys.”
“The boys,” said Cannon, shaking his head with a sardonic chuckle. More to himself than to her, he said, “Leave it to Sutton to send such a subtle clue in his biggest hour of need. He’s never called us boys in his life.”
“What is it?” asked Daisy. “What happened?”
Cannon grew serious, looking down at her with those mesmerizing emerald eyes. “What happened is I’ve decided it’s time to put off childish things. The boys come second from now on. You are my Team now.”
Her view of his face glistened behind happy tears to hear him say that and she savored the sentiment for a minute before saying, “But they have a real emergency. People are hurt, I don’t know, maybe even … dead.” That word had never bothered her before when it was just something used in fiction, but now it had become a reality and she hated saying it. “This banquet, this event is just …” She didn’t even know how to compare it.
With no hesitation, he said, “It’s important. Any other night, I would rush out. But I made a promise to you tonight.”
“What about your promises to your guys?”
“I’ve already left you too many times,” he insisted. “Putting other people’s needs in front of the needs of the woman I love is just as bad as putting my needs before yours.”
Daisy loved hearing those words, the woman I love, and they almost convinced her to give in. “But there’s nothing you can do here. Either I won or I didn’t, and you being in the audience isn’t going to change that.”
“Me hollering like a crazed football fan when you take the stage will make a difference. It’ll be a night the literary boosters never forget.”
Daisy had to grin at that. “Please promise me you won’t do that. I still have to work with a lot of these people.”
“Can I yell, ‘Snicker-snack!’?”
Daisy chuckled, wondering if he really would
“You ready to go back in?” he asked.
“I’m not convinced,” she said. “I don’t want you to resent me for keeping you away when they might be … when they might really need you.”
“If they are that bad off, then there really is nothing I can do by the time I meet up with them. Daisy,” his gaze grew even more intense as if he’d sharpened the focus on her. “If I don’t have you in my life …” his mouth closed and his lips drew tight together in a line, like he was trying to keep in overwhelming emotion and barely succeeding. He tried again. “If I don’t have you in my life, then what is the point of having anything else?”
Daisy had thought she was smitten before, but every minute together she was more in love with this man.
He broke eye contact for a second, looking up at the ceiling, pondering. “How do I explain how important this is to me? If I can’t prove to you here and now, tonight, that you are the most important thing in my life, then I will never be able to prove it.”
He kissed her, leaving her even more stunned.
“I love you,” he said, and kissed her again.
“I need you,” another kiss. It was getting harder and harder to let him pull away with each kiss. And her argument to get him to go was crumbling.
Cupping her face in both hands, he finished by saying, “And I will prove to you that I have put away childish things, and I am ready to be a man, as long as you are my woman.”
“Oh, Cannon.” What else could she say? She threw herself into his arms, forcing him to catch her, and pulled him tight for another kiss, good and long. She couldn’t believe this man had turned such a one-eighty from where he was with her on their first date. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to convince you to go?”
“Not in a million years.”
“Well then, we have a party to get to.” She reached up and wiped the lipstick off his mouth. Most of it anyway. She didn’t care if anyone suspected she’d been out here kissing her super handsome bona fide boyfriend.
Cannon held out his arm and they walked back into the banquet hall with her feeling like the most important person in the world.
EPILOGUE/FINAL CHAPTER
It was my wedding day. I was standing in the highest room of the castle, looking out over the kingdom that would be mine today after I married the Prince. But his castle and his gold and his position meant nothing. Today the bravest, strongest, most handsome and caring man in the world would be mine and I would be his for the rest of our lives.
Daisy grinned to herself and looked out from an upstairs window in Sutton Smith’s mansion. The views of San Diego Bay were breathtaking, but she was more focused on the gathering below on his massive back lawn. Everyone in the world she loved was there, and standing at the front looking better than ever was the man she loved. The man who she could spend her life with after today.
“Get away from that window!” said Talia. “You know you aren’t supposed to see the groom before the wedding.”
“I think you got that backwards, sis. He’s not supposed to see me.”
“Oh yeah.” Talia looked her up and down again with awe. “He’s going to die you look so beautiful. Yep, he’ll keel right over.”
Daisy stepped sl
owly forward, careful not to walk on her dress. “Thanks for being here. I’m so glad we came back together.” Once Daisy had gotten over her concerns with Cannon about being number one, she’d taken a look at her life and realized a lot of the problems between her and Talia were simple jealousy. Daisy had called, apologized, and since then they’d been best friends.
Talia looked like she might cry. “I’m just glad my big sister is a bigger person than me. You’ve always been such a bright spot to everyone around you. I’m sorry we—”
“No sorrows today,” said Daisy. “I love you, sis.”
“Love you too,” said Talia, hugging her. “Now let’s get you down there and get you married before that SEAL of yours decides to come find you on a rescue mission.”
Marrying Cannon. Nothing had ever sounded better in the whole world. Not even the Best Editor award that was hanging back on the wall that would soon be their wall.
Talia gathered up her train and Daisy started walking. The place had an elevator so she didn’t even have to try to negotiate the stairs.
As soon as she stepped out, she could see the gathering outside. No one had noticed her yet.
Pasha was standing by the back door with her father, Rasmus Gold. Who ever thought Daisy Close would have not one, but two billionaires at her wedding? Pasha wore a white tulle dress that matched Daisy’s but was more simple. The bodice was layered pleated flowers decorated with lace appliqués and crystals. The gown from there down was tulle and lace. Both dresses had trains, but Daisy’s flared wider and was much longer. Her bodice was more form-fitting and off the shoulders.
“Hey, Appassionata,” said Daisy.
When the little girl turned, her eyes grew as wide as platters. “Daisy Mae, you look beautiful!” She ran forward and buried herself in Daisy’s gown.
“You do too, little sister. Are you ready?”
“Yes I am. Thank you for inviting me to be your ring bearer.”
“I’m so glad you could make it.” To Mr. Gold, she said, “Thank you for coming, and thank you again for my beautiful dress.” It had been their wedding present, and Daisy couldn’t even guess how much it cost.
The Peaceful Warrior Page 15
