A new emotion flared white-hot alongside everything else scorching through her veins. Anger.
Trying to get on his good side hadn’t worked well at all, so what the hell. She tried a different angle. Maybe she could piss him off enough that he’d make a mistake. There was a row of bushes nearby. If she could throw him off his game enough, she might be able to reach them before he pulled the trigger. She inched toward them now.
“You know what, Nate? You’re pathetic.” She was grateful for the edge of steel in her voice even though her knees were shaking so badly that she feared they might not hold her up. How the hell did Noah deal with this stuff every day? A newfound respect for what he and the guys at SSoF did blossomed inside her, along with even more love and gratitude for Noah. She stared directly into her brother’s eyes. If he was going to kill her, she’d make him look her in the eye to do it. “You grew up in the lap of luxury. You could have had anything, been anything you wanted. The world was at your feet. But all you can focus on is what you don’t have.”
“Go to hell, you deceitful bitch!” He took another step toward her, the gun only inches from her chest now. “I know you poisoned Mom’s mind against me. That’s why she made you CEO instead of me.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him he was wrong, but arguing with a crazy person was pointless. So instead she went along with his line of thinking. The bushes loomed closer on her right. Just a couple more feet and she could make a run for it.
Serena snorted. “I didn’t have to tell them anything. Your incompetence was visible enough all on its own.” The words were harsh, but they held more than a little truth. Nate had always been a decent student, but never a great one. He was lazy—expecting life to hand him everything he wanted. It probably never occurred to him that he might have gotten what he wanted if he’d worked hard to prove himself as the right leader for the company. No, it was easier to blame her than to admit that he’d brought this on himself. “You always were hopeless when it came to people. Why in the world would they leave the control of a global company worth billions in the hands of a man who can’t even make small talk at a party?”
“Fuck you!” Nate yelled again and raised the gun. “The CEO position belongs to me and I’m going to take it back today!”
“Serena?” a voice called from somewhere in the distance and she nearly fainted, she was so glad to hear Noah. “Are you out here?”
Nate’s eyes widened slightly and her gaze flickered to the barrel of the gun. He was going to shoot. Her brain registered that a split second before the bullet fired, giving her only a brief moment to duck and run at the bushes ahead.
The next few moments happened in slow motion. She was aware of the sting and scratch of branches against her skin as she dove for cover. The whizz of a bullet past her ear, just missing her. The pounding of feet and shouting voices as Noah and Levon came tearing across the park toward Nate.
She barely heard her brother shout over the thundering blood in her ears, but the next shot she heard loud and clear. Then Noah was there, pulling her out of the bushes and into his arms, while Levon stood over Nate’s prone body lying in the grass, blood pooling from the gunshot wound in his head.
“Did you…” she asked, burying her face against Noah’s chest, the sight of her brother dead seared in her mind forever.
“No. He shot himself before we reached him,” Noah said, his low voice settling into the black hole of grief and sorrow inside her and filling it somehow. Not completely, but enough. “I’m so sorry, Serena.”
Wrapping her arms tighter, she clung to him like the rock he was to her. “Please, don’t go.”
“I won’t,” he said, burying his face in her hair and holding her closer. “I’m not going anywhere. Not now, not ever.”
They stood that way for a long moment, until the wail of sirens drew close. Levon must have called them, Serena supposed, but she didn’t care about that. All she cared about was that all this was finally over and Noah was with her. He’d sworn to stay with her forever.
As law enforcement arrived and cordoned off the area, Noah led her over to one side of the scene until the cops could question them. He held her hand in his, warming her cold fingers with his warm ones, just like he had that first night in the safe house. Just like he would for many years to come, she hoped.
She gazed up at him, still not quite able to believe everything that had happened. “Did you mean it?”
His dark brows drew together. “Mean what?”
“About staying. With me, with Gracie.”
Noah gave a solemn nod. “I did. I love you, Serena. I spent all these weeks trying to deny it, but when I saw him with that gun held on you, I knew I couldn’t live without you. Our lives don’t seem like they would mesh, and it won’t be easy, but goddammit, I want to try. You and Gracie have my heart. My whole heart and you always will, if you want it.”
Serena couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off her face, despite her tears. “I love you too, Noah Wild. Even if you are exasperating and broody and stubborn to a fault. And yes, I’ll have your heart because you’ve had mine for weeks. Probably since our one-night stand a year ago, if I’m honest. Things were different between us from the start, special. And I don’t care how hard it will be to make things work, I’m up for the challenge. I’m a warrior, remember? I don’t give up, especially on things I love.”
She rose up on tiptoe and he lowered his head, meeting her halfway for a kiss. They were truly partners in this and she wouldn’t want it any other way. When they finally pulled apart, it was to the clearing of a throat.
Levon stood a few feet away, looking anywhere but at them. “Uh, when you guys have a chance, the cops want to talk to Serena.”
“Right.” She pulled away from Noah and smoothed a hand down the front of her shirt, picking at a few stray leaves from the bushes still stuck to her clothes and hair. “Is Olive with Gracie?”
“Yeah. She and the girls are watching some pink pony cartoon with rainbows and hearts and stuff. Not that I think Gracie’s getting all that much out of it, but she’s not actively fussing. Anyway, don’t worry about them. Noah, Clint asked us to call in.”
“Okay.” He kissed Serena’s hand, his blue eyes kind and full of concern. “You want me there with you when you talk to the cops?”
“No. I’ve got it.” She glanced over at the white sheet covering Nate’s body and swallowed hard. The guy had tried to kill her. He’d had her kidnapped and held hostage for months. She shouldn’t care that he was gone, and yet she did. Families were complicated things no matter how you sliced it. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Go take care of your business and I’ll take care of mine. We’ll meet up again after.”
“Promise?” he said, pulling her back in for one last quick kiss.
“Always,” she said, smiling against his mouth. “I’m grateful for you being here for me today.”
He frowned slightly. “Did you read my journal?”
Serena winked. “It fell open on the bed, so I saw a few pages. We’ll have to see if Gracie and I can move up to the number one slot after today.”
“Definitely number one from now on.” He chuckled. “I love you, Serena.”
“I love you too,” she said then pulled away. “See you back at the house.”
22
Six months later…
“Guess we’ve come full circle, eh Rebel?” Noah stood beside the table in the studio admiring his wife’s naked ass cheek.
“Guess so,” the tattoo artist said. “And to think I brought you two together.”
“Well, you and some family treachery and a near shooting,” Serena turning her head atop her arms to face Noah. “And stop ogling my butt. Pervert.”
“Pervert?” He snorted. “Considering I sleep with that ass every night, I think that’s a little uncalled for.”
She laughed. “Just kidding. Where’s Gracie?”
Noah glanced behind him where he’d left the kid just a minute ago,
only to find her gone. “Dammit. Gracie, honey? Come see Daddy.”
He went off through the deserted tattoo studio to hunt her down. They’d rented the whole place out for the afternoon so they could relax, and Serena could get her new ink in peace without the press hounding her constantly.
In the past six months since the shooting in the park, both their worlds had undergone huge changes. He’d continued his work with the Southern Soldiers of Fortune but didn’t mind staying closer to home and Atlanta as much as possible now. While he still went out on overseas missions when necessary, he always tried to be home within a week, never wanting to be too far from his family. And Serena, as the last surviving Carson, had quickly hired a new CEO to run the day-to-day operations of Carson’s Candy. True to her word, she preferred to stick with the charitable arm of things, helping those most in need around the world and doing a damned fine job of it too. The public still saw her as the figurehead of the Carson fortune and she did her best to preserve a little privacy, especially around him and Gracie—though last week, they’d broken their own rule and the three of them had done some fancy magazine spread for one of the celebrity rags, showing off their house in Buckhead. Noah wasn’t super comfortable being in front of the cameras, but the money they’d earned from the photos went to provide healthcare and clean water to kids in sub-Saharan Africa, so he couldn’t argue.
And speaking of kids…
“Gracie, sweetie, what are you doing?” He walked over to where his daughter was playing with bottles of colorful ink on the floor and scooped her up into his arms, loving her laughter. “Are you daddy’s ornery girl? Yes, you are, aren’t you?”
Gracie giggled and squirmed in his arms, trying to push away and return to her newfound toys. And to her, just about everything was a toy. She was at that army-crawling stage and starting to get into everything. One of the best features of their fancy new digs in the suburbs was the huge, fenced-in backyard behind the enormous seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom house. It gave Gracie plenty of room to play and explore, plus all the extra space indoors gave Noah and Serena lots of room to expand their family one of these days. But first…
He put Gracie back down, then crouched beside her. “Okay, now you promised to be a good girl today, since Daddy has something important to ask Mommy, right?”
Gracie mumbled something incoherent while gnawing on the cap of one of the bottles. She was still teething too, and everything went in the kid’s mouth. He pulled a baby wipe from the stash he always kept in his pocket now for emergencies and wiped down all the bottles, making sure all the lids were on securely, before leaving his daughter to it. “Okay, Gracie. Wish Daddy luck.”
His daughter gave an ear-splitting squeal, because there seemed to be only two volume settings right now, loud and silent. Still, he loved her more than he ever thought he could love anything in this world, and he thanked God for her and Serena every day. He still wrote in his journal too. And yep. They’d moved to the top of his daily grateful list.
In truth, they’d always belonged there. It had just taken him nearly losing it all to realize it.
Noah was determined never to make that same mistake again.
After giving his daughter a big kiss on the cheek, he stood and took a deep breath for courage, patting his other pocket where a small velvet box resided.
He made his way back over to the table where Rebel was putting the finishing touches on Serena’s new tattoo. They’d sketched it out together, though she’d made a few last-minute tweaks that he hadn’t seen until today. She was getting a matching angel tattoo on her hip, the same as his except her angel had his face—one of those tweaks he’d not seen before—and held a baby Gracie in its arms. She’d told him when he’d first seen it an hour ago that it represented everything they’d been through the past year and what they’d triumphed over. He couldn’t argue with that. He probably wouldn’t be standing here now if not for Serena and Gracie’s love. He certainly wouldn’t be as happy without them.
He stood beside the table, going over the speech he’d prepared in his head. Man, this was more nerve-wracking than the time he and the guys at SSoF had had to defuse that bomb with just thirty seconds on the clock.
“How’s it look?” Serena asked him. “I can’t see it in the mirror yet.”
“Um, yeah,” he said, distracted. “It looks fine.”
“Fine?” She propped herself up on one elbow. “Sweetie, when a girl gets your face engraved on her ass, the last word she wants to hear describing it is ‘fine’.”
“It’s great. Awesome,” he said, wiping his damp palm on the thigh of his jeans. Damn. He was nervous as hell, which was stupid. He and Serena told each other all the time how much they loved each other. Hell, they’d bought a frigging McMansion together. This step should be easy-peasy. And yet, it wasn’t. Maybe because putting a ring on it made it that much more real.
Right. Time to man up and do it! The voice of his old team leader in the SEALs reverberated through Noah’s head, spurring him into action. Before he could doubt himself again, Noah pulled the ring box out of his pocket and went down on one knee beside the table, facing Serena.
“Sweetheart, I have something I want to ask you,” he said, swallowing hard.
Serena frowned, her gaze darting from the box in his hand to him. “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”
“If you think I’m asking you to be my wife, then yes.” He raised his chin and opened the box with one hand to reveal the sparkling emerald-cut diamond set in platinum inside. “Serena Carson. I love you more than life itself. I love your intelligence and your strength. I love your beauty and your grace. But most of all, I love your kind heart and your generosity. If you would do me the supreme honor of being my wife I promise to love and cherish you for the rest of my days. I can’t promise they’ll all be perfect or that we won’t argue because, well, it’s us and we will.” He gave an awkward laugh. “But I can promise you that no matter what happens nothing will ever change how much I care for you and Gracie. You two are my everything.”
She blinked at him a moment and everything went still. Even Rebel stopped working, the whirring of his tattoo machine halting as he wheeled his stool back to give them a moment of comparative privacy.
Finally, Serena propped herself up on one elbow again, reaching out a shaking hand to trace her fingertips over the ring, tears welling in her beautiful eyes. “Oh, Noah. I love you too. And I’d love to be your wife!”
Rebel gave a whoop and Gracie squealed again from where she was playing on the floor. Noah’s heart soared as he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her hand before kissing the woman he loved with all his heart.
When they finally pulled apart, it was to an aggrieved squeak from behind Noah’s shoulder. He turned slightly to see his daughter and frowned. “What is it, sweetie?”
Gracie banged two of the plastic ink bottles together, grinning at him, all baby teeth and drool.
“I should check on her,” he said, giving Serena one more kiss before straightening and rushing over to swoop a laughing Gracie up into his arms. “A dad’s work is never done.”
“Neither is a husband’s,” Serena said, beaming. “Have I told you I love you lately?”
“Not for the last thirty seconds or so,” Noah said, smiling from ear to ear, happier than he could ever remember being in his life, and it was all due to the two women right here in this room. “And I love you too, wife.”
End of Protecting His Kidnapped Family
Southern Soldiers of Fortune Book Two
Protecting His Pregnant Lover, October 8, 2020
Protecting His Kidnapped Family, October 15, 2020
Protecting His Beautiful Lover, October 22, 2020
P.S. Do you love hot blooded SEALs? Please keep reading for exclusive extracts from Protecting His Beautiful Lover and SEAL’s Homecoming.
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About Leslie
Leslie North is the USA Today Bestselling pen name for a critically-acclaimed author of women's contemporary romance and fiction. The anonymity gives her the perfect opportunity to paint with her full artistic palette, especially in the romance and erotic fantasy genres.
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BLURB
Clint Buckman, former Navy SEAL and member of the elite Southern Soldiers of Fortune, had one job: keep Tara Crumb safe. But when shots ring out at an environmental rally where Tara is speaking—and a bullet grazes her—Clint knows he’s failed. Guilt-ridden, Clint vows to make things right, and takes on a full-time post as Tara’s bodyguard. It isn’t long before he and his six-year-old daughter end up living in Tara’s house where he can watch over her. However, Tara’s smoldering looks are just too tempting to ignore, and it isn’t long before Clint’s resolve to keep things professional crumbles. Yet as threats to Tara increase, Clint knows all his focus has to be on his mission, not on the woman who has him thinking about how nice forming a family might be…
Protecting His Kidnapped Family: Southern Soldiers of Fortune Book Two Page 14
