He signed heavily as though weighing whether or not to speak before finally admitting, “Todd’s brought me on board with the security because he’s got concerns. I’m trying to figure out if we have a problem or not.”
“What kind of problem?”
Looking behind him, Ethan then turned back, an expression of indecision on his face. “Let’s just say that we’re keeping a close eye on all our shipments now. We don’t want any to go missing. Or should I say…any more to go missing.”
Eyes wide, Dani understood what he was implying. “Oh, shit.”
“Look, I’ve said too much already, but just keep your eyes on Jahfar. Let me know if you see or hear anything suspicious.”
“I doubt that will happen,” she admitted. “I avoid him when possible.”
Nodding, he agreed. “Not a bad plan.” Looking at her carefully, he asked, “How are you doing…um, feeling?”
She smiled, her hand automatically going to her stomach. “I’m fine. A little sick at the beginning, but now, I’m fine.”
“I’m sure this must be a difficult time to be a widow,” he commented, concern in his expression.
Dani had not talked about her personal life to anyone at work, not having had time to build close friendships. She hesitated, then added, “I’m seeing an old friend…someone that I knew from my days with the ATF. He works in investigations now.”
“Good,” he replied, a smile on his face. “You deserve that.” He stood, moving toward the door, stopping just inside as he turned back and said, “Make sure you let me know of anything suspicious you hear, okay?”
“Absolutely,” she agreed.
Watching him walk out, she rubbed her aching head again. Thank God, time to go home. Grabbing her purse and laptop case, she made her way out of the building, never noticing the sharp eyes of Jahfar as they watched her get in her car.
She had barely walked into Chad’s house when her phone rang. Looking at the display, she grinned seeing Bethany’s name.
“Hey, what’s up, Bethany?” she called out.
“The girls want a night out. Are you up for that?”
“Oh, my God, you have no idea,” Dani replied. “I’d love to.”
“Well, I know you and Miriam can’t drink, but Elixer has some great non-alcoholic drinks.”
“I’ve never been there, but I know where it is.”
“Perfect. Meet us there about seven okay?”
Disconnecting, Dani felt a bounce in her step that had been missing all day. She could not remember the last time she went out with a group of girlfriends. Smiling to herself as she headed to the master bathroom, she knew this was just what she needed.
Chapter 23
The girls sat at a high-topped table, ordering appetizers and fruity-flirty drinks. As the waitress took everyone’s drink orders, Bethany stunned the group when she ordered a non-alcoholic daiquiri.
The silence lasted only a second before the Are you pregnant questions rang out. Grinning while nodding, Bethany said, “Yes! We just found out! I’m six weeks along.”
Hugs, screams, and laughter filled the air as the women celebrated. The lively conversations jumped from one topic to another as the women relished their girls’ night out. As the food was delivered the women pounced on the appetizers.
“God, I needed this,” Dani exclaimed, popping another nacho in her mouth.
“Seriously,” Angel agreed. “I had a wedding order to get ready, plus two little girl birthday parties.”
Dani touched her stomach thoughtfully and said, “Will you do parties for my little girl when she’s old enough?”
“Hell, yeah,” Angel nodded, her head bobbing enthusiastically. She was already on her second Lemon Drop and was smiling even more widely than normal. Her long blonde hair, with its pink, purple, and teal stripes caught the lights in the bar, creating a colorful halo.
“I knew you’d be good for my business,” Bethany grinned at Angel, throwing back the rest of her drink. The natural beauty had her blonde hair plaited in a long braid, hanging over one shoulder. “Now that the best, kick-ass cabin wedding venue in the area has partnered with the best, kick-ass cupcake bakery, we’re unstoppable!”
“Which reminds me,” Sabrina interrupted, tapping a perfectly manicured nail on the table. “I have the new designs for your reception hall. I left them in my bag but can bring them by tomorrow.”
“How’s your job going?” Faith asked Miriam, going after the popcorn shrimp.
“Good, I really love it. I have to admit that it’s a pain to keep buying maternity nursing scrubs, but then that’s a lot cheaper than what Dani’s going to have to do,” Miriam laughed. Her dark hair, tucked behind her ears, hung down her back in a thick sheet.
“Don’t remind me!” Dani replied. “For a while I’ve been pinning my skirts and pants and leaving the shirts hanging out, but recently bought a couple of maternity outfits. Geez, they’re expensive!”
“My sister still has some and she’s about your size,” Miriam added. “She gave them to me, but since I wear nursing scrubs most days, you can definitely have whatever you want.”
The appetizers were refilled, as were their drinks, before the conversation turned around to Dani.
“So, how’s it going with your Saint, Dani?” Sabrina asked.
Dani looked askance for a second, then laughed. “Things are great with Chad.” She sobered for a moment and said, “Look, I realize from the outside, it must look incredibly crazy for me to be living with a man so soon after losing my husband.”
The other women quickly shook their heads in denial.
“Honey, when it comes to a Saint that has found the one, you usually end up at their house within a few weeks!” Miriam said.
“Yep, once they make up their minds, well, the alpha side comes out and nothing’s going to stop them from doing just that,” Sabrina added.
Faith, sitting next to Dani, placed her hand on Dani’s arm. “What really matters is, how you’re feeling.”
Dani turned to look at the soft-spoken beauty and smiled. “Honestly? I’m…truly happy.” Looking at the faces of the women around the table, she smiled, a little sadly. “I was always such a careful person…holding myself back. I did that with Chad the first time and then began to make a series of mistakes. It’s harsh, but my marriage was both right and wrong. Right…because of the pregnancy. Wrong…because we didn’t love each other.”
“And now?” Bethany asked.
The sadness left her face as Dani replied, “Now? I love Chad. I don’t spend any time thinking of all of the what-ifs.”
“No life can be spent happily with the what-ifs,” Faith agreed. “You have to take life as it’s handed to you. What you do with the here and now.”
Lifting their glasses together, the women toasted to their here and nows, laying their pasts to rest.
An hour later, not wanting the evening to end but with half of them pregnant, they decided to take the party to Angel’s Cupcake Heaven.
“I’ve got some that didn’t make the cut for the wedding, so they were going to go in the case tomorrow anyway,” Angel explained as she set a dozen gorgeously decorated cupcakes on their table. Each woman grabbed one and dove in, not caring about the colorful frosting now coating their lips, tongues, and even cheeks. Orgasmic moans ensued from all, followed by peals of laughter.
Dani had never been in Angel’s shop and her gaze wandered the colorful bakery before landing on the back wall. A painted mural graced the space—a medieval monk taking bread from a stone oven. Cocking her head to the side, she commented, “I love your wall painting.”
“That’s my Saint,” she grinned.
Dani shifted her eyes from the wall to the other women, noticing their smiles as well. “Your Saint?”
“Jack was named for Jacques, the Patron Saint of Soldiers,” Bethany said. “His mother told him about his name when he was a boy and it meant so much to him, he named his business after Saints.”
“I had no idea,” Dani confessed.
“Monty used to feel a little odd that he did not have a Saint’s name, but his parents gave him the family names of Montgomery Honor Lytton. He had no idea that St. Honorius was the patron Saint of bakers,” Angel added.
Before Dani could ask, the others chimed in as well.
“St. Camillus was the founder of the Red Cross. That’s who I was working for when he rescued me,” Miriam said proudly. “Cam says he was meant for me.”
Sabrina smiled, “St. Jude was the Patron Saint of lost causes, something Jude had thought about himself, after his SEAL injury, before he started working for Jack.”
Turning her eyes to Faith, she waited to see what the quiet, dark-haired beauty would say.
“Bart is obviously for St. Bartholomew, seeker of truth. I confess that it made for a rocky beginning for us, but once he discovered the real me, well, he found truth…and Faith.”
Shoving in a bite of her cupcake, Dani grinned at her new-found friends. “Hmmm, so is Chad a saint’s name? I confess, I have no idea.”
Shrugging, Bethany said, “I don’t know. The names mean different things to each of the men. You’ll have to ask Chad about that.”
Thoughtful as she shoved more cupcake into her mouth, letting the moist goodness melt on her tongue, Dani thought about how to ask Chad what the Saints meant to him.
*
Lying in bed later that night, legs tangled, slick bodies pressed together, coming down from their post-orgasmic bliss, Dani traced her finger over Chad’s chest. A tattoo over his heart found her fingers moving over the letters. EOD Sacrifice
Never having asked about the significance, she leaned up on her elbow, resting her head in her hand as she stared down at him. Holding his gaze, she smiled as she leaned forward, touching her lips to his in a whisper soft kiss.
“Can I ask you something?” she said, her voice soft and with a hint of uncertainty.
“Babe, you can ask me anything,” he responded. “With you, I’m an open book.”
Moistening her lips, she said, “Can you tell me about this tattoo?”
He had wondered when she might ask about the tattoo, having noticed her tracing it at times, like now, when they laid tangled after sex. He was silent for a moment, considering how to explain what it meant to him. Sucking in a deep breath through his nose before letting it out slowly, he rolled over to face her. Her hand continued to splay over the letters as their bodies shifted.
“It means just what you think it does, Dani. You were an ATF investigator, so even if you weren’t diffusing and disposing bombs, you understood what it took to walk that walk. When I was in the Army, EOD was the patch we wore for those of us who worked with ordnance disposal. It was…a strange club…those of us who wore that patch. Didn’t matter which branch of service we served in. We saw that patch on someone else…we knew. Knew what they were…who they were.”
Dani’s fingers stilled, but continued to feel his strong heartbeat underneath them.
“Sacrifice was the word that others used for us. The word that defined us. Not that we were better than others, just…different.”
The dark night enveloped them as the silence floated between them.
“You walked toward the ultimate known danger,” she said softly, her heart overflowing for this man in her arms. “Not many can do that. I can see where the word sacrifice comes from.”
He slid his hand up her back to tangle in her hair, pulling her head forward so it rested on his chest, right over the words tattooed on his soul. His mind raced for a few minutes, and then he gently moved her head back slightly so he was able to hold her gaze and slid his hand to her stomach.
“Babe, a lot’s going down with us, but I want to lay something out. As a man, I’m not real big on talking about any other man while were here, in our bed. But Adam’s going to be a part of our future, just like he’s part of our past. He’s the father of our daughter, while I’ll be her dad. And I’m good with that. But with all the shit that’s been swirling around about him, stepping out on you, what he was doing and what he might have been involved in before he died…that’s tainted him. In your eyes…in mine. But one thing to remember, that we’ll want to let our daughter know…at one time, he had the EOD patch as well. Respected. Dedicated. Sacrificing. So when all this shit-storm is swirling, we need to remember that’s who he was.”
A silent tear slid across Dani’s nose and onto the pillow. Chad’s rough thumb soothed away the next one that followed.
Swallowing deeply, she nodded. “Thank you for that reminder, sweetie. I really needed to remember the friend I married. I’ve spent so much time in the past months since his death being angry with him and wondering why the hell I ever became involved with him to begin with. And that made me doubt myself.” Sucking in a ragged breath, a watery smile escaped. “And now…we have to find out what all he was doing and then accept the Adam that he became. But thank you for reminding me that he was a sacrificing hero at one time.”
Continuing to hold his gaze, she fingered the St. Chad pendant resting on his chest, and asked, “The other ladies tonight were talking about Jack’s decision to name his company the Saints. They said the other men discovered their own meaning for their names. I wondered about you…if that’s not too personal.”
“Nothing too personal between us, babe,” he assured. His mind roamed back to when he first learned of the meaning of his name. Not raised in a faith that studied the Saints, it meant nothing to him at the time. But now…
His voice slid into the quiet once more as he continued, “I was named after my grandfather. Sacrifice is also a word used for St. Chad. I didn’t even know this as a child. I learned it when I was speaking to a priest after the death of one of my teammates in the service.”
Tucking her head back under his chin, he kissed the top of her hair, breathing her in. Together they found sleep…peaceful sleep.
Chapter 24
TGIF Dani thought as she left work at the end of the long workweek. Now into the second trimester, she felt healthier, breathed easier about carrying her daughter to term, and smiled thinking about the coming weekend. The Saints were having a cookout at Jack and Bethany’s place. With their huge deck, kick-ass massive grill, and a view to kill for she could not wait.
Driving to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for her world-famous potato salad—well unofficially world-famous—she ran the ingredients needed through her mind. Glancing into her rear-view mirror, she noticed a car behind her with dark-tinted windows. Including the front. I thought it was illegal to have a dark-tinted windshield. Wasn’t that so the police would be able to observe who they were approaching if pulled over?
Trying not to focus on who was behind her, she realized the light ahead just turned yellow. Damn, she sped up slightly to rush through, irritated that she had not paid closer attention. Glancing into the rearview mirror again, she noticed the dark car had followed her through the light.
Stop looking, she chastised herself. Stop being paranoid. To get to the store she wanted to shop at, she needed to go through Charlestown, making several turns along the way. The car stayed with her. Every lane change. Every turn.
The fear grew until she was no longer paranoid—she was certain she was being followed. Grabbing her phone, she called Chad on speed dial. Before he had a chance to speak, she began as soon as she heard the call connect.
“I’m being followed. Black sedan, license plate has dark covering and I can’t get a good read on it. Front windshield is dark. Can’t see who’s driving. They’ve been with me for at least twenty minutes.”
“Fuck, babe. Don’t go to my house, I’m not there yet. Go somewhere public. Park as close to the front as you can and run inside the store. Stay on the line while I call Jack.”
She heard him fire off the information to Jack as she kept her eyes peeled to her rear view mirror.
“Where are you now?” he asked, his voice sharp with command.
“I�
�m near the ShopMart in the Southside Shopping Center,” she replied. “He’s still with me.”
“Go there. Park near the front. Stay on the line with me and tell me exactly what’s happening.” Switching between phones, he told Jack where she was. In a moment, he added, “Jude is close by. He’s going to be watching for you. Tell me everything that’s happening.”
Dani’s investigative training kicked in and she reported succinctly, staying as calm as she could. “I’m pulling into the shopping center parking lot now, but on the far end from ShopMart. I’m driving on the road directly in front of the stores.”
“Dani? Jude’s got you in his sights. Don’t worry about him, just keep driving until you find a close parking space. Then wait for my instructions.”
A tense moment passed and then she said, “Found one. It’s just three spaces from the front, near the double doors leading to the lawn care section.”
“Jude’s got you. He says he sees the black car following closely…now they’re circling around. Go! Now! Get out of the car and head inside as quickly as you can!” he ordered.
Without question, she grabbed her purse and jumped out of her car, hustling into the store with her phone still at her ear.
“Jude’s parked and has your car in close sight. You stay inside the store and keep your phone on, babe. Whatever you do, do not go back to your car until I’ve gotten there and cleared it.”
“Chad?” she whispered breathlessly, standing in the front court of the store.
“Yeah?”
“I love you,” she said, still whispering, but her voice now stronger.
Only a heartbeat of silence fell before she heard the words in return. “I love you too, little mama.”
Closing her eyes, a deep breath escaping, she moved back inside the store, her phone gripped in her hand.
*
Thirty minutes later, her nerves taut, she was ready to explode if her phone did not ring soon. She had grabbed the items needed in record time and now was pacing as she waited for word of what was happening in the parking lot. Every minute that dragged by was agonizing. What’s happening? Is the black car still there? Did Jude do something? Is he all right? Where is Chad? Did he—
Sacrifice Love: Saints Protection & Investigations Page 20
