Protecting Caroline (SEAL of Protection Book 1)

by Susan Stoker

  Caroline had to get a seat on another plane east, but wasn’t sure when the next one would be leaving. Hell, it wasn’t as if she’d be able to get on it anyway. Flying standby sucked. She closed her eyes. She’d just rest here against the wall and wait for the line to go down. Surely it couldn’t take too long.

  Mozart, Abe, and Wolf stalked into the airport not knowing if they’d find Ice there or not, but they had to try. The reporters were crazy aggressive outside the small building, but the friends waded through the people, refusing to stop and talk to anyone. When they entered, they stopped and looked around the baggage claim area. It was a zoo. Obviously the relatives of the passengers had started to arrive.

  “Let’s split up and see if she’s down here,” Mozart said. “Meet back here in ten.”

  They all set out. Ten minutes later they were all back; there was no sign of Caroline. The airport wasn’t that large and the baggage claim area only had three carousels.

  The three men headed upstairs to the ticketing area. At the top of the stairs they looked around. There was a customer service desk that had a line that was at least an hour long and two ticket counters, which also had long lines. There were also a few small shops and the entrance to the gates where security screening was set up. The area wasn’t large and they could see almost everyone in it. There was a chance Caroline had already gotten past security and was waiting at a gate for a plane, but they had no way of knowing or getting past security to look for her.

  Looking around and not seeing any sign of Ice, Mozart said dejectedly, “I really thought she’d still be here.”

  “We should probably go and catch our ride,” Abe added quietly as disappointed as Mozart was at not finding the woman who’d saved their lives.

  Wolf gave them an incredulous look. “Are you guys blind? She’s right there,” and he turned his back and headed for Caroline. She was standing by herself near a wall with her eyes closed. She was obviously wearing the same clothes as the day before. Guilt hit Wolf hard. Damn.

  Even though she looked exhausted and miserable, Caroline looked great to him. Wolf was so damn relieved she was still here he felt his toes tingling. He couldn’t wait to talk to her again. He was so gone.

  Abe and Mozart were close on Wolf’s heels as he headed toward her.

  “Damn, I didn’t even see her,” Abe apologized to Wolf quietly.

  “Me neither, Abe,” Mozart commiserated. “She doesn’t draw any attention to herself does she?”

  Wolf reached Caroline first. She hadn’t heard him walk up and he didn’t want to scare her.

  “Caroline?” He whispered.

  Caroline was in her own world. Imaging she was sleeping in a big bed when she heard her name. Her eyes flew open. Crap. How had someone snuck up on her? She was obviously more tired than she’d thought.

  Her brain realized it was Matthew before her body did, but she couldn’t stop herself from lurching to the side and away from the perceived threat. Wolf was ready for her reaction and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. Caroline could feel his hand brush against her wounded side as he held her arm gently. It took everything in her to not flinch with pain. For some reason she didn’t want this incredible man to know she’d been hurt. Caroline and Wolf just looked at each other for a moment then Mozart and Abe were there.

  “Here you are! We’ve been looking for you, Ice,” Abe exclaimed.

  “For me?” Was all Caroline could get out she was so surprised. “Why?”

  “SEALs don’t leave SEALs behind. Ever.” He said with complete seriousness.

  “And? I’m not a SEAL,” Caroline said befuddled.

  “Maybe not in truth, but you saved our lives, that makes you one of us in our eyes,” Mozart answered, completely serious.

  Caroline looked back and forth between the three men, confused. She cleared her throat and finally commented, “I assume you guys are all okay?”

  Wolf chuckled. “Of course we are. Are you?”

  “Uh, yeah, I’m okay too,” she answered and just looked at them waiting for…something. She still had no idea what they were doing there. She didn’t really understand the whole “you’re a SEAL” thing. Duh, of course she wasn’t. Had they lost their minds?

  “What are you doing over here? Do you already have another ticket to get to Norfolk?” Mozart asked breaking the silence between them,

  Caroline shook her head to clear it. He’d asked her something. Oh yeah…

  “I’m waiting for the line to go down so I can see if I can get on another plane,” she explained. “I have to fly standby, but I thought I’d wait a bit for the crowd to thin out.”

  “Doesn’t look like it’s going to thin out anytime soon, Ice,” Mozart said. “Why don’t you come and sit with us for a while?”

  Caroline knew she couldn’t sit with them. She wasn’t used to attention from a man, nonetheless three men. Nonetheless three men who looked like they should be on the cover of GQ or Soldiers of Fortune. They were gorgeous and were attracting attention by just standing there in the airport. Caroline could see women do double takes as they walked by. She had no idea how they were able to blend in when they were on a mission. There was no way these men could go anywhere unnoticed.

  She also knew she didn’t feel good, and didn’t want them to know. Caroline was embarrassed that a little scratch on her side was making her feel so terrible. She was obviously a wuss. They were strong men, they thought she was one of them, she couldn’t show any weakness. Then something Mozart said finally sunk in.

  “Ice?”

  All three men chuckled again. Geez, having all three of them smiling at her like that made her feel like she was only woman in the room, and that scared her to death.

  “Yeah, Abe named you that for your super sniffing skills smelling that ice and knowing what was up,” Mozart explained.

  Caroline smiled a bit at that. Funny. Then something else occurred to her. This was the first time she’d heard the third SEAL’s name. “Abe?”

  Abe came forward and took the hand on the arm Wolf wasn’t holding, and brought it up to his lips. “I’m Abe. It’s good to meet you sweetheart. Thanks for saving our lives.”

  Caroline nervously pulled her hand back and ignored his over the top flattery. Somehow she knew he probably treated all women the same way. She wasn’t special. She also knew if she wasn’t able to deal with it when she was one hundred percent, she definitely couldn’t deal with it today.

  She looked at the three gorgeous men standing around her looking at her with concern. The concern felt good, but she knew it wouldn’t last, it never did.

  “I can’t call you guys by your nicknames. Sorry. It’s just too weird. What are your real names?”

  Not letting them answer, Wolf told her, “Abe is Christopher and Mozart is Sam.”

  “Okay, that’s easier for me to remember. I’ll call you guys that.”

  They all smiled at her as if they thought she was cute. Mentally rolling her eyes, Caroline couldn’t go around calling these masculine men by the silly nicknames they’d given each other for probably asinine reasons.

  Seeing their smiles reminded her that she needed to make them leave. They’d leave soon enough, she might as well hurry them along so she could go and find a seat and feel miserable in solitude.

  She looked at each of the men and said in a tone that projected dismissal, “Well, thanks for coming to check on me, but I’m okay and I have to go get in line now. I’m glad you’re all okay too. Good luck on your upcoming mission and stay safe. All right?”

  She peeled herself away from Matthew and turned toward the line. She waved lamely at the three men, turned her back on them and went to get in line. She couldn’t let them stay. She didn’t belong with them, she was just plain Caroline. Not Ice, not a part of their team. She was nowhere near their league. She had to leave now before her heart decided it wanted more. Before she let Matthew break her heart.

  Mozart, Abe, and Wolf watched as Caroline walked away
from them without a second glance and got in line.

  “Well, that didn’t go well did it?” Mozart asked no one in particular.

  Wolf grunted and headed toward the stairs. Fine. If she didn’t want them around, they’d go. He didn’t understand his feelings of hurt, but he’d never chased after a woman, and wasn’t going to start now, no matter how much he wanted to. A little part inside told him he was being an ass, but he ignored it. He’d thought they had a connection, but if Caroline was able to walk away from him that easily, he was obviously wrong.

  Caroline held her breath. She didn’t really want them to go, especially didn’t want Matthew to go, but she didn’t think she had a choice. They weren’t really interested in her; they were just following up on the incident. She was glad to see that none of them seemed to be hurt though. That was good. Caroline hoped they’d be safe in their upcoming missions. The more she thought about those missions, the more she panicked a little inside. She had no right to worry about them—no right to be concerned. She was a passing oddity for them. Once they got to Norfolk they’d laugh about the entire thing and come to their senses. Matthew would come to his senses. He’d realize she was a nobody, a geek, and move on with his life.

  Once she knew they were gone, she’d go back and sit down. She couldn’t stand in this line much longer. She already felt dizzy and was still nauseous. She swayed on her feet trying to calculate how much time they needed to disappear and how much time she had left before she fell on the floor in a dead faint.

  Abe and Mozart followed Wolf down the stairs. They didn’t say anything to him, but they knew he was fighting some sort of demon they didn’t understand, so they didn’t push him. Of course they figured it was about Ice, but since neither of them had seen him act like that before, they weren’t sure what was going on. Wolf was a ladies man, like most of them. He didn’t have to work hard to attract women, but lately he seemed out of sorts. He hadn’t been out with them for a while and he just didn’t seem interested in women…until now. Until Ice.

  Mozart took a hard look at Wolf. His hands were clenched at his sides and he strode purposefully down the stairs. They were headed out of the building to another part of the airport where their military bird waited for them. Suddenly Mozart noticed something else, something Wolf and Abe seemed to have somehow missed. He knew they’d be pissed they’d overlooked it. After all they’d been trained to be observant. Mozart couldn’t wait to rub it in.

  “I’ll meet you at the plane,” he promised Abe and turned and ran back up the stairs taking them two at a time without any other explanation. Abe had no idea where his buddy was going, but shrugged and followed Wolf out the door. He’d be back soon no doubt.

  Wolf sat in the seat on the military airplane brooding. He wasn’t sure why Caroline had gotten to him so much, but she had. She was smart and brave and…dammit. He didn’t want to leave her. But what choice did they have? Did he have? They had a plane to catch. Did he have to leave? What if he stayed and flew commercial with her? He still had some leave time. Shit. His commander had said they had to get to Norfolk and debrief in person. They had to meet with someone there and go over what happened. Wolf knew the entire episode was a security breach and someone had to answer for it.

  But Wolf still had a thousand questions for Caroline. What did she tell the authorities, where did she spend the night last night, what had really happened with the terrorist Mozart had killed when he was on top of her? And maybe most importantly, did she want to see him again? Wolf was still brooding about the entire situation when he looked up and saw Mozart escorting the woman he couldn’t get out of his mind onto their plane.

  What the hell? Mozart knew civilians weren’t allowed on official military flights. Wolf stood up to chew him out when Mozart signaled him to “wait.” Wolf ran his hand through his hair in frustration. What had he missed? Why did Mozart go back and get Caroline? He wasn’t someone to buck authority, ever. But he was now. What was going on? Wolf sat back down and bided his time. He trusted his team, but he wanted to know what was going on now.

  He wasn’t sure he could handle spending more time with Caroline only to have her rebuff him again. It hurt enough the first time. Yes, it hurt, Wolf admitted to himself. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to get up and go to Caroline, but if Mozart wanted him to wait, it was for a damn good reason. He’d give him a bit of time, but as soon as they were in the air he was going to find out what the hell was going on.

  Caroline tried for the tenth time to get Sam to let go of her arm. He wasn’t budging. He’d come back up the stairs, straight to where she was standing in line, took her arm and led her away. Away from the airport and to here, this plane. To where Matthew was.

  She tried to tell him to let her go, tried reasoning with him, tried making him mad, tried everything she could think of, but he just held on and kept walking. He didn’t say anything to her other than, “Come on, Ice, you’re traveling with us back to Norfolk.” That was it. Nothing else. She didn’t even know where they were going once they got to Virginia, but she supposed anyplace beat sitting in the airport going nowhere.

  Caroline sat in the seat Sam led her to gingerly. He helped her get buckled in, then walked further back into the plane to find his own seat. Thank God he hadn’t put her next to Matthew. She didn’t want him to know she was hurt. It hurt to lean back, so she sat upright in the seat. Surprisingly enough, none of the SEALs came and sat next to her. She’d seen both Matthew and Christopher on the plane, but neither one approached her.

  She was glad, but also sad too. Mostly she was confused. As the plane taxied down the runway she tried to relax and not think about hijackers. Nothing was going to happen on this flight. It was a military plane, flown by military personnel with three SEALs on board. There were no flight attendants, only the four passengers and the pilots. She tried to relax, but couldn’t. She couldn’t get the thoughts of the terrorists out of her mind.

  As soon as the plane was airborne and at a relatively safe altitude, Mozart stood up and went to Ice. On his way he signaled to both Wolf and Abe, “injured.”

  Wolf watched as Mozart got up. He wasn’t going to go to Caroline. She didn’t want to come with them. With him. He’d be damned if he….just as he was working up a good temper toward her, he saw Mozart’s signal. Fuck. Injured? How the hell did he miss it? He got to Caroline about the same time as Mozart. He didn’t remember getting up and moving forward, but there he was. Caroline was injured? What the fuck?

  Mozart let Wolf squeeze by, and as he did told him quietly, “I saw the blood on your shirt from where you grabbed her in the airport.” Sure enough, Wolf looked down and saw the tiny smear of blood. He’d missed it. Jesus. Thank God Mozart hadn’t. He’d never live it down, but at the moment he couldn’t give a damn.

  Wolf kneeled down next to Caroline’s seat. Her seat belt was buckled, but she was sitting up straight, unnaturally straight. Now that he knew she was hurt, he could see how uncomfortable her position was.

  “Caroline, where are you hurt? Let me see.”

  Caroline shook her head, but didn’t look at Matthew. “I’m fine, really…”

  Wolf gave a chin lift to Abe and Mozart and signaled for them to get the makeshift cot in the back ready. Like most military planes, this one was equipped with a space in the back for injured soldiers.

  “Come on Caroline, up you go. We’re going to the back. Let me take a look and make sure you’re all right.” He reached out and quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, brushing her hands aside when she tried to prevent him from taking care of her.

  “Seriously Matthew, I’m okay. I just want to sit here. I’m tired.” Caroline whined, trying to resist, but she was too tired and hurting too much to put up more than a token resistance.

  “Caroline, please. Let me help you.”

  It was the please that finally got to her. She sighed and nodded, defeated. He was going to have his way no matter what she said. Besides, they were already airborne; it wasn’t
as if she could ignore them or walk away.

  Wolf helped her to the back and sat her down on a cot. He sat next to her and put his hand over hers on her knee.

  “Mozart here is going to take a look.” When she struggled a bit and looked like she’d stand up, Mozart leaned down toward her.

  “Look at me, Ice,” Mozart demanded. At the tone of his voice, Caroline looked up at him, panic in her eyes.

  “I’m just going to look. I’m sure you’re fine, but at least let me see…okay? I won’t hurt you. I am trained you know,” Mozart said with humor in his voice.

  “It’s not that…” At their expectant looks she sighed and quipped sarcastically, “Okay, but if you suddenly have the urge to jump me, don’t blame me!” She knew what kinds of women these men were used to, tall skinny women without an extra pound on them. She wasn’t that, no way, no how. Usually she didn’t care, but baring herself to them, especially to Matthew, wasn’t something she wanted to do in this lifetime. She couldn’t seem to lose the last fifteen pounds that clung stubbornly to her stomach and thighs. She didn’t tan, and …she couldn’t think of anything else because Mozart was lifting up her shirt and exposing her stomach and side. She tried to suck in her breath and her stomach at the same time.

  “Relax,” Wolf murmured next to her head. He tilted her head up so she had to look him in the eyes. “Talk to me Caroline,” he commanded.

  “Wh-what do you want to know?” She stuttered trying to ignore what Mozart was doing.

  “Tell me what happened after I got up to go into the cockpit,” Wolf insisted.

  Caroline was quiet for a moment, then tried to downplay what had really happened.

  “When you got up, the other guy was coming for you so I tripped him. It stopped him for a moment, but you were still busy and he was getting up. I grabbed him to stall him and then Sam came up and killed him.” She finished in a rush and looked away from Wolf’s eyes.