In Deep - A Secret Twins Romance (Once a SEAL, Always a SEAL Book 6)

by Layla Valentine

  “Where is she?” a voice asks. “Where’s the girl?”

  “Here,” Evan says, and a moment later, his weight is gone from my back and I’m being helped to my feet by a man clad all in black.

  “Are you all right?” the man asks. “They didn’t hurt you? Do you need to see a doctor?”

  “I’m okay,” I say, feeling shaky.

  He nods. “Why don’t you go sit down over there by that tree for a minute, while we take care of this bunch.”

  I move toward the tree. Before I can make it, though, I’m intercepted, swept up in the most unexpected embrace of my life, and the arms surrounding me are so comforting and so familiar that I immediately return the gesture, without even thinking.

  “Tammy,” Kyle murmurs. “My God. You scared me. Do you always have to scare me like that?”

  “I don’t think it was my fault this time…” To my utter embarrassment, I’m crying on his shoulder, even as I’m half laughing. He strokes my hair, rubs my back, kisses my forehead. It seems he can’t stand to have any distance between us, and I feel exactly the same way. “How did you find me?” I ask.

  “I was watching for you at the courthouse,” he says.

  “I thought you’d be avoiding me,” I reply.

  “I was. But I still wanted to see you. I couldn’t help myself. Then, you didn’t show up, and I overheard your lawyer saying something about how you hadn’t called or anything. I knew then that something must be wrong, so I contacted the authorities and had a SWAT team sent out to look for you.”

  “But I still don’t understand how they found me,” I say.

  “We traced your cellphone,” he says.

  “How? You don’t even have my number.”

  Kyle looks embarrassed. “The night we spent together, I sent myself a text from your phone. I know I shouldn’t have done it, especially after we decided it would be best for us both if we just went our separate ways. But the truth is, I couldn’t deal with the idea of having no possible way to contact you. I wanted the ability to change my mind about it. I didn’t think I would ever use your number, but…I wanted the option.”

  “I should be mad at you for that,” I say. “You’re the one who decided we couldn’t see each other again. You made sure you had a way to contact me, but you left me with no way to contact you.”

  “I know,” he says.

  “And the fact that you saved my life does not mean you’re off the hook for that,” I tell him.

  “Does it even help?”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “What about the fact that I used your number to track down Elias?” He inclines his head toward the other man, who is now being handcuffed. “He’ll be held responsible for his crimes, just like Xavier, and we have you to thank for it.”

  “All I did was get kidnapped,” I say, laughing a little.

  He pulls me close, clearly not feeling the humor of the situation. “I’m just so glad you’re safe,” he says quietly. “If they’d hurt you, I don’t know what I would do, Tammy. Everything’s going to be all right now.”

  Chapter 21

  Kyle

  I’m not ready to just let Tammy walk out of here without being seen to by a doctor. She might be saying that she’s fine—and she does look fine—but she must be so high on adrenaline right now that I doubt she’d feel it if someone punched her in the stomach. I walk her over to a fallen log that cuts through the middle of the woods and sit her down on it, spreading my jacket first to make the most comfortable seat I can for her.

  “What’s going to happen to Evan?” she asks.

  “Who’s Evan?”

  She points out one of the men currently being bound up in handcuffs. “Are they arresting him? I don’t want Evan to be arrested.”

  I bite down on a momentary surge of very unwelcome jealousy. Is the shock setting in? Maybe she’s losing track of what happened. “He was party to your kidnapping, Tammy,” I say. I put an arm around her, trying to keep her warm. “Do you remember being put in the van?”

  She looks at me like I’m crazy. “Of course I remember being put in the van. Do you think I hit my head or something?”

  “No, sorry, I just…”

  “I don’t want you to arrest Evan. He saved me. After we were here, and after it was obvious there was going to be some kind of fight between you guys and Elias, he protected me.”

  I frown. If that’s true, it does change things.

  “We do have to bring him in,” I say. “We’ll hear his story and see if it matches up to what you’re saying. But it’s very likely he could get a reduced sentence if it turns out he was forced into going along with something he didn’t really want to do, or if he changed his mind midway and decided to protect you instead of going through with the kidnapping.”

  “Do what you can for him,” Tammy says, her eyes fixed on the figure now being held by two police officers, his eyes downcast and his feet shuffling. “We were friends when we were at the ranch. I think Elias told some of these people they could get their old lives back if they went along with his plan. It hasn’t been as easy for everyone as it has for me, being out.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “Easy?”

  “I mean it,” she says. “Some people have really struggled, Kyle. I think that’s why so many of us haven’t kept in touch. You know, I lived outside before I came to Pyrite. I know how to use social media, technology, how to drive…I know how to live in this world. Evan was the same. Maybe we should have bonded more after we left the ranch, but everyone had their own reasons for choosing to leave the world they knew and live on a commune in the first place. Whatever his reasons were, I’m guessing they weren’t nearly as nice to return to as mine were. Maybe he doesn’t have a loving family that was waiting all these years for him to come home.”

  Before I can respond, our conversation is interrupted by the wailing of sirens. I can tell them apart before I see them—the shorter, shriller, high-pitched sounds made by the police cars, and at least one whooping, wailing, almost mournful cry that can only be coming from an ambulance. Ambulance sirens always make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

  Almost unconsciously, I press myself closer to Tammy and feel her warmth. Thank God she’s going to be okay. If we’d gotten here five minutes later, if she’d struggled or resisted Elias even a little bit more, if he’d been twitchy with his weapon…anything could have happened.

  “Are you okay?” she asks softly.

  “What do you mean? Of course I am.” I just got here. I wasn’t even here when things were dangerous. Nobody kidnapped me and pulled me into the back of a van.

  Her hands are on my forearms, turning them so my palms are facing up, so she can rest her hands on top of mine and squeeze.

  “You’re shaking…”

  “I’m just cold.”

  “Have your jacket back.”

  She starts to get up, but I don’t want the jacket. I want her to hang on to it. I shake my head and hold up a hand, indicating that she should stay still, and she hesitates, a frown on her face, watching me for a sign of what she should do.

  “I’m all right,” I say.

  “Kyle.”

  “I could have lost you. I almost lost you. I’m just…it’s a lot.”

  I force myself to breathe slowly, in and out, a calming technique we practiced in SEALs training. It’s important to know how to keep your body focused. It’s important not to let the physical symptoms of panic or fear take away from your ability to complete a mission. I have to complete this mission.

  “I thought we weren’t going to be a thing,” Tammy says quietly.

  “I don’t know,” I say. “We weren’t. We’re not. I mean…I just don’t know. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  We have a responsibility to the trial, don’t we? But on the other hand, with Elias being arrested in the act of trying to kidnap Tammy and rebuild the ranch…well, that’s going to change things. This is all going to be a lot less dependent
on the testimony either one of us can provide now that there’s tangible evidence that Xavier’s plans continued even after he was arrested and locked away. Maybe they’ll cut some kind of deal with Elias, giving him a reduced sentence if he testifies against Xavier. Maybe Tammy’s friend Evan will have something to contribute. Either way, we won’t be destroying the case against Xavier now.

  The squad cars pull up on the road alongside the forest. The SWAT team forms a line and begins marching Elias and his men back toward the main road.

  “What’s going to happen to them?” Tammy asks.

  “They’ll be taken in for questioning first,” I say. “They’ll be formally charged with kidnapping, most likely. Maybe conspiracy to…something. I don’t know. But they’ll definitely be charged, and then maybe some of them will be released on bail and some will be held pending trial. Elias definitely won’t be released; I can promise you that much. We’ve been after him for years, and he’s proven he can’t be trusted on the outside.”

  She nods slowly.

  “We should take you up to that ambulance,” I say.

  She shakes her head. “I told you, I’m okay.”

  “I’ll feel a lot better when a doctor confirms that,” I say. “Humor me, all right?”

  “Kyle,” she says, very softly.

  “Tammy…”

  She kisses me, sliding close on the log so that we’re pressed right up against each other. Her body arches into mine as our lips meet, and I’m suddenly very aware that we’re outside, in the woods, in the middle of nature, just as we were the first time we were together.

  In a strange way, it’s like a homecoming. I feel like I’ve been living in these woods—though in fact they were totally different woods, woods that didn’t even look like these—for the past two years, trying to find a way back to this moment and this woman.

  Until now, I never believed I would actually do it.

  She pulls back and looks up at me, her eyes full of questions. I don’t know how to answer. I don’t even know where to begin.

  “Do we need to talk about it?” she asks.

  I burst out laughing. It was the last thing I was expecting her to say, and it ignites such a burst of hope and joy in my chest that I don’t know quite how to handle it. It’s not that there’s nothing for us to talk about, it’s that there’s far too much. There’s the missing two years, the fact that we agreed not to pursue a relationship, Xavier’s trial and what’s sure to be a lengthy legal battle over the guilt of Elias and his associates…

  “No,” I say, still laughing. “We don’t need to talk about it.”

  She kisses me again and I wrap my arms around her, relieved and happy, confident in the knowledge that finally, finally, we can just have a normal relationship without any weird wrenches in the works.

  The cops haven’t yet driven off by the time we emerge from the woods. I figured they would be gone, but they’re standing in front of the line of cult members with pads of paper, asking questions and scribbling down notes. It seems like a strange way to conduct an interview—right here at the scene of the crime? Surely, this would be better handled back at the police station. Then again, maybe there’s a reason for it. Maybe they’re anticipating there might still be some evidence out in the woods to recover, and they’d rather get it before the trail goes cold.

  The ambulance is still here, too. The cop cars have left their lights on, swirling like panic and lighting up the forest, but the ambulance has turned theirs off. The paramedics are seated in the back of the vehicle, talking in lowered voices, sounding tired but serious. At the sight of us, they jump out and stride purposefully over.

  “We’re fine,” Tammy says. She sounds like she’s getting a little tired of repeating this statement. “Everything’s fine. All they did was pull me into the back of the van. I’m not hurt at all.”

  One of the paramedics looks at me, as if for confirmation.

  “Check her over,” I say.

  I don’t like going over Tammy’s head like this. If she says she’s fine, we ought to listen, right? But it’s still possible that she sustained an injury she just isn’t feeling yet. Adrenaline can do that to you, and then there are the kind of serious injuries that just take a while to show up. If she hit her head, she might not be feeling anything right now, but when she gets home she could pass out and—

  I cut that train of thought off before it can form any more fully. She’s fine. I’m sure she’s fine. I’ll just feel better if a professional tells me so.

  A paramedic leads her over to the ambulance and sits her down in the back, handing her a blanket to drape around her shoulders. Tammy hands me back my jacket as she takes it. I’m still warm from the exertion, so I hold it in my arms instead of putting it on. I can’t believe we just kissed.

  “What are you going to do?” Tammy asks nervously as the paramedic reaches across her for a tool.

  The man holds up a small flashlight and frowns. “I was going to check pupil response. Is that okay?”

  “Oh, that’s fine,” Tammy says.

  “Are you allergic to any medicines?”

  “No.”

  “Pregnant or breastfeeding?”

  Tammy hesitates.

  So does the paramedic. “Ma’am?”

  I’m not getting the implication, only the mood of the conversation, the pause that means something is unexpected, something’s not right, but then, she says it.

  “Yes. I’m pregnant.”

  She’s pregnant?

  My mind is doing math, trying to figure it out—six weeks ago, we slept together, but I don’t know if there’s been anyone else—but then her eyes flash to me and I don’t even have to ask. I know the answer. I know all the answers.

  I’m at her side faster than I knew I could move. “You’re pregnant?”

  She nods, biting her lip, and I can see that she’s fighting both tears and a smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

  If I hadn’t been sure, that would have confirmed it right there. “I’m going to be a father.”

  “Twice.” Her hand finds mine and our fingers interlock. “It’s twins.”

  “My mom is a twin,” I say dumbly.

  “So, it’s your family?”

  “What?”

  “They asked me if twins ran in my family, but it isn’t my family, it’s…it’s yours.”

  I can’t help laughing, even as I’m feeling the tears on my own cheeks. The wonder in her voice when she talks about our families is just too much.

  “I wanted to tell you,” she says. “I wanted to call you as soon as I knew.”

  “When did you find out?”

  “Just yesterday. I couldn’t come to court because I was sick…my lawyer took me to the hospital and they told me it was morning sickness.”

  “You’re all right now?”

  “I’m fine.”

  I kiss her again, absolutely overcome, and then step back so the paramedic can finish his examination. It’s even more important now. I can’t even bring myself to let go of her hand. We’re going to be parents. I can’t believe this.

  As if from very far away, very suddenly, a voice splits the night. “Hey! Hey! Grab him!”

  The grin is still on my face as I start to turn. Maybe it’s still on my face when I complete the motion. I don’t know. All I know is that the thought is still in my head—babies, family, daddy—and suddenly, I’m catching a glint of moonlight off the barrel of a gun and all my training is kicking in at once.

  Suddenly, there is no line between father-to-be and Navy SEAL.

  “Weapon!” I yell. “Everybody down!”

  The voice that rings out is familiar, and the threat assessment reflex in the back of my brain recognizes it as friendly, but the tone is anything but.

  “Tammy Owens will never testify!” Elias shouts. “Xavier will go free and we will rebuild, and we’ll never be stopped. And everyone who has been disloyal will pay!”

  “Don’t shoot him!” another voice
shouts. “We need him! Disarm only!”

  Elias laughs. And then—it seems like it’s happening in slow motion—he turns to Tammy. He has a clear shot. She’s sitting in the back of the ambulance. She’s backlit. She’s practically glowing. The paramedic is on the ground. There’s nothing between the two of them.

  His finger twitches.

  And I jump.

  The first thing I feel is the impact of the ground against my hip and shoulder, jarring me as I land, and the thought that comes into my mind—strangely—is that I’m probably going to have bruises in those spots, and I’ll have to sleep on my right side instead of my left. Time still seems to be moving painfully slowly. My brain can’t seem to catch up to my body.

  Tammy screams.

  Cold air smacks me in the face, and with it, a jolt of pain more intense than anything I’ve ever felt. I try to say something, maybe ask for help, but all that comes out when I open my mouth is a kind of choking, strangled cry. It sounds more animal than human. I’m not even sure it’s me.

  “I’ve got him,” someone is saying, the voice calm and confident. “I’ve got the gun. Put him in the car. Get him down to the station right now. Someone go check on that man. You. Go. Get the woman, too. Make sure someone’s with her.”

  Too many instructions. I can’t keep up. Another wave of pain threatens to suck me down.

  Then, Tammy’s there, her beautiful face twisted into an expression I’ve never seen, and it’s awful. I don’t know what to do. She’s down on the ground, on her knees, screaming for help, and only now does the jumble of facts connect in my mind and I realize that the help is for me, that the gunshot hit me, that I took the bullet—I saved her.

  She’s okay. Our babies are okay.

  She’s crying, crying harder than I’ve ever seen. Someone needs to help her, calm her down. She can’t be frantic like this while she’s pregnant.

  My gut twists again. I gasp and try to stifle the pain.

  Tammy’s hand is on my shoulder, in my hair, petting, soothing.