Wanted by the Warrant Officer

by Davenport, Fiona

  Merrick had sent the footage through a secure email and included a list with dates and time stamps that he thought I should pay particular attention to.

  The first two I looked at turned out to be nurses on the same rotation, making it seem like they were following her. Since they were male, I understood why Merrick flagged them. The next one was a doctor who seemed to run up to her frequently when she was alone. I frowned and zoomed in on a time when he handed her something that obviously wasn’t a chart. I growled when I saw that it was a small, wrapped present.

  “That’s Dr. Jessup,” Piper said from behind my right shoulder. I glanced back to see that she’d pulled on my T-shirt and wandered over to look at the footage with me. I didn’t want her involved or reminded of this crap, but the truth was, narrowing down the prospective stalkers would probably go faster with her input.

  “Has he been bothering you?” I didn’t like the look of the guy. He was too...pretty. While I wasn’t an ogre, I was a SEAL. And a cowboy. Those jobs came with tanned skin weathered from harsh environments, short hair that couldn’t be styled, and scars. Piper clearly went for the rugged type since she’d fallen for me, but I couldn’t help the twinge of possessive jealousy when he touched her hand, and she smiled.

  “Oh, no,” Piper giggled. “That present is for his husband, Calvin.” The additional information made me feel marginally better. Although, I was of the opinion that my Piper was more than enough to tempt any man. “They’re coming up on their tenth anniversary, and Dr. Jessup enlisted me to help with a surprise for Calvin. He’s a nurse in the NICU, and Dr. Jessup is a plastic surgeon, so his presence would have been obvious. I left him little presents that were clues to the two-week European tour Dr. Jessup had planned. It was adorable.” Piper’s expression was a little dreamy, so I filed that story away for future reference.

  I forwarded to the next segment on Merrick’s list, and Piper harrumphed when a tall, dark-haired man in a uniform strolled in front of the camera. “You know him?”

  “Kind of. Greg is the security guard on my floor. I went to him about all the weird stuff happening, and he just dismissed my concerns. Said I was reading too much into the situation, and I should be thankful for the nice things someone was doing for me.”

  An alarm went off in my head, and I began fast-forwarding through the footage but kept the speed low enough for me to pick out the guard whenever he appeared on screen. Not long after Merrick’s time stamp, I started seeing Greg more often, but he always seemed to just be strolling innocently by. However, the asshole was a fucking amateur, and I didn’t miss the looks he tossed Piper’s way whenever she was near. His intense stare was creepy and possessive, but then it shifted to angry.

  Piper relayed the events of the day as we moved through the recording, and even though the camera never caught Greg leaving things for her, he always seemed to be around right before she found them. The guy obviously knew how to avoid the security feeds. But the more I watched, the more I was convinced I’d found our man.

  On the day Piper called Merrick, Greg finally slipped up.

  “I usually park near the stairs for some exercise, but there was a conference, so I had to find a spot wherever I could.”

  Lucky for us, that spot was right under a security camera. About an hour before Piper’s shift ended, Greg showed up and slipped a note under her windshield. She’d told me what it said, and just watching him leave it brought back the homicidal impulses.

  “No wonder he wouldn’t help me when I complained,” Piper muttered softly. “What a jerk.”

  I loved that my woman was so soft and sweet, but I was too fucking pissed to be amused by her characterization of her stalker.

  After shooting a quick email to Stirling, I swiveled around in my chair and pulled Piper down onto my lap. “I have to deal with this motherfucker. I want you to stay here, set the alarm, and don’t open the door for anyone except my dad or me. Is that clear?”

  Something in my expression or tone of voice must have clued her in to how serious I was because she didn’t protest. “Okay.”

  I started to move her off my lap, but she put her arms around me and held tight. “Don’t do anything that will get you taken away from me, Deacon Walker.” She pouted playfully, but her eyes showed how serious she was. “I fully expect you to spend the rest of your life with me.”

  Cupping her face in my palms, I leaned in and kissed her thoroughly. “I promise,” I vowed when I moved to nibble on the corner of her mouth. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  “Good,” she breathed.

  My eyes strayed to the bed, and I considered taking her one more time before I had to leave. But I didn’t want to rush the next time we were together. I wanted to take my time and reacquaint myself with every inch of her perfect body.

  I curled an arm under her legs and one around her back before standing and walking her to the bed. “Be good,” I ordered before giving her another quick peck on the lips. “I love you.”

  Piper grabbed me behind the neck and yanked me down, sealing her lips over mine in a desperate, hungry kiss. When she’d nearly broken my control, she let go and flopped back onto the mattress. “I love you, too. So let that be a reminder of what you’re coming home to.”

  I grinned and winked at her as I walked to my closet to get dressed. My sidearm was disassembled and locked in a case on the very top shelf. I retrieved the weapon, put it together, and loaded it, then returned the case to its spot. I grabbed a few other handy...tools and made a quick call to my dad, filling him in on the situation.

  Armed and confident that my woman was safe, I got into my truck and headed to LA.

  Stirling was waiting for me in the parking lot across from the hospital. I pulled up next to his Escalade and waited for him to climb into my passenger seat.

  “Still here?”

  He nodded and pointed toward the employee lot. “Shift ends in thirty. He drives that piece of shit van over there.”

  I spotted the rusty, old junker and frowned. “Is that his normal vehicle?”

  Stirling shrugged. “When I called in and informed him that his car was about to be towed, that's the one he came running out to.”

  My laptop was in the back seat, so I reached back and grabbed it. It took me less than five minutes to get into the DMV database and find the car Greg had registered to his name. “A Prius. There’s no van registered to him.” A suspicion was forming in my mind, and if I was right, I’d be making a call to Merrick’s former boss.

  I moved on to his bank account. “Cash withdrawal for two grand the day before yesterday. Every other transaction was made with a card.”

  “You thinking he bought the van with the cash?”

  “Yeah.”

  Stirling’s hands curled into fists, and his knuckles cracked. “Want me to take a look inside?”

  “No. I’ll do it.” I hacked the hospital camera feeds and took down the ones covering the employee lot. Then I handed my computer to Stirling. “Keep the cameras off.”

  “Will do.”

  I stuck a Bluetooth receiver in my ear and lifted my chin toward his phone where he’d set it on the dash. “Give me a heads-up if he comes out early.”

  “Roger.”

  It was late and dark, so the lot was mostly empty, which meant I was less likely to draw attention from anyone leaving the hospital. The lock took me all of fifteen seconds to pick—I wasn’t in the mood to rush.

  Fury like I’d never felt before engulfed me when I slid open the back door. Duct tape. Blankets. Zip ties. Bottles of what was probably something to knock out his victim.

  Piper.

  I shot off a text to Stirling with instructions, then I hopped inside to wait.

  Greg finally came out, and I curled into the shadows until he’d settled himself in the driver’s seat. Without making a sound, I put the barrel of my Glock up against his temple and growled, “Drive, asshole.”

  He yelped like a little girl, and his eyes
flew to the rearview mirror. “Who are you?” he squeaked. “What do you want?”

  “Fair questions,” I replied. “Drive the motherfucking van, and I’ll tell you all about me and what I want.”

  Greg started the vehicle and put it in gear before slowly heading toward the exit.

  “I’m surprised you don’t recognize me. Not the most thorough of stalkers, are you?”

  His eyes went wide, but he tried to hide his reaction and sputtered, “I don’t—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Come now, Greg. Don’t insult my intelligence.” My Bluetooth signaled an incoming call, and I hit the button with my free hand.

  “Merrick put in a call,” Stirling said. “I’m sending you the address, but just have him follow me. Cash is watching the traffic footage and will scrub anything that catches our faces.”

  I gave Greg instructions and a warning about what would happen if he deviated from them. But the guy was about to piss his pants, so I wasn’t really worried about it.

  “I’m Deacon, by the way. Piper’s fiancé.”

  Two hours later, I left a battered and bloodied Greg in the hands of a very discreet and capable hit man. With that behind us, I went home to fulfill certain promises to my woman.

  Epilogue

  Piper

  Even after living on the ranch for the past three or so years, I still wasn’t super comfortable with the horses. The same couldn’t be said for our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, though. Prue hadn’t met an animal she was afraid of yet. She adored them all, but her connection with our horses was special. And she wanted to see them every day, dragging me out to the stables to get her horsey fix.

  “All done, Mommy,” she cried, holding up her empty plate so I could see that she’d eaten all the scrambled eggs and toast I’d given her for breakfast.

  I walked over to the table and picked up her dirty dishes to carry them over to the sink. “Good job, sweetie.”

  “Go horsey now,” she demanded, slapping her palms against the top of the table.

  “Soon,” I promised, rubbing my hand over my rounded belly. “Your baby brother kept Mommy up most of the night with all his kicking. I need to wake up a little more before we walk over to the stables.”

  Prue wagged her index finger as she shook her head. “Naughty brobro.”

  I bit back my laughter, not wanting to encourage her. She got her bossy nature from her daddy, and I had a feeling she was going to take her pushiness to a whole new level once she settled into her role as a big sister. Instead, I reminded her, “You woke me up at night when you were in my belly, too.”

  “You sure did,” Deacon confirmed, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my body to cup my belly. “I used to put my hands right here, and you’d pretend you were playing soccer with them.”

  “Kick, kick, kick,” Prue squealed, swinging her feet in unison with her words.

  Deacon pressed a quick kiss to my cheek before letting go of me to shake his hand in the air as though it was hurt. “That’s right, you’d kick my hand so hard, sometimes I wondered if it was broken.”

  Prue’s dark eyes widened. “Nuh-uh, I no hurt Daddy.”

  “Don’t worry, sweetie. Daddy doesn’t break too easily,” I reassured our daughter as Deacon strode across the room to unbuckle her from her booster seat.

  My heart melted when she patted his face and murmured, “Daddy so strong.”

  “Strong enough to do this,” he rumbled, lifting Prue above his head and zooming her around the room.

  While he kept her busy, I loaded the dishwasher and finished my glass of orange juice. Then I ate a banana—earning me a hot look from my sexy husband—and munched on a handful of almonds. As soon as I popped the last nut into my mouth, Prue came running over and threw her arms around my legs and echoed her earlier request, “Go horsey now.”

  “Sure, sweetie.” My gaze slid over to Deacon. “Maybe Daddy wants to come, too.”

  “Yes, Daddy horsey!” Prue agreed, running back over to fling herself at him.

  “You bet.” He swung her up into his arms and grinned at me. “I wouldn’t want to miss out on spending time with my two favorite girls.”

  She gripped his cheeks and tugged until they were eye to eye. “Me your favorite.”

  “I’m your favorite,” I corrected out of habit, something I quickly regretted when my daughter twisted around to glare accusingly at me. She was definitely a daddy’s girl and got her territorial nature from him, too. “That’s what you should have said instead of ‘me your favorite.’”

  “Oh.” She nodded and turned back to Deacon and repeated, “Me your favorite.”

  Deacon’s chest shook with his laughter, making Prue bounce while she giggled along with him. “And the horses are your favorite, so we better get out to the barn so you can give them their morning treat.”

  “Horsey time, yay,” she cheered.

  I grabbed a handful of carrots from the fridge and followed them outside. As soon as Deacon set Prue on her feet, she ran over to me and grabbed the carrot I held out to her. Then she raced over to the closest stall and waited for Daisy to bend low enough that she could stroke the mare’s nose. After she went up on her toes to give her a kiss, she loosened her hold on the carrot so the horse could gently take it from her. She giggled softly before racing back over to me to get another carrot to do it all over again with Sierra. And Poppy. And Misty.

  When she grabbed the last carrot and hurried across the barn to Midnight’s stall, Deacon wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Leaning against his side, I tilted my head back to look up at him. “I’ll never get over how gentle that stallion is with our baby girl.”

  Prue paused to mutter, “I’m not a baby.”

  “Oops, sorry,” I apologized as I smiled at her. “You’re right. You’re definitely not a baby anymore.”

  She nodded and toddled the last few steps over to where Midnight was waiting for her. The black stallion was almost as tall as me and weighed more than a thousand pounds. But he was a gentle giant when it came to Prue.

  Deacon squeezed me and brushed a kiss against my temple. “She gentled Midnight as easily as you did me.”

  “I hope I didn’t break you in too much.” I winked at him and lowered my voice as I added, “I was looking forward to enjoying your wild side in bed tonight.”

  He pulled me closer against his side and rasped, “Second-trimester hormones really are the fucking best.”

  He wasn’t going to get an argument from me on that because he was so right. “Does that mean you’re going to give me what I want later?”

  “Hooyah.” His one-word response held enough sensual promise to send a shiver down my spine...and to have me counting down the hours until he could make good on it.

  Epilogue

  Deacon

  “Are you kidding me?” Prue shouted as she stomped into the living room and jammed her hands on her hips while glaring daggers at me.

  “What did I do?” I asked, genuinely confused. I looked at Piper, who was snuggled up to my side on the couch, but she just gave me an “I told you so” look and went back to watching the movie. “What?” I asked again. I hated when my baby girl was upset with me.

  “You didn’t even ask her any questions. You just said hi and waved them out the door. I bet you even gave him condoms!”

  I shifted uncomfortably, beginning to guess where Prue was going with this.

  “Told you this would happen,” Piper murmured as she patted my leg with mock sympathy. “I’ll miss you, babe.”

  “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, baby girl,” I tried to bluff with an innocent expression.

  “Don’t you baby girl me, Daddy! I brought home a perfectly nice, respectful boy to take me to prom, and you, Sage, and Jacob, and your SEAL buddies scared the ever-loving crap out of him. WITH A GUN! He wouldn’t even look at me by the end of the night, much less kiss me!”

  Smug satisfaction shot through me, but I swall
owed it down, not wanting to upset my daughter any more than she already was. “He wasn’t good enough—” I started to say, only to be railroaded by Prue.

  “Then Sage brings home a freaking cheerleader wearing just enough clothes not to be arrested, and you say hi and send them out the door!” Prue looked at Piper for help, but luckily, my wife didn’t desert me completely.

  She shook her head. “I’m staying out of this tonight. You two have to work it out.” Then she moved to one of the recliners and settled into it, watching us avidly as if we were the new movie to watch.

  “Et tu, baby?” I groused. Piper just grinned, so I sighed and turned back to Prue. “I can’t help it if none of the boys at your school are good enough for you. And we didn’t mean to scare him that bad—”

  “Bull crap, Daddy! Don’t you think Lana told me about what Uncle Merrick and Kohen did to her date? He gave you the idea, didn’t he? I bet Kohen told Sage everything to say.”

  I stifled another smile. She wasn’t wrong.

  “Am I going to have to bring Kohen on my dates as a chaperone?” she snapped.

  “Now there’s an idea,” I said, my grin slipping out a little.

  “Argh!” Prue stomped her foot. “Are you trying to tell me only someone like Kohen will ever get your approval to date me? Because that’s ridiculous!”

  Oh, baby girl...she didn’t even realize she’d just given me the win. “Yup,” I replied. “If you can find a stand-up guy like Kohen, I will let him take you on a date without any intimidation tactics.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and she studied me as if trying to ferret out any deception. “You won’t say more than ‘Hi’ and ‘Have a nice time’?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Do you promise?”

  I nodded. “Hooyah.”

  To my shock, Prue’s entire countenance shifted in a single second. She smiled brightly, and her eyes danced with triumph.

  Something was wrong here. I glanced at Piper cautiously, and she was holding a hand over her mouth, stifling giggles. Something was definitely very, very wrong.