Page 5 of Defended By the SEAL
Grams was the only woman Charlotte had ever wanted to become, though her regal bearing and proper manners were forever out of reach for a girl more likely to swear than ask,how do you do?
God, when was the last time she’d seen Grams? Christmas, the year before last, maybe. But that had been at her parents’ house in New Jersey. Charlotte hadn’t been out to the island in far longer than that, and she was suddenly deeply sorry she had not.
Cowboy sighed heavily as he typed on his phone, bringing her back to the moment. “Everyone’s out on assignment.”
She’d heard him leave a message for Razorback, the head of HERO Force New York, asking if they had anyone available if she and Cowboy needed a hand up in Maine, and she’d thought it was ridiculous. The only reason she even wanted Leo here was for his snow driving ability. “I don’t know why you called him anyway.”
“We don’t know who this guy is. We might need backup.”
She raised an eyebrow. “To deal with one old man?”
“You don’t know that. You said yourself, this guy could be bad news. Moot point, anyhow. Ian’s been spreading the team thin since Mac left. Too thin, if you ask me.”
The New York team of HERO Force was different from the Atlanta office. Mac had assembled a group of men with issues, from battle scars and missing limbs to PTSD or an inability to reintegrate back into life after military service. No one was sure how that was going to go, least of all Cowboy, as the current head of the original team in Atlanta.
Cowboy had taken a long time to warm up to Mac, the two of them finally becoming close friends. But now that Mac had reunited with his wife Ellie and retired, Razorback—also known as Ian—was in charge, and Cowboy seemed to have similar issues with Mac’s replacement. Charlotte frowned. It was hard for a man like Leo to hand over control, whether to a team of warriors or to his own damn girlfriend.
“Champion and Austin will be back the day after tomorrow if we need them,” he said.
At least she wouldn’t be alone with Cowboy if they showed up. “Great. They can meet us for lunch on our way back.”
“Can you drop the sarcasm, please?”
She set her jaw. He was right, she wasn’t making thingsany better by arguing with him. He was helping her and she needed to remember that, no matter how much it grated on her pride. “I appreciate you coming,” she lied.
“Of course I’m coming. What’d you think I was going to do? Stay home?”
“I’m just saying, I appreciate it.”
“Jesus, Charlotte.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“You think I don’t know what’s going through your head right now?”
“No, actually. I don’t think you do.”
He leaned in close to her, those blue eyes seeming to catch her in their crosshairs. “You’re wishing anyone but me were in this seat next to you. You’re wishing Mac had an entire team of guys waiting to drive you through this storm so you wouldn’t need me to do it. You’re wishing Gemma would have had that baby already, so Logan could be here. You’re wishing Uber would cross state lines, anything so you didn’t need me. And it hurts like hell, baby.”
She licked her lips. She was caught, busted. It hurt her too, the intensity of her emotional response making her eyes sting. “This hasn’t been easy for me, you know,” she croaked out, hating the emotion in her voice. “It’s not like I wanted things to go this way.”
He took her limp hand. “I love you.”
Her mouth pulled down hard at the corners as she slowly pulled her hand away. “Looks like we’re landing. Won’t be long now.” Turning to the window, she watched as the plane slipped into deep gray clouds tinged with purple. She couldn’t look at his face, didn’t want to see the disappointment she knew she’d see there.
Escape was what she needed, distance from this man, but that wouldn’t be possible for hours. If everything wentaccording to plan, they’d stay ahead of the worst of the storm. A brief layover in New York, then they’d be on their way to Maine, her grandmother’s home another three-hour drive from the airport. She let her eyes close at the thought of so much time in Cowboy’s presence—far too much time for her breaking heart to bear.
3
Lightning flashed, hail the size of fifty-cent gum balls bouncing off the windshield as Cowboy drove along the curving road that connected the string of islands to mainland Maine.
This had already been the travel day from hell, and these last hundred miles were bound to be the worst of them all. They’d made the flight out of Atlanta by the skin of their teeth, putting them in New York shortly after lunch, but there were no direct flights scheduled to Bangor until morning. To his credit, Razorback had come through with a chartered plane, but the worsening weather made the landing an event Cowboy would rather not remember.
Any hope of outrunning the storm had ended then and there. “You sure you don’t want to stay overnight at a hotel?” He’d asked as they disembarked. “This is a three-hour drive in good weather.”
Charlotte flipped her hair and glared back at him. “And then what? The roads close and we’re stuck here? No thanks.”
“Or we slide off the road and spend the night in a ditch somewhere,” he grumbled under his breath.