Page 6 of Stranded with the SEAL

“I took them off. They were wet. It’s okay.” He helped her put on the long johns, not wanting her to feel more vulnerable than she already did. He had two sisters and would just as soon knock any guy silly who took advantage of a woman. Sitting by her feet, he pulled back the covers and helped her put on the matching pants.

“Thank you,” she whispered, averting her eyes. “Do you have any aspirin?”

She thought this was his house. He cocked his eyebrows, unsure if he should correct her and deciding it was easier to let it go. He found some painkillers in the bathroom and turned the water on, but nothing happened.

He cursed under his breath. The pipes were probably frozen.

She was sound asleep when he returned. He popped the painkillers in his own mouth and swallowed them dry.

He found firewood on a covered porch out back and quickly made a fire, then took a candle from the mantel and went to check out the water pipes in the basement. They were wrapped with wires he recognized as heat tape, and plugged into electrical outlets in the ceiling.

He located the electric meter and fingered the wire tag that held the outer ring in place to guard against tampering. He found a pair of wire cutters on a small workbench and cut through the wire. The metal ring around the glass meter needed a little encouragement from a screwdriver, but then it came off, allowing Trevor to remove the entire glass meter from its backing.

Two plastic tabs covered large prongs, and he removed them before plugging the meter back in and replacing the metal ring. The wheel on the meter began to spin, showing electricity was running through it.

Somebody would be facing a large fine from the electric company for breaking the wire seal, but defrosting the pipes was far more important at the moment, and if there was an electric pump on the well, they also needed the electricity to bring water into the house at all.

Back upstairs, Trevor patched the hole in the window with cardboard from a cereal box, then wrapped the second blanket around his shoulders and sat down on the couch opposite Olivia to check his knee. It was badly swollen, with a red and purple contusion from the top of his kneecap to the top of his shin. He put pressure on the kneecap and hissed as he inhaled.

This was not how this day was supposed to have gone. His only consolation was that she seemed to be okay and the snowstorm that had caused their accident would likely prevent Steele from leaving Warsaw Mountain this evening as the intel claimed. According to the weather report Hawk heard before he left Denver, it was supposed to be even worse to the east, which was where Steele needed to drop off the shipment.

Come morning, the woman would be feeling better and he could find another way to get in and out of Steele’s compound. Without any weapons or ammunition, a vehicle, and without any C4. “I knew I was going to run out of C4,” he muttered, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

When daylight came, he’d make a new plan. But no matter what happened, he wasn’t leaving this mountain until Steele was dead. He owed it to Ralph.

His eyes drifted shut. He was asleep within minutes.

4

Logan O’Malley was readingin his childhood bed, his feet dangling off the end like the lanky giant he was. His plan to go to the beach with the rest of HERO Force had petered out before it really got off the ground, with Cowboy and Matteo being the only ones to actually make it to Cabo San Lucas. Seemed those two clowns were the only ones who actually did a lot of things.

Logan certainly hadn’t planned on spending the week in his hometown, meaning only to stop off for a night or two before heading to Cabo, but his mother was so happy to have both her children home at the same time, he’d decided to stay.

The door opened and his sister walked in without knocking. “Jesus, Logan. Put some fucking clothes on.”

He looked down at his striped bikini briefs, half-covered by a Batman comforter. “It’s my room, Charlotte. And when did you start talking like that?”

“Janie and Sarah are coming over to get ready for the reunion, and you have the better bathroom. And I’ve been talking like that for most of my adult life, thank you very much. Now I’d like you to pack up and go shake your money-maker someplace else.”

He frowned. That wasn’t true. She’d only been talking that way since marrying Loser Rick fresh out of high school, and she never lost the colorful vocabulary after she divorced him. But the rest of her little speech piqued his interest. Out of all of his sister’s friends, they were getting a visit from his personal favorite, and he smiled a wolf’s grin. “Sarah Davenport?” She’d been a cute little prude in high school, all buttoned-up sweaters and perky little tits.

Charlotte pointed a manicured red nail at him. “Don’t even think about it. The last time you were home, Trisha Palmieri wouldn’t speak to me for a month afterwards. You said you’d call her.”

“I did call. I left my wallet on her dresser and I had to get it back.” He winked. “Besides, you don’t even like Trisha Palmieri.”

“That’s not the point. Just because you went from a geeky geek to a hot geek doesn’t mean you can go all Don Juan on my whole high school yearbook.”

“We’re not in high school anymore, Sis. I can date your friends if I want to.”

Logan’s cell phone chimed, and she turned to face him, hand on her hip and a gleam in her eye. “Then I can date yours, too.”

“Sure.”

She smiled widely and he instantly realized his mistake.

“Except Cowboy,” he said, reaching for his phone.

Charlotte scowled. “One of these days, you’re not going to have any say in the matter. He likes me, too, you know.”