Protected by a SEAL: Hot SEALs (Volume 5) (20 page)

CHAPTER 22

“So how was it being sequestered with Mr. Hot and Hunky?” Sitting on the bed, Roger waggled his eyebrows as he watched Sierra unpack.

“Please.” She rolled her eyes, employing all of her vast acting skills to pretend nothing had happened.

Sure, Sierra felt guilty keeping things from the man who was her best friend. Possibly her only friend. But what was she supposed to do? Admit she’d jumped her bodyguard the moment they’d gotten to the rental house?

“Hmm. I find that interesting.”

“What interesting?” Sierra folded Darci’s yoga pants and put them on top of the dresser.

“That nothing happened.”

“And why is that?” She put Darci’s zip-up sweatshirt and baseball hat on top of the pants. She should have returned everything to Rick before he’d left. She could always get them cleaned and have them delivered to Rick’s house. Roger probably had the address.

“Because of the hickey on your neck.”

“What?” Sierra touched her throat and leaned toward the mirror. Sure enough, there was a mouth shaped bruise. Clear as day even in the dim light of the bedroom. “Crap.”

“Would you like to change your story about nothing happening?” Roger asked. She saw his amused expression in the reflection in the mirror.

“Okay. Fine. It didn’t mean anything.” She wouldn’t have hated it if the relationship had stretched out a bit longer.

At least for as long as she was in town filming, but it was obvious by Rick’s demeanor as they packed up to go, and while in the car, that their association ended with the security job.

Roger’s eyes widened. “Oh, my, God. Tell me everything.”

“Jeez. You’re like a teenage girl. There’s nothing to tell.”

“Is he as hard all over as he looks?” Roger was obviously not letting up. His question had a laugh bursting out of her.

Rolling her eyes at herself and Roger, Sierra couldn’t believe she was answering that question, even as she said, “Yeah. He was.”

“Girlfriend, I am so jealous I can’t even tell you.”

“Maybe we should hire security full time.”

“Just say the word and I’m on it. Of course, I’ll have to interview them all personally. You know, for suitability.” Roger smiled before he groaned and stood, digging one hand into his front pocket. “What now? Not that I’m hating the vibrating in my pants after that discussion, but who the hell is calling and bothering me when I’m talking hot men with my best girl?”

Sierra shrugged. “It could be the studio confirming I’ll actually be in tomorrow.”

“I don’t recognize the number.” Roger hit the cell to answer and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello.”

She turned back to the open drawer, about to put in her pajamas, when she heard Roger gasp. When she turned back, he was no longer standing. He was sitting on the bed and pale.

He raised his gaze to hers but was still on the phone with whoever the mysterious caller was. “Yes, I understand. Um, can you tell me which hospital he’s been brought to?”

Hospital? That connected with the word
him
had Sierra stopping what she was doing to turn her full attention to Roger.

He disconnected the call and focused on her. “Sierra.”

“Who is it?”

“Rick.”

She reached for the dresser as she felt a little unsteady. “What happened?”

“He was shot.”

“Who was that on the phone? His boss Jon?”

“No, the police.

“Was he on anther job?” Did GAPS shuffle their personnel from one assignment to the next with barely an hour downtime in between?

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. But apparently, it was your stalker.”

“They arrested him. Did they let him out of jail?”

“No. They had the wrong guy.”
 

This whole time, he was still out there. And now he’d shot Rick.

Every time he’d taken precautions, she’d mocked him for being too worried.

And now this . . .

Shaking her head, she looked to Roger, at a loss on how to make this all better.

There was no way. All she could do was stand by, helpless, while Rick was possibly dying in the hospital.

Sierra had to sit down herself. It was a lot to wrap her head around. She moved to the bed and collapsed onto the mattress next to Roger.

“It’s okay. The police said the guy who shot Rick is dead. You’re safe now.” He wrapped his arm around her.

Didn’t he know she wasn’t worried about her own safety? “What happened?”

“I don’t have all the details, I’m sure. Here’s what I do know. They had a good description of the car. There was police chase, a shoot out, and the cops got him.”

“And Rick? How bad . . .” She couldn’t finish the question.

“He’s in the hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, but he’s alive.” Roger ran his hand up and down her back. “But there’s more.”

“More?” How could there be any more? This was too much already.

“The police located the shooter’s hotel room from the information on the rental car he fled in from the scene.”

This was important yet all Sierra could think was when did Roger start talking in bad cop show dialogue?

“Sierra, his room was full of pictures. Of you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. From the camera GAPS found in your bathroom.”

She’d thought the idea of the camera in her bathroom had been bad before. Knowing a now-dead madman had the pictures in his room made it all worse.

And he hadn’t been just spying on her. He’d been trying to kill her. But what didn’t make sense is she wasn’t even with Rick at the time.

“If he was after me, why did he shoot Rick?”

“The cop on the phone said maybe because he saw Rick as a threat. They don’t know for sure.”

It didn’t matter why. Rick had been shot because of her. She stood. “I want to go to the hospital.”

“Sierra, you don’t look so great. Maybe you should—”

“Roger, either you take me or I’m calling a cab and going alone.”

Finally, Roger nodded. “Okay.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll call down and have the valet bring my car around.” While Roger walked into the living room to make the call, Sierra spun to look at her half unpacked suitcase, before glancing down at the sundress she’d put on.

 
It could be a long night because she was staying until she was sure Rick was out of danger, no matter how long that took, she didn’t care what anybody said.

Should she change clothes? Put on something more comfortable in case she was at the hospital all night?

She realized that if Rick died, she would remember this dress forever as what she’d been wearing when she heard Rick had been shot. It was ruined for her now by the association. She might as well leave it on for the duration of this hell.

Roger appeared in the doorway. “You ready?”

“Yeah.” Sierra grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

Getting to the hospital, even with knowing the shooter was dead, was nerve wracking. Every car that drove too closely behind them, or alongside, Sierra looked at with suspicion.

Finally, the hospital came into view.
 

Roger parked, cut the engine and turned to face her. He covered her hand with his and squeezed before he reached for the door handle to get out. That silent support nearly brought her to tears. They walked together through the doors of the emergency room.

The sounds and smells of the hospital surrounded her, making her queasy. Making it seem all too real. She was shaking by the time they got to the desk to ask about Rick.

“Sierra.” The soft female voice behind her had her turning to find Darci. Rick’s sister drew her into a hug. “Thanks for coming.”

When she pulled away, Sierra could see Darci’s red-rimmed eyes. She swallowed hard before asking the question she was afraid to hear the answer to. “How is he?”

“He lost a lot of blood, but the bullet passed straight through and the wound was clean.”

“And that’s good?” It sounded horrifying to Sierra.

Darci nodded. “Yeah, it could have been a lot worse.”

Sierra wasn’t sure what to do. Ask to see him? Go find someplace to sit and wait?

Darci hooked a thumb behind her. “You want to come in and sit with me?”

“Can I? Is that allowed?”

“Sure.” Darci nodded.

Roger hooked a thumb toward the hallway. “I’m going to find the cafeteria and see how bad the coffee looks. Can I get you ladies something?”

Sierra shook her head. The way she felt, anything she drank might come back up. “No thanks.”

Darci held up the can of soda in her hand. “I’m good. Thank you.”

“All right. I’ll be back.” Roger left them.

Darci moved toward a row of curtained partitions, glancing at Sierra as they walked. “He might be sleeping. The painkillers keep him pretty groggy.”

“You sure it’s okay I’m here?” Sierra felt so out of place. Darci was Rick’s sister. She could sit bedside vigil, but Sierra wasn’t a relative.

And when Rick woke up, what would he think seeing Sierra there? She was a client. She was a fling. She wasn’t a friend . . . but she could be.

Hell, she wanted to be. A friend. And more.

Why the hell hadn’t she realized that before this? She’d been so focused on getting back to work, and on regaining her freedom from stalkers and guards, she hadn’t thought about how things had changed between her and Rick. How his absence would leave a hole in her life, even if they had only been together for a short time.
 

Darci touched her arm. “Sure, it’s okay. The guys have been in and out all day. Brody and Chris are still here. I’m just warning you not to expect too much from Rick. He’s asleep one minute and then awake and bitching that he wants out of the hospital the next.”

That sounded about right. On the verge of tears, overwhelmed with guilt and worry, Sierra still had to laugh.

He was alive and felt good enough to complain. That was such good news, he could bitch all he wanted to and she wouldn’t say a word about it.

CHAPTER 23

“I don’t know, bro. You’re seeing a helluva lotta action for an old retired guy.” Brody’s comment to Chris had Rick letting out a short laugh, which he regretted immediately as pain shot through him.

Chris rolled his eyes. “Two shoot-outs in a month is not a lot.”
 

“Hell, yeah it is. I daresay, with the guys you took out on the yacht in Florida last month, you might have more kills under your belt while retired than you did when you were active duty.” Brody grinned, obviously enjoying teasing his older brother.

Chris scowled. “Eh, shut up. You know that’s not true. And I would have had that guy today if he wasn’t out of range.”

Brody tipped his head in concession to the point. “True. I guess you better start carrying your sniper rifle around town, not just your Kimber and Glock. Never know when there’s gonna be a shooter speeding away in a car while you’re on foot.”

“Fuck. If I’d been in the truck instead of on the sidewalk trying to stop Rick from bleeding out I’d have gotten him, even if I’d had to run him off the road to do it.”

“It’s okay. The cops got him.” Rick had to thank God for that, otherwise Sierra would still be in danger.

Brody let out a snort. “They damn well better have. It was the cops who arrested the wrong guy in the first place.”

“Now, we can’t blame our locals. Those were the assholes in Florida who did that,” Chris reminded them.

“Hey, guys. We have a visitor.” Darci walking around the partition’s curtain had Rick looking her way.

He’d expected one of the guys. Thom and Grant had promised to come back this evening. Who he didn’t expect to see was Sierra.

In spite of his shock, Rick managed to say, “Hey.”

“Hi. You’re awake. How do you feel?”

“Fine. That’s why I don’t know why they won’t let me go home.” He raised his voice in hopes a doctor with some authority would hear.