Protecting Caroline (SEAL of Protection Book 1) (9 page)

There was
silence. The three SEALs were actually stunned into silence. Jesus, this woman
was braver and less self-serving than a lot of the people they worked with on a
daily basis. 

Finally Mozart
broke the silence and told Caroline, “It looks like the knife missed
penetrating very deeply, Ice, but you have a good slice across your side. It’s
more than a scratch. It’s infected. I think you need stitches as well as
antibiotics.”

Caroline took a
deep breath and didn’t say anything. She looked up at Matthew and saw him
clenching his teeth and working his jaw. She looked away. Why was he mad at
her?

“I don’t want to
go to the hospital. I-I don’t like hospitals.” Caroline begged, a little
desperately. She kept her eyes on the man hovering above her, not able to look
at the disappointment she knew she’d see on Matthew’s face.

Wolf turned her
head back toward him again so she was looking him in the eyes. “Mozart can sew
you up, if you’ll trust him.”

Caroline didn’t
hesitate, “I trust him. I trust all of you. I just….” She paused. Took a deep
breath and continued on. “I just don’t want you guys to think I’m a wuss.”

She hadn’t
hesitated to say that she trusted them that went a long way toward making Wolf
feel better. But a wuss? Seriously?

“Ice,” Abe said
firmly before Wolf could get a word out. “You’re not a wuss. In fact I would go
so far to say you’ve held up better than some of the SEALs in training back in
San Diego. Let us take care of this for you. You’ll be up and around in no
time.”

Wolf looked at
his teammate. Interesting. Abe wasn’t known for being the most patient man,
especially with women. He knew Abe respected woman and tried to be polite with
them, but most of the time he tended to be short and abrupt with women, wanting
to be with them sexually, nothing else. But there was something about Caroline
that brought out the protective instincts with all of them.

“We’ll be right
here with you, Ice,” Abe promised firmly. Caroline nodded and shut her eyes.
Wolf had to distract her. He could see that every muscle in her body was
scrunched up tight in preparation for whatever it was she thought Mozart was
going to do to her.

“Where did you
go last night, Caroline?” Wolf asked.

Caroline answered
without opening her eyes. Her eyebrows were still scrunched together as she was
waiting for Sam to do something. “Nowhere. I spent the night in the airport.”

Wolf’s eyes met
Abe’s eyes guiltily. Abe had been right.

“Why? Why didn’t
you go to the hotel? Didn’t they offer you a comped room?” Wolf asked knowing
what the answer was already, but asking anyway.

“Yeah, but I
thought I’d just stay at the airport since I’d hoped to leave first thing this
morning. Besides, I didn’t have any money for anything like food when I got
there. They gave us the room for free, but I didn’t know if the food came with
it or not.” Caroline grunted as Sam inserted the needle that would put the anesthetic
into her side.

“Hell, why
didn’t you just ask, Caroline? If you did need money, I’m sure one of the men
would have given it to you.” Wolf chastised her gently.

Caroline opened
her eyes at his tone. She looked him straight in his eyes. She wanted him to
hear
what she was saying. Without looking away from Matthew she asked Christopher a
simple question.

“Christopher,
when did you first notice me?”

Abe answered
without hesitation and laughed a bit. “When you fell on top of Mozart as you
walked down the aisle on the plane.”

“Sam, when did
you
first notice me?” Mozart was waiting for the anesthetic to take effect and told
her honestly. “Same as Abe, I saw you walking down the aisle and of course when
you about fell in my lap.”

Caroline hadn’t
looked away from Matthew while the others were answering her question. She
directed the same question to him.

Wolf thought
back and suddenly he knew where she was going with her question and opened his
mouth to lie when she interrupted him, as if she could tell what he was
thinking.  “And don’t lie, Matthew.”

Shit. Wolf
sighed. “I noticed you when you offered to switch seats with me.”

Caroline nodded
as if they’d given her the answers she expected.

“Christopher,
you and I met at the lunch counter in the airport in San Diego. I was standing
right in front of you. You dropped your fork and I picked it up for you. You
thanked me and continued to your seat.” Abe flushed, remembering the incident
now that she’d brought it up, but Caroline wasn’t done.

“Sam, you were
sitting at the end of a row of chairs with your feet out, I tried to step over
your legs without disturbing you, but you noticed anyway, apologized, and moved
out of the way. I said it wasn’t a big deal, you nodded and I went and sat down
in the same row of chairs as you.” Caroline still hadn’t looked at the other
men, but heard Mozart’s low, “damn.”

Caroline took a
deep breath. “Matthew, you and I met on our way into the airport. I was having
problems getting my suitcase in the door because one of the wheels was broken
and…”

Wolf interrupted
her, “…And I helped you carry your suitcase through the door and up to the
check-in kiosks.” Caroline nodded a bit sadly. “You said you hoped I had a good
flight and walked off down toward the security check-point.” Except for the
roar of the engines there was silence.

“You asked why I
didn’t ask for help, Matthew,” Caroline continued after a beat, “it’s because
I’m not the kind of woman people notice. The three of you all talked to me, but
still didn’t remember me. I’m not the kind of woman people recollect or go out
of their way to help.” All three men went to interrupt her, but Caroline weakly
held up her hand to stop them and continued.

            “It’s okay. I know
what I am and what I’m not. What I’m not is like one of those women on the
plane. You know Christopher, the blonde that was cozied up to you? The ones
that got the men to fawn all over them? Even if I’d asked for help I’d most
likely have been turned down. Politely I’m sure, but turned down. In a room
full of people, no one notices me. That’s just the way it is, and it’s
fine
.”
Caroline emphasized. “So don’t any of you feel sorry for me. I didn’t ask for
help because I knew I’d be fine in the airport for one night. Hell, people
spend the night in airports all the time. I just didn’t have the energy to care
last night. And I don’t have the energy right now to be embarrassed about
telling you all of this. So don’t go reminding me later, okay?” She tried to
make the men feel better. She knew they felt guilty, but she didn’t want them
to. That wasn’t why she told them what she had. “I just want you guys to know
that I understand why you feel like you have to help me, but I’m fine. I’ll be
okay.” She shut her eyes, not able to look at the guilt she could see in
Matthew’s eyes anymore.

“I don’t think
you understand anything about us, Caroline,” Wolf countered. He didn’t
elaborate.

Caroline didn’t
open her eyes or say anything else. Wolf knew she’d heard him; she just wasn’t
acknowledging what he’d said.

Mozart poked at
her side for a moment and when Caroline didn’t flinch, declared to everyone
that her side was numb enough to put in the stiches. Wolf stood up and carefully
helped Caroline lie down on the cot then kneeled on the floor next to her. She
lay on her side. She had one hand under her head and the other was curled up
against her chest, as if anticipating the stiches going in.

Mozart actually
looked to Wolf for approval before he leaned down and started stitching her
side. It wouldn’t take too many, but he wanted to be as careful as he could be.
Since it was Ice, he wanted to spare her as much pain and make the scar as
small as possible.

Abe had left
their side for a moment while Mozart stitched her up but he was back with another
needle as soon as Mozart was done with his handiwork. Abe also looked to Wolf
for his okay before proceeding. Wolf nodded at him. With Wolf’s approval, Abe
leaned down and  stretched out Caroline’s arm that had been clenched tightly
against her chest. He found a vein on the inside of her elbow and administered
the drug before she could do more than put up a token protest.

Caroline turned
to look at Matthew in surprise.

Wolf’s chest
expanded at the fact she’d looked at him for reassurance, not at Abe or Mozart.
At her questioning look, Wolf simply said, “To help you sleep.”

Caroline nodded
but laughed. “I don’t think I need any help sleeping, Matthew. I didn’t sleep
very well last night.”

Wolf leaned
close to Caroline’s head. Damn, she hadn’t complained once. She’d been in pain,
was in a plane getting stitched up, and she’d let a man she didn’t really know
inject an un-known drug into her system. Wolf would’ve beaten her ass if he
hadn’t been so proud of her for being so strong.

Wolf figured
he’d get to ask one more question before she was out. They hadn’t had a chance
to talk to her about what went on in the interrogation by the Feds. He hated to
do it now, but they had to know what everyone said in the civilian’s debriefing
before they met with the commander in Norfolk.

“What did you
say to the FBI about what happened, Caroline?” He wanted to put off the
uncomfortable question and possibly bring back bad memories for her, but he
knew, as the team leader, this was something they needed to know before any of
the personal things could be said.

“Nothing,
Matthew,” she said sleepily.

“Nothing?” Wolf pressed
skeptically.

“Nothing.”
Caroline confirmed. “They were more interested in the stories from the other
passengers. They were willing to talk and say what they knew, which wasn’t a
lot. They thought you guys were most likely some sort of military, but since
they were in the back when most of what happened, happened, they didn’t have
much to say. While they questioned me, no one really seemed interested. I
already told you about me and people not noticing me.”

While he was happy
she hadn’t said anything, it’d make it easier for them to stay under the radar,
and he was still baffled by this woman. All three men looked at each other over
Caroline’s drowsy form. If she’d kept quiet as she’d claimed that should help
with whatever was going on with the Feds. They’d been very interested in how
and why the terrorist’s plan failed; to the point of suspicion. None of the
SEALs wanted Caroline put in the middle of whatever was going on.

Mozart asked the
question they were all thinking. “Why didn’t you tell them what you did, Ice?” he
asked quietly from her side.

Caroline tried
to open her eyes, but they were just too heavy.
Jesus what was in that shot?
“I didn’t
do
anything,
you
guys did all the hard work…and I
didn’t want to get you guys in trouble.” She murmured. “I know what you SEALs
do is usually kept hush-hush and I didn’t want to say anything that you guys
didn’t already explain, so I told them nothing. Figured it’d be better.” Her
voice slurred more and more. “Believe me, I wanted everyone to see how sexy you
guys are, and know you’re heroes and what you did, but I know that’s not how
you operate…” Her voice trailed off. She was out.

The three SEALs
said nothing as they got Caroline cleaned up and comfortable on the cot. They
had to strap her in so when they landed she wouldn’t roll off. Mozart had given
her enough of the sedative to keep her asleep for a while. Wolf stayed by Caroline’s
side holding her hand, while Abe and Mozart went and sat in empty seats.

They all had a
lot to think about. This slip of a woman had touched each of them in different
ways. None of them would be the same. All of them knew they’d protect her with
their lives if need be. They didn’t know what would happen next, but somehow
they knew it wasn’t over. Their instincts were screaming at them that something
was wrong, but they didn’t know how or why. None of them wanted to see Caroline
disappear from their lives. She’d become important to them by just being
herself. She was unassuming and they were so damn proud of her they couldn’t
stand it.

Caroline woke up
slowly, feeling like her head was filled with cotton. She rolled over and
gasped in pain. Ouch, she’d forgotten about her side. She lifted up her shirt
and saw the neat row of stitches. Sam had done a good job. She was a bit
surprised it wasn’t covered with a bandage, but figured Sam knew what he was
doing. Thank God they hadn’t brought her to a hospital. She really did hate
them. She thought back to the one time she’d had to spend time there and
shuddered. She’d rather have Sam stitch her up any day of the week then go
through that again.

Looking around,
Caroline could tell she was in a hotel room, but not where or which one. She
should’ve been freaking out, but the last thing she’d remembered was the three
SEALs staring down at her tenderly as she passed out on the cot on the plane.
If she couldn’t trust a SEAL, then she couldn’t trust anyone.

She carefully
got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom as if she was drunk. She couldn’t
remember the last time she’d eaten and she felt pretty weak and unsteady on her
feet.  Caroline used the toilet gratefully, then noticed the brand new
toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter. She pounced on them and brushed her
teeth thoroughly. She’d never take that for granted again.

Seeing the
shower, she suddenly had an intense urge to get clean. She knew she probably shouldn’t
get her stitches wet, but she
had
to have that shower. She figured she’d
try to keep her injured side out of the water, but if it got wet, it got wet. She
could still
feel
the blood splatter from the terrorist’s neck. She felt
itchy and didn’t want to even think about the germs she’d picked up from
rolling around on the floor of the plane and then sleeping on the ground at the
airport.

She tore off the
shirt that she never wanted to see again, throwing it in the trash. She thought
briefly about the fact that she wasn’t wearing any pants. Someone, hopefully it
had been Matthew, had taken them off of her before putting her to bed. The
thought made her tingly inside, but she pushed it aside. He’d obviously been
gentlemanly enough not to remove her shirt, and even though she didn’t really
know Matthew, figured he’d probably turned his head when he undid and removed
her pants.

Caroline took a
much quicker shower than she really wanted to, just enough to get clean and
wash her hair, but she did take the time to wash her hair twice. She would’ve stayed
in the shower all day enjoying the beat of the hot water on her back, but she
had to figure out what was going on and where she was. She stepped out of the
shower and wrapped herself up in a fluffy bathrobe that was on the back of the
door.

She stepped back
into the room and noticed for the first time her suitcase sitting on the floor.
What the hell? How had that gotten here? The last thing she remembered was that
the airline had said they would send all the luggage to Virginia when they were
done with it. Damn. She hated not knowing what had happened. Caroline remembered
being on the plane with Sam, Christopher, and Matthew, but nothing after Sam
started stitching her up. That shot was definitely stronger than anything she’d
ever taken before. She’d always reacted strongly to drugs, something they
couldn’t have known.

She sighed and
sat on the side of the bed. She noticed a piece of paper on the table next to
the bed and leaned over gingerly, not wanting to tweak her side, to grab it.

Caroline. If
you’re reading this I’m not there to tell you what’s up. Don’t worry,
everything is fine. You were out of it when we landed yesterday. We met up with
the Feds and they released your bag to us (guess there’s an advantage to being
a SEAL after all huh?). I brought you here since I didn’t know what plans you
made for when you got here.

You slept all
night and I really wanted to talk to you when you finally woke up. Mozart
assured me that you were fine, just sleeping. He said you’d wake up when you
were ready.

We had to get to
the base this morning to go over what happened on the plane. I haven’t left for
good though. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I made sure there was some food in
the hotel fridge, you’re probably hungry. The coffee is all ready to go, just
hit the on button.

I hope you feel
better today. We’ll talk when I get back from the base.

Matthew

Carline held the
note to her chest. Wow. It didn’t really say anything romantic, but somehow it
was the most romantic thing she’d ever been given by a man, okay, hell, it was
the only note she’d been left by a man. She hadn’t received any notes in high
school, or in general. Matthew had been thinking about her. She glossed over in
her mind the fact that he would’ve had to have carried her into the hotel room
and concentrated instead on how he’d said he’d be back later.

She had no idea
what time he’d left. She looked at the clock; it was currently eleven in the
morning. She leaped up, as gracefully as she could with the stiches in her side,
and fumbled through her suitcase for something appropriate to wear. She wanted
to look casual, but at the same time neat and put together. Caroline finally
decided on a pair of jeans and a fitted top. She usually wore T-shirts when she
was at home, but she didn’t want to see Matthew again in one.

She put her hair
up with a barrette and went over to the kitchenette. There was a little
refrigerator as well as a microwave and a little coffee pot. She checked, and
yup, Matthew had filled it up with fresh grounds and water. She turned it on
and set about tidying up the room.

She opened the
refrigerator and saw that Matthew
had
made sure there was some food in
there, it wasn’t a lot, but it should take the edge off her hunger. She grabbed
a yogurt and a pre-packaged strip of cheese. She ate those while she waited for
the coffee to be done.

Caroline sat on
the bed and sipped the coffee once it had filled the little cup. God, it tasted
good. She wasn’t sure what to do with herself. She generally was a very “busy”
person. She didn’t have a lot of down time, but since her job didn’t start for
a week or so and she had nowhere to go and nothing to do at the moment, she
found herself actually enjoying the coffee she was drinking for once.

Done with her
drink, she got up and put it on the table. She then lay back on the bed and
relaxed.

Just as she was
about to fall back asleep she heard the click of the door lock being
disengaged. She sat up carefully to see Matthew entering the other room of the
suite. She could tell he was trying to be quiet.

“Hello,” She
greeted him softly.

Wolf turned
around and smiled at her. Woah. His smile was lethal. His teeth were straight
and when he smiled she could see the wrinkles crinkle up by his eyes. And if
Caroline thought he was good looking in jeans and a shirt, he was positively deadly
in his uniform. 

“Hey, how do you
feel?” Wolf asked with a happy glint in his eyes.

Wolf was glad to
see Caroline was awake. As he’d told her in his note, he’d been worried about
her. Mozart had assured him she was fine, but until he’d actually seen her
awake he wasn’t sure he believed him. She’d been completely knocked out when
they’d arrived at the hotel.

“Pretty good,
all things considered,” Caroline told him. “How’d this morning go at the base?”

“Good. We wanted
to keep your name out of it, but we had to tell the commander here in Norfolk
your part in the whole thing.”

Caroline nodded.
“I figured you’d have to. It’s fine. I’ll talk to whomever I have to in order
to help. If they think I can help prevent this from happening again, I’m happy
to do it.”

Somehow Wolf knew
she’d say that. He smiled broadly at her. “Everyone is really interested in who
those guys were and what they wanted to accomplish. We didn’t give them time to
tell us where they were going. You said two of them were talking about
coordinates right?”

At her nod he
continued. “We don’t know if they were planning on crashing into something like
the terrorists did on 9/11, or if they were planning on landing the plane
somewhere.”

Wolf went over
and sat next to Caroline on the bed. Just the fact they were both sitting on a
bed together seemed very intimate. Caroline couldn’t stop the blush that crept
up her face.

Wolf took one
finger and ran it lightly over her cheek. When she blushed further and bit her
lip with her teeth, but didn’t pull away, he leaned in closer. He watched her
lips and when her tongue darted out to moisten them he nearly groaned. God, how
could he ever have missed seeing her? Really seeing her before he got to know
her.

He ran his index
finger lightly over her bottom lip where she’d been biting it and had just
licked. He could feel the hot wetness on his fingertip.

“I’m going to
kiss you Caroline,” he informed her somewhat gruffly. When she didn’t say
anything he growled out a warning. “If you don’t want this, now’s your last
chance to say something.”

Wolf could see
the pulse in her neck beating hard. She swallowed, but didn’t stop him. He
leaned toward her and used the same index finger that had just been caressing
her lip to lift her chin. He wanted to look into her eyes to ascertain if she
really wanted this, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her delectable
mouth. Finally his lips met hers.

Her lips parted
immediately to let him in. He didn’t plunge into her mouth right away; instead
he ran his tongue over her top lip, stopping to tease the same lip with a quick
nip of his teeth. He pulled back a fraction of an inch to look at Caroline. She
had her eyes shut and was clutching the front of his uniform with both hands.

He decided to
stop messing around and went in again. This time when their lips met, Wolf
thrust his tongue into her mouth and rejoiced when she met it with her own.
They caressed each other over and over. Wolf retreated and she followed, then
he pushed her tongue back and explored her mouth with his.

Finally, when
Wolf knew he had to stop, not risk pushing them further than they were ready to
go, he pulled back. One of his hands had made its way behind her neck and he’d
been holding her against him. His other hand was low on her back. If they’d
been standing or lying down he would’ve been pushing her pelvis into his own. Wolf
took a deep breath, but didn’t move his hands.

Caroline slowly
opened her eyes. Holy Hell. Matthew was delicious. She’d been kissed before,
but she’d never been kissed like that. Like Matthew needed her to breathe. Like
she was precious. She didn’t know what was different about that kiss from every
other kiss she’d had in her life, but deep down she knew it
was
different.

Caroline loved
the feel of Matthew’s hands on her body—the hand behind her neck held her still
and she could feel the heat of his hand on her back. She laid her forehead
against his shoulder. Matthew didn’t remove his hand from her neck, just
followed her in and held her against him.

“Wow,” was all Wolf
could say at the moment.

“Wow indeed,” he
heard Caroline’s muffled voice against his shoulder.

He chuckled. He
felt great. Better than he had in a long time. Strangely, knowing she was just
as affected as he was went a long way toward calming him down.  

“What do you say
we take today to sightsee?”

Caroline lifted
her head from where it was resting against Matthew’s chest and looked at him.
“Sightsee?”

“Yeah, sightsee.
You know the thing people do when they aren’t working and are on vacation?”

Caroline
chuckled. “Yeah, okay.” If he wasn’t going to talk about their kiss that was
fine with her. “What is there to do around here?”

Wolf could tell
she was relieved he wasn’t rehashing their kiss. He’d give her time to digest
it and come to terms with what happened, but he knew they’d have to discuss it
sooner or later. He wanted more, a lot more.

“Well, I could
give you a tour of the Naval Station, or we could go to the Norfolk Zoo, or the
Botanical Gardens. If you like museums, there are several here. What are you in
the mood to do and what can you physically do? I don’t want you hurting
yourself further.”

Caroline went to
sit up straighter and couldn’t help but flinch as the move stretched her side
and pulled at her stiches.

Of course Wolf
saw. “All right, before we go, I want to check your side. Then how about I show
you the base then we grab something to eat. We can then come back here and
watch a movie. That way I don’t have to keep asking you how you’re feeling and
you won’t feel the need to lie to me.”

Caroline laughed
out loud. Crap. How could he know her that well so soon? “Sounds good.”

When Matthew
made no move to get up Caroline smiled and pointed out, “You’ll have to let go
of me if we’re going to go anywhere.”

Matthew leaned
down and whispered, “What if I don’t want to?”

Caroline didn’t
have anything to say, but the goose bumps that rose on her arms were answer
enough. Matthew smiled at her, took his arm from the back of her neck and ran
it down her arm, kissed her hard, then stood up. He held out his hand to help
Caroline up.