Page 16 of Stalked By the Navy Seal

His hands fly to his chest when he sees me standing in the living room. “JesusChrist Riley. Baby, you scared me. What’s all this?”

I walk over to him and place my hands on his chest. “Sara mistakenly let it slip that today is your birthday, so I decided to do something nice for you for once.”

“I hate my birthdays.”

“I know, but it’s just you and me. Just pretend we’re having dinner like we do every night.”

His eyes fall to my breasts pushing at him through the cutout in my dress. “Not with you looking like that.” His head dips and kisses my breasts, and I hold his head to stop him.

“No, we’ll eat dinner before dessert, but first, make a wish.”

I pick up the cake and place it in front of him, and he looks at me intently, his gray eyes shining in a way I’ve never seen it shine before. “I don’t need to make a wish; all I ever wanted and desired is standing right in front of me.”

My face breaks into a wide grin at how perfect this moment is, how perfect Chase is, and how perfect my life is. The butterflies that have practically been in my belly since I met Chase go into a frenzy, and I stand on my toes to kiss him.

Our lips are just about to meet when Chase suddenly stops and looks around. “Did you hear that?”

I shake my head no. “I didn’t hear any—”

His palm covers my mouth to keep me from saying anything else, and his eyes dart around the house. “There’s someone out there,” he whispers. “So we’re going to quietly go upstairs.”

I nod frantically, and he removes the hand covering my mouth and pulls me toward the stairs. We have barely cleared the first flight of stairs when we hear a loud bang that shakesthe entire house and sends the front door and me flying to the ground.

In one swift move, Chase picks me up in his arms and clears the remaining stairs before going into the bedroom and locking the reinforced door behind us.

He sends someone a text and grabs his gun and some bullets from his safe before proceeding to search through his closet while my heart pounds in my ears. “What’s going on, Chase? Did you see who that was?”

“From the explosive that just blew my reinforced military-grade front door off its hinges like a paper clip, I’m guessing that was either your stepfather or Deadeye Dante.”

The pounding in my ears gets even louder, and my breathing heightens with every second that passes. “Oh god, it has to be Dante. We’re so screwed, I’m so screwed.”

“Got it!” Chase turns around and shoves a shotgun in my hands, and I stare at it like it’s an explosive.

“I’ve never used a gun before, let alone one this huge. I can’t do this.”

He places both hands on my shoulders. “Yes, you can. Just put your hands on the trigger, and if anyone who isn’t me walks through those doors, blast them to kingdom come, okay?” I nod, the adrenaline pumping in my blood too much to process anything clearly.

Chase grabs another gun from his sock drawer and shoves it into the back of his pants. “Stay here.”

“Oh no, no, no, no. You’re not leaving me here; that’s how people die in horror movies. We have to stay together. Besides, you don’t know how many men are down there.”

“Just shut up and listen! You have to stay here. I cannot lose you, Riley. Do you hear me? My life will be over, so stay here and do as you’re told, okay?” I nod, too stunned to speak. “Good.”

He plants a kiss on my lips and disappears from the room while I try to get my breathing under control.

It’s not even up to a minute after he leaves when I hear several gunshots and then silence.Oh god! He’s dead.

Chase could be lying dead down there, and I’m over here cowering like a coward. The man I love could be dead, and any second now, one of Dante’s men or, worse, my stepfather, will burst in through that door and drag me out of here.

I can’t let that happen. I need to be brave for once in my life. If I’m gonna go out, it might as well be fighting alongside the man I love.

Yes, I love Chase and would’ve told him that had we not been interrupted. And now, maybe I’ll never get that chance. That thought scares me more than the thought of several armed men invading our house and probably taking me as their prisoner.

I slowly open the door, and then I hear one shot, followed by another round of gunshots. There are so many gunshots coming from all angles of the house that I’m not sure where any of them are coming from.

The glass of the window behind me shatters as one of the bullets hits it, so I duck and stay down ‘til the gunshots stop. I quickly get up and slowly move down the stairs, keeping an eye out for any suspicious or sudden movements.

Someone steps out of the guest room right in front of me, and just as I’m about to pull the trigger, Chase’s voice stops me. “It’s me, it’s me, Riley. Jesus! I thought I told you to stay inside.”

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