Page 2 of Protection for Nichole

Frog came over to Jay and licked his hand. He scratched the dog between his ears before Frog went back to Thario and sat beside his chair. The guys laughed, and Jay’s lips stretched wide as he stared at Griz. Of course, Griz made a big show of rolling his eyes as he huffed.

They were out at a park, sitting in the shade of a tree next to a grill. They were trying to get together more on the weekends. It was great everyone got along. Even Griz, who had been in the Navy for sixteen years, wasn’t tired of hanging out with them. He would be sad when Griz retired. But the man was still going strong, so it would be a while. Some SEALs opted out after a few years because of the intense physical requirements. It was tough to be a SEAL. The physical training alone was enough to cut people from the ranks. Add to it the missions and deployments, and it could be a lot for some people.

Griz didn’t have a wife or kids. As far as Jay knew, the man had never settled down. But then again, many of the guys didn’t talk about past relationships, and he wasn’t about to ask Griz about his history.

They’d already eaten burgers, and he was thinking about heading home since he still needed to do some cleaning before work on Monday. He pulled out his phone and saw a notification for an email on an old account. It had been years since he’d shared that email address with anyone. Few people even knew of it, so it struck him as odd that he’d received an email.

He wasn’t paying too much attention as Apple told a joke about one of the fast-food joints nearby. As the punchline was delivered, a roar started in Jay’s ears because he’d just seen who’d sent the email. His mouth went dry as lust-filled memories slid through him. Instead of clicking on the email,he shoved his phone in his pocket, not wanting to think too much about heavenly Nichole while he was in the park with his buddies. Just seeing her name in her email address had been enough to make him half hard. Memories of that woman stuck with him, making him want to give up everything to be with her.

“Jay, everything okay?” Sharp’s eyebrows were raised, and he had an expectant look on his face.

“Sorry, just distracted.” He stood and stretched. “I’m heading home. I need to vacuum.”

“You should get yourself one of those robots,” Danika said. “James doesn’t like it, but it saves us time on the weekends.”

Squat snorted. “If he had one of those, he’d turn it into aStar Warsrobot.”

Jay frowned. “Hey, don’t knockStar Wars. And yes, I would make it into a battle droid.”

Shine laughed. “You are such a geek.”

He nodded, proud of his geek status. “I sure as heck am.”

Apple rolled his eyes. “Good lord, don’t get him started on the Rebel Alliance.”

Normally, he would say something, but the email from Nichole called to him. What did she want? Maybe it was spam, but he hoped it wasn’t.

It had been a while since he’d checked what she was working on. There’d been a period of time where he couldn’t read any of her work. It was painful thinking of her being out there and not a part of his life. Then he’d gone back to reading her stuff again and was impressed with what she was doing.

Years had passed since that week they’d spent together. Why was he still pining for a woman he hadn’t seen in about four years? And they’d only spent one week together, but it had been more than just sex. It had changed him.

If he’d been smart, he would have insisted on having her information before he left the resort, but they’d wanted to bemature and not tie each other down. Maturity had lost him the best thing he’d ever experienced. He’d been too young to realize women like Nichole didn’t come around often. She was perfect and he never should have let her walk away so easily.

So much had happened in the four years since they’d spent that week wrapped in each other’s arms. He’d qualified for BUDs and become a SEAL. Now, he was living his best life. His stomach clenched as he pulled into the driveway of the duplex he’d purchased a year ago.

Before opening his car door, he pulled out his phone. The anticipation of checking the email wound through him. A part of him didn’t want to open it because if it was spam, he would be crushed. But if Nichole had written him, he needed to be inside because just thinking about her was driving him wild with excitement.

Chapter 3

Pain hit hard,making it difficult to breathe. After sucking in air slowly, Nichole blinked open her eyes. Light shot to the back of her brain, sending a spike of pain straight through her. She slammed her eyelids shut, hoping to block out the offending brightness.

What in the world was going on?

It took a few tries to get her eyes open, but she had to stare at the ground to reduce the brightness enough so she could see where she was. From her limited view, she saw no furniture and no windows.

She blinked a few more times, trying to adjust to the near plasma like lighting. There were a few lumps on the ground close by. The shapes started to organize into something recognizable. There were women in the room with her. Three other women. So the four of them had been separated out. Were there only four women who’d survived?

Pain spiked through her, and she closed her eyes as she tried to figure out exactly what happened. Why was it so bright? They weren’t outside, but it was like two suns were shining down on them, making it impossible to keep her eyes open.

After the pain abated and she could stand it again, she opened her eyes and looked around. One of the other women was looking at her but closed her eyes after a second. She wasn’t the only one having trouble with the brightness.

Where were the men? They’d killed the one doctor, but what had they done to the rest of the medical personnel? She didn’t want to think she was lucky to have survived, but she might not live long enough to make it out of this.

Her heart squeezed as the reality of her situation seeped in. Had her text to her editor gone through?

The attack had been a surprise. Before flying over here, they’d done a threat assessment. She knew the risks but had wanted the experience of interviewing medical personnel working to save the forgotten. She’d attended the meeting to learn what to do if something bad happened. But this was beyond what she’d expected. Of course, if she’d known, she wouldn’t have come, or maybe she would have. This experience was an opportunity of a lifetime if she made it out of here. She had to survive.

One thing she knew for sure was antagonizing the people holding her would be dangerous. But a small part of her wanted to do just that. If she got under their skin, it could be bad for her and the other people being held captive with her. Putting these people at risk would be wrong.

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