Page 18 of Tempted by a SEAL

Emma laughed despite herself, drawing another smirk from Hunter as his gaze once again locked with hers. She cleared her throat. “You want to know why they were after me? It turns out I discovered something they want back.”

“Care to fill me in?”

“At the moment—no.”

“You can trust me,” he said, his voice gruff.

“You’ve given me no reason to.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Aside from hustling you out the door and ensuring your safety you mean?”

“Aside from that,” she agreed.

He grumbled something unintelligible. “You want to know what I do? I’m a Navy SEAL. We were on our way back from an op and are here in London on R&R, just like I already said. And I happened to be in the right place at the right time and agreed to do a little off-the-books surveillance.”

“On the two men in the pub?”

“Affirmative,” he said. “That’s my hotel right over there,” he added, nodding at a building across the busy street. “I need to grab my stuff, and then we’ll figure out our next move.”

“We?” she asked, looking at him in confusion.

“I’m here to gain intel on those two men—if they’re after you, that means you’re involved too, princess.”

“I don’t like any of this.”

Hunter chuffed out a laugh. “Neither do I. Not tracking down men affiliated with a terrorist group on my R&R—in the middle of goddamn London—not leaving Mason alone in the pub to fend for himself, and I sure the hell don’t like the fact that you’re wrapped up in all of this.”

“You don’t even know me,” she protested.

“I’m a damn Navy SEAL. The definition of my career is helping people. I can’t talk about specifics, but know this—I’d never let harm come to a woman. Never.”

His jaw clenched in a hard line as she gazed up at him, and her exhaustion from the past week finally began to sink in as her adrenaline rush faded. She sniffed, blinking back tears, and looked warily toward his hotel.

Swallowed.

Hunter gaze shifted to her in surprise.

“I just don’t know what to do—I don’t have anywhere to go. I mean, it’s not like I can drag my friends into this. And the men who are after me already found my flat.”

“You’ll come with me. It’s already decided.”

“Nothing’s been decided.”

“I have connections. You tell me what information you have, and we’ll make sure it gets into the right hands. If it’s enough for them to chase you all the way back from Afghanistan, it must be pretty damn important.”

“But how will that stop them from coming after me?”

A shadow crossed his face. “It won’t. But we’ll figure it out.”

***

Emma followed Hunter into the ornate lobby of the hotel, wrapping her arms around herself as she shivered. Nothing like a cold London downpour to dampen her spirits—no pun intended. Long, wet locks of hair stuck to her face, her drenched sweater clung to her like a second skin, and for a moment, she recalled the 95-degree heat in Afghanistan a week ago. The sticky perspiration on the back of her neck as she wandered through the bazaar.

Funny how she would’ve given anything then for a nice, cool London day.

She’d best be careful what she wished for though before she ended back up in the godforsaken place. Because if those men dragged her back, she certainly wouldn’t be spending time in the market on a beautiful, sunny day.

She walked carefully across the oriental carpet of the hotel’s lobby, eyeing the plush lounge chairs arranged around a low table. Wouldn’t she love to sink into one for a moment—if only it wasn’t in plain sight of the street and hundreds of people walking by.

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