Page 9 of Protected By the SEAL

“My dad?” I don’t know why this stuns me a little, but it does. Maybe I reallyamdreaming. “He did this? Wow, that’s…”

“Yes, he hired me to come and get you away from the jungle and the gang. My company located you as soon as we could.”

I let this sink in for a moment. Since my head is all over the place, I don’t know how much of this is making sense to me, but it feels good. Benji is surrounding me in a warmth with theuse of his body and his words. I’ve never been as close to this man I don’t know before, but it feels right. He’s my hero, and I don’t know how to let him go. I can’t stand to be away from his strength.

“How did you find me?” I whisper. I can’t glance up and look at him because I’m too nervous. I think I might have to yank myself away from him if I finally meet his eyes. I haven’t reallyseenhim yet, and the idea is too much for me. “That’s crazy.”

Benji doesn’t answer me, and to be honest, I don’t really need to know how he found me. I’m just so grateful that it happened. I nestle into him a little harder and breathe in his deep masculine scent. I can’t get enough of him. I’m so thankful to my father. It’s amazing that he’s done this. Much as I’ve always hated my family’s need to be in the public eye, now I’m starting to think of it as a good thing. If he weren’t so well-known and wealthy, then he wouldn’t have been able to afford this man.

“You aren’t the police, are you?” I already know the answer to this. I just have an intense feeling that he isn’t.

“No, I’m not the police,” Benji laughs quietly. “Did you want me to be? I haven’t let you down, have I? You weren’t looking forward to the cops tearing down the jungle and getting you out of here, were you? I wouldn’t want to upset you or anything…”

“Not at all. I kinda knew that my father wouldn’t call the police. He doesn’t have any love for the police.”

I expect Benji to have an opinion on this, but thankfully, he doesn’t. He doesn’t have anything to say. Either that or he doesn’t want to get into it right now with me, which is fair enough. This little rock hole is too small for us to argue. Plus, I’menjoying the comradery that we share. I much prefer that to any hostility. I’ve had enough negativity for today.

“I don’t think I can hear the voices anymore,” Benji declares instead. “Do you think we should make a move?”

“Er…” I shrug my shoulders helplessly. “I don’t know. Do you think they’ve had enough time to go past us?”

“Well, we know where they are headed, don’t we? It won’t be long until they find Alex, and we don’t want to be here then.”

“That’s true.” I gulp, knowing that we don’t really have a lot of choice in the matter. “Okay, let’s make a move.”

Benji slides out first, and everything inside me tightens like I’m in pain. I have this horrible, terrible sensation that I’m going to lose my second anchor now, and Benji will be one I feel terrible about. I don’t know if I’ll be able to cope without him. Thankfully, it’s only a couple of seconds before his hand reaches out to mine and he takes me from our safe space.

“It’s okay,” he convinces me with a nice-looking smile that makes me flutter. “There isn’t anyone around. I wouldn’t pull you out if so. You know by now that I wouldn’t do anything to put you in any danger. You can trust me, don’t you think?”

It feels weird to be out of my safe space, to be out in the terrifying jungle once more. The trees seem larger and more overshadowing. Every flicker of light and movement, every sound is more intimidating than before. Or perhaps I’m simply more aware of what the dangers are and what they represent. Either way, I need to cling to Benji more than ever before.

“I can trust you,” I hiss as I keep a tight, firm grip of his hand. “I know I can. Thank you, Benji. Now, let’s get out of here.”

There are predators in this place, and I don’t just mean the potentially killer animals at bay here. Those men, we have no idea how many of them are out there, where they could be hiding, and what will happen if they get us. As we walk, I run my eyes all over the back of Benji, drinking in his impressive stature. He towers above me in an amazing way, but I still don’t know if it will be enough. There’s no guarantee that he will be able to help the both of us if lots of them surround us. I can’t stop thinking about what it might be like if we get captured and separated, and it’s scaring me to death, so much so that I don’t look where I step…

“Argh!” I can’t stop myself from tumbling. I feel like I’m falling fast as the speed of light, but it’s also happening in slow motion. I catch the horrified expression on Benji’s face as I go, as I lose control of my feet, as I start to slump toward the ground.

“Oh, my God.” Before I slam hard into the ground, before I get even more damaged by the jungle floor, a pair of arms wraps around me. It’s unbelievable, I can’t believe that anyone would move so quickly, but Benji’s reflex reactions are incredible. He not only scoops me up before I can hurt myself, but he holds me against his chest so I can feel his pounding heart. “Are you okay, Cassie? I think you might have caught your foot on the tree root. You need to look where you step.”

“Yeah, I… sorry,” I whisper breathlessly. There are strange butterflies flapping in my stomach which don’t feel like they are coming from fear, but I don’t want to put a label on what it is. “I’ll be more careful. I didn’t mean to…”

He doesn’t let me go, not straight away. His eyes run all over my face as if he’s trying to see how I’m doing. I suppose he’s worried that it’s more to do with exhaustion and heat exposure than my not looking where I’m going. He doesn’t think I’m just clumsy. Maybe if he spends some more time with me, he will find out. But actually, if I’m honest, the look is much more searching than that. It’s as if he really wants to see me, see me in a way that no one has seen me before.

Shit, my heart is in my throat. I can’t drag my gaze away from Benji’s despite the intensity of it. It’s almost too much. I don’t know if I can accept it. I feel like I might be drawing even closer to him, pulling myself nearer, wanting to kiss him. Shit, I really want to kiss him. I want to know what those lips of his taste like. I’m desperate to know everything about this man.

“Thank you for saving me,” I whisper as I can feel him luring me in, taking me closer to that intoxicating mouth of his. “Now, and before.” My hands hook around him as I start to pull myself upward. I want to take control of this situation, to claim him as my own. Maybe it’s all the thoughts of everything that I would have missed out on had I died playing havoc on me, but I like it. I like feeling bold and brave, being the opposite to how I always was before. “That was awesome of you to do…”

Any minute now, I’ll have connected the dots, I’ll be kissing my hero, and even if it’s irrational, I just know it will feel good.

Bang!The gunshot, which I now recognize with ease, shocks me to the core and rips me away from Benji.Bang, bang!

“What was that?” I yank my head away but don’t let go of Benji. I know what it was, we both do, but I need to ask anyway. “Oh, my God, was that a gun? That means they probably know about Alex now, don’t they? They’ve found him dead.”

“We need to move.” Benji snaps into action once more. He’s much better at that than I am. I don’t know what I would do if it weren’t for him. “We know roughly where that’s coming from but we need to be careful, don’t we? We need to get out.”

I don’t care where Benji takes me this time. I’m willingly running with him. Whatever his plan is, it’s better than mine, which is to do nothing. I follow as best as I can with my eyes on the ground this time around so there are no more accidents. The only time I glance up, I see the shiny, metallic gun in Benji’s hands which forces my eyes away once more. I’ve seen enough death to last a lifetime. The last thing that I want to do is go through that again. Seeing death was too much for me. I’m pretty sure that I’ll watch Alex die every time I close my eyes from here on out. Even if it was to save me, it hurt a whole lot. It was hard to see.

“I have a room,” Benji calls back to me, not too loudly, but enough for me to hear him. “We can hide out.”

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