Now it’s my turn for a reality check. They’re right. It’s a thought I’ve had in the past, but staying sane when I had no option but to run meant setting it aside. I look at Asher. “The key is in my money belt in your safe.”
He gives me a nod and looks at Blake. “If I leave at sunrise—”
“If we leave at sunrise,” Luke says. “I’m coming with.”
Asher gives him a nod this time. “If we leave at sunrise,” he says, “we can watch the box for a day, and grab it and leave Tuesday. That gets me back in plenty of time to be at the bar Wednesday night.”
“I thought we weren’t due in until Friday?” I say.
“We’re on call for Wednesday and Thursday,” Asher explains, “and so far, I’ve been called into work both days.”
Blake’s phone buzzes and he looks down at his messages. “Kara doesn’t know Agent Bennett, but Royce has heard of him.” He sets his phone on the round stone coffee table. “I’ll contact Royce on a secure line when we’re done and find out more,” he says to us all before focusing on me. “And we’ll look out for you here, Sierra. What you did to get here, what you’re doing now: It’s all the right choices and brave, very brave.”
“Agree one hundred percent,” Luke says. “And, Sierra. My wife is one of the top divorce attorneys in the country. She’s sought out by movie stars and athletes. And I promise you she will tell you this isn’t a marriage you’re in. It’s a prison with a death sentence that is his, not yours.”
This hasn’t gone as I thought it would in my mind. I didn’t get any sense talked into Asher. I made myself the scorned married bitch who is going to hurt Asher. “Do not underestimate him,” I say, standing up. “None of you get to die,” I say. “Not one of you. None of you.” I turn and start walking.
Asher is behind me an instant and just before we clear the wall, I stop and turn to him. “Please don’t stop to talk. I need out of here.”
His hands settle on my waist. “They’re on your side, just like I am.”
“I’m married.”
“Stop fucking saying that. It only makes me want to fly to Denver and kill him now.”
“You don’t listen.” I turn and head down the stairs only to find Kara, Julie, and a very pregnant Lauren now standing at the bottom.
I inhale and let it out, starting down the steps, not sure what to expect. When I reach the lower level, Julie steps forward. “If he lives, you have a divorce attorney.”
“I’m not letting him live,” Asher says.
“Then I’ll help you kill him,” Kara says.
“And I’ll be everyone’s criminal attorney,” Lauren says.
They’re all exaggerating, of course. Or I think they are. “You’re all insane.”
Asher slides his arm around my shoulders. “Isn’t it beautiful?” He doesn’t give me time to respond. He eyes the three musketeers in front of us. “We’re going home.” And with that, he turns us toward the door. Home. We’re going home, as if his place is my place. This idea burns a hundred emotions in my belly.
“See you tomorrow, Sierra!” Julie shouts out, followed by a similar goodbye from Kara and Lauren, while I grab my tote on the way past the table.
Once we’re in the hallway with the door shut, Asher doesn’t look at me. He leads me forward and toward the stairs. “Asher,” I say, as we start down them.
“Not now. When we’re alone.”
He’s angry. I get it. I sideswiped him. Well, he sideswiped me too, asking Luke for a plane and deciding to go get my lock box open. Anger crackles between us and about twenty other things, some of which are way too early to name. I may never have the luxury of naming some of the things I might feel for this man. That he doesn’t get that just burns inside me, like his touch burns up my arm, and across my chest.
We exit Walker Security and cross the street, more silence between us. The elevator is next and when I would retreat to one side as I had before, he doesn’t let that happen. He catches my waist from behind and places me between him and the panel. “Key in the code,” he orders, and I know he’s testing me. Making sure I know what I need to know when he’s gone. Damn him, still trying to take care of me. The elevator opens and he takes my hand in his and leads me forward, more of that hard determination in his steps, that anger between us damn near explosive now.
I don’t let him continue to take the lead. I’m the one who took action tonight for a good reason. I step ahead of him and key in the code to the door. He walks me inside from behind, his big body up against mine, and the minute we’re in the foyer, he shoves the door shut and pulls me to him, his fingers tangling in my hair.
“Asher, damn it—”
He kisses me, a drugging, intense kiss that I don’t fight. He tastes of a heady mix of confident male and power that consumes and overwhelms me in all the right ways. I kiss him back, my hands pressing to the strong line of his shoulder blades until too soon, his lips part from mine, those green eyes of his piercing. “You won’t be married to him for long. That’s a promise.” He doesn’t give me time to argue. “Don’t claim him as your husband again. I don’t like it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Asher
I set Sierra away from me, focused on the list of things I need to get done before I leave her alone for two days. “Come with me and bring your purse.” I don’t wait for a reply. I start walking with purpose, across the living room and up the stairs, and I don’t stop until I’m back in the weapons room, behind the table. I don’t sit.
She enters the room, the look on her beautiful, stubborn face as determined as I feel. She crosses to stand in front of me. “Set your bag down,” I order.
She does it, clearly aware that right now, I’m all business. “Now,” I say. “I want you to put your revolver in your purse, but before you reach for it, tell me everything you’ve learned.”
“Never point it at anyone that I don’t want to shoot. Align my index finger for accuracy.” She repeats everything I’ve taught her methodically, to finally add, “Shoot to kill. Anyone I injure could be pissed off enough to kill me instead.”
“Grab your new purse and put the revolver inside, positioned to grab and point.”
She nods and follows that instruction, appearing focused on what I’m teaching her. “Put the strap across your chest, purse at your hip.”
While she does that, I round the table and step behind her, my big body encasing her smaller one, and I push past the fact that I’m rock hard. “That’s a loaded weapon,” I say, my hands on her shoulders. “Zip the purse and practice unzipping it and pulling the weapon.” She struggles and makes a frustrated noise.
“Do you have to stand behind me like that?”
“Is that making you feel performance pressure?”
“Yes,” she says. “Among other things.”
“Good. Because if you have to pull that gun, you’ll be scared shitless.” I turn her to face me, hands on her hips. “The idea that carrying a gun is as simple as point and shoot, is false. You need to practice when I’m gone.” I release her and grab the semi-automatic, expelling the cartridge.
“Where are the bullets?” I ask.
“Inside the cartridge.”
I remove them. “Put them in again.”
“Asher can we just—”
“Do it, Sierra.” I’m pushing her. I know I am, but one thing sitting with Luke and talking about Devin Marks did for me was remind me that Marks really will kill Sierra if he gets the chance. “This is me helping you protect you.”
“Yes. You’re right.”
She loads the blanks I have her using and then pops the cartridge into place.
“Cock it,” I say, and that’s where she, and most people, slow down.
She has to focus to get her hand right and get the job done. “Hand it to me,” I say, and she manages to point it at me.
“Damn it,” she says.
“That’s why you practice without real ammunition, but I’m going to see if Jacob ca
n take you to the shooting range. He’s a sharpshooter with a calm, cool disposition. He’s also stoic as hell, which means intimidating. Those are all skills you need to have when handling any firearm.”
“I’d ask to wait on you, but I get it. I need to learn now.”
“Yes. You do.” I walk around the table and open a closet, removing a case for the pistol and returning. I show Sierra how it fits in place. “We’ll take it with us in the morning. That way if he has time, he can just swing by and get you at Walker Security. Put it in that big, black bag-thing we bought.”
“A tote,” she says, her full pink lips quirking, her pale skin flushed. “But big black thing works, too.”
God, she’s beautiful and selfless enough to try to stop me from helping her, when of course, she’s human. She wants the help. She even knows she needs it, which is exactly why I’m staying focused on preparing for my trip. “This way,” I say, heading out of the gun room, down the hallway and into the bedroom, this time continuing on through the bathroom to the closet and safe. Sierra joins me and I motion her forward. “Open it.”
She does as I say, and I’m under no misconception that this means she’s going to make a habit of taking orders. She gets it. She’s in danger. I’m preparing her for the worst. She unlocks the safe and removes her money belt, unzips it and hands me the key. “It’s at a storage facility a few blocks from the DFW airport. It’s the only thing in the unit and the building locks.” She gives me the address and I text it to Luke and Blake.
“I need to call one of my SEAL brothers in Dallas and yes, I trust him. How about ordering us some food? Anything. Pizza is probably easiest.”
“What do you like?”
“Anything and everything.” I cup her face and kiss her. “I’ll be in my office. It’s just past the gun room. Hang your clothes in the closet.”
“I hung up some of it.”
Her words from our fight back at Luke’s place, reply in my mind: I’m married to another man and punch me in the damn chest. “Some is not good enough right now. Fuck, Sierra. Convince me you’re staying.” I let her go and walk out of the closet, hating the idea of leaving her here, but knowing damn well that she gave me that key because she trusts me.
I head down the hallway and walk into my office and cross to the wooden writer’s desk with cross legs that I wouldn’t have if Kyle’s wife, Myla, hadn’t decided to use her design skills to decorate every male home in the Walker clan. She’d called the desk a “statement piece” or some shit like that. It’s supposed to complement the brick and wood finish of the walls. I told her whatever. Decorating is not my thing, but hell, I’m glad she did it now that Sierra is here.
I bypass the desk and walk up the three steps that lead to a sitting area behind a wooden railing, where two leather chairs and a table sit in front of an arched window. My thinking spot. And for a few minutes, that’s all I do. Think. I start to process the people in my mind that can help me end Devin Marks beyond my SEAL team, and there are only a few I trust completely.
I dial Luke. “Are we on the same page?”
“Yes,” he says. “The only reason I haven’t done it is that I was waiting to talk to you.”
“I’ll do it.”
I disconnect, open the drawer in the table next to me, and pull out a disposable phone. I dial the number that only a small group of ten SEALs know, some active and some not. Once the line connects, I type in a ten-digit code that identifies me and sends a message: Be ready for war. Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, everyone who is able will check in with a location.
I stick the phone back in the drawer and return to my regular line and call one of those SEALs direct. He answers on the first ring. “No, I don’t want a job.”
“Well I got one for you anyway,” I say. “It’s personal. I need you.”
“When and where?”
“I’m coming to you and I’m bringing Luke. We’ll be on the ground by ten tomorrow.”
He pauses and there is movement before he says, “I just got the notification. I’ll be waiting when you get here.”
We disconnect, and I push to my feet, walking down the hallway and into the bedroom to find Sierra nowhere in sight. I walk through the bathroom and step into the doorway of the closet to find her hanging her things next to my Navy fatigues. Seeing her clothes there, next to mine, should freak me the fuck out considering commitment isn’t my thing, but that’s not what bothers me. It’s how little she has.
I reach into my wallet and remove a credit card. I’ve just stuck my wallet back into my pocket when she turns around, and lifts her hands to her things. “Does that prove I’m fucking staying?” she challenges.
“It’s a start,” I say, closing the space between us and offering her the card. “Go shopping online or if Kara can take you, with her. And I mean shop. Shoes. Clothes. Dresses. Whatever you need. The things you need to start over here.”
“I’m not taking that card or buying more clothes.”
“You have nothing, Sierra,” I say, and driving her to a certain response I want her to give me, I add, “If you don’t do it, I will. I’ll order a shit-ton of stuff and you will have to weed through what you want.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Prove to me you’re fucking staying,” I say again.
“I’ll cash my check and shop.”
My lips curve. “Good. Claim the job. That works.”
She scowls. “That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
“We’re getting there, but take the credit card anyway.”
“No. I’m not taking it.”
“If you have to run, use this card. Leave me a trail. I’ll use it to track you.”
Realization washes over her face and she reaches for it. “Thank you.” She sticks it in her purse that’s sitting on the bench beside us.
“And it has twenty thousand dollars on it, if you need it for anything.”
“I don’t need your money, Asher.” Her hand comes down on my chest. “But I do need you. So quickly. I don’t know how I already need you this much. And I don’t want you to be okay with me calling him my husband. I was just trying to protect you. I really need you to be safe. I need—”
I kiss her, tongue licking into her mouth, and when she reaches under my shirt, her palms soft and cool against my hot skin, I’m about ten seconds from snapping. “You cannot leave. You stay here.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“When I’m gone, Sierra, do not go to the bar. Do not go to the grocery store. Do not go anywhere alone. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I do.”
“Say it. You will not—”
“I won’t. I promise.”
I kiss her again, and lift her, carrying her to the bed. We both go down on the mattress, and when we should be undressed and fucking that’s not what happens, compliments of the doorbell. “The pizza,” she says.
“The pizza,” I repeat, but neither of us move.
Her hand settles on my cheek. “Asher.”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“I’m really starving.”
I laugh and kiss her hand. “Me too.” I roll her over and rest on my elbows above her. “You can be dessert.”
“You can be dessert,” she says, and when I roll off of her, I’m smiling.
I head down the stairs, the scent of her perfume clinging to my skin, and that damn sweet floral scent gets to me. It makes me want to lick every part of her body. And I will. Over and over and over again because she’s already my fucking woman. I’ve never called any woman my woman but she is. That’s just how it is. She came. She became. She is. On some level, she already knows it.
On every level, Devin Marks is about to find that out, too.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Asher
As much as I want to set the pizza on the bed, strip Sierra naked, and just savor every inch of her, I don’t. She is more to me than sex. I want to know her inside and out, and right now, with me l
eaving, and leaving her here, I need her to know that. And so we sit on the bed, eating pizza, and I make sure we talk about everything but monsters and killers. Movies. We both love super heroes. Books. We both love to read. Christmas.
“What do you do for Christmas?” she asks.
“I was overseas for about five years, but since I’ve been back, the Walker women come over here and put up a tree.”
She smiles. “I like them. I like that they do that for you.”
“I have to buy a baby shower gift and Christmas gifts. You have to help me with all of the above.”
“I’d like that,” she says. “The baby shower is soon. If I do go shopping, do you want me to just grab something?”
“Yes. Please grab something.”
“What is your budget?”
“Make it good. Spend whatever you want to do that. What about your Christmas, Sierra?”
“My mother and father made the holidays fun. They went big. Decorations. Food. It was fun. After my father died, it was never the same.”
“When did he die?”
“The year I met Devin. Some professionals, like myself, might say I was looking for a male figure in my life, and it contributed to why I was susceptible to him.” She waves a hand. “I don’t want to go there. Your mother? Do you remember her?”
“Yes. I do. I remember her being good and sweet, always working for charity organizations and having me help. I remember my father yelling at her. Talking down to her. And yet she’d get up the next morning and try to make someone in need smile. Unfortunately for you, I’m more like my father than my mother.”
“That’s not true, Asher. You are nothing like your father.”
“I can be. Not to you, Sierra, but when I want to hurt someone, I’m good at it. And I want to hurt Devin Marks. I’m not going to feel regret when I do, either. Which means you might wake up one day and see me as just another version of Devin, but I’m still going to do what I’m going to do on this.” I shut the empty pizza box and I stand up. “I need to pack a bag.” I turn and walk toward the bathroom. Before I ever get in the door, Sierra is in front of me, her hand on my chest.