SEALed With Love (DiCarlo Brides book 2) (The DiCarlo Brides) (21 page)

“We don’t even know what this is between us yet. I don’t want to screw it up by moving too fast.” He stroked one of his hands down her arm and picked up her fingers.

“Right, because we’re practically moving at the speed of light right now.” She tipped her head at him. “It only took you six months to kiss me.”

“Look, I’ve had casual girlfriends, but I haven’t been in a serious relationship.... ever. And things are a little crazy and emotional for you now. Okay, for both of us,” he allowed when she opened her mouth to protest. “But there’s a whole lot about my past that you don’t know.”

She snorted at the understatement. “The things I know about your past could fit in a thimble, Joel. You never talk about it. But I know a lot about who you are now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She gave his fingers a squeeze. “You’re thoughtful and sweet. You protect yourself, worried you’re going to get hurt, or maybe you’re worried you’re going to hurt others. Or maybe some of both.” She considered for a moment and decided that was probably right. “You have few close relationships, but those you call friends can count on you through anything. That’s what SEALs do, and it’s bred into your bones. No matter what happens, you come through.”

“You make me sound like a saint,” he protested.

“Oh, no, you’re no saint.” She reached out and touched his goatee, feeling the silky hair under her fingertips, as she had longed to do for months. “You’re far too interesting for that.”

He slid away, out of her reach, then snatched up his coat. “And with that, we need to head to work. Don’t leave the spa. I’ll come for you at lunch, and after work to pick you up.”

She sighed at the change of subject—he was always doing that—but decided to go along with it for now. If she gave him time to think about letting her move in here, she might convince him later. “Wendy’s still gone, so I’m working the full day.”

“Then I’ll have time to catch up on the paperwork that piled up while I was in California,” he said.

Sage slid her hand back into his and thought she could live with that. Maybe she could nag him into joining her for dinner.

The next few days were strangely uneventful, though Joel tracked Sage even closer than before. He constantly monitored her in the spa, checked her email and tried not to obsess. That was difficult, though, now that he’d actually kissed her—now he knew how soft her lips were, how she melted against him and gave freely before he even had to ask.

They spent every waking hour—when they weren’t at work—together, and thanks to the cameras, he felt like he spent the days with her as well. Some evenings they were at his place, sometimes at hers, but he never spent the night under the same roof again. The temptation to join her in her room would have been unbearable and he didn’t want to screw this up with her.

It was growing late and Joel held Sage tight against him. It was past time to say goodnight, but he found it harder and harder to leave her each night. He stole one more kiss standing inside the front door, trying to convince himself to turn the knob and leave. He reached behind him to touch the door when her eyes widened.

“Don’t,” Sage said, grabbing his sleeve. Worry filled her gaze.  

“I can’t stay all night,” he said, brushing the hair back from her face. “You’ll be fine.”

“No, it’s not fine. Something.” She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath. “Just wait. There’s something—I don’t know—something bad’s going to happen tonight. With you. Just, don’t take off yet.” Her face was pale, her eyes intense.

“Sage, nothing’s going to happen.” Joel pressed a kiss to her forehead, wondering why she suddenly freaked out. Then his cell phone rang.

She clasped shaking hands in front of her. “That’s it. That’s what’s wrong.”

“Honey, it’s probably just something at work.” He fished it out of his pocket. “This is Joel.”

“It’s Trudy.” Her voice hitched, bringing Joel to full attention. “Wade... there was a blood clot... he had a massive stroke.” Her voice broke and she didn’t finish the news, but Joel didn’t need her to say the words. Wade hadn’t made it and all of the good feelings of the previous moment shriveled up and blew away while dread and horror filled his chest.

“Trudy, is your family there? Your parents? Did his arrive today?” Joel pulled Sage closer, needing contact as pain ripped through him. Wade had been fine—they’d spoken on the phone that afternoon. He’d been jovial and excited to go home again. They had planned for Joel to bring Sage to visit when Wade felt well enough.

“Yes. They’re here.” Her voice hitched as she struggled with the words.

They spent the next few minutes talking while Joel tried to calm Trudy down even as he fought his own anguish. He couldn’t cry, though. Not yet. Not while he was trying to hold it together for her. At her request, after he hung up, he called Riley and asked him to spread the word among the SEALs. Then Joel buried his face in Sage’s hair, pain ripping through him as he tried to accept that Wade was dead, that their earlier phone conversation had been their last.

Sage hugged and petted and soothed, and instead of going back to his own place, Joel let her lead him to the sofa again, where they curled up together. A few hours later he woke from a nightmare when he rolled off the sofa onto the floor, Sage still in his arms.

“What happened?” he asked, still breathing heavy from the images in his mind. This time the nightmare hadn’t been a memory, just a mash of images and emotions that clogged his throat and made it hard to pass air.

“It’s just a dream.” Sage rubbed his arm, soothing him even as she lay half on and half off of him from when he rolled them off together. “Let’s go up to my room. It’s more comfortable there.”

“I... No. I should go.” But he didn’t want to. The thought of facing the darkness made him shudder. Wade was gone. His eyes burned, but he extricated himself from the embrace and set her aside, then moved toward his jacket.

Sage took his hand and tugged him up the stairs. “It’s okay, I’ll let you sleep on top of the covers if you want to. We’ll both sleep better up there.”

He doubted he’d sleep at all if he had the chance to hold her on her bed. But he craved her presence, and the thought of going home alone filled him with dread, so he let himself follow her up the stairs.

When they reached her room, she kicked off her shoes and crawled under the covers, fully clothed. “Come on,”

Joel wavered for a moment, then pulled off his own shoes and slid in still wearing his jeans and T-shirt. As he gathered her close again, he thought about how much she had come to mean to him, and how much worse this night would have been without her. When had anyone been there for him like this? His unit had his back in battle, as friends, but they all had their own things. No one had ever just been there for him, loved him like she did. No one before her ever seemed to think he was worth it.

 He brushed a kiss against the crown of her head, determined to show her what it meant to him. Despite his expectations, he drifted off to sleep again.

Sage wasn’t sure when Sunday dinners had become a normal and expected part of the routine for the house, but sometime after the hotel opened Jonquil or Rosemary had somehow organized dinner every Sunday night for anyone who was in town and not on call at the resort. Sometimes Harrison popped in, Blake was almost always in attendance, but Joel was at Sage’s side every week.

She’d always thought having someone shadowing her every move would drive her crazy, but as time passed and he was more firmly entrenched in her life, she didn’t feel irritation at his presence. Or not often, anyway. Joel was comforting, reassuring, even when he was drilling her on safety precautions or dragging her to the shooting range—which he did twice that week despite the cold weather. Or maybe it was the care that he showed, ensuring that she could protect herself if he was unable to help her that comforted her.

Sage leaned back against his chest after the food was gone and banter started to flow. She watched the byplay of people in the room. Vince and Rosemary were having a heated discussion comparing the Rockies to the Mets—even though Sage doubted Rosemary cared one way or the other about the Mets—she hadn’t watched any sports since they’d moved to Juniper Ridge. Blake and Lana were discussing some show they had both seen when it was touring in Chicago, Lana playing with the long necklace she always wore under her shirt. And Cami and Jonquil were dishing out the dessert Rosemary had put together. Delphi was on call at the resort that weekend, but she didn’t always participate, even when she was available.

Sage enjoyed hanging out with her sisters, watching how the near-hostile atmosphere of their first meeting had slowly started moving toward friendship and even sisterhood—though arguments over whose turn it was to do the dishes still abounded. There was a long way to go, but they would get there, eventually.  

She let out a breath of air, opening her mind as she snuggled back against Joel. A feeling of wrongness slammed into her and she shivered, clutching at her shirt. She studied everyone’s faces, tried to reach into the ether for answers to where the feeling came from, but couldn’t pinpoint the source of the trouble. The feeling grew and she reached for Joel’s hand, squeezing it tight. “Something’s wrong.”

“What do you mean?” He shifted her dark curls away from her neck and laid a kiss against the sensitive skin of her nape.

The doorbell rang and Lana hopped up. “I’ll get it.”

Sage’s bad feeling intensified and she called out, “Lana, don’t answer it.” She was half out of her seat before she knew it.

Lana shook her head and opened it with a grin, then looked around, ending with a glance at the ground. She screamed and jumped back.

Joel and Blake were both upright in a heartbeat, running to her.

Sage’s heart seemed to stop when she saw the horror on Lana’s face, and she watched Blake glanced out the door and blanch. He pulled Lana into his arms, pressing her face against his chest with one hand. Seeing them together like that, the truth about them as a couple practically sang to her. Lana was pregnant. She pushed back the impressions of them—bits and pieces of the past and future twisted together. She forced it away, focusing on what upset her sister. There would be time to think through the rest later.

Joel’s expression was grim and he stepped around something, shutting the door so he was outside.

Sage started to go to him, but Blake shook his head. “Don’t go out there. Really, you don’t want to see it.”

“It was horrible, horrible,” Lana’s voice was muted against Blake’s shirt, but she held on, not removing her face from his chest, grasping him tight.

Sage’s stomach dropped and she swallowed hard. “What was it?” If the surprise on the porch was that bad it could only have come from one place, and she had enough going on without adding another “present” from her stalker.

The whole mood of the group was subdued now, tense, as they waited for Joel to return, or someone to say what the fuss was about. It only took another minute for Joel to come back in, shutting the door tight behind him. His face was granite hard as he finished up a phone conversation. “Yeah, I’ll keep everyone away from it until you can send someone out.” He hung up and turned to Sage, walking over and taking her hand.

Joel led her to the sofa and waited until she sat before explaining. “There was a little surprise on the doorstep. A paper there had your name on it, and it was signed YFH.”

“Your Future Husband,” she whispered. She hadn’t needed to hear it to know it was true, but somehow the confirmation made it worse. When he nodded that she was right, she forced herself to ask. “What kind of surprise?”