Her Fierce SEAL: Midnight Delta Book 6 (12 page)

Her brown eyes were huge.  She didn’t look scared.  She was looking at him in shock.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Repeat after me.  Finn Crandall is abso-fucking-lutely right.”

“But...”

His palm itched again.  Is this how Drake always felt?  He didn’t feel anything but righteous anger, and a cleansing sense of relief that he was telling Angie exactly what he thought, as he thought it.  Maybe Drake was onto something.

“Repeat it.”

“Finn Crandall is right,
just
about this.”

He stood up with her in his arms.  “We’re going to the hospital now.”

“I’m feeling kind of queasy.  I’m hot.  Can you get me a 7-Up?”  He looked at her and saw she was looking a little green around the gills.  He turned and settled her back onto the sofa and went to the kitchen.  There was only Sprite.  He brought it back to her. 

“Thanks, this will hit the spot.”

“You asked for a 7-Up.”

“I know.”

“This is a Sprite.”

“Don’t get all persnickety.”  He opened the bottle, and she took a long gulp and sighed in pleasure.

He carefully lifted her up and took her to the front door.  “Set the alarm.  The asshole is probably out on bail by now, and knows where you live.”

She looked at him with wide eyes.  “I don’t think so. It was a violent attack.”

“Don’t underestimate the fact that he has ties to the mayor’s office.”  Finn sighed.  He wished it was fucking different.  But it wasn’t. 

“Damn, you’re right.  I wasn’t thinking.”  He got her into his car and fastened her seatbelt.  He got to the hospital fast and pulled up to the entrance.  Sarah was already waiting beside an orderly with a wheelchair.  God love the woman. Finn stopped the car, ran to the passenger side, swung Angie into his arms, and settled her into the chair.

“Her grandfather should be here any time.”  Sarah squatted beside Angie and looked at her with tears in her eyes. 

They all looked up as a Bentley damn near crashed into the back of Finn’s El Camino.

“What the fuck?”

“Pops,” the two women said in unison.  Lou Donatelli scrambled out of the expensive vehicle and rushed over to his granddaughter.  “Not again.”

Again?

“Pops, we need to get her inside,” Sarah said as she started to push the chair.

“Let me,” Finn said as he put his hand on one of the handles.  Sarah nodded.  Lou and Sarah walked beside the chair.  Lou held onto Angie’s hand as they made their way to the front desk to sign in.

“Finn, talk to me.  What the fuck happened?”  Finn watched as the two women talked to the nurse at the front desk.  Sarah was really upset, but holding it together.

Finn explained everything Angie had told him.  “Dammit.  This is the worst I’ve ever seen her.”

“How often does this happen?” Finn asked.

“The last time was two years ago.  That bastard is still in jail,” Lou assured him.  “At least, this time, she shouldn’t end up with any scars.”

Scars?

“She told me that most of your clientele was corporate.”

“It is.  But she keeps taking these pro bono cases where someone is in trouble.  Those are the ones where she ends up in hurt.  It sounds like this one isn’t over yet.”

––––––––

“F
inn, we need to talk to Dasha today.  They kept me in here far too long.”

“You had a concussion, and were throwing up,” Sarah said in too high of a voice.  “Of course, they kept you for three days.  They needed to make sure you were all right before releasing you.  We were all worried.”

“Well, I’m fine.  I caught a bug in the hospital.  The doctors said so,” Angie huffed.  “Now we need to focus on Dasha.”

“Angie, settle down and listen to me.”  Her grandfather put his hand on hers.  She looked up at him from the hospital chair. 

“Pops, I know you want to talk about the Jackson’s, but we need to work on Dasha’s case.  I’m getting out of the hospital today, and finding Yulia is the most important thing.”

“No, it’s not!  Now you listen to me, young lady. I was at court.  They’re going to let him out on bail until the trial.  He acted like such a pillar of the community.  It made me sick,” Pops said.

“We knew he was going to do that.  It’s behind us.  Now we have to look forward.  It’s been too long since we followed up with her.”

“Listen to your grandfather,” Sarah said, from where she was sitting on the hospital bed.  “I know you don’t want to think about Paul Jackson, but this isn’t going away.”

Angie shuddered.  She still remembered Paul’s shoe kicking her in the ribs.

“Sarah’s right.  He caught up with Lorna and me in the hallway at the courthouse after the hearing.  He said he wasn’t done with her or ‘that bitch.'  His lawyer pulled him away before he could say more.”

Angie glanced at Finn, who was standing against the wall near the door.  He had been there during every visiting hour since she had been in the hospital.  He didn’t say anything as her grandfather explained what had been said, but he’d looked colder with every word her grandfather uttered.

“Dammit,” Sarah gasped.  “We’ve got to do something.  Angie, we can’t let him hurt you again.”

“I don’t care about me,” Angie protested.  “We have to protect Lorna.” 

“Lorna quit her job.  She was planning on packing when I left her.”

“Pops,” Angie wailed.  “She can’t do that.  She can’t let him win.”

“She said she’d be back for the trial, but she just can’t take it right now.  Personally, I think she’s being smart.”  Angie looked at her grandfather and silently admitted he might be right.  “I’m worried about you,” he said.

“Now that I know to be on the lookout, I’ll be fine.” 

“Not good enough,” Pops declared.

“I agree,” Sarah seconded.

“He has too many connections.  He’ll be able to find out where you live,” Pops warned her. Angie had to work hard to keep showing a strong front.  She knew she’d have to stay alert.  Paul Jackson was going to be a problem.

“I have a great security system, Pops.”

“You’ll stay with me at the ranch,” her grandfather growled.

“I will not.  Hell, you’re practically a celebrity, everybody knows you.  I’m not putting you in danger.” 

“You can stay with me.  Nobody knows about me,” Sarah said.

Angie and Pops said “No,” at the same time.

“You’ll stay with me,” Finn said quietly.

Angie covered her face. 
Fuck.

“Perfect.  It’s settled.”  Could Pops have responded any faster?

“I agree,” Sarah said, jumping in with both feet.

“You are traitors—both of you.”  Angie looked at Finn.  His expression hadn’t changed since Pops explained the situation.  He looked like a Viking warrior who must be one of his ancestors. 

“Finn, you don’t really want me underfoot,” she tried to reason.

“You’re staying with me.”  He didn’t try to cajole, wasn’t commanding, he was just telling her the sky was blue.

“Dammit, Finn.  You can’t tell me what to do.”

“He got you to the hospital, didn’t he?” Sarah reminded her.  “And it was a damn good thing since one of your ribs was broken.  Sometimes you don’t have any sense.” 

“It wasn’t a big deal, they just taped it, you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”

“They had to realign it, so it didn’t puncture your lung,” Sarah persisted.

Angie couldn’t decide between sticking out her tongue or flipping her the bird, so she didn’t do anything.

Sarah turned to Finn and Pops.  “Okay gentlemen, you need to leave while I help Angie dress.”  As soon as the men left, Angie turned on Sarah.

“I can’t stay with him.”

“Give me one good reason why you can’t.”

“I’m beginning to really like the man.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I refuse to put myself in a situation where I’m next to a man, day in and day out, where I’m falling in like, and I don’t know where he stands.  It’ll be too awkward.”

“Or it could be a great opportunity. Here are your clothes.”  Sarah put some loose pants and a long white tunic on the bed.  “The top is fleece. I didn’t figure you would want to wear a bra.” 

“Sarah, this is too embarrassing.  I want my own space.”

“Well, it’s not in the cards right now.  Anyway, you need to work on the missing baby case, and this allows you to while still keeping you protected.”

“Sarah–”

“Enough.  This is a closed subject.  Now let’s get you into the wheelchair so you can get the hell out of the hospital.  You know you want out.”

“Yes,” Angie admitted.

Sarah pushed her into the hall, and the men were waiting for them.

Angie tried one last time.  “I could stay at a hotel.”

“Do you want to explain why that would be preferable to staying with me?” Finn asked in a reasonable tone of voice.

“Yes, I’d like to hear this,” Pops said.  “Especially since you’re hurt and he can protect you.  I think this would be interesting.”

She looked at the three people surrounding her.  She sighed.  “You’re absolutely right.  Finn, thanks for offering.  I appreciate being able to stay at your apartment.” 

“It’s no problem.” 

***

F
inn breathed his first calm breath since he had seen Angie beaten up.  Having her in his apartment, under his watch, soothed him.  When Declan first gave him the keys to the two-bedroom apartment, he had thought it was too big, now he was glad to have it.  Sleeping on the couch really didn’t have a lot of appeal, but he had certainly slept in worse places.

“I called Dasha. She and Sergei will be over later this afternoon.”

The woman wouldn’t know the word ‘quit’ if it bit her in the ass.  He was damn tempted to call up Sergei and postpone the meet until tomorrow.

He had her settled on his couch, with pillows propped up behind her.  “I’ll allow it, as long as you eat and nap.” 

“What the hell do you mean, ‘you’ll allow it?'” She pushed herself up and winced.  “Who died and made you the boss of me?”

Finn rubbed both hands through his short cropped hair.  “I’m not the boss of you.  But since I’m the only one in this place in tune with your pain and stamina levels, I guess I’m putting myself in charge.  Look at yourself.  You damn near keeled over by the time we made it up the stairs.”  He was still kicking himself for listening to her instead of carrying her like he’d wanted.

“Having a conversation with someone is not taxing.”

He decided to try another tactic.  He crouched beside her.  “Angie, you and I both know this is going to be a tough conversation.  Dasha finally promised to tell us what in the hell is going on.  We’ll have to wade through a lot of bullshit.  This is going to be complicated, and you need to be at your best.  We both do.”

She looked at him for a long time, considering his words.  “What do you have to eat?”

“Ah, the Pre-Law brain is finally functioning.” He gave her a relieved look.  “Would you like an omelet?”

“That sounds great.  Do you have meat to put in it?”

“Ham?”

“Perfect.  I was worried that since you’re from California, it would be nothing but vegetables.” She gave him a cheeky grin.

“Brat.” 

When he brought back the food, her eyes were at half-mast.  “Angie?”  She straightened up.

“Milk?”

“You need your strength.  I’m drinking it too.”  He held up his glass, and she smiled. 

“Thanks.”  She started to eat.  He waited until she began to pick up steam, clearly getting a little more energy.

“Why didn’t you want to stay with me?”

“What?” she asked as her fork was midway to her mouth. 

“I asked, why you didn’t want to stay with me.”

She set down her fork and pressed the paper towel to her lips.  “I didn’t want to be a burden.”

He snorted.  “Want to try again?  Maybe the truth this time?”

“Look, we don’t even know one another.  We went on one sort-of date.  You’re only in town as long as it takes to find Dasha’s baby.  Volunteering to watch out for me is ridiculous.”  He loved seeing the flash of fire in her brown eyes.

“You have to admit it makes sense.”

“I don’t have to admit shit.”  She set the plate on the coffee table.  “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“You’ve barely eaten a third of your food.”

“I’m tired, I’m going to take a nap.”  She leaned back and shut her eyes.  Finn was beyond frustrated, mostly with himself.  He shouldn’t have pushed her.  She needed to eat. 

But at least he had the answers he wanted.  It came down to their one ‘sort-of date,’ and that he would leave after Dasha’s case was over.  He was pretty sure that Angie was beginning to have feelings for him.  He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.  The woman was on his mind way too fucking much.  Her strength, her kindness, her humor, her resilience.  It had been easier when he thought the feelings were just on his side, to think she might be thinking about him as well made this much tougher...and easier.

“Finn?” She was lying there with her eyes closed.

“Yes.” 

“I can feel you looking at me.  Go away.”

“Why?  You’re not sleeping.”

“I can’t sleep with you staring at me.”

“Angie, can you look at me?”

“Don’ wanna.”  Damn, he forgot she’d taken a pain tablet.  Still, they needed to get this out in the open.

“Just for a second.  Please?”  She opened one eye, then both. 

“Fine,” she huffed out.

“I don’t know if you’re ready to hear this, but here goes nothing.”  He saw he had her full attention.  “I care for you.”  Her eyes widened.

“You do not.”

He cupped her cheek and let his thumb graze over her lip.  “Yes.  Yes, I do.  Am I in this by myself?”

She nuzzled against his hand and sighed.

“No.  No, you’re not in this alone.  But I’m scared, Finn.”

“We’ll go slow, okay?”  She looked at him with eyes that were beginning to heat with desire. 

“How slow?”

“I’m going to kiss you.  All right?”

“Yes please.”

He cupped her head with his right hand and brushed his lips against hers.  No strawberries this time, just Angie.  Perfect.  Slowly, because she was injured. Slowly, because she had just been abused at the hands of a man and he wanted to erase the terror.  Slowly, because he wanted to savor this feeling.  He parted his lips and reveled as hers followed.  He sipped and licked her plump bottom lip, enjoying her sigh of satisfaction.