Trusting the SEAL (Saving the SEALs Series Book 3) Read online

  Kyle stepped forward and took her father’s arm. “Much as I’d like to end you right now, I’m taking you into custody instead.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Coran struggled as Kyle slapped a pair of handcuffs on him. “You can’t arrest me. You don’t have that kind of authority.”

  “Like hell I don’t.” He pulled a sheaf of papers from his suit jacket pocket and held them before Coran’s face. “This gives me all the authority I need.”

  “Commander Brighton? Terrorist activity?” Coran pulled against his restraints as a small crowd of nosy onlookers formed around their group. Gage and Scotty moved closer, each clapping a hand on her father’s shoulders while Spencer remained by Toni’s side. “I’m not a goddamned terrorist. And I will have that lying bastard stripped of his command for this!”

  Kyle continued to secure her father as if he wasn’t throwing a massive tantrum in the middle of the world’s most expensive hotel. “As for you being a terrorist, the hidden files we discovered on your donated e-readers say differently. Our FBI hacker found all sorts of top-secret codes and coordinates. Not to mention the messages to Arrieta and his rebels.”

  Toni took a deep breath and faced her father. “Dad, is what they’re saying true?”

  “Believe me, it’s all true.” Kyle leaned forward, getting nose-to-nose with Coran. “What the hell did you think you were going to accomplish? Start another world war, Mr. Williams? Or should I call you SHEEPSKIN?”

  Her father visibly blanched and Toni’s heart sank. It was true. It was all true. Her knees threatened to buckle and thank God Spencer slipped his arm around her waist to steady her or she would’ve crumpled to the ground in a heap.

  “I want my attorney,” her father yelled.

  Scotty jerked Coran’s arm hard, causing the older man to wince. “You’re a real traitor, aren’t you?”

  “No. I’d never betray my country. Never. I was trying to help. We must win the war on terror, no matter the cost.” He looked to Toni, his gaze pleading. “Call my attorney, please, Toni. Tell him what’s happened.”

  “By creating more terror?” Toni’s dazed mind was still stuck on the vicious attack on the village school and all those young lives lost, lives she’d wanted to enrich and help with her foundation. “I was trying to do some good in the world, Dad. Why would you twist that? Why?”

  “You don’t understand. In the pursuit of the good, sometimes bad things are required.”

  “Get him out of here,” Kyle ordered.

  Gage and Scotty started to lead Coran away while Kyle murmured his thanks to her then pulled his phone from his pocket and followed his men and their quarry out of the ballroom.

  Toni just watched them go, still too gob smacked to really process what was happening. People milled about now that the auction was over, whispering and gossiping about what they’d just witnessed.

  “Hey, you okay?” Spencer rubbed her chilled arms briskly. The action seemed to help.

  She shrugged off his touch and glared, taking out all of her pent-up fears and frustrations on him. “I’m fine. You’re free to go.”

  “Excuse me?” he frowned.

  “This was a business deal. You got what you wanted and I got what I wanted. We used each other as a means to an end, right? Don’t feel like you have to stick around and babysit me any longer. I’m sure you’d rather get back to your team and your mission.”

  “Toni. C’mon.” The concern in his eyes slowly morphed into anger. “I was always upfront with you.”

  “Right. After you lied to get the job and snooped around in my personal things.” She crossed her arms and tapped the toe of her designer pump against the plush carpet. The last thing she wanted to do was take out her pent-up frustrations on him, but she’d reached her breaking point and he was an easy mark. “You only came clean with me because you’d gotten caught. Isn’t that right? Otherwise, you would’ve been fine just using me for what you could get out of me, then tossing me aside.”

  “Jesus.” He raked a hand through his hair, stalked a few paces away, then returned. “We’ve been over this before, Toni. We both agreed on the plan. I told you why I did what I did and you seemed okay with it. What’s your problem now, huh?”

  “You. You’re my problem.”

  “Yeah? Well, you sure as hell didn’t seem to have a problem with me that day in the oasis, did you?”

  A red haze descended in her mind. How dare he throw that in her face? That day with him had been special. It had meant something to her and she’d thought it had meant something to him too. She turned on her heel and started back toward the stage. “I’m done.”

  Spencer dogged her heels up the stairs. “You can’t just decide this is over, just like that.”

  “Like hell I can’t.” Toni gathered up her supplies and thanked the auctioneer for his services, then headed out of the ballroom. The fact Spencer stuck to her side like glue just made her want to punch something. Mainly him. She needed space to sort through all her conflicting emotions. And she couldn’t do any of that with him breathing down her neck. Literally. She stopped abruptly and turned around fast. Spencer barely avoided barreling right over the top of her. “Stop it. Just stop. I can’t be around you right now, okay? Just go away.”

  “Where the hell am I supposed to go? I’m your bodyguard.”

  “I told you, the job is done. Besides, I saw the way you couldn’t wait to get violent in there, Spencer.” Her gaze dropped pointedly from his eyes to his weapon then returned. “You’re a man of war. I will always be on the side of peace. I don’t think this is going to work out between us. Consider your employment contract with me terminated, Spencer Nixon. Goodbye.”

  She took one last look at his incredulous expression then forced herself to walk away. It hurt. Way worse than anything else had that day, even seeing her father hauled out of the hotel in handcuffs. But it was necessary. Necessary to her peace of mind, and her well-being, and mostly her bruised and battered heart to put some distance between them and get him to stay away. She couldn’t be with the person responsible for arresting her father—no matter that said father was responsible for destroying the integrity of what she thought she was try to accomplish by distributing those e-readers. She just couldn’t do it.

  The steady click-clack of her heels on the marble floor didn’t drown out the sound of his voice as he called from behind her. “You know what? That’s fine. I’ll pack up and get out of here ASAP.”

  “Good. Fabulous.” Tears stung Toni’s eyes as she weaved through the crowded lobby and headed for her suite. She wouldn’t turn around, couldn’t turn around. If she did, she’d run right back into Spencer’s arms and turn traitor on her on family and lose any chance of reconciling with her father in this lifetime and perhaps the next as well. Never mind her family didn’t seem to share the same sense of loyalty to her. It was the principle of the thing. And right now, her principles were all she had left.

  So instead, she went back to the suite alone and locked herself in her room, had a nice hot bath then pulled on her PJs and snuggled down in bed, turning on the TV to dampen the sound of him packing in the other room and her own quiet sobs.

  Spencer grumbled to himself as he shoved clothes into his duffle without bothering to fold them. Screw it. It had been a mistake to get involved with Toni. Worse, he’d known how wrong it was and he’d gone ahead and done it anyway.

  Shit. Just shit.

  He stalked into his bathroom and swiped all of his toiletries into his bag with one arm, not caring where they landed, then jammed his toothbrush into the side pocket. As he came back out into his bedroom, the muffled sounds of canned laughter from a TV filtered from the room across the hall. Toni’s room. She was in there, and the thought nearly had him storming over to pound on the door and demand she let him in and talk through this Grand Canyon of a divide between them.

  But that would be stupid, right? Kyle had told him he needed to stop thinking with his dick and start using
his brain when it came to women and now was as good a time as any, right? No matter how craptastic it felt.

  He double checked his room once more then headed out into the sitting room to call Kyle and let him know he was on the way to the Best Western.

  The phone rang twice before his team leader picked up. “What?”

  Usual Kyle. Mr. Un-Congeniality.

  “I’m on my way.”

  “What do you want? A gold star for showing up, dude?” Gage shouted from somewhere in the background which meant Kyle had him on speaker phone.

  Marvelous.

  “Shut it,” Kyle yelled. “We dropped Williams off at the airport. Sent him back home care of the US Marines. And I’ve arranged for a private security firm from the States to take over as Ms. Williams’ bodyguard, effective immediately. They should have someone on site momentarily.”

  “Great.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. Possessiveness, hot and fierce, still bubbled inside him where Toni was concerned, even though he knew damned well he had no right to feel it. She might not want him around anymore, but she still needed someone to watch over her.

  “Hey, pick up some food on your way over, buddy.” This from Scotty. Of course that guy would be thinking about food. Besides the fact he was a pretty decent chef, the guy’s stomach seemed to be a bottomless pit. “Indian sounds divine.”

  “I’ll see what I can find.” Honestly, the thought of eating at all right now turned Spencer’s gut. Then again, his gut was in knots thanks to the gal in the other room. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah.” Kyle clicked a button and the line went quieter, meaning he was off speaker phone. “Good job bringing Williams in and completing your mission.”

  Praise from their team leader was rare at best. Spencer was taken aback and hesitated before responding. Right now, this job felt anything but good. “Uh, thanks, sir.”

  “Now get your ass over here. We’re all starving. And don’t forget my potato samosas and extra curry sauce. Get a couple orders of garlic naan too. I’ll fill you in on the latest details of the Williams case when you get here.”

  Spencer ended the call and waited for the arrival of the new bodyguard. The guy looked like an Arnold Schwarzenegger wannabe, complete with Terminator shades and black power suit. The thought of leaving Toni’s protection in the hands of another man made his head hurt and his heart ache, but considering this Hulk-like guy seemed to have all the personality of a teaspoon, he felt a bit better. No way would Toni be the least bit attracted to a guy like that. Plus, it would take a frigging tank to bulldoze this behemoth into the ground. Now that Spence thought about, he’d almost pay good money to see Miles Arrieta try—some time when all this mess was over and Toni’s life wasn’t at stake.

  He went over all the job details with the dude, including what time Toni’s plane left the following day, then took the new guard out on the balcony and showed him the spots in the adjacent building to check for snipers. Kyle might’ve sent the guy, which meant he’d be more than qualified, but Spencer refused to take any chances with the woman he loved.

  He jerked to a stop and the world around him stilled.

  Loved?

  Frowning, Spencer stepped back inside the suite and fished his phone out of his pocket again. Did he love Toni Williams? The area around his heart throbbed. He rubbed his chest with his hand and scowled. Yeah, it was time for him to get the hell out of Jubail.

  Stalking back into the sitting room, he dialed the front desk on his cell phone to request a cab and was told there was a five-minute wait due to the departing crowds from the fundraiser gala.

  Great.

  The new security dude had taken his post outside Toni’s bedroom door. There was nothing left for him to do for Toni, no way to kill the time, and Spencer was sick of his own thoughts already. He stared down at his duffle, then cursed under his breath and unzipped it. Carefully, he removed each item of clothing, refolded it, then put it back in neatly arranged order. Next, he tackled organizing his toiletries with the same level of military precision. Finally, he took a deep breath and refastened the closures. Better. That was better. At least one thing in his cockeyed universe was in order. The elevator dinged in the foyer and the butler informed him his car was waiting.

  “Give me a moment,” Spencer said to the man, who bowed then retreated back toward the foyer. A break in the laugh track from Toni’s TV allowed him to hear a muffled sob and, frowning, was at her door before he could stop himself.

  He excused the guard, then waited until the guy disappeared into the kitchen before placing his palm against her door and leaning his forehead against the cool wood. She’d said she didn’t want anything more to do with a guy like him. She’d called him a man of war. And now she was crying on the other side of that door and it was all his fault. He’d destroyed her image of her father. Destroyed her career and reputation. Destroyed the event she’d poured her heart and soul and hours upon hours of time and effort into for her foundation. With one move by him and his team, they’d destroyed it all.

  If Spencer looked at it that way, he’d hate him too.

  Goddammit.

  Think with your brain. Think with your brain.

  Kyle’s words looped endlessly through his head, always the voice of reason.

  Time. They both needed time and distance to get their worlds straight again.

  They’d been living in this tiny world, under this weird microscope, for the duration of his mission. So in reality, only a matter of days, not years. Not to mention the fact he needed to come to terms with the fact she’d stood by her father’s side in that ballroom, not his. She’d sided with a man who’d clearly had ties with terrorists and who most likely had something to do with Nick’s death, the very same violent “man of war” type she’d accused him of being that day on the plane. And that kind of deliberate slight took time to absorb, time to deconstruct, time to decide if it was something he could live with or not.

  After a deep breath, he returned to the sitting room and grabbed his stuff. Duffle in hand, Spencer headed for the elevators, hesitating long enough to take one last glance back toward Toni’s room.

  “Goodbye, sweetheart,” he whispered before heading home.

  Chapter 11

  “Dude, you gonna drink that beer or stare at it all day?” Gage asked, kicking up his booted feet on an empty chair at McGruff’s Pub. This early in the afternoon, they basically had the whole place to themselves except for a few regulars bellied up at the bar. The smell of fried onions and melted cheese drifted from the place’s tiny kitchen, and the numerous neon signs on the walls buzzed and crackled as they heated. Gage’s girlfriend, Anna, pulled up a seat as close to Gage as humanly possible and Spencer shook his head. She should’ve just straddled the guy’s lap. Would’ve been easier. Especially given the way she was now wrapping herself around him in a heated kiss.

  “You two need to get a room,” Spencer said, his tone peevish.

  “Who died and made you the PDA police?” Gage gave him a dirty look

  Spencer responded with a middle finger. “I’ve got things on my mind, okay?”

  “Yeah, things named Toni Williams,” Scotty said, sitting in the chair beside Spencer then taking his girlfriend Hayley’s hand and kissing her palm.

  She leaned across Scotty, her expression sympathetic. “Have you tried talking to her?”

  “No.” Yes. These people didn’t need to know that though. Didn’t need to know about the countless messages he’d left, the sheer number of times he’d driven by Toni’s office building downtown, hung out around her last known address. Hell, if he wasn’t careful the cops would pick him up for stalking. At least he’d confirmed she’d made it home okay though.

  “Don’t worry.” Hayley gave him a sad smile, just brimming with pity. Perfect. She thought he was pathetic. They all did. A pathetic, lovelorn idiot. Hell, he did too, honestly. “Everything will work out in the end,” she said. “It always does.”

  Spencer avoided roll
ing his eyes at the cliché, and concentrated on peeling the wet label off of his beer bottle instead. His head hurt nearly as much as his heart from thinking about Toni and what he’d left behind in Jubail.

  But it had been a month. It was time to move on and get back into life.

  Alone.

  As it should be.

  The bell above the door jingled and Kyle walked into the pub, a newspaper in one hand and his phone in the other. “As if things weren’t crappy enough,” he said and tossed the paper down on the table. “Coran Williams just cut himself a cushy little deal with the government. Says he’ll help the FBI track down and apprehend Arrieta. Fucking feds.”

  “Hey,” Hayley said, her expression indignant. “That’s my employer.”

  Kyle hailed the bartender and ordered a beer then rubbed a hand over his face. “Sorry. I didn’t mean you.”

  “Damn straight,” Scotty said, squeezing Hayley tight around the waist. “My girl’s the best damned hacker around.”

  “Thanks, sweetie.” Hayley leaned over and kissed Scotty and this time Spencer couldn’t refrain from an eye roll. Jesus, it was like living in a frigging Disney musical around here with all the love and kisses. He half expected bluebirds to start flying around his teammates’ heads one of these days.

  Gage and Anna excused themselves and headed hand in hand over to the jukebox in the corner.

  The bartender brought over Kyle’s beer and he leaned back in his chair, rocking precariously on two legs while squinting at the paper’s headline. “Looks like your girlfriend went through with the sale of those books too, Spencer. Ended up bringing in a cool one-point-seven million for her foundation from one of Sheik Saaed’s friends.”

  Spencer tore off another long strip of paper from his bottle, scowling. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Huh.” Kyle took a long drink and watched him, gaze narrowed. “Thought you two got pretty close there in the desert.”

  The opening strains of Rock the Casbah by The Clash blared over the bar’s sound system and Gage gave Spencer a smartass smirk grin as he boogied down with Anna on the small dance floor.