Protecting Fiona (SEAL of Protection Book 3) (11 page)

Fiona didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the roll and tore it in half. She didn’t bother with the butter which was sitting on the tray, but instead took a big bite of the bread and almost moaned. Jesus, it was even warm. Fiona forced herself to put the pieces of roll down and pick up the spoon. She leaned over so as not to spill the soup all the way down the front of herself, and slurped the delicious broth. It probably came from a can, but it tasted heavenly.

Fiona didn’t care that the three men watched her eat, she was starved. When she first saw the food she didn’t think it was nearly enough, but after eating half the roll and most of the soup, she was surprisingly full. Fiona knew her body would need time to adjust to eating again. She didn’t want to get sick on top of everything else, so she forced herself to put the spoon down.

Fiona felt Hunter’s hand at the small of her back and she suddenly realized he’d had it there the entire time she’d been eating. The warmth from his hand felt good. She hadn’t been touched gently in a very long time.

Fiona tried to ignore the way Benny and Dude looked at her. She didn’t want to try to interpret their looks. She was too tired and too raw for that. Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Fiona said with as much dignity as she could.

“For what?” Benny asked, before Cookie could.

“For whatever it is that I did, or whatever happened that I can’t remember,” Fiona said honestly. She watched as the men glared at each other. “No one has told me anything, but by the way you’re all acting, it couldn’t have been good. What day is it?” She asked suddenly, changing the subject abruptly. “How long have I been here?” She could tell they didn’t want to tell her. Finally Dude gave in.

“Five days.”

Five days
.
Oh crap
. “Wow, five days, okay then.” Fiona mused out loud. “I must’ve been really out of it to not remember five days. So again, whatever it is that I did that’s making you guys act this way, I’m sorry.”

Cookie shook his head. “Fee, there’s nothing for you to be sorry about.
Nothing
. Do you hear me?” He waited for her to nod before continuing. “You were sick, we cared for you. That’s it.”

Fiona knew he was glossing over something, but she let him for now. “Okay.” She paused. “Can I take a shower?”

That made the men laugh. “I was just going to ask if you wanted a shower now or later,” Cookie told her.

“Oh, definitely now.”

Benny and Dude left the room and Hunter helped Fiona out of the bed and steadied her as she swayed on her feet. Fiona looked down at herself and blushed. She was wearing a button down shirt, obviously one of the men’s.

Seeing her look of chagrin, Cookie hurried to reassure her. “My shirt was the easiest thing to put you in when you were sick. I can’t promise we didn’t see anything, but we kept everything as clinical as possible to preserve your modesty.”

Fiona just nodded, wishing she could melt into the floor and never have to see any of the men again.

Cookie put a finger under her chin and forced it up so she was looking into her eyes. “Don’t be embarrassed, Fee. We were all worried about
you
and not about looking at your naked body.”

“I’m not sure that makes me feel any better.”

“Maybe this will then. Even though you’ve been sick, I still think you’re the most fucking beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

Fiona’s eyes almost bugged out of her head. “Are you kidding me?” She tried to tug her face out of his grasp with no luck.

Cookie put both hands on her cheeks so she couldn’t back away from him anymore and tilted her head up even more. His thumbs rested on her lower jaw. Cookie lowered his head until his forehead rested against hers. “No, I’m not kidding. I’ve never been more serious about anything in my entire life. It’s not just your face, Fee, it’s you. I don’t know the basics about you, your favorite color, where you grew up, or what you like to eat, but I
do
know you. I know you’re tough, you have a will of iron, you’re compassionate and you have a strong sense of right and wrong. And, most importantly, I know you won’t give up. The odds have been stacked against you for a while now, but you just plowed through every obstacle in your way, and when you couldn’t bust through it, you held on until you could break through with some help. That’s beauty to me, Fee. You’re fucking beautiful.”

“Holy crap.”

Cookie leaned back a fraction and didn’t give her a chance to say anything further. “Now, how about that shower?”

Fiona stood in the shower spray enjoying the feel of the water sluicing down over her body. She washed her hair at least three times before she was happy with the feel of it. Hunter had wanted to help her with the shower, saying she wasn’t strong enough or steady enough to stand on her own, but Fiona had firmly rejected that idea. It was bad enough he and his friends had seen her naked when she was sick and through whatever it was she’d done.

She stood in the water and for the first time really thought about all that had happened to her. It was all too much; even though she’d had a crying fit around Hunter when she first woke up, she’d been stoic for as long as she could stand. Fiona allowed herself to break down, again. She slid down the wall to the shower floor and sobbed. She cried for what the kidnappers had done to her, the hurts she’d been through, for being scared, and finally for having been rescued.

When her skin was pruned and the shower ran lukewarm, Fiona turned off the water and stepped out, making sure to keep one hand on the towel rack so she wouldn’t fall on her face. Hunter had scrounged a T-shirt and sweat pants from somewhere for her to wear. She dried herself off and slipped on the clean clothes. Amazingly, they mostly fit. She didn’t have any undies or a bra, but nothing felt better to her than the soft cotton against her skin. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d felt clean. She knew she’d never take it for granted again. She’d probably become obsessed with showering, but Fiona supposed there were worse things to be obsessed about. She shrugged.

Fiona walked out of the bathroom and found Hunter standing to the side of the broken door. He looked strong and fit and his shoulder wound was obviously healed enough for it not to bother him. Fiona had no idea what she should say or do, but she did know somehow he centered her and made the jumpy feeling inside her belly subside.

Cookie stared at the woman who came out of the bathroom. She was still as skinny as ever, and he could tell she’d been crying, but the shower had done amazing things for her. Her skin shone and she looked lighter than she had since he met her.

“You look great,” Cookie told her honestly.

Fiona blushed and looked down at her feet. “Thanks, I’m not sure about great, but I feel a hundred percent better.”

“Are you still hungry?” Cookie asked her.

“I feel like I’m somehow letting my entire gender down by saying this, but I could eat a cow,” Fiona answered honestly. “I was stuffed earlier, but suddenly I’m hungry again.”

“I think that’ll happen for a while. I know once when my team was on a mission and

some of us were captured, once we were released, I didn’t feel full for weeks.”
              Immediately concerned for him, Fiona came toward Hunter and put her hand on his arm. Looking up at him in sympathy, she asked, “How long were you captured?”

“Not nearly as long as I think you were, Fee, but long enough.”

“I’m sorry, Hunter.”

“I didn’t tell you that for your sympathy, but thank you, Fee. My point was, I think you’re going to feel hungry for a while, even if you’re full right after you eat, twenty minutes later you’ll be hungry again. It’s your body’s way of healing. You’ll be better off eating several small meals a day than stuffing yourself with one or two. Just take it easy, your body will tell you when you’re done.”

Stepping back a foot, Fiona was finding it hard to think straight around Hunter, she nodded at his words. “I’m sure you’re right. I’ve always been a snacker, so it’ll be nice to have a reason to snack now.”

“Ready to go down?”

At her nod, Cookie took Fiona’s hand and they made their way out of the bedroom silently. Cookie held on tight. Everything he’d said to her was what he felt from the heart, but he’d never opened up to any woman like that before. He wanted Fiona. There wasn’t one thing about her that turned him off. Not one. If he had anything to say about it, she was his.
His
. He now understood what Wolf and Abe felt about their women. There was something inside him that knew she was meant to be his. He’d have to apologize to both of his teammates for even thinking they were crazy to tie themselves to a woman as quickly as they had to Caroline and Alabama.

Cookie knew he had a ways to go before he’d be able to officially claim Fiona as his. They had a lot to work through, there was a lot he didn’t know about her, but at the end of the day, he’d fight to make her his. Forever. She didn’t know it, but her life had just changed, hopefully for the better.

When Fiona and Cookie entered the dining room, Benny and Dude were waiting for them. The table was set with several bowls filled with delicious smelling food. There were three dishes full of pasta with different kinds of sauce, Alfredo, marinara, and meat sauce, a large bowl of salad, and a plate loaded with corn on the cob dripping with butter. The men had obviously been busy.

Fiona looked away from the food and suddenly felt self-conscious. Obviously, Hunter had arranged for the meal to be served after she was done with her shower, but being around others, she was finding, was awkward, and even a bit uncomfortable. She was the only woman, and was still a bit raw from everything that had gone on while she was held captive.

Cookie noticed her unease and squeezed her hand in reassurance. “Okay?”

“Yeah.” Fiona looked up at Hunter as if she’d just thought of something. “You won’t leave me will you?” She meant right then, at the dining room table, but as soon as the words left her mouth, Fiona realized she wouldn’t mind if Hunter stayed by her side forever.

Hunter’s eyes warmed at her words and he brought their clasped hands up to his mouth and kissed Fiona’s knuckles briefly. “Never.”

His words and kiss made a shiver work its way through Fiona. Could he read her mind? Fiona relaxed enough at his words to be able to continue walking into the room as if nothing was wrong, but she kept a tight hold of Hunter’s hand for extra reassurance.

Cookie was once again impressed with Fiona’s inner strength. He noticed the tensing of her body as they’d entered the room, and couldn’t help but feel pride at her obvious effort to hold herself together. He knew she’d asked him not to leave her at the table with his teammates, but he’d answered as if she’d asked him if he would
ever
leave her.

Cookie sat Fiona on his left before taking his own seat next to her. There was a feast waiting on the table for them. Fiona couldn’t remember seeing that much food in one place before.

“Did you guys make all this?”

Benny winked at Fiona and joked, “It was all us. We’re not just pretty faces you know.”

“I made the salad and boiled the corn,” Dude told Fiona seriously, continuing to answer her question about the food, “but Benny is the chef. I’ve never tasted anything he’s made that hasn’t been downright delicious.”

Benny just shrugged and commented nonchalantly, “I like to cook.”

The meal was lively with everyone joking and kidding around. It was interesting to be in an atmosphere like that for Fiona, as she’d never had a big family and didn’t really know how to act. She mostly just smiled at the other men and joined in the conversation when she could. She knew this happiness wouldn’t last for her though. First of all, she couldn’t stay in this house forever. Fiona wasn’t even sure where she was; just that she wasn’t in Mexico. Fiona knew she had to get back home sooner rather than later, and she figured the guys did too. This was but a short moment in her life, and she had to enjoy it while she could.

Fiona also figured, at some point, she was going to have to talk to Hunter and his team about what had happened to her, but she wasn’t going to bring it up unless they did.

After finishing the meal, and eating less than she thought she would considering how hungry she’d been when she walked into the room and had seen the food, Fiona helped Hunter and the others carry the dishes into the kitchen. She insisted on helping put the dishes into the dishwasher and pack away the leftovers. The men had put up a token protest, but in the end had allowed her to help.

While Fiona kept a good distance from Dude and Benny, she noticed Hunter was by her side almost the entire time they were in the kitchen. Every now and then he’d put his hand on her waist to guide her to the side, or to get her out of the way of one of his teammates. His hand felt possessive, but in a good way. Hunter was true to his earlier word not to leave her side.

Later that evening, Fiona sat on a couch with Hunter sitting next to her and Benny and Dude across from them in two easy chairs. They were in the library, one of the most comfortable rooms in the house. Fiona knew the guys did it deliberately, giving her room and not crowding her, but she was still on edge.

“Want to watch TV, Fiona?” Dude asked.

Fiona thought about it for a second. It’d been forever since she’d last seen any kind of news, and she suddenly had a violent urge to see what had been going on in the rest of the world since she’d been kidnapped. “I’d love to watch the news…if that’s okay?”

“Of course it’s okay. No problem.” Dude leaned over and snagged the remote that was sitting on the small coffee table. He clicked on the television and flicked the channels until he came to a twenty-four hour news station.

Fiona watched, completely enthralled, as she caught up on the politics and other news stories she’d missed out on.

Cookie kept his eyes on Fiona, gauging her mental state as she stared at the TV. Cookie didn’t think about how she would feel, missing out on everything going on around the world, but it was obvious she was enjoying catching up.

Seeing Fiona gasp, Cookie turned to look at the television, just as Benny snatched the remote off the table where Dude had thrown it and turned the volume up.

Our next story comes from Washington DC where Senator Lytle held a press conference to discuss the rumors that his daughter, Julie Lytle, had been kidnapped. Let’s tune in…

Before I get into the details of what happened to my daughter, I just want to publicly thank the members of the SEAL team that were dispatched into Mexico to rescue my daughter. The men and women of our armed forces are unsung heroes, and they risk their lives every day fighting against evil all over the world. Sex trafficking is a problem that is not only a United States issue, but it’s a problem all over the world. Women and children are being kidnapped, and forced into prostitution and slavery and forced labor. I’m going to use my position to lobby our government to do something about it. Now, as for the rumors, my daughter was…

The television went dark as Benny clicked it off.

Fiona turned to look at him eyebrows raised in question.

“You don’t need to relive it.”

Fiona simply nodded. If she’d thought about it a bit more, she probably would have been very uncomfortable listening to whatever Julie’s dad had to say about Julie’s time in captivity. It was the right move on Benny’s part.

“With that being said, can you tell us your story, Fiona?”

Fiona swallowed, it looked like it was time. She couldn’t put it off anymore.

“Tell us who you are, Fiona,” Cookie coaxed gently. “How did you end up in that hellhole and where do you come from?”

Fiona took a deep breath, knowing her time here in this sanctuary was coming to an end. They wouldn’t kick her out, but she had to go back to the real world,
her
real world, and they had to go back to rescuing people. It was what it was.

“My name is Fiona Rain Storme.” She watched the men cringe, then struggle to hold back their grins. “Yeah, horrible isn’t it? My mother was fourteen when she had me…and she told me it was raining cats and dogs when I was born. Apparently the storm was sudden and unexpected. She’d planned to give me the middle name of Sarah, but when the storm came on right when she was heading to the hospital, and with her last name already being Storme, she decided to change it. I admit, it’s not very creative, but I’m sure it seemed so to a teenager. I never knew my father; he was long gone before my mother had me. We lived with my mom’s parents for a while, but it was obvious they didn’t like her, or me. She was kicked out of the house when she was eighteen, and I was four. We moved around a lot, staying in homeless shelters and stuff until I was about eight. Then one day my mom never came to pick me up from school. I sat in front of the building until eight at night when one of the teachers who’d left work late, saw me and called the police. I never saw my mom again. I have no idea what happened to her and I’ve come to terms with that. I went into the foster care system because my grandparents didn’t want me…but it was fine.”

“Fine?” Cookie asked sternly.

“Yeah, fine.”

Cookie knew he hadn’t even heard the bad part of her story, but he was so pissed off at her mom and grandparents, he was barely holding himself together. But to hear Fiona describe her childhood and the foster care system as “fine” almost pushed him over the edge.

“What exactly does ‘fine’ mean to you Fee? I know how you’ve held up with the things that happened to you in Mexico and I suspect you’d probably downplay those to others and describe them something like ‘no big deal.’ So, I want to know exactly what ‘fine’ means to you.”

Fiona looked at Hunter. He didn’t look happy. She’d sworn to herself when she’d turned eighteen and gotten out of her last foster home that she wouldn’t use it as a crutch or an excuse for anything bad that happened in her life. She definitely didn’t want these beautiful, bad ass men to think she needed coddling, or worse, to feel sorry for her.

Ignoring the other two men in the room for the moment and taking a risk, Fiona leaned toward Hunter and put one hand on his knee and leaned her head against his shoulder. She wouldn’t have to look at him this way, but it also served the secondary purpose of comforting her. Not entirely surprised, Fiona felt Hunter’s arm immediately wrap around her shoulders and he pulled her closer into him and shifted until she was more comfortable.

When Fiona didn’t immediately answer, Cookie prompted her. “Fee?”

“It just means that while it wasn’t a fairy tale childhood full of ponies and hearts and flowers, it wasn’t the hell that a lot of kids go through.”

Fiona felt Hunter nod and press his lips to her hair. “Okay. For now. Can you tell us how you got to that hellhole in Mexico?”

Fiona took a breath, knowing this was the hardest part to tell. “I currently live in El Paso. I work as an administrative assistant at a local University. It’s a perfectly boring job and I lead a boring life. I spend most of my days trying to help students register for classes or dealing with mad parents and students. I was getting burned out and I needed to take a break. I was on vacation in Florida when I was taken.”

Fiona paused again, not really wanting to tell the guys how stupid she’d acted. She wanted nothing more than to call her story done and never think about it again, but she owed these men. They’d risked their lives to help her. She felt obligated to tell them. Fiona felt Hunter put his free hand on top of the one that was resting on his leg. He squeezed it reassuringly. It was amazing how much she relied on his small touches. Fiona didn’t know why she could tolerate Hunter’s touch, when the thought of any other man touching her as Hunter was, freaked her the hell out, but she was too tired to analyze it. Fiona took a breath and continued.

“I went on vacation alone. I’d convinced myself I was an adult and it was perfectly fine and safe for me to travel on my own. No one would be interested in bothering me. I’m not gorgeous or the type of woman predators would be looking for. I’d been there three days, not really enjoying myself, if you must know. It’s not that fun to be by yourself on vacation. I went to restaurants by myself, I even went snorkeling by myself, but it’s not very exciting when you can’t share your experiences with anyone.”

“Why’d you go by yourself in the first place, Fee?” Cookie asked gently, not understanding how someone like Fiona could be so alone.

Fiona looked down, embarrassed.

“Jesus, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Cookie told her; mortified his innocent question had caused her even a second of awkwardness.

“It’s okay, Hunter. I was tired of my job. It’s not that exciting or interesting and I just wanted to take a break. I don’t have any close girlfriends that I would’ve felt comfortable in asking to go with me.”

Dude asked the question that Cookie had been dying to ask, but had bit back. “Do you need to call anyone and let them know you’re all right? That you’re alive. Boyfriend? Husband?”

Fiona picked her head up off of Hunter’s shoulder and looked up at him in alarm. Even though Dude had asked, she spoke to Hunter. “Oh my God, no. I’m not with anyone. I wouldn’t…I didn’t…” She started to sit upright, mortified Hunter might have thought she was married or had a boyfriend and was leaning against him so intimately.

Cookie gathered Fiona back into his arms and held her tight. He could feel her trembling. “Shhhh, Fee. No one thought anything inappropriate. Relax.” He caressed her back and glared at Dude.

Dude just shook his head in exasperation. “Yeah, Fiona, I just wanted to make sure you knew you could contact anyone you needed to.”

Fiona pulled away from Hunter just enough so she could turn her head and look over at Dude. “There isn’t anybody.”

At her anguished words, Cookie put his hand on her head and pushed it back into his chest. He loved feeling Fiona’s arms hesitantly curl around his body, holding him back. “Tell us the rest, Fee. You’re safe here. Go on. Get it all out.”

Fiona nodded against Hunter’s chest, not lifting her head. “Okay, so anyway, it was my fourth day in Florida and I was leaving the next day. I decided I should at least check out a club once when I was there.”

Hearing Benny snort, Fiona laughed, but it wasn’t with humor. “Yeah, dumb. I know. So in I went, by myself, thinking I was all that and more. I had a few drinks and watched others dancing. A guy asked me to dance, I said yes; when it was over I went back to the bar and continued drinking my drink.”