Failure E-Book

Mary E. Thompson

• Herausgeber: BluEyed Press
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Former SEAL Daniel Dunn always relied on his instincts. They never led him wrong, until he was deceived by two people he trusted with his life. Now, Dunn doubts himself at every turn. As the leader, he needs to be in control, but he’s a mess. He wants revenge, and answers, but all he gets is a woman he never thought he’d see again begging for his help. 

Ashleigh Edwards never forgot her first love. Once upon a time, she thought Daniel would be hers forever, but he had other plans. Plans that didn’t include her. She moved on and built a life without Daniel, but when she discovers her husband’s secrets, the only person who can keep her safe is the one man who chose his duty over her the last time they saw each other. 

Dunn can’t turn Ashleigh away, but he can’t trust her either. When someone else from his past returns, he doesn’t know how to keep Ashleigh safe and take down the man who betrayed him.

Leseprobe

FAILURE

F-BOMB: SEALS LOVE CURVES, BOOK 4

MARY E THOMPSON

Failure

F-BOMB: SEALs Love Curves, book 4

Copyright © 2019 Mary E Thompson

Cover Copyright © 2021 Mary E Thompson

Cover Photo from depositphotos, Copyright © IgorVetushko

Background from depositphotos, Copyright © yupiramos

Flag from Pixabay, CC0

Published by BluEyed Press, All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, businesses, locations, and events are either products of the author’s creative imagination or are used in a fictitious sense. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-944090-74-6

Print ISBN: 978-1-944090-75-3

Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-944090-67-8

Created with Vellum

F-BOMB: SEALS LOVE CURVES

Welcome to the world of F-BOMB where a group of former SEALs have come together to protect the curvy women they love and the country they call home from the dangers of the world. They have the training and the knowledge, and they have the ability to kick some ass when needed. And it’ll be needed.

F-BOMB: SEALs LOVE CURVES

Freedom

Fiancée (subscriber exclusive)

Forgotten

First

Failure

Friends

Family

Forbidden

Future

Finally

SUBSCRIBE NOW AT MARYETHOMPSON.COM

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

About the Author

For second chances, and third chances, and love that never ends…

1

Ashleigh Edwards was exhausted. It had been a long trip, and she was ready to collapse into bed and sleep until morning, or longer if she had her way.

She was almost up to her room when she heard the front door open and close. She went to call out to Frederick, but she heard his sharp tone before she opened her mouth.

“What do you mean you don’t know what happened?” he asked.

Ashleigh hated that tone. She wasn’t afraid of her husband, but he was the kind of guy who didn’t take shit from people. If he wasn’t happy, he wasn’t likely to be happy without some serious changes.

“I’m sorry, sir,” a woman’s voice said, capturing Ashleigh’s attention. She didn’t recognize the voice.

“Is someone going to fix this?” he barked.

“Yes, sir. They’re on their way now. I’ve spoken to our contact within the police department, and they’re aware of the situation. No questions will be asked.”

What?

“Good,” he said. “And what about me?”

“Sir?” she asked.

“I have fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, sir. Shall we go into your office?”

“Smart woman.”

Ashleigh crept down the stairs until she could see them walking away from her. His office was straight back at the end of the hallway. Her husband had his hand on the woman’s lower back, guiding her. She had long, dark hair and wore heels and a dark dress over her slim figure. What was he doing?

Ashleigh tiptoed down the hall once they disappeared, her ears straining to hear sounds. She wasn’t sure she wanted to look, but she had to see what was going on. If he saw her, she could just say she got home early and thought she heard him, but when she got to the door, his back was to her. Bent over his desk was the woman he’d been speaking to, her dress pulled up to her waist. His hips pumped, his bare, hairy ass clenched tight as he grunted and groaned.

Ashleigh almost threw up. She almost screamed. She wanted to kill him, but more than anything, she just wanted to get out. She was supposed to be gone for another day, so she could leave and figure out what she wanted to do before she had to return and face her cheating bastard of a husband.

She was almost to the stairs when a sheet of paper fluttered to the floor. She glanced back, but the grunting hadn’t stopped so she knew he wasn’t done.

Ashleigh bent to pick up the paper. It was a missing child report. A three month old. She remembered the story. Her heart broke for the parents when they went on TV to plea for anyone to offer information about their son.

Why does Frederick have this?

An open file was on the hall table, and Ashleigh assumed that was where the paper came from. She went to put it back and saw another sheet, with a picture of the same child, but this was an adoption docket.

Ashleigh’s heart sank. No.

She wanted to look through the rest of it, but she heard the jangle of Frederick’s belt as he pulled up his pants. She dropped the sheet on top and raced to the stairs, climbing as fast as she could so she would be out of sight.

Frederick and the woman came back out of the office and paused in the hallway. He grabbed the file off the table and straightened the pages. “Is the boy ready to move tonight?”

“Yes, sir. He will be with his new family early next week.”

“Good. Another successful adoption.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ashleigh clamped a hand over her mouth as tears ran down her face.

“Good. My wife will be home tomorrow by four. I need to be back by then.”

“You will be, sir. Not a problem at all.”

Ashleigh squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hand into her stomach. The front door opened again, then closed and locked. Ashleigh opened her eyes and peeked around. She was alone.

Terrified to move in case they came back, Ashleigh stayed on the dark staircase for close to an hour. Only once she was sure they were truly gone did she dare move. She went to her bedroom and keyed in the code for the safe behind the original Monet and waited for the locks to disengage. When it opened, she reached inside for her passport, just in case, but more than one fell out.

She picked them up and opened the first one. Frederick’s face smiled back at her. She met her husband through work. She was working at the local bank processing business loans, and he came in for one. They started talking and hit it off. When he asked her out, she wasn’t surprised at all, and she said yes without hesitation. They were married within a year, and he convinced her to quit her job so she could do something else, something she enjoyed.

Ashleigh volunteered with numerous organizations that helped place children for adoption. Her degree in accounting was a benefit to the companies that couldn’t afford their own accountant on retainer. The trip she just got back from was a conference about the dangers of private, domestic adoptions because many times the children were kidnapped and positioned as orphans.

It was on her mind. That was the only reason she was even considering what she thought she saw. And thinking Frederick had anything to do with it. He was a good man. He volunteered at church and he had a lot of connections in his business. He was good.

Ashleigh went to fold the passport and return it when she scanned the page and gasped. The name on the passport was not Frederick Edwards. It was Jonathan Moreau. She opened the next one. Albert Fordham. With shaky hands, Ashleigh reached inside and pulled out more passports. More names. More people. All with her husband’s face.

She had to be wrong, but she wasn’t sure how she was.

She stuffed everything back into the safe and locked it. She swung the painting over the safe and looked around the room. She hadn’t touched anything else. She grabbed her small suitcase and raced back down the stairs and out the front door. She half expected to find him waiting for her, but all that greeted her was the cool night air and darkness.

Ashleigh walked down her street and around the corner. She knew there was a bus stop a few blocks away, and if she could get on it, she could get away before he even realized she had been home.

She kept to the shadows, praying no one would recognize her. Her feet ached and her arms screamed in protest at carrying the suitcase while half-running. Ashleigh wasn’t the kind of woman who ran. She carried a few extra pounds and a few extra curves, much to her husband’s dismay. He constantly encouraged her to eat healthier and frequently ordered her clothes that were a size too small.

She told herself all along that he was trying to help her. He wanted her healthy, because if she was healthy, she’d be around longer. For their children, if they had children one day.

She couldn’t believe him anymore, though. She wasn’t sure what to think. His words hurt her, but she told herself he loved her. She told herself that about a lot of things Frederick did and said.

Bile rose in her throat as the picture of the child came back to her mind. He mentioned the child being delivered to his new home. There was no mistaking that. He never mentioned adoption being one of the industries he had a hand in, and with her work in the same business, it would have definitely come up over the last seven years.

If it was legitimate.

She couldn’t help the whisper of doubt. How many times had she questioned her husband’s motives? His actions and words. He always explained everything away, but there was no way to explain this away.

A child was in danger, and Ashleigh couldn’t sit back and let it happen.

She knew what she had to do, where she needed to turn. She hated the thought of seeing him again. The last time she saw him, he ripped the rug out from under her. She thought she was going to spend her life with him, but he chose another life. A life that didn’t include her.

Ashleigh never wanted to see him again, but she knew if she needed help, he not only could provide it, but he would do it in a heartbeat. Because that was just the kind of man he was.

* * *

The last thing Daniel Dunn wanted to do was run one more mile. His lungs were screaming at him to stop, his muscles begging him, but he couldn’t outrun his demons if he didn’t run. So he kept going. He pushed himself harder and faster, praying it would be enough to keep the nightmares away for a few hours. It never kept them away all night, but he could get a few hours of peace if he was lucky.

The lights of his house came into view, but he didn’t want to go home. He knew he needed to, but he wasn’t worn out enough. He would toss and turn half the night, and then he would be pissed off the next day.

But he couldn’t run any longer. His lungs ached for a big gulp of fresh air, but the damp chill of the autumn night made it impossible to fill them. He slowed his pace and panted, trying to bring his breathing down to normal as quickly as possible. After sixteen years as a SEAL, he knew how long it should take him to recover from a punishing run. The longer he was out of the service, the longer it took for his breath to catch up.

He was almost to his front porch when movement to the side of the door caught his attention. At first, he thought it was an animal, but the noise was too big to be an animal.

He drew his gun from the holster on his hip and pointed it at the noise. “Get the fuck out here, asshole.”

Instead of a slow movement, the woman jumped and scampered back. She fell on her ass in the mud from the recent rain and squealed.

Dunn’s dick twitched at the sound, something that hadn’t happened in far too long.

“Get up,” he demanded, both pissed off at himself for responding to her and at her for being there in the first place.

“I’m trying,” she spat. “Why the hell did you pull a gun on me?”

Dunn’s eyes narrowed as he tried to see through the darkness. “Ashleigh?”

“Yes. What is wrong with you?”

“Why the hell are you at my house? And how did you find me?”

“I need your help, Daniel.” She finally stepped into the light. “Please.”

Ashleigh Connors. Holy shit. Daniel couldn’t have been more surprised. He hadn’t seen Ashleigh in years, but she still had the ability to turn him inside out with just a look. One look, and he couldn’t say no to her. There was fear in her green eyes.

He nodded and looked around, then let them inside. He turned on the lights and locked the door behind them. Whatever happened, she was running from something. Or someone. Anger churned in Dunn’s gut thinking about Ashleigh being in danger. She was always so smart and strong and good.

She looked around as she walked through his home and he wondered what she saw. He lived like a bachelor with a small house in the woods, secluded and dark. He had lots of wood and dark furniture. He hadn’t bothered to decorate because he didn’t have anything to hang on the walls except his TV. His couch and his TV were really all he needed. And a kitchen so he could eat, and a fridge to hold his beer.

But what did Ashleigh see? Did she see a man she was happy she didn’t spend her life with? A part of him hoped so, and a part of him hoped she wished things had turned out differently.

He thought about her more than a man should be allowed to think about his ex. On nights when he wasn’t sure how he would survive BUD/s, Ashleigh was on his mind. On nights overseas when he wasn’t sure if he was going to live, Ashleigh was on his mind. He regretted the way he treated her, which was why seeing her again was a shock.

Dunn couldn’t believe she was standing in his house. The years had been kind to Ashleigh. Kinder than he would have been. He knew the toll being a military wife took on some women. Ashleigh was the kind of woman who would have wanted him home, but he’d always wanted to fight for his country. He was willing to die for his country, and to do so, he had to give her up.

But staring at her from across the room, he could tell her life hadn’t gone exactly as planned either. The clothes she wore were not cheap, but her hair was matted on one side and her makeup was smudged. He wanted to pry, but he wasn’t sure where the line was. Yeah, she said she wanted his help, but did that give him any rights? He didn’t think it did.

She looked up and caught him staring at her. She didn’t even bother hiding her disdain for him. He couldn’t blame her. She had every right to hate him. When he broke up with her, she found out that he’d never intended to spend his life with her, even though he’d said he would. He always said it in the moment, when he tried to pretend he was a regular guy. But he wasn’t. And she was destroyed by it.

“I have a good life,” she finally said, her voice rough like she’d been chewing glass. She cleared her throat and drew in a breath. “I had a good life. I’ve never wanted for anything. It’s all over now.”

“Why?” Dunn asked. Rule number one of an interrogation was to keep the subject talking. The only way he’d find out why she was there was if she told him, and when dealing with a caged animal, the only choice was to let her come to him.

“I saw something. My husband… he’s not the man I thought he was. He’s… I guess I don’t know who he is. But I couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t…”

She put her hand on her stomach and drew in a breath. Her exhale shuddered through her and shook the room. Dunn acted on instinct, letting it lead his feet across the room to where she stood, looking out the window into his dark backyard. When he reached her, he didn’t hesitate, just pulled her into his arms and held her.

Peace settled over him. Ashleigh. The one woman he’d have given it all up for. The one woman he wanted to give it all up for. The one woman who…

“Ow!”

Slapped him. She actually slapped him.

Well, guess she didn’t feel the same about him anymore.

* * *

“I’m married, Daniel! And you have no right to touch me,” she spat. She shook all over at the feel of his hands on her. Rage from watching her husband fuck another woman. Fear from wondering what he was really involved with. Excitement from being in Daniel’s arms again.

But she wasn’t allowed to feel that last one. The last one was dangerous. She was married, or at least, she thought she was married. She wasn’t going to cheat on her husband just because he had a few extra passports and slept with someone else. That wasn’t who she was. Her marriage was over as far as she was concerned, but she wasn’t a cheater.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I wasn’t trying to do anything.”

She drew in a shaky breath and tried to push all her feelings away. Being in Daniel’s arms, even just for a second, brought back too many memories. He was her first love, and the first man she made love to. She gave herself to him, thinking they were building something together. She wanted to be with him forever, but he never had that intention. And it hurt when he finally told her the truth. More than anything she’d ever been through in her life.

“Why don’t we sit,” he offered. “And you can tell me what’s going on.”

She hesitated, not ready to talk yet. It had been a day since she snuck away from her own home and vanished. She didn’t know if someone was watching her, so she took multiple trains and buses to get from Detroit to Niagara Falls. The fastest way would have been to go through Canada, but it wasn’t until she was in Ohio that she found out where Daniel was. She hated going to him, but she didn’t know where else to go, so she was stuck begging the man who destroyed her for help.

“Or you can take a shower,” he said when she didn’t respond. “And we can talk after that.”

She nodded. “That sounds good.”

2

Dunn showed Ashleigh where the bathroom was and instructed her on how to use his shower. He could have sent her to his guest bathroom, but he wanted her in his shower. In his room. Hot water sliding down her naked body in the same room where he would strip naked later.

He was a fucking idiot. Fantasizing about Ashleigh was as dumb as falling for Ashaki. Two women who nearly ruined him. But like everything else in his life, he picked the wrong one to trust.

A part of him always wondered if he and Ashleigh could have been happy if he’d been honest with her from the start. If he’d told her he planned to become a SEAL. Would she have been okay with it, or would she have run the other way? He’d never know the answer to that question.

He had a lifetime of regrets, and Ashleigh was simply one in a string of many.

Dunn wanted to strip off his sweaty clothes and join Ashleigh in the shower, but she was a married woman and not his, so he told his dick to shut the fuck up and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.

He tossed a frozen pizza in the oven, just in case Ashleigh was hungry, and twisted open a beer. He tipped it up to his lips and gulped down the cold liquid, hoping it would help to clear his muddled mind.

He tried running through reasons of why she was at his home instead of her own. She said she was married, and that her husband wasn’t who she thought he was. Dunn wanted to grab his phone and order English, his computer whiz and all around tech genius, to find out who her husband was and what he’d done. And the guy could do it, too. It wouldn’t take long for English, also known as Liam Johnson, to find her and learn everything there was to know about her and her husband. But if Dunn was going to get her to trust him, he had to let her tell him what happened and what was going on.

He checked on the pizza and decided it needed another couple of minutes when the door to his room opened. His entire body tightened as he waited for her to walk into the kitchen. He tried to act casual, like he wasn’t painfully aware of her presence, but his gaze locked on hers the second she stepped into view and gave him away.

Ashleigh was still as stunning as ever. With her dirty blonde hair wet, it looked brown. She brushed it back from her face which made her green eyes look huge. She looked around warily, but her gaze settled on him. She chewed on her cheek like she always did when she wasn’t sure of herself.

“What is it?” he asked, his voice a little more than gruff.

He was grateful for the peninsula between them so she couldn’t see the effect her curves had on him. She was always a woman who could fill out a dress with her hourglass figure, but the years had added a few more pounds in all the right places. She was softer, more feminine, with her full breasts and rounded hips. Her belly was full, but narrower than her hips, giving her a shape he wanted to run his hands over. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen, and by far the most beautiful one he’d ever had in his bed.

But he’d never have that chance again.

“Thank you for the shower. And for letting me in,” she said softly.

Dunn nodded. “Of course. Are you hungry? I have pizza in the oven.”

She smiled, that tentative smile that lit him up inside. “You’re always hungry. I don’t know how you haven’t gained any weight. It’s not fair that I’ve blown up and you still look like a statue.”

“You’re fucking gorgeous,” he blurted without thinking. They were the same words he’d said to her over and over again when they were together. She never believed him, but he would tell her that when he was buried deep inside her, when he watched her get dressed, when she was having a tough day. He wanted her to always know that no matter how she thought about herself and no matter what anyone else ever said, he thought she was the most beautiful woman around. Now he knew that was only part of it. She was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Her cheeks turned scarlet. He had to close his eyes, but that just allowed him to picture exactly how far down her body that blush went. He could see all of her vividly, like it was yesterday that he’d last been with her.

“I don’t remember the last time I had something to eat,” she finally said.

He nodded and grunted, then bent to get the pizza out of the oven. He set it on the stove and busied himself getting the pizza cutter out of the dishwasher and washing it, then grabbing plates and napkins before he cut the pizza and handed her three slices.

“It’s hot,” he reminded her before she took a bite.

She smiled and nodded, pursing her lips to blow on the pizza.

Jesus, he needed to get laid. Just watching Ashleigh had him ready to fucking blow.

He stared at his own pizza and took the chance that it wouldn’t burn his mouth. He took a huge bite and regretted it as soon as the hot cheese melted to the roof of his mouth. He hissed and sucked in a breath, but the damage was done.

Ashleigh stared at him for a second, then burst out laughing.

Dunn tried to choke down the scalding hot pizza, but it still burned. He sucked in cold air and chewed until it was small enough to go down his throat and stop burning.

Ashleigh laughed the whole time.

“What’s so funny?” he finally asked her.

She grinned and rolled her eyes. “You used to do that all the time in college. You would burn your mouth because you were too hungry to wait for your food to cool down. I really thought you would have gotten smarter by now.”

He shook his head. “Nope. I’m still the same dumbass who let you go.”

She glared at him. That was definitely the wrong thing to say.

* * *

She shook her head and wanted to walk out the door. If she had anywhere else to go, she would, but she knew her husband would never look for her with her ex. He didn’t even know who Daniel was. She mentioned a guy she dated in college, but she underplayed it when she realized how jealous Frederick got when she talked about other men, or talked to other men. She didn’t think Frederick would do anything to Daniel, but she also never imagined her husband could be involved in something like kidnapping or human trafficking.

The pizza lost its appeal when she thought about what she saw in her house the night before. She set the plate down and stepped back, breathing through her mouth so she didn’t vomit.

“Why don’t we sit,” Daniel suggested.

He walked around the peninsula and over to her like he was going to guide her to the couch, but he backed away at the last second so he didn’t touch her. She missed his touch like a physical thing, wishing she hadn’t pushed him off the first time. She could really use a hug, someone to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. Her dad always gave her the best hugs, warm and comforting. With his arms around her, she felt like nothing bad could ever happen.

But her dad had been gone for eight years. He died shortly after she and Frederick started dating. Ever since then, she felt like she was missing a piece of herself.

Ashleigh walked over to Daniel’s couch and sank down into the cool leather. The couch threatened to swallow her, which was almost as good as a hug. He passed her a blanket, and Ashleigh curled up in the corner and spread the blanket over her lap.

“What are you doing here, Ash?” he asked.

Ash. Daniel was the only one who ever called her that. Frederick called her Ash once, and she told him she didn’t like the nickname. In truth, it felt like something that belonged to Daniel. She didn’t want to share that part of herself with anyone else.

She finally looked at him and admitted the truth. “I needed to get away from my husband.”

“Did he hurt you?” Daniel growled.

Ashleigh shook her head. “Not physically, no. I saw him having sex with someone else.”

“Ah, fuck, Ash. I’m sorry.”

She nodded. Daniel was a good man. The best. He was looking at her like she was a wounded woman, but when she told him the rest, he’d look at her like she was a victim.

They were walking through campus one night when a woman came running toward them. She was looking back and barely cared what was in front of her as long as she got away from whoever was chasing her. She plowed into Daniel and Ashleigh, nearly knocking them over, but Daniel caught the woman.

She fell into his arms and told him a man just attacked her and was chasing her. Daniel had murder in his eyes when he went after the guy. It was the first and only time Ashleigh saw him look like that. He was in charge and determined to make it right.

As a twenty-two year old in love, she was jealous of the way Daniel protected that other woman. He checked in with her regularly until she transferred to another college. Ashleigh couldn’t tell him she didn’t want him to reach out to the other woman, but she hated whenever he did.

She was about to be that woman.

“When I was leaving, I saw a picture of a boy. He was a few months old and had been taken from his parents. Kidnapped. I went to set the page down and I saw another paper that looked like something you would have for an adoption, a docket with details about the child and the birth parents.” Her cheeks heated when he narrowed his gaze, silently asking how she knew what that looked like. “Frederick and I have been talking about adoption. We’ve had trouble getting pregnant for years, and we thought adoption would be a good idea. Take the stress off me, and thirty-nine is pretty old to have a baby.”

Daniel nodded with his jaw clenched tight.

“Anyway, the boy wasn’t adopted. It was a current picture, and it looked like he was going to be adopted.”

Daniel narrowed his gaze. “What are you saying, Ash?”

She took a deep breath. “I think my husband is involved in kidnapping and human trafficking of an infant boy in Detroit.”

“Well, fuck me,” Daniel said.

Ashleigh nodded. Her thoughts exactly.

* * *

Dunn was paralyzed for the first time since he saw his boss and mentor with a gun to another man’s head. For all the shit he’d seen in his life and his career as a SEAL, he was rarely surprised. People were vicious, horrible pieces of shit. But as a SEAL, the people he encountered were fighting for their lives. Right and wrong didn’t matter as much as survival, so people did horrible things all in the name of saving their own ass.

But the real world was different. He didn’t expect to see the same inhumanity in the real world. Having Williams turn on them was the shock of Dunn’s life. Ashaki betraying him and the rest of the Team hurt, but that was more of a prideful thing. He didn’t see it coming and felt like an idiot. But Williams had been stringing them all along for years. He made them believe he was on their side, but he wasn’t.

He got that Ashleigh was feeling the same way. Her husband was not the man she thought he was. He should have been keeping her safe, and instead he was involved with people who were stealing children. Dunn’s mind spun with the possibility of her husband taking that child for himself and Ashleigh, of adopting him as their own, but his gut told him that wasn’t the case.

Too bad he didn’t trust his gut anymore. But his team? He trusted them.

Dunn stood and pulled out his phone.

Ashleigh shouted, “No. You can’t call anyone.”

Dunn looked down at her. She was shaking again, her eyes wild with fear. “Why can’t I call anyone?”

“He could find me,” she said.

Dunn sat back down. “Why would he expect you to come here? He would probably think you’d go to your dad’s or to see a friend.”

Ashleigh shook her head again. “Dad died a few years ago. And I’m still not speaking to my mom. All my friends are his friends.”

“Okay, so if he doesn’t know you’re here, how will he find you?”

She drew in a shaky breath. “I… I don’t know. Don’t people have ways to find people? He’s a very powerful man.”

Dunn nodded. “I understand, Ash, but I’m not going to let him get to you. I need to call my team, though. So they can start to figure out what’s going on.”

“Are you sure none of them are working for him?”

She asked the one question he couldn’t answer. The one question that rubbed a raw nerve with sandpaper. A couple of years ago, he never would have thought twice about the men he considered his brothers, but after Williams, Dunn wasn’t sure of anything.

“They’re good men, Ash. You’ll see,” was all he said.

Dunn sent out a group text asking everyone available to meet at his house immediately. All of them responded that they were on their way.

“They’ll be here soon,” he told Ashleigh. “I need to take a quick shower.”

“I—” She stopped herself.

“What?”

She looked around the room and stared out through the sliding glass door. It was one of the reasons Dunn bought the house, for the big doors so he could open up his house and move between the two spaces. And she was afraid of it.

“Do you want me to close the curtains?” he asked.

She hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. I guess I’ll be okay like that.”

Dunn tugged the curtains closed and checked that the doors were locked, then handed Ash the remote and went to his room. He left the bedroom door open in case she needed something, but closed the bathroom door. He tossed his sweaty running clothes into the hamper and jumped in the shower, washing himself quickly so he was out before any of the guys showed up and scared the shit out of Ashleigh.

He dried off and cracked the bathroom door to let the steam out. Once he was mostly dry, he wrapped his towel around his waist and went into his room.

Where Ashleigh was sitting on his bed.

Her gaze dropped like a stone, falling to where his dick hid beneath his towel. So much for keeping him under wraps. He responded instantly to her gaze, even though there was a towel there, and pulsed against the cotton. Her eyes widened, and she trailed them up his chest slowly.

Dunn knew he should get dressed and tell her to wait for him in the other room, but Ash had seen him naked more times than he could count. It had been almost two decades, but he hadn’t changed that much.

“Why are you in here, Ash?” he finally managed to ask.

She looked up and met his gaze. “I didn’t want to be in the other room alone. I’m sorry. I’ll close my eyes or something so you can get dressed.”

She clamped her eyes shut. Dunn sighed. She was terrified, and he couldn’t just toss her out.

Checking again to make sure her eyes were closed, Dunn went to his dresser and grabbed a green tee and a pair of black shorts. He pulled the tee on, then dropped his towel and pulled on boxer briefs and shorts. When he turned back to Ashleigh, she was watching him.

“Sorry,” she said, her cheeks turning pink again.

“Of all the places you could have gone, why did you come here?” he asked her.

She looked up at him, likely surprised he didn’t say anything about her checking him out naked. Then she smiled sadly and said, “I knew you’d do anything to keep me safe. Even though you don’t love me anymore, I knew you’d protect me with your life. It’s who you are, Daniel.”

3

Ashleigh wondered what caused the shadows in Daniel’s eyes at her words. She wanted to ask him about it, about the losses she knew he’d been through, but she couldn’t. She lost any chance at that right when she married another man. Daniel wasn’t hers.

Before he could respond to what she said, someone pounded on the door. Ashleigh jumped off the bed and leaped at Daniel. “He’s here. He found me. Help me.”

Daniel held her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. “Ash, that’s my team. I told them to come here. It’s not your husband.”

“But what if he’s with them? Or what if he got into your group somehow?”

“He never knew about me. You said you didn’t tell him, so there’s no reason he ever would have bothered with me. Right?”

She finally nodded, but she wasn’t ready to let go of him yet.