Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(20)

Jag fell asleep with a feeling of anticipation running through his veins. He was ready for this. Ready to slay Carly’s dragons…and maybe have her slay his at the same time.





CHAPTER SIX





Carly fought the urge to puke. She couldn’t believe she’d let Jag talk her into this.

The last week had been amazing. She almost felt like her old self again. She’d talked to Kenna almost daily on the phone and had been out of Jag’s apartment at least once each day as well. Granted, he’d been at her side every time, but still.

They’d gone to the grocery store, he’d taken her to the mall to get some more odds and ends that she needed, and he’d even taken her to the beach for a picnic dinner one evening. It was funny, because others seemed to always give them a wide berth, as if they were afraid of Jag or something. But Carly had never, not once, been afraid of the large man. He made her feel less vulnerable…and she secretly liked the air of danger he seemed to exude for others.

To her, he represented safety. But that wasn’t all he represented.

The more time they spent together, the harder it was to not throw herself at him.

He was constantly touching her. Small brushes of his hand against her lower back, putting their entwined hands on his thigh as they watched TV, even kissing her temple now and then. But it was at night when it was the most difficult to keep her hands to herself.

Every night, he sent her to bed first then followed later. She was usually asleep by the time he came in, but immediately woke up when he climbed into bed. She turned over and snuggled into him, knowing he’d wrap his arm around her and hold her close. For the last few months, nighttime had been the worst for her by far. She imagined she saw people lurking in the shadows all the time. She’d slept better in the week she’d been with Jag than she had in her entire life, even before her paranoia.

But being around him constantly only made her want him more. She was glad that he didn’t want her gratitude, even though she still felt it, because she wanted him to see her as more than a charity case. She wanted what Kenna had. What Elodie, Lexie, and Monica had. She wanted the right to touch Jag how and where she wanted, when she wanted. She wanted the privilege of knowing his innermost thoughts.

But they weren’t there yet. She wanted to think they were moving toward a more intimate relationship, but it would take some time.

One thing Carly wasn’t all that thrilled about was the way Jag pushed her, hard, to talk to Alani, her manager at Duke’s. Or rather, her former manager. Which brought her back to her present predicament.

Carly wasn’t sure she was ready to go back to work. Leaving Jag’s apartment was still incredibly stressful and difficult. And he wanted her to put herself out there, maybe even in danger, by going back to work?

“I still don’t understand why you’re insisting on this,” she said as they sat in his car in a parking garage in Waikiki, not far from Duke’s. She’d agreed to come down and talk to Alani, but now that she was actually here, she wanted to insist Jag take her back to his apartment.

“What did you like about being a waitress?” he asked, instead of acknowledging her statement.

She sighed. “Hanging out with Kenna. And Paulo and Kaleen. I liked seeing people’s faces when they tried the hula pie. I enjoyed when groups came in to celebrate something…birthdays, anniversaries, weddings. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say I liked the money.”

“It’s not lost on me that you listed the friendships you made first,” Jag said. “Carly, you’re a lot like Kenna in that you thrive when you’re around other people. They make you happy. You need that.”

“But being around people means Luke, or whoever was working with Shawn, can get to me,” Carly protested.

Jag reached for her hand and clasped it between both of his own. “I wish I could sit here and tell you that won’t happen. But I can’t. I’m not exactly thrilled that the police haven’t found any connection between Shawn’s plan and his acquaintances, but I think your need to be around your friends outweighs my desire to lock you away until we figure out who Shawn recruited to help him.”

Carly’s respect for Jag increased. She needed him to be real with her, even when it upset her, and this was about as real as it could get.

“I’ve talked to Aleck, and he’s hired a car service to bring Kenna to work each day, then he picks her up himself after her shifts. He said it wouldn’t be a problem to add you to the pickup schedule. I think if you can work the same shifts as Kenna, you’d feel a lot more comfortable. And you told me yourself that when you had that protective order out against Shawn, you were hyper alert at work, as were the bartenders and other servers. Kenna also said there’s now a security guard at the restaurant at all times when they’re open. You can do this, Carly, I know you can.”

His belief in her made Carly want to cry. He had more confidence in her than she did. “I’m scared, Jag,” she admitted. It wasn’t as if he didn’t already know how frightened she was to leave his apartment. He’d seen her mini panic attacks every time he convinced her to go with him on one errand or another. He’d seen how she was constantly on the lookout for anyone who seemed like they might want to try to snatch her.

“I know,” he said softly, moving one of his hands to the side of her face.