Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(74)

“It’s legit,” Jag found himself saying.

Baker was quiet for a moment, then he shocked the shit out of Jag by saying, “You’re a damn good man, Jag. Carly’s lucky to have you.” Then he clicked off the connection and left Jag sitting in his car, staring at his phone.

Shaking his head, wondering how the hell Carly’s bloodthirsty request had led to Baker giving him a pep talk, Jag started his engine and backed out of the parking spot, anxious to get home. He’d be late getting to work, but he didn’t give a shit. He was going to take his time and have breakfast with Carly, as usual.

He wished he could spend the day with her, but that wasn’t possible. There had been another kidnapping of school children in Nigeria. This time it was nearly five hundred boys. Boko Haram was at it again, and the United States had offered any help to the Nigerian government that they needed in order to track down the group and get the children back. The SEALs were neck deep in researching the area where the boys had disappeared, in case they were sent in to assist in the recovery.

Jag didn’t want to leave, not now, but the thought of what those boys’ fates would be if they weren’t found struck a little too close to home, and he wanted to help get them back to their families.

He drove home a little too quickly and took the stairs two at a time as he ran up to his floor. The second he entered his apartment, he smiled. It smelled like cinnamon rolls. He kept telling Carly that he couldn’t eat that kind of junk in the morning before work, but she simply shrugged and baked stuff anyway.

“Morning,” Jag said as he walked into the kitchen.

She turned and smiled at him, and Jag melted. This was what he wanted. Carly smiling at him like that for the rest of their lives. He’d do anything to make that happen. Anything. The fact that she’d accepted what had happened to him, that she hadn’t stormed out after he’d treated her like shit, was a minor miracle. He hadn’t realized until afterward how close he’d come to losing her. He hated that he’d hurt her, but she didn’t hold a grudge and things were now even deeper between them.

He stalked over to her, and Carly’s smile widened as he got close. He wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her against him. She stumbled, but the laughter that left her lips as her hands landed on his chest let him know she wasn’t frightened.

She was still smiling when his lips landed on hers. He couldn’t wait another second to touch her. She tasted sweet, as if she’d been sampling the icing that was supposed to go on the cinnamon rolls when they came out of the oven. But within seconds, everything but the feel of her against him and her lips under his faded into the background.

He kissed her with all the love he had in his heart. All the gratitude that she was the woman she was. All the relief that she’d been able to overcome her reticence when it came to dating.

They were both breathing hard when he pulled back.

“Um, wow,” Carly said, staring up at him with wide eyes.

“Morning,” Jag said softly.

“Did you have a good workout?” she asked.

Jag shrugged. “Mustang kicked our asses extra hard today, probably to make a point that he knew I’d slacked off the last few days.”

Carly rolled her eyes. “Oh, a few days off of work. Yeah, you’re such a slacker.”

Jag chuckled. Then he sobered. “Baker called me this morning.”

Carly blushed and asked lightly, “He did?”

She knew why Baker had called him, but was obviously trying to play it off. “Yup.”

She hesitated when he didn’t say anything else, then finally asked, “Are you mad?”

“Mad that you’re trying to protect me? That you’re bloodthirsty in your desire for revenge? No.”

“It’s not revenge,” she said immediately. “It’s justice. Jag, what she did was not only morally wrong and evil, it was illegal. And I can’t help but think if she did it to you, she’s done it to other boys. I want her to pay. Not for ruining your life, because you’re amazing and you being as successful as you are is a big ‘fuck you’ to her. But for her being a horrible, awful person.”

Jag couldn’t help but smile.

“So? What’d you tell Baker?” she asked. “More importantly, what’d he tell you? Did he find her yet? Has he shut down all her bank accounts, put viruses on her computers, gotten her fired and all that stuff yet?”

“Good Lord, woman,” Jag said in surprise. “Seriously?”

“Oh, yeah,” Carly replied with a nod and a hard look in her eyes. “It’s not enough, not nearly enough for what she did, but it’s a start.”

Jag ran his hand over her hair and shook his head. “He wanted to know if your request was legit. Basically, wanted my approval.”

“What did you tell him?” Carly asked when he didn’t immediately continue.

“I gave him the green light.”

Satisfaction filled her eyes. “Good.”

Jag knew he had to tell her everything else Baker had mentioned, but he had other things on his mind at the moment.

“I want to make love to you,” he blurted—then cringed at how abrupt that sounded.

But Carly merely smiled and seemed to melt into him further. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Tonight.”