CHAPTER SIX
WHY DO I have to go to bed?” Emma asked, a stubborn look crossing her little girl face as she tried to push the blankets down. “It’s not even nighttime. The sun is out.”
Kimber smiled and pulled them back up. “I know the sun is out, but you haven’t slept in a real bed for two days. Now that you’re home, I want you to get some rest.”
Her daughter’s eyes filled with worry as she glanced over at Dalton. “Will you still be here when I wake up, Daddy, or do you need to go save the world again?”
Kimber looked across at Dalton where he sat on the opposite edge of Emma’s bed, looking stunned. Though, to be truthful, he’d seemed dazed ever since Emma had jumped into his arms in that warehouse earlier that morning. Apparently, hearing her call him daddy had done a number on him.
“Save the world,” he echoed softly. “Is that what you think I do?”
Emma grinned. “Mommy told me that you’re a hero and that you don’t live with us because you’re busy saving the world. Mommy said I have to share you with everyone. That’s okay. I like to share. Will you stay at least until I wake up?”
Dalton’s eyes moistened and Kimber knew he was working hard to keep his composure. He glanced at her, his gaze questioning. She smiled and nodded that it was okay for him to stay. Like there was any chance she wouldn’t.
Grinning, he leaned forward, resting his hand on the blanket on the other side of Emma. “If you promise to stay in bed and sleep, I promise to be here when you wake up. Deal?”
A huge smile crossed Emma’s face and she sat up to throw her arms around his neck. “Deal!” she squealed, then flopped back down and yanked the blanket up to her chin. “You have to stay. You promised!”
Dalton chuckled, tenderly brushing Emma’s blond curls back from her face. “I promise.”
Kimber’s heart squeezed at the sight of father and daughter together. She’d dreamed of a moment like this since Emma was born countless times, but none of them could compare to the scene before her now. In a perfect world, Dalton would be there with her to tuck their daughter in every night.
Getting up from the bed, Kimber made sure the window blinds and curtains were closed, blocking out most of the morning light, then she went over and hugged Emma, kissing her on the forehead. “Sweet dreams, baby.”
Emma reached out a tiny hand and grabbed hers. “Thanks for coming to get me, Mommy. I knew you would.
Her chest tightened again. “Always,” she whispered.
Giving Emma another kiss, Kimber turned on the night light, then left the room with Dalton, quietly closing the door behind them. She stood there for a moment, saying another prayer to thank God for getting her baby home safe.
“You okay?” Dalton asked softly as they walked down the hallway and into the living room.
She smiled. “Yeah. Just happy to have Emma back.”
He flopped down on the couch. “Me, too.”
Kimber sat on the cushion beside him, curling her legs up and resting her elbow on the couch. Crap, she was wiped out. Then again, she hadn’t slept since Emma had been kidnapped. Combine that with stress and she was running on fumes.
Dalton looked just as exhausted as she did. Not surprising. After they’d gotten Emma back, the warehouse had turned into a madhouse within minutes when the cops had shown up, followed by Homeland Security, the FBI, and a pair of agents from the CIA, all demanding answers as to why Navy SEALs were conducting a military operation on American soil.
It was only the fact that they’d rescued a kidnapped child—and kept members of a Chinese special operations team from getting their hands on a batch of highly sensitive computer chips—that had kept Dalton and his friends from being arrested and hauled away.
Then Dalton had gotten a call from his chief, and even though Kimber hadn’t heard a word of the conversation, she’d been able to tell from the expression on his face that his boss wasn’t pleased. She only prayed he wasn’t in too much trouble.
“Do you want something to drink?” she asked.
“I’m good, thanks.” He motioned to what was left of the pizza Emma had insisted they pick up for breakfast after the authorities had finally let them leave. Kimber would have preferred eggs and toast, but Emma had immediately pointed out that they’d missed Saturday pizza night. There was no arguing with that kind of logic. And after what Emma had gone through, if she wanted pizza for breakfast, well, she’d earned it. “Want the last slice?”
She shook her head. “Go ahead.”
As Dalton took a bite and slowly chewed, Kimber was struck by how right being together felt. It was like they’d picked up where they left off five years ago. That thought brought with it a whole mess of recriminations she didn’t want to deal with, so she focused on the question she’d wanted to ask Dalton on the way back from the warehouse but hadn’t because Emma was in the back seat.
“I heard you tell the CIA agents that you’d seen one of the kidnappers in Afghanistan on a mission. Do you think Emma’s kidnapping had something to do with what happened over there?”
Dalton took another bite as he considered that. “It might seem like one hell of a coincidence, but I think that’s truly what it is. Over there, the guy was trying to get his hands on a piece of expensive high-tech military equipment. Now, he shows up here to steal sophisticated computer chips. The CIA wasn’t sure what the chips can do, but if that guy is involved, it probably has something to do with a DOD weapon.”
On the one hand, she supposed it was comforting on some level to know the kidnapping was about nothing more than a foreign country wanting to steal a piece of US technology, and that she and Emma had simply been unlucky enough to get caught up in a deadly game of industrial espionage. On the other, it was also scary because those men had failed to get what they’d been after.
“Do you think they’ll come back for the chips?” she asked.
Dalton shrugged. “Now that JASCO—and the CIA—know what they’re after, I doubt it. Still, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to hang around for a while. Just to make sure everything is okay.”
Kimber smiled, a warm fuzzy thing going on in her tummy. She was definitely okay with Dalton hanging around, and she knew Emma would like it, too. But she wasn’t too sure how that was going to play with Dalton’s boss. She wanted him to stay, but she didn’t want him getting into any more trouble than he was already in.
“Are you sure your chief is going to be cool with that?”
“Yeah, he’s fine with me taking some more time off. In fact, he suggested it.”
She blinked. “Really? I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop at the warehouse, but I got the feeling he seemed really mad when you talked to him on the phone at the warehouse.”
That earned her a snort. “Chasen wasn’t mad—he was pissed. Which is about five levels above mad. But in the end, he understood why I couldn’t tell him anything. We both know he would have wanted to do something official to help me, and that would have just made things worse.”
“So, you’re not going to get in trouble?”
“Oh, I’m getting in trouble all right.” Dalton chuckled. “In fact, I’m probably looking at one serious ass-chewing when I get back. He’ll yell at me for a while and probably have me out doing laps around the base until my feet fall off. I’ll survive it, then Chasen will act like it never happened. That’s how things work in the SEALs. We get everything out in the open, then we move on.”
Kimber wished things were that simple in her world. She’d called her boss while at the warehouse, telling Jasper what she’d done and why. To say the call had been short and terse was an understatement. He was probably on the phone right now with the company lawyers, working out exactly how the company was going to deal with this. They could still charge her with theft even though they had the chips back. But maybe she’d get lucky and he’d agree to part ways. If for no other reason than so it wouldn’t come out how easily the company’s security system had been circumvented. Sure, she’d be without a job. But she had her daughter back, which was good enough for her.
“Did Holden and Wes go back to San Diego?”
She’d thanked them at the warehouse for all their help, but hadn’t said goodbye to either man.
Dalton polished off the rest of the crust before answering. “Not yet. Holden said there was something he and Wes needed to take care of first.”
“Like what?”
“He didn’t give me details, but I’m guessing it has to do with that gear we used to break into JASCO.”
Kimber frowned. She knew the weapons Dalton and his friends had used in the rescue raid had been confiscated by the police, but they’d hidden all the equipment used in the actual break-in long before the cops arrived. She couldn’t help wondering where Holden and Wes had gotten the stuff…and worrying about what they’d had to promise in return for using it.
“They’re not doing anything dangerous are they?” she asked Dalton. “Or illegal?”
He sighed. “I don’t know what Holden has gotten himself into. It’s not something he likes to talk about, but from what I do know about his past, there’s a good chance he’s involved in something illegal, yes. Probably with some really bad people.”
Kimber stared, shocked. “Shouldn’t we try to help?”
“We will—if they need us. But Holden and Wes are big boys. If they need our help, we have to trust that they’ll ask for it before they get in over their heads.”
She nodded, getting another warm feeling inside at the way Dalton said our help. “If they need us, I’m there. Even though I’m not very good at this danger stuff.”
Dalton grinned. “I don’t know about that. The way you stood up to that guy in the warehouse, thinking on your feet and not backing down, was impressive as hell. And when you dived for Emma and protected her with your body? That was downright amazing.” His smiled faded. “I have to tell you, though. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I swear I thought my heart was going to stop.”
She looked at him in surprise. “I can’t imagine you ever being scared. You’re a SEAL. You must have been in dozens of situations much more dangerous than that.”
He regarded her thoughtfully, like he didn’t know exactly what to say. “It wasn’t the situation,” he finally admitted. “I’ve faced worse odds dozens of times, more than I care to remember. And in all those times, I never thought about what might happen. But this time, it was you and Emma in danger, and that changed everything.”
Kimber started to tell him they were fine, that he’d saved their lives and they weren’t in any more danger, but he stopped her with a look.
“I’m serious, Kimber. I know you haven’t been in my life for five years, and I know I just found out I have a daughter, but when I saw the two of you on the floor, bullets hitting all around you…” He took a deep breath. “That’s when I realized how much you and Emma mean to me. I know it’s going to sound crazy, but you’re the most important people in the world to me. If something happened to either of you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
She felt a pang in her chest at his words, and her breath hitched. “You’re not going to have to find out what you’d do without us because we’re both right here and we’re not going anywhere.” She scooted closer to him. “What you’re feeling isn’t crazy at all. You and Emma are the most important people in the world to me, too. All I needed was twenty-four hours with you to realize that, and to finally understand what a horrible mistake I made walking out on you five years ago.”
Dalton cupped her face, his thumb caressing along her cheek and doing all sorts of crazy things to her pulse. “I’ve never loved another woman after you.” The words were soft and thick with emotion. “I tried. God knows, I really tried. I was so damn angry when you left, but no matter how many other women I was with, I could never get back to that thing I had with you. That was because I didn’t want anyone else. I wanted you.”
Kimber would be lying if she said it didn’t hurt to think of Dalton with other women, but she couldn’t be angry at him. She’d left him.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, heart aching as she reached up to cover his hand with hers. “I never meant to hurt you. I can’t tell you how much I wish I could go back and change the past. Wish that I hadn’t walked away from you. Wish I’d told you about Emma earlier.”
Dalton leaned a little closer, shaking his head. “We can’t change the past, so why don’t we agree to move on and worry about the future instead?”
She smiled, for the first time allowing herself to think there could be a future for them. She didn’t know what that future might look like—there was still a lot standing between the two of them—but she was eager to give it a try. “I think I like the sound of that. But, how do we do this? What’s first?”
He slowly slid his hand along her jawline until he buried his fingers into her hair. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. We can start with something simple, then go from there.”
Kimber held her breath, afraid to hope. “Do you have something specific in mind?”
His eyes smoldered. “Yeah…I do.”
Then his mouth came down on hers.