Soft Place to Fall (Navy Book 4)

Chapter 4

Will climbed the steps to the house in the trees. Quinn had told him that it belonged to his brother, who was currently in Africa, and he was unsure when he would return. It was where he had decided to setup his base of operations. It was a short distance to the house and not easily accessible if the need to defend arose.

The small house was two levels that sat up in the trees. The first level was one giant room that included the kitchen, and the second level was the bedroom and bathroom.  The second level was where he had set up all of the monitors that linked to the security cameras that were spread out over the property. He knew even when he wasn't watching them that Josh's people would be.

He had hated to let the man at the airport go, it went against the grain, but he had had to because there had been no other way to manage the situation and not leave Carmen an easy target.

Carmen, he thought about her while he settled down in front of the monitors, scanning them all and easily spying the car parked on the side of the road at the gate.

She had not been what he was expecting, it was obvious that she was drop dead gorgeous and had a killer figure, and he didn't doubt that Josh had told her to disguise herself. In part, to possibly evade the man following her, but also no doubt, to keep him from being interested. But interested he was, more than he had been in a long time.

When he had put his hand on hers to grab her luggage it had been like grabbing a live wire. It was a thrill he hadn't felt in a long time, the rush of adrenaline and the accelerated heartrate. She had looked confused, then shocked, and finally wary as she had extracted her hand from his with a pointed look.

Then she had looked positively frustrated when he had called her Honey. But it was the first thing he had thought of, and he had even wondered if she tasted like honey. He grinned at the thought, glad that he had had it.

He had been shocked when he realized that he hadn't introduced himself, which is what he should have done from the first moment, but he had been distracted by the feel of her hand and then the feeling that they already knew each other, as if they had always known each other.

She had been remarkably calm for someone who had a stalker and a strange man trying to pick her up at the same time. For all she knew he could have been her stalker, and the thought must have crossed her mind, but to her credit she had never let him know she was uneasy. In fact, she had given him her best haughty attitude and put him in his place with a simple look.

Yep, she had to be a looker, she was too used to putting men in their place not to be. Carmen 'Honey' Morales was going to be fun to wind up.

Will watched the car. If he would pull up just a little he would have a licenses plate and they would be able to trace the car, granted it was probably a rental, but anything might help. When his phone rang he reached over, grabbing it without looking to see who it was, he knew it was Josh.

"Everything alright?" he asked before Will could even say hello.

"Sure, I'll send you a photo of our guy in a second, right now I'm trying to get the plate off of his car." Will's eyes were glued to the screen.

"He was there?"

"Yes, and easy to spot. Either he wanted to be spotted or he's an amateur, not sure which. He wasn't careful about the tail either. He had a car waiting for him with valet parking so there's money involved."

"How do you know?"

"I was introducing myself to Morales when he walked past us to the valet station and was given some keys. It was helpful in identifying what he was driving, but I was unable to get a tag since he waited for us to leave the area before he drove away."

"And now he's there?"

Will could hear the frown in his friend's voice.

"Right outside the gate."

Will watched as he peeled away from the side of the road, too quick for him to get a plate number. "I don't like it, I think he's playing a game."

"Meaning?"

"He knows Carmen is being protected here, and he either wants to get caught or he's only a distraction."

"How could he know she's being protected, and why would he want to get caught?"

"That's your job to figure out brother. I'm supposed to keep the damsel in distress safe." Will leaned back in his chair stretching. "Your advice for her to dress down, while a nice try, did not hide her obvious assets."

He heard Josh's exasperated sigh. "Never mix business with pleasure, brother."

"Never say never." Will was tired. "I'll send you what I have, but my gut tells me this is much more than a simple stalker. You need to tell Quinn and his wife to leave, and Morales needs to be told why I'm here. I need to ask her a few questions."   

"I'll get Quinn and Dana out of the picture but don't reveal yourself yet, not until I know more. I want to make sure that whomever this is knows that you're there before we throw all of our cards on the table."

"Fine, but he knows about the cameras. He just peeled out at an angle that kept his plate away from the camera."

"Maybe it was coincidence, maybe he was frustrated."

"And maybe Carmen Morales isn't a supermodel," Will said, laughing when he heard Josh's oath as he ended the call.

*******

Carmen was dropped off by Will, who carried her bag to the porch and then with a nod was gone. Quinn and his wife Dana, whom she remembered from her previous visit four years earlier, gave her a warm welcome before sitting her down in the kitchen and feeding her, while a much older Fiona sat across from her, unsure whether she was going to trust the new comer or not. It was a very big decision for a five year old and Carmen did her best not to take the little stare personally.

Dana caught Carmen up on all of the Stevens's news, Rainer had married a few years previous and Caleb and his wife were due back any day from Africa, where he had been helping a small country develop a water filtration plant. They talked for about an hour before Dana showed her to her room, making sure that she had all that she needed before she turned to Fiona and ordered her to bed with a pointed finger.

As soon as Carmen was alone she sat heavily on the bed listening to Fiona's grumpy voice fading down the hall until, finally, silence descended upon the room. It was going to be a long two weeks, and she had no clue what she was going to do with herself. Her normal busy schedule left her very little leisure time. So little in fact, that she had forgotten how to be lazy. Leaning back on the bed she looked at the ceiling, maybe this was her chance to remember how.

Will suddenly popped into her head and she frowned at the thought of him. She knew his type, he was all charm and charisma, he knew the ladies liked him and he liked the ladies, he should be easy to deal with, especially if she kept to her current makeup-less state.

She was glad that Josh had made her dress down.  Will had been overwhelming as it was, she couldn't imagine what he would be like if he had decided to charm her. He would get annoying very quickly. She would have to keep up her guard, and keep wearing the awful clothes that she had packed. Perhaps if she thought of herself as a plain Jane he would also think she was one and leave her alone.

Carmen chose not to remember the way she had been speechless when she had first seen him, the way his hand had felt touching hers, and the fact that she had trusted him from the first moment she had met him. These were all pesky details, easily ignored or passed off as a result of exhaustion. He was easily dealt with as long as she kept her guard up, she told herself once more before her eyes drifted shut.