Soft Place to Fall (Navy Book 4)

Chapter 9

Will entered the house through the backdoor and immediately came upon Carmen pacing with her phone held to her ear. She was nodding at something that the person on the other end was saying, despite the fact that the person couldn't see her, and she had a worried look on her face. As soon as she caught sight of Will the look vanished but she still continued to pace.

When she held out the phone towards Will he knew it was Josh. He put the phone to his ear and said hello tentatively, waiting to be told the lay of the land before he said anything else.

"I haven't told her why you're there yet, and I hope your little plan works, the poor woman is scared to death."

Will remained silent, gritting his teeth at Josh's pointless statement.

"I've told her to keep you close, that should make you happy. She doesn't need or want to be in the house alone, so I have advised her to let you stay the night. We'll monitor the site from here."

"I'll stay," Will said, watching Carmen's shoulders sag with relief.

"I bet you will." Josh sighed. "We have another lead, we've been monitoring her phone calls and she had an interesting one last night that made me curious.

"Yes, I know." Josh was talking about her phone call with her mother.  It had set him on edge as well. It could have been motherly concern, but it didn't sit well with him, especially after her comment that Adrianna wasn't very motherly.

"How do you know?"

Will remained silent, watching Carmen as she stopped pacing and turned to watch him.

He could hear Josh's frustration through the phone, and Will wanted pay him back for being so damn stubborn and keeping him in the dark, but he also wanted to take Carmen's mind of her current problem, and there was only one way he could think of to do both

"Do you really think it's necessary for us to stay in the same room?"

"Will!" Josh warned.

"No, I get it. She's in danger, but surely the room next door will do."

"You're a complete and utter-"

"If you insist. Sure, I'll tell her that you'll call her back when you know more." Will hung up before Josh's voice got too loud.

"I'm not staying in the same room with you," Carmen blurted as soon as Will hung up the phone and passed it back to her.

"I agree, it seems a bit over the top, especially since we haven't even kissed yet. Nice guy, your Josh."

"He's not mine and he's alright. I don't think he's getting the job done very well though. He should be finished by now."

"Finished?" Will loved to insult Josh but didn't like anyone else doing it, even though she had given him the opening he needed to ask the question. "Why don't you fill me in on what's going on first." He pulled out a kitchen chair and plopped down in it. "I'm starving, is there any food in this place?"

*******

Carmen sighed as she turned towards the fridge. Part of her was secretly pleased to be able to keep Will close, and the other part of her, the part of her that was having a hard time resisting his charm, wanted him as far away as possible. And there was absolutely no way she would be sharing a room with him. She was having a hard time believing that the conservative Josh had even mentioned it.

She pulled out the makings for sandwiches and started to prepare a few absentmindedly. What was she going to do if Josh hadn't solved the problem before it was time for her to go back home. She was so caught up in the question that she jumped when Will spoke.

"Well, are you going to catch me up?"

Carmen sighed, she would have to tell him something. "Those white roses, I don't really know who they're from."

Carmen was silent for a moment as she tried to decide what she was going to tell him and what she wasn't. There was no good reason not to tell him the truth. Taking a deep sigh, she reached for a towel and wiped her hands. "Wait here."

She had seen one of the magazines that had her photo in it on the table in the living room and she brushed past will to retrieve it. She could feel his eyes on her the entire time and she was actually a little shy of telling him the truth.

As she passed him in the return trip she threw it at him and he easily caught it.

"Open it to the front cover," she said as she returned to making the sandwiches.

"I don't need to." Will threw the magazine on the table.

"You know who I am?" She couldn't help the shocked look that crossed her face.

"I didn't at first, it wasn't until yesterday that I realized who you were. It was when your hat fell off, freeing all of your hair. No one has hair like yours." He spoke the last part softly and she swore she saw something like pain cross his face before he was able to mask it. It only confused her, why would her hair color cause him pain? Maybe she reminded him of someone.

"Why didn't you say that you recognized me?" she asked, trying to stay focused on the problem at hand.

"I figured you didn't want anyone to know, so who was I to out you?"

She shook her head, sometimes his thoughtfulness caught her off guard, it was completely contradictory to who he seemed to be most of the time. She put the final touches on the sandwiches and walked them over to the table.

"Well the fact that you recognized me should tell you that other's do too, and that my career is high profile, and with high profile there comes certain dangers." She bit into her sandwich watching Will devour his, he really wasn't kidding about being hungry.

"You have a stalker." He nodded.

Carmen's eyes narrowed. "How did you know?"

Will grinned at her suspicion. "It's not me, I promise." He held up his hand. "But your sudden appearance here, your supposed incognito look, and the mysterious flowers all add up to stalker like activity."

Carmen leaned back in her chair and sighed, she thought she had been doing so good at getting away from it all. No wonder the stalker had been able to find her. It had all been a waste of time and effort.

****Sorry it's so short and late tonight (and I'm sure it's full of mistakes) but I'm not feeling my best. I'll do my best to give you all a really long chapter tomorrow night to make up for it.***