A SEAL's Seduction (Alpha SEALs Book 4) (10 page)

Kenley twisted in the front seat of her wrecked car, wincing at the pain shooting through her wrist.  She was shivering, either from cold or shock.  Or maybe both.  If she could just open the damn door, she could get out and…what?  The rain was pouring down.  It was pitch black outside.  Her car had run off the highway and into the trees and bushes where no one could find her.  What did she think simply getting of her vehicle would accomplish?  Then she’d be soaking wet, stranded, and in pain.

Reaching over, she fumbled around her glove compartment until she found a flashlight.  She tried turning it on with her good arm, but to no avail.  Dead.

“Damn it!” she shouted, tossing it onto the passenger seat as tears streamed down her face.

She slumped back into her seat, trying to take deep breaths and calm down.  Easier said than done after a tractor trailer cut you off, sending you swerving off the damn road.  Her car had spun out on the wet pavement, and the next thing she knew, she was crashing into bushes and trees.  Stuck.  Stranded.

She blew out a breath in exasperation.  If worst came to worst, they’d find her in the morning.  Certainly her car had left tire marks or indentations on the grass as she’d veered off the highway.  Maybe she could wrap something around her wrist to ease some of the pain.  And she had to have some pain killers in her purse.  That might tide her over until help arrived.

She tried dialing 911 again, but the signal kept dropping.  The rain and the damn forest weren’t exactly helping her get a strong signal.  If she could just get out of her car, maybe she could make it back to highway and flag someone down.  Or get a strong enough signal from a cell tower to call for help.  She tried the door again, shoving against it as best she could, but it was stuck.  She might have hit something as the car veered into the foliage.

Unbuckling her seatbelt, Kenley climbed over the center console and onto the passenger seat.  Gingerly, she tried that door.

Bingo.  It opened.

The smell of damp forest filled her nostrils.  It was woodsy and clean and exactly not what she wanted to be stuck in the middle of.

Rain poured down from the sky, rustling branches and leaves.  It fell hard and heavy, filling the forest with nothing but its sound, drowning out the highway that was probably only feet away.  She couldn’t see a damn thing, but at least she could get out.

She grabbed her cell phone again, noticing how low the battery was getting.  Her heart pounded in anticipation.  If the battery died before she could get a hold of someone, then she really would be stuck here all night.

Another tear slid down her cheek as she thought about how she could’ve been taking a nice hot bubble bath right now.  In desperation, she tried Lexi’s number.  Somehow the call went through, and she left a frantic message.  Tears streaming down her cheeks, she saw Mike’s number beside Lexi’s in her contact list.  He was the last person on Earth she wanted to talk to, but he’d help her.   He’d know what to do.

***

“I’ll run a trace on her number,” Christopher said.  “If she was using her cell to call you and Lexi, hopefully it’s still turned on.  But even if it’s not, I can see the last cell tower location that it pinged.  That should give you a general idea of where she is.”

“Thanks, man,” Mike said.  “I figure she can’t be too far.  I’ll start driving over the bridge.  Text me the coordinates.”

“Sure thing.  And let us know when you find her.  Lexi is freaking out.”

“So am I,” Mike muttered.  “I figure she wouldn’t call me unless it was a last resort type thing.”

“Lexi called the state troopers while I was running the search.  They’ll be out looking for her, too.  We’ve got an edge though since we’re already a few steps ahead of them.”

“Shit, man, is tracing her number like that even legal?”

“Don’t ask.  But I’d do it for anyone who was in danger.  And don’t worry—they won’t even know I was there.”

Mike laughed, feeling a brief moment of levity.  “I’m surprised Lexi didn’t hack into the cell tower records herself.”

“Hell, she would’ve if she wasn’t so stressed out.  No worries, I’ll have the location for you in a few minutes.

“Good.  Thanks, man, I owe you,” he said, disconnecting with Christopher.

Apparently Kenley had been headed home in this mess.  What the hell had made her want to drive back to Northern Virginia in this freaking monsoon?  The storms that blew in off the ocean in this area could be surprisingly strong; the flooding that came from them dangerous and deadly.  Had Kenley even checked the forecast before rushing home tonight?

He blew out a breath as he grabbed his keys and made a dash to his SUV.  If she’d worked all day in Norfolk before leaving, she was probably still on I-64, the long stretch of highway that connected the Virginia Beach area to Williamsburg and Richmond.  Good.  That meant he’d get to her sooner.  And sooner was about all he could handle at the moment.

His chest tightened at the idea of Kenley out there alone.  Why she had him so worked up, he didn’t even want to fully examine.

But he cared about her.  And just like she’d rushed down to help Lexi when she was in trouble, Mike would do the same for her.  He owed her that much.  And if anything else came from it, well, they’d just cross that bridge when they came to it.

Kenley sank back into the passenger seat.  She’d tried making her way to the road, but it was nearly impossible in the darkness and rain.  She’d stumbled once, nearly twisting her ankle, and she didn’t need that on top of her injured wrist.  If no one found her soon, she’d just have to wait until morning.  She didn’t have a working flashlight, she only had use of one hand—at the rate she was going, she’d probably fall and break her leg in the dark.

She peeled off her wet coat, shivering.  At least she had plenty of gas in her tank, so she could start the engine and crank up the heat.  And when the rain stopped, she could try honking the horn and setting off the car alarm in hopes of getting attention of a passing vehicle.  No one would hear her in this downpour though.

She climbed back into the driver’s seat, wincing in pain when she moved her left hand.  She had to have something in the car she could wrap her wrist in.

A loud crack of thunder boomed across the sky, and she jumped.  It was ridiculous that she’d run just off the road—she felt so close yet so far away.  There were probably hundreds of cars driving by at the moment, and not a single one knew she was here.  She hoped and prayed that Lexi and Mike had gotten her messages and called 911.  All of her other friends and family were still in Northern Virginia.  No, scratch that—her parents were off on another luxury European cruise.  They rarely stuck around for long, preferring instead to spend their retirement traveling.  They’d also spent her childhood doing the same, but hey, who was keeping score.

She closed her eyes as she let the heat warm her.  After the day she was having, she probably could fall asleep sitting up right here.  Normally that sounded downright uncomfortable, but she was exhausted.  Maybe if she just rested for a few minutes she’d feel better….

“Kenley!”  a deep voice shouted.  Someone pounded on the window.  “Kenley!”

She bolted up in shock and screamed.  A bright flashlight beamed in the window at her, and she shrunk back into her seat in fear.  She felt like an animal on display on the zoo—there was nowhere to hide, nowhere to seek shelter.  What if some ax murderer or rapist had found her?  She’d been startled from a deep sleep and suddenly a man was banging on the glass and shouting….  But wait—wasn’t he calling her name?

“Damn it, Kenley, answer me!” a gruff voice shouted.  “Are you okay?”

“I can’t open the door!” she yelled back.

The man banged on it again, yanking on the door handle, but didn’t have any more luck than she did in her attempts earlier.

“Hang on, I’ll get you out!”

“The other side,” she said, uselessly pointing.  It was doubtful he could see her movements in the darkened interior, even with that bright light.  She crawled over to the passenger seat again, tears streaming down her cheeks as she accidentally put pressure on her wrist.  The flashlight and its owner rounded the front of her car, and a second later, the passenger door was opening.

The car’s interior light popped on, and her heart pounded frantically she looked up into the worried face of Mike.  He’d come for her?  Even after she’d blown him off last night?  Yes, she’d called both Lexi and him in panic earlier, but she’d expected they’d call the police or something.  The last person on Earth she expected to see coming to her rescue was the man she’d told to leave her alone.

Relief flooded through her as Mike ducked down, no doubt getting soaked as he crouched on the wet ground beside her vehicle.  At least all that damn rain had finally stopped.

“Kenley, honey….”

“Mike,” she sobbed, the tears flowing freely as she began to tremble.  She’d never been so happy to see someone in her entire life.

“Come here,” he soothed, pulling her toward him.

She fell into his embrace, letting her head rest on his solid chest.  He had on a jacket over his clothes, but she felt warm and safe just having him hold her.  One hand slid to the back of her head, holding her to him, like she was something precious he wanted to cherish and care for.

“Kenley, sweetheart, are you okay?”  She felt his deep timbre reverberate in her chest, warming her to the very soul.  His scent surrounded her, and she relaxed into him, knowing she’d be okay.

“It hurts,” she whimpered.

“What does, angel?”

“My wrist.”

Mike reached out and gently held her wrist with one large hand, running his fingers over her delicate bones.  She winced in pain, and he clenched his jaw.  “Let me put a splint on this; it may be broken.  I’ll get you out of here and take you to the hospital for x-rays.  We’ll call the state troopers when we’re back in my SUV.  They’re all out looking for you, but I can’t get any good reception here.”

“Thanks for coming to find me,” she whispered.

“It wasn’t even a question,” Mike assured her.

She nodded, and he pulled her back into his arms, kissing the top of her head.  “Lexi was really worried about you,” he said.  “So was I after I got your message.”

“How’d you find me?”

Mike gently pulled back, his hands resting on her shoulders.  She met his concerned blue gaze.

“Christopher and Lexi.  They hacked into the phone network and pinged the last location of your cell phone.  Not sure how legal that is, but they weren’t going to wait around until the police could locate you.”

“A tractor trailer changed lanes, and I swerved.  My car started to spin on the wet pavement, and the next thing I knew, I was crashing into the trees.  I tried to hike back up the embankment to the highway once I finally got out of the car, but I couldn’t in the rain with my injured wrist.  I’m not even sure if the other driver knew he ran me off the road.”

“What a jackass.  We’ll have to teach you some defensive driving maneuvers.”

“I don’t know if that would’ve helped.”

“Honey, when I’m done with you, you’ll be able to handle anything.”

Kenley let out a small laugh.  “Can we go now?”

“Absolutely.  Let me wrap your wrist, and we’ll be on our way.”

***

Two hours later, Mike helped Kenley back into his SUV.  She clutched her injured arm to her stomach, and he helped her fasten the seatbelt.  After a quick trip to the ER, she now had a small cast on her wrist.  She looked completely exhausted, and Mike wanted nothing more than to take her back to his townhouse, where he could take care of her, keep an eye on her—and keep her safely tucked away in his own bed all night long.

“Where were you headed tonight anyway?” he asked as he pulled onto the highway leading back toward Virginia Beach.

“My boss wanted me to pick up some paperwork at home.”

“And they couldn’t just fax it to you?” Mike asked in disbelief.

“She said they could Fed Ex it down, but I needed a ton of new hire packages right away—company brochures, health care benefits, that sort of thing.  The contract we won is big, and we’re bringing on a large number of people.  That’s why I stayed down here—to help with the hiring process.  We have a need for immediate hires, so my boss was hoping to expedite things.”

“So your boss thought you could just drive home late at night to retrieve them.  Why didn’t he just bring them down here himself if he was so damn concerned?”

“She.  And I don’t know.  If I’d thought of it, maybe I would’ve suggested that myself.  It would’ve saved me the trouble—and that God-awful accident.  Now I have a fractured wrist, a damaged car….  Shit, is my car still there?”

“Already taken care of,” Mike reassured her.

“It is?”

“Yeah, when you were getting x-rays, I spoke with the state troopers, and we had it towed out.  There was minimal damage, which is good news.  You went straight off the road and avoided hitting anything big.  Matthew and Christopher went to pick it up.”

“But why would they do that?  It’s totally out of their way.”

Mike shrugged.  “It needed to be done.  You can’t be driving long distances with your injured wrist.  I guess your boss will have to find another way to get all of that paperwork to you.”

“Shit,” Kenley muttered.  “I didn’t even call her.”  She rummaged around in her purse, looking for her cell phone.  “And my phone died.  Ugh!”

“You can use mine,” Mike said, pulling it from his pocket.

“Thanks.”

Mike listened in as Kenley dialed her home office and explained the situation to her boss.  Kenley sighed as she disconnected the call.  “She said she’d find another way to get them down to Virginia Beach and told me just to rest up.”

“Well at least she has some common sense,” Mike muttered.  The fact that the woman had expected Kenley to rush the four hours home after a long day at work didn’t sit well with him.  Was she expecting Kenley to drive back down here in the middle of the night, too?  Then go in to work tomorrow on no sleep?  It shouldn’t be his concern to worry about her, but hell.  He’d been terrified himself when he got her message.  A crying and frightened Kenley was not something he wanted to hear—ever.

She stifled a yawn beside him, and he glanced her way.  “Why don’t you rest?  You’ve had a long night, and it’ll still be another hour before we’re back.”

“Um, okay,” she said, her eyelids slipping shut.  “Maybe just for a minute.”

“Kenley?” he asked softly a minute later.

She was already sound asleep.

Mike resisted the urge to grin.  Although he didn’t like the idea of Kenley being injured, he’d seen a completely different side of her tonight.  She hadn’t fought him, hadn’t told him off.  She’d actually
needed
him.  She’d let him help her, let him hold her.  And hell if that didn’t make him feel like the greatest guy in the world.  He was used to helping others, protecting the defenseless, coming to the aid of people in need.  But when the woman he was secretly falling for looked at him that way?  When she fell into his arms like she belonged there?  Pure magic.