Her Loyal Seal (14 page)

She knew she was staying in the bathroom too long, but she really didn’t want to go out there again. Her hands trembled as she wet a towel and wiped the cool cloth over her face. Clint knocked on the door.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like hell. Dark circles under her eyes. Her black hair looked lifeless. Too her horror she saw tears. She squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened them. Good. They were gone.

“Lydia. Are you okay?”

She opened the door. She walked to him, and wrapped her arms around his waist and he just pulled her in.

“I’ve got you girl. You’re safe.” The world shifted, and he was carrying her down the hall.

He put his knee on the bed to lay her down and she shook her head.

“No. I want to get undressed.”

****

He slid her down his body. Clint had no idea what triggered her upset, but he planned to find out. When he was sure she was securely on her feet, he went over to her suitcase and found her Tasmanian devil sleepshirt. He came back and she was still standing exactly as he had left her—looking lost. He swiftly pulled her dress over her head and divested her of her bra.

“Here Baby, let’s get you ready for bed.” He helped her into the cartoon shirt and then pulled back the covers. God, she was killing him. He stripped and got in beside her and tucked her close. She was shivering.

He had never seen someone cry without shedding a tear, but she was doing it now. “Tell me about what it was like living in Tepito.” Beth told him what happened, but now he needed Lydia to tell him. He needed to hear it from her as much as she needed to tell it.

“People died.”

“Who?”

“My babysitter. Our babysitter. Angela. Her baby, Anicia died.”

“Tell me.”

“I was nine. I saw it all. Mama and Papa wouldn’t let her babysit Beth and me anymore. They said it was too dangerous. I didn’t know it at the time, but her husband Herman had been a witness to a crime and went to the police. One of the gangs was threatening reprisals, so Mama said Angela couldn’t babysit us anymore.”

“She had a baby?” That didn’t jive with what Beth told him.

“She was six months pregnant. I got to feel her tummy. Her baby’s name was Anicia.”

“I was playing hopscotch when I saw Angela with her husband walking across the street. I had to go to the crosswalk to get to them. I saw a car drive by, and then I saw two guns pointing at them. There were so many shots fired. Angela and Herman never made any sounds, their bodies just kept bouncing and twitching with blood spattering everywhere.” Lydia ground her forehead into his chest, her fist shoved against her mouth making it difficult to understand some of her words, but the anguish was clear.

“The light changed and I ran across the street. Nobody could stop me from getting to them, because I was little and I ran under their arms. I hugged Angela and begged her to wake up.” Finally Lydia started to cry. Thank God. His woman felt so delicate in his arms. She’d been so sick, and still wasn’t eating much. She’d gone through so many horrors in her life. Clint loved that she came to him for solace.

“I have you.”

“Please don’t leave me.”

“I won’t.” He rocked her, his hands gently stroking up and down on her back. Finally her sobs turned to hiccups, and then he felt the soft breath of her sleep.

He waited until he was sure she was deeply asleep, and then he snuck out of bed. He went into the den and shut down her computer and cleaned up. He stretched out on the couch and booted up his laptop and found the articles on the killing in Tepito. He wondered if that might have been the impetus for Lydia’s father to start working for the Guzman’s. Clint would never agree with Hidalgo’s choices, but he could begin to see his motives.

Clint set some online search parameters for potential activity between the Mexico and Texas border since it was the Guzman’s preferred method of drug transport. He considered hacking into Lydia’s computer so he could get some of her information and have more searches run through the night.

“But that would be cheating, wouldn’t it Archer?” He laughed to himself. God, it had been funny to see Lydia get so bent out of shape when he had asked her if she had cheated in school. She would be the last person who would have cheated. She was such a straight shooter, it scared him. Her moral code was above reproach, and they might have to significantly bend some rules in order to get Guzman.

He picked up her laptop and spent a couple of minutes trying to remember her password. His extremely smart woman used a random alpha numeric code. He had watched her enter it. He knew he missed the last two numbers, that’s why it took him a little bit of time to get into her system. When he did he smiled.

“Every time I find out more about you Lydia Hidalgo I fall a little more in love.” The way she organized her system was a thing of beauty. It almost exactly mirrored his own.

“Shit!”

She was further into the dark web than he was. He couldn’t believe the network of contacts she had. It took him an hour to find all of her e-mail accounts. When he did he no longer worried about her ability to bend the rules, she apparently shredded the rule book. She had multiple aliases, and she was gathering information like a hungry squirrel before winter.

He heard her coming down the hall. He kept poking through her files. When he looked up she was wearing the blanket from their bed like a little child.

“If you let me sit on your lap, I’ll show you the really good stuff.”

“Jesus Lydia, I don’t know if my heart can stand the good stuff. Do you realize what you have on your computer? Do you realize the systems you’ve hacked into? The type of information you’re privy to?”

“I bet you don’t have it all figured out. You should let me sit on your lap.” She scared him. He patted his lap and she snuggled against him. Her fingers fairly flew across the keyboard. He realized he missed some of her accounts.

“Thought you were all that and a bag of chips, did you?” She smirked at him.

Clint watched as she brought up an e-mail account she had from inside the Federal Ministerial Police Force. She set herself up as a contractor, and it allowed her to have an account with an address that mirrored all FMP employees. As a result she could interact with them and get information they would not give to outsiders.

“Are you shitting me?” She kissed the bottom of his chin.

“I told you I was good.”

“You’re fucking amazing.”

“So you don’t hate me now? I’ve crossed some lines.”

He took the computer out of her hands and put it on the coffee table.

“I admire the hell out of you, and I’ve
never
been so turned on in my life.”

She got off his lap and let the blanket drop. She was naked. He damn near swallowed his tongue.

“In that case, let’s go to bed and
not
sleep.”

****

Rain started in Florida the same way it did in Mexico, all at once. There was no little raindrops to warn you the torrent was going to begin, the heavens just suddenly opened up. She was pressed against Clint’s warm back, she felt his deep even breathing and realized he was still asleep. She eased away from him.

Lydia grabbed Clint’s shirt to wear instead of her sleep shirt. She went to one of the other bedrooms and grabbed the comforter off the bed and laughed.
Comforter.
She’d never really thought about the word before, but they sure did comfort her. She wrapped it around her like she’d been doing since childhood, and went downstairs. Before she turned on any lights she could see it was a hell of downpour.

Walking into the kitchen she scrounged the back of a cupboard until she found the hot chocolate mix. She fixed herself a mug and then went to the large window overlooking the backyard. She sat cross legged in front of it and stared out, sipping her cocoa. She didn’t hear Clint. She never did, he was as silent as a SEAL, but she felt him crouch down behind her.

“Are you okay?”

“The rain brings back a lot of memories, you know?” She opened her arms. “Wanna share my blanket and hot chocolate?”

“I’d love to.”

He snuggled in beside her, and they sat there in the dark watching the rain and she leaned closer to him as the first boom of thunder sounded.

“I had nightmares for the first month after we left the jungle, every time it rained.”

“I had nightmares no matter what,” she said.

“Did you have one tonight?”

“God no.” Lydia gave him a warm smile and set the chocolate on the window sill. “How could I have a nightmare being in bed with you?”

“Lydia, that’s a beautiful sentiment, but you don’t have to always be strong for me, I’m not your family. I want you to know you can lean on me.”

She straddled him so they were face to face. He immediately wrapped the blanket around her so she wasn’t cold.

“Now you listen here, Clint Archer.” Her voice was soft and fierce, her eyes warm and loving. “There are very few things I take for granted. The sun will come up in the morning. I will eventually eat any ice cream put in front of me. I can always depend and lean on Clint Archer.”

“Yes, but will you, is the question. Or will you just put on the same game face you do for everyone else?” His big warm hands coasted up and down her back, and it felt so good.

“Clint, I’ve never trusted someone like I trust you. I trust you with my real feelings. I trust you can handle the real me. What finally convinced me was when you could put up with me the night we went shopping.”

He huffed out a laugh. “Score one for me and American Express.”

“You goof. I’m serious. I was pretty sure you could handle me, warts and all. So that’s my long way of saying. I wasn’t lying, I really
don’t
have nightmares when I’m sleeping with you. I really
will
lean on you.”

“It goes both ways. I trust you too. I will lean on you.” He brought a hand up to caress her cheek, it trembled. “I love you Lydia Rose Hidalgo.” The world stopped spinning. She looked into eyes bright green and shining with love.

“Are you sure? Please be sure.”

He took her hand and brought it to his heart. “My love is going to last longer than the beating of my heart. It will last for eternity.”

Tears she had been holding back spilled.

“I love you so much, Clint. You mean the world to me. You are a blessing from God.”

They stood and he led her back to their bedroom. They talked and made love and talked for the rest of the night.

****

“Clint, this can’t be right.” She protested three nights later.

He looked up from where he was chopping vegetables.

“You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“First, how the hell have you managed to tap into the US border agents? Then, how do you know they have stopped a shipment that was Guzman’s? It could have been one of the other cartels.”

She had her hair in a ponytail and was in a pair of short, shorts. She must have been beating off boys with a stick in college.

“Huh?”

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying? Pay attention, if not to me, at least be careful with the knife.”

“Baby, handling knives is second nature.” He scooped up all of the veggies and put them into the saucepan. “However trying to concentrate on what you’re saying when you’re wearing those shorts is beyond me.”

She ran her hand from ankle to thigh. “These old things?”

“You’re killing me. You’re never allowed to wear those in public.” She blushed.

“Clint. I hardly ever wore clothes that were too revealing, only when I was with my girlfriends when we went to clubs. I was always careful.” He thought about the red dress and felt himself break into a sweat.

“Lydia, you must have had half of Mexico City chasing after you.”

She shouted out a laugh. “You’re good for my ego.”

“Are you out of your mind? I’m serious as a heart attack.” He covered the pan, and walked over to where she was sitting on the barstool.

“You’re a knockout.”

Lydia tilted her head and gave him a serious look and then smiled. “You really think that, don’t you?”

He feathered a kiss against her lips, and then stepped back and looked her up and down. “Oh yeah. You’re gorgeous.”

“I’m pretty, but I’m certainly not gorgeous. But having the man I love think I am? Well a girl can’t ask for anything better.”

She was wrong. Hell, they’d just gone out to dinner last night and he’d seen the men eyeing her. But he wasn’t going to argue the point. He’d just thank his lucky stars she was his.

“So what were you talking about before we got caught up in your beauty.”

“You are such a goof,” she said hitting his chest. “I wanted to know how you could tell the difference between who sent what drug shipments.”

“The gang tattoos of the people who were caught smuggling.” Clint went back to the stove and put water on to boil.

“Okay, now it makes sense. Are you sure I can’t help with dinner?”

“Nope, you cooked the night before last.” He liked showing her that he could cook. He wanted her to see what a life together could be like. His hand stilled as he held the pasta over the boiling water.

He looked back at Lydia where she was fiddling with her gaming headset. Yep, this was the woman he wanted to marry. She was perfect for him.

He heard the ringtone for Finn.

“It’s my parents!” Lydia scrambled off the barstool and went into the den and answered the phone. It gave Clint time to think about how he was going to convince her to marry him. He knew they had a lot of immediate obstacles. Those were minor. He was worried about the major ones. Marriage was a big step, saying you loved someone was one thing, but marriage? Committing to a man who had his kind of job was an issue. It wasn’t for everyone. There would be times he would have to leave and not tell her where he was going. Would she be able to cope?

“Clint, Finn wants to talk to you.”

He took the phone and stirred the noodles.

“Can you talk?” he asked.