Saving the Seal 2: A BWWM Navy Seal Interracial Romance (7 page)

He had to admit that Sean’s wife was now the size of a very ripe watermelon. Though she insisted that she wasn’t going to deliver for another two months, he feared she might pop any day, and he certainly wasn’t ready yet. Despite the size of her belly, however, the Latina woman continued to race around the backyard with Eddie, and Owen kept a wary eye on both of them, waiting for her to fall over and kill herself.

Things gradually adjusted into a daily routine. He would wake up early enough to have coffee with Genny before she went to work – she had reluctantly upgraded from tea after nearly falling asleep at work several times – and then he would spend the day trying not to miss her. He eventually got used to the silence of the house and went out with Eddie when it got to be too much. His mornings at the shooting range slowly but surely increased the accuracy of his shot, and by the end of the month, he found there was little about which he could actively complain.

Little, that was, except for the roses.

At the mere thought of the flowers, the dark-haired man scowled. By this point, there were no less than four bouquets adorning the house. One in the kitchen, one in the bedroom, one in the living room, and one in the bathroom. Each one of the vases Genny had chosen held only five roses, no more and no less.

The sight of them made him anxious.

Apparently, Genny got a new box every week from her secret admirer, and though she assured him that his unease was just from possessiveness, Owen secretly disagreed. He couldn’t get that phone call out of his head. Whoever it had been sounded like they wanted to do harm to Genny – and the prospect was enough to set him on high alert.

He mentioned his concerns to Sean via a Skype session. When he could finally get a word in edgewise after being interrogated about everything from Gina’s eating habits to the color of the new nursery, he finally got to air his worries. Sean listened to his story in silence before ultimately shrugging.

“I dunno man. It sounds fishy, but you said she’s gotten these flowers a couple of times and nothing has happened, right? It’s probably some weird prank. Someone who just really admires her.”

Heaving a sigh, Owen rubbed Eddie’s head errantly. “Maybe. But how would they have gotten my number?”

Sean rubbed his shaved head contemplatively. “Lucky guess? I don’t know. They haven’t called you since, right?”

Owen shook his head. “Well, maybe you should be grateful then. Less flowers your ass has to buy.” Though the green-eyed man knew his CO was trying to lighten the situation, he couldn’t bring himself to smile. He just couldn’t get rid of the gut feeling that something was wrong.

Sean suggested that he try to put it to the back of his mind, and for a week, Owen did. Genny got her first weekday off in a while and they took Eddie to the park for a picnic. Somehow, the dog ended up eating more food than they did and was promptly sick in the car on the way back home. Genny was remarkably good-natured about the whole thing, however, even volunteering to clean up afterwards.

When they got home, they lounged together on the sofa, half watching a documentary on the North Pole as he toyed with the hair at the base of her neck. She loved it when he touched her there and immediately went completely limp. As Owen looked down at her relaxed form, he smiled. She was most beautiful like this – lying back against him at peace, without a worry in the world.

Unbidden, an image of the gorgeous woman’s belly round with his child popped into his mind. As nervous as he was about the impending birth of Sean’s son, he found the image of a pregnant Genny only elicited a strange warmth in his gut. It was something he could get used to - he realized – the thought of him and Genny having a baby together. They would make cute kids.

In that moment, he had the urge to say them. The three little words that so often eluded him. Even though Genevieve assured him that she knew that he adored her, that didn’t stop him from trying to remove whatever was keeping him from telling her straight out. What was so hard about it, really?

He
did
love her, and with all the shit she put up with, she deserved to hear it.

Just as Owen opened his mouth to attempt them, however, the doorbell rang. Genny immediately straightened, looking up at him in curiosity. From the end of the couch, Eddie’s ears perked as well. “Did you order food?” She inquired lazily.

He shook his head. “No, not yet.”

Arching a brow, the young woman raised herself from the sofa to go answer the door. When she rounded the corner to the foyer, he lost sight of her. Closing his eyes, Owen leaned back against the couch. Hopefully, it wasn’t some salesman or religious zealot hoping to convert them. If this was going to be Genevieve’s only day off for a while, he wanted to monopolize it.

He was of half a mind to go tell the visitors to fuck off, but before he could get up to act on the inclination, the most terrifying sound he’d ever heard split the air, freezing him in place:

Genevieve’s horrified scream.

Owen sprang from the couch with Eddie hot on his heels, rushing to the doorway. He found Genny standing there, her back pressed against the door as she stared down at the white box on their doorstep.

It was clear that she had opened it, as the ribbon lay on the ground, forgotten. At the site of what was in the opened box, however, Owen inhaled sharply.

It was a dead kitten. Not only that, the thing had been brutally killed, its neck twisted at a horrible angle.

Though Owen knew firsthand how strong Genny was – how much it took to upset her – he saw tears in her eyes at the sight of the helpless little animal. Atop the kitten’s body was a hastily scrawled note stained with dirt and dried blood.

The perfect pet for a meddling, scheming whore
.

The SEAL forced himself to swallow the sick fury that rose in his throat. He’d known something was amiss the moment he laid eyes on those roses.

A low curse escaped him as he took Genny into his arms, pulling her protectively against his chest. As he comforted her, his sharp eyes looked over the front yard and the street beyond. Eddie had ventured warily beyond the front door, sniffing disgustedly at the contents of the package left there. His master scanned every patch of lawn, looking for danger behind every tree and parked car.

Whoever had left this little “gift” couldn’t have gotten very far. The bell rang perhaps five minute ago. Owen could still make out faint prints on the grass around the front door.

All at once, a rustling came from the bushes at the far end of the yard. Eddie sprang into action. Though the pup was fun-loving and friendly to all who knew him, Owen hadn’t neglected his training. Eddie could be mean as hell when someone threatened those he loved. The Rottweiler shot into the bushes with a growl and there was a soft cry from within.

Owen would have been perfectly willing for Eddie to extract the perpetrator, but Genny sprang into action before he could stop her. Tearing from his arms, she streaked across the yard to grab Eddie’s collar and make him heel. “Eddie,
no!
” Despite the fact that Owen shot after her as soon as he got over his surprise, that didn’t stop her from claiming the edge of the jacket Eddie had captured to extract the rest of their squirming victim from the bushes.

The SEAL skidded to a halt within two feet of his lover, looking on in shock.

It was a kid. Not more than five years old.

The boy was terrified of the barking Eddie, who had calmed down substantially but was still wary. He was practically trying to climb Genny in his attempt to get away from the mutt, and without hesitation, she lifted him into her arms.

“Eddie, heel!” Owen barked, still trying to comprehend what was going on. Eddie sat by his master’s feet almost immediately, looking about as confused as Owen himself. Meanwhile, Genny was busy trying to calm the child in her arms.

“Honey, it’s OK. Eddie won’t hurt you.” Despite her own obvious fear, she emanated an aura of calm for the kid. It took about five minutes for the child to stop crying, and even then, he continued to cling to Genny as if his life depended on it.

What the
hell
? Obviously they had gotten it wrong. Gazing around the yard, Owen tried to discern if anyone else was hiding nearby, but there wasn’t the slightest sign. Save for the footprints by the door, which he hadn’t gotten a terribly good look at. “Honey,” His gaze was drawn back to Genny and the child she held when she spoke again. “What are you doing here? Where are your parents?”

The kid’s large brown eyes shone with tears. His blonde hair was mussed and covered in dirt and twigs from the bushes. “I don’t know.” He sniffled, hiccupping as his nose ran. “The man won’t let me see them unless I take the box!” His voice rose to a wail at the end of the statement.

Owen’s blood ran cold. Unless he took the
box
? The box that had ended up on their doorstep?

“What box?” Genevieve pressed him gently, and Owen could see that she was equally disturbed. “Did it have a purple ribbon on it?”

The small boy nodded miserably, wiping his nose and effectively smearing evidence of his grief all over his face. “He told me not to open it. He said if I didn’t take it, I wouldn’t see my mommy and daddy again.”

Fucking
hell
. “Owen,” When Genevieve’s gaze rose to his, her hazel eyes were oddly calm, “Call the police.”

The green-eyed man frowned deeply. “I will. Once you and him are safely inside.” He gestured to the kid in her arms, every muscle in his body tensed. Genevieve nodded only once before striding back across the yard. She let the little boy bury his face in her neck and rubbed the back of his neck, effectively shielding him from the sight of the dead kitten on the doorstep. Once she and he were inside the house, Eddie padded in behind them, and Owen turned to give the yard a last long, worried look.

Who the
hell
would send a kid to do something like this?

The police arrived within twenty minutes, and another ten minutes after that, there were no less than five cops at the house investigating. At the kitchen table, Detective Sean Miller, a man about the same age as Owen with dark blonde hair and gray eyes, took their careful statements. Though every effort had been made to disengage the boy they had found from around Genevieve’s neck, he held on tightly, and ultimately, was allowed to remain in her lap.

Owen told the detective solemnly about the roses Genny had been receiving for the past month, and the blooms were immediately taken from the house for analysis. The cat was cleaned up as quickly as possible, as not to scare the child, and Owen tried to swallow the nausea churning in his gut when he thought of who might have any reason to kill such a small animal. The detective told them that they were putting a hold on their mail for the next few days just in case whoever had sent the dire package attempted to use the postal system.

Crazily enough, the authorities discovered who the boy was within an hour of arriving at the house. His name was Peter Halston, and he had gone missing from another county about two weeks ago. The boy was a bit too distressed to do much more than demand to see his parents before eventually falling asleep on Genevieve’s shoulder.

What had formerly been a relaxing day had turned into something out of a nightmare. It was three hours before the police finally finished at the house and promised to stay in contact with them. They also agreed to post surveillance cameras around the front yard and bug all of the phones, including both he and Genny’s mobile units.

As the detective and his crew prepared to leave, the adrenaline slowly began to ebb from Owen’s system. He watched a female cop take a sleeping Peter gently from Genny, noting the fond way she handled the child.

His lover was good with kids, he realized. He hadn’t gotten to see her interact with them much, as she was an adult psychiatrist, but she had somehow handled Peter with grace. She’d known not to let Eddie harm him, instinctively, and managed to soothe him when he was near hysterical. Owen could hardly imagine what the little boy had been put through. Plucked from his parents and then forced by hostile strangers to deliver an unmarked package.

Whoever was behind this was pretty damn sick.

After everyone had left, the house seemed unusually quiet. The peace of their afternoon had been broken, and neither of them seemed to know what their next move was. Genny finally suggested that they order food and they sat in awkward quiet as they waited for it to arrive.

Oddly enough, it was Eddie who finally enticed them to break the silence. The Rottweiler made his way over to Genny to lay his massive head in her lap, looking up at her questioningly. Leaning down, the young woman pressed her forehead to his briefly before speaking softly.

“I’m sorry.”

Owen looked over at her immediately. “Sorry for what?”

Genny sighed, turning her apologetic hazel gaze to his. “That I didn’t believe you. You knew something was wrong and I brushed you off. It was wrong of me.”

Running a hand through his dark hair, Owen grunted. “Not your fault. I was beginning to think that I was overreacting too.” He exhaled hotly. “Genny, I want you to be careful. I know you might think I’m an overprotective ogre…but my instincts usually serve me pretty well.”

His lover nodded slowly. “I promise I will.”