Page 17 of Her Loving Hero

“Emily?” Carly’s voice sounded tinny and far away.

She looked at her computer screen and it seemed to waver, and she felt sick to her stomach.

She waited, tense, for the knock to come again. It didn’t.

“Emily?” Carly asked again.

“I’m here Sweets,” Emily said in a relieved voice. She somehow knew that Wyatt would wait. He wouldn’t continue to knock, he wouldn’t push her. It allowed her to focus. Even when he couldn’t see her, he somehow knew what she needed.

“Carly. I’m going to check up on some things. It’s a Saturday morning. For God’s sake, go back to bed, you’re a teenager.”

There was a long pause. “You’ll call me back?”

“Absolutely. I’m so glad you felt you could call me.”

“You’re my Big Sister, who else would I call?”

* * *

Wyatt stayed well backfrom Emily’s door. He knew that she was very protective of her space, and there was no way he wanted to invade it. He was considering texting her when she opened her door wide. He didn’t know what surprised him more, the gorgeous yellow sundress or the sight of her tiny sanctuary.

Wyatt smiled. He sure as hell knew which he appreciated more. Then he noticed her expression.

He stepped forward. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

Emily’s blue eyes were anxious. “Uhmm.”

He looked behind her. Everything seemed spotless from what he could see. It was a miniscule studio apartment, so he saw almost everything. He looked her up and down and she was pretty as a picture, but he didn’t like that worried expression on her face.

“Uhmm, isn’t really an answer Emily. Do we need to cancel today? Or maybe there’s something I can do to help?”

It was next week they were planning on going to the amusement park, today was only a trip to the pier in San Clemente. He planned to take her to a diner with the best baked goods in the world, provided by one of the wives of another SEAL. She’d agreed because he promised her that they’d walk the pier and talk.

“There’s nothing you can do. This is a keep your ear to the ground situation before you can take action.” Her fingers were twisting in the skirt of her dress.

“So, kind of like intelligence gathering?” Wyatt kept his tone light.

She nodded. “Exactly.”

“You know that’s what I do, right?”

Emily grimaced. “Wyatt you don’t talk about what you do. When you come back from deployment you don’t say a word, and I don’t ask. You only ever tell me about something funny one of the guys say, or we talk about the kids from the center. So how the heck would I know you do intelligence gathering?”

Oh shit, she was building up quite a head of steam.

“I’m a Petty Officer Second Class on the Black Dawn SEAL team. How much do you know about SEALs?”

She gave him an intent look. “After my rescue, I did a lot of research, both online and I checked out at least five audio books from the library. I wasn’t interested in the fictional accounts, I wanted the biographies.”

“That’s good. So, you know about the basic training we go through, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “I told you what I read, Wyatt. So yes, I know about BUD/S. Do you want me to tell you what it stands for? Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL. What about the acronym SEAL? Sea, Air and Land.”

He held up his hands. “I’m sorry.”

She took a deep breath and shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. Things have been piling up. What other kind of specialized training have you had?”

“Communications and Intelligence,” he answered slowly. Then thinking about his time with Kane he continued. “I just started to learn a little about Cyber Warfare.”