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The Doberman was sprawled across the bed in a full extension nap position. Harper pulled off one of the blankets and laid it on the ground at the side. He instructed Venom to sleep there.
Lydia hung up her towel while Harper disposed of his shorts. He set away his SIG. They crawled into the messy covers, pulling them up under their chins. As he began to fondle her under the blanket, which wasn’t an unpleasant beginning, Venom jumped up on the bed and nestled down between them and farted.
“Oh wow, Venom. You eating raccoons again?” Harper asked the dog.
Venom kept his stoic stare back at his master, looking embarrassed.
Chapter 4
Lydia woke upin the morning to the smell of fresh coffee and the muffled sounds of Harper on the telephone in the living room below. She slipped on her robe, cinched it about her waist, and glided downstairs to join him.
She listened as he finished up a call. Noticing he had an overnight bag filled with soft items, since he never carried firearms in that bag, she looked from the bag up to his face. When they made eye contact, he nodded his head and held up his finger as if to say “just a moment.”
“Okay then. I’ll see you about noon. I’m on my way in about thirty, give or take. I gotta wait for a couple of my guys.”
He disconnected the phone and came over to her.
She was stiff when he tried to hug her, arching her back and resisting him. “Harper, you just got back! What the heck are you doing?”
“This is nothing to do with last night. I’ve been called back to D.C. for a briefing, a special briefing. I don’t know exactly what is it’s about, but the admiral’s called me back. I should only be a day, because it’s just one meeting, but just in case, I brought some clothes for overnight. And I’ve got a couple of guys coming over to stay here. They have a van, a self-contained Sprinter van, so they can sleep out there if you want, but—”
“Well, I suppose if I can live without you, I could allow them to sleep in the house. But you didn’t discuss any of that with me.”
“Lydia, you know that when the admiral or the president calls, I have to go. Right?”
“But you should be here with me, Harper. After what happened last night, you can’t leave me alone. I mean, where are you priorities?”
He reached out to her, but she wasn’t having any of it.
“No, this is wrong. All wrong. I could be in danger here.”
“Venom is here. They know that now. They aren’t just going to break in and enter, Lydia.”
“Says the man who was never a hostage, nearly killed, taken captive, had his memory erased, and woke up in the company of strangers who turned out to be terrorists!”
“Lydia, come on, Sweetheart. You’ll have two of my men here. You’ll have Venom. Sally will defend this driveway like she is guarding the gates of Heaven. I’m going to change the codes on my way down, and I’ll text them to you and the guys and Sally. Not much more I can do at this point, and it’s only a day. They would not have called if it wasn’t important.”
“Did you tell them we had an intruder?”
“No, I—”
“There you go. You’re being too casual with my safety. I’m scared to death. And while the guys might be good guards, I don’t know them. You even said you might have a mole in your group. What if one of them is the mole?”
“No, they aren’t in my group. They’re former teammates. They know what I do, and they know all about you—”
“Oh, great. So my life story is all over your little cadre of SEAL buddies. You talk about me over beers?”
“Lydia, what’s gotten into you?” He walked silently over to her and propped her chin up with his thumb and forefinger. “Sweetheart, have a little more faith in me, will you? These guys would lay down their lives for you. So would Venom. For that matter, so would Sally. You’re surrounded by people who love you. Three people who love you, four counting Venom. You’re about as safe as you can be.”
“But you’re not here.”
“Just for twenty-four hours. Maybe a little longer. You’re just getting yourself all upset. Don’t let the fear win. I understand it, because I feel the same way. But it doesn’t take me out of the picture so I can think straight. You can’t afford to go into that mode; you have to stay strong.”
He was right, of course, which infuriated her.
“One day. That’s all. Twenty-four hours. If you’re not home in twenty-four hours, I’m going to beat you up something silly,” she said.
Harper got a sparkle in his eye. “I’m kinda looking forward to that. Would you do it naked? Or maybe wear some of those—?”
