Page 39 of Deadly Scandals

I perused the room service menu. It sucked and definitely wouldn’t impress Ashley. So I had an idea. I called down to the Napa Rose restaurant, ordered a nice bottle of wine, artichoke fritters, Hamachi tartare, a filet mignon, steelhead trout, braised greens, and chocolate mousse for dessert.

When the waiter finally delivered our food, Ashley’s eyes brightened.

“Mitch, you didn’t have to do this for me.”

“I don’t have to do anything. I wanted to. We never had our date. I told you I’d make it up to you.”

I could immediately see her body relax. “Well, in that case, let me get ready.”

She snuck away to the bathroom. I hoped that she would appear in some sexy lingerie, but she came back with some light makeup on, her hair slightly curled, and a slip dress hugging her curves.

That’s what I’m talking about.

I poured her a glass of wine and wondered for a moment what it would be like to have a woman like Ashley love me.

“Babe, you are so beautiful.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate all this effort. No one has ever pampered me.”

“Ha, if you think this is pampering, you ain’t seen nothing yet. I’ll do anything for you. I mean that.” I paused and looked into her beautiful blue eyes. “Tell me about your sister. What was her name?”

She quickly swallowed her wine, and her face changed from soft and loving to distant and withdrawn. Fuck. I should’ve waited to go there. It was too soon to get the details, and we were finally bonding. I might have just ruined this night.

“You don’t have to tell me. But if you want to talk, I’m a good listener.”

After a few moments of silence, Ashley exhaled and began to speak. “Her name was Brielle. She was the cutest little baby, with huge bright eyes and the longest lashes. I was so young, I barely remember anything about her, except that I treated her like my very own doll. I was only three when she was taken. She was seven months old.”

Blood boiled in my body. I couldn’t imagine someone taking my little girl. I would tear up this earth to find Sienna. And if anyone ever tried to hurt her, I would fucking kill him with my bare hands. I remembered watching some guy on television rushing the bailiffs in a courthouse, trying to attack this piece-of-shit child molester who’d hurt his daughters. Had that been me, no bailiff would’ve been able to hold me back. And that molester would never see the light of day again.

“That’s horrible. There were no leads?”

She shook her head, and her distant look came back. “No, nothing solid at all. Well, nothing we knew about. I scoured the records once I became an agent, but found no leads. It’s a cold case.”

Something felt off to me about that. I didn’t think Ashley was hiding anything from me, but there had to be solid leads in the case. Maybe she wasn’t privy to them because of her connection to the case. But a kidnapping on a Navy base? There had to have been some suspects.

Maybe I could find something out.

“What did your dad do in the Navy? Please don’t say he was a SEAL.”

She shook her head. “No, he was intel. But he did work with SEALs though. He hated them. Just like I do.” She licked her lips, teasing me.

I wrapped my arms around her and pinned her down on the sofa. “Is that right? You didn’t seem to hate me last night.”

She writhed under me and looked me straight in the eyes. “It was a hate fuck. And it was incredible.”

I didn’t want her to hate me. I wanted this one amazing woman who was completely out of my league to think that I was a good man, a good father, a good partner. I wanted her to see through my cockiness and make me a better man.

I wanted her to love me.

“I’ll fuck you just the way you like it, baby. Hard and rough. But let’s get one thing clear, Agent Pierce. I don’t hate you. I’m fucking crazy about you. I know this is moving way too fast, but baby, one day you will eat your words. One day, you will fall in love with this Navy SEAL. And I’ll never let you go.”