Page 66 of Her Tempting Protector

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“Sir, you can’t go in there,” the thin nurse said emphatically in Arabic.

“Yes, I can,” Cullen growled. He was not going to be stopped at this point. Carys and Shada were behind those doors. He needed to make sure they were all right. That was his job, they were his mission.

A security guard and an orderly appeared behind the thin nurse. Cullen’s expression turned feral. Like they were going to stop him.

“Lyons, stand down.” Raiden called out in English. He heard Adam crying behind him.

He turned. There was Raiden. He was unruffled despite holding a baby who was trying to blow down the walls of the hospital with his screams.

“Dr. Adams is going to take good care of her patient,” the nurse assured Cullen. Her voice was just loud enough to be heard above Adam’s cries.

Cullen went over to Raiden, “Give Bubba to me.”

He turned back to the nurse. “He needs formula, a bath, and a clean diaper. Where can I take of him?”

“I’ll take care of him,” she said as she held out her arms.

“That’s not what I asked,” Cullen said. He just barely kept his voice civil. He was tired, really hungry and worried as hell. Not just for Shada, but for Carys, she was going to be devastated if Shada didn’t come out of this alive.

“Ma’am, this little boy is very important to me, we’ve been through a lot. I would like to take care of him myself. Is there a place where I can get him cleaned up and fed?”

She frowned. “You need to be clean before you are allowed into our nursery.”

“He could go into the doctor’s locker room,” the orderly suggested. “They have a shower. I could find him some scrubs.”

“Will you allow me to bathe him while you shower, sir? Then you can feed him?” the nurse asked.

It was the right thing to do, so Cullen nodded.

That was why Kane McNamara and two of his friends from Midnight Delta found him in the waiting room, freshly showered in white scrubs, feeding a baby.

Kane dumped a bag on the chair beside him. The smell was heavenly. Cullen grunted with laughter when he saw what it said, Chicking Fried Chicken.

“It was that or hospital food.”

“Adam gets fed first,” Cullen said. “Then me.”

“I’ll burp him,” a big blond man with a Texas accent said as he walked into the waiting room.

Cullen grinned. “What do you know about burping babies, Jack?” he asked the big SEAL who was on the Midnight Delta team.

“I’m getting into practice for our daughter. She’s due in two months. Beth will be impressed that I got in some practice while I was over here.”

“You really have time to be burping babies?” Kane asked Jack Preston. “I knew you guys from California didn’t work.” Cullen handed Adam over to Jack who handled him pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good.

“Watch your tongue—you idiots from D.C. are the ones who can never get anything done,” Drake Avery said. He was the second-in-command of the Midnight Delta team.

God, that man could start a fight in a meditation studio.

“We’re not from D.C., you over-sized Tennessee asshole,” Kane thundered. “We’re from Virginia. If I didn’t like your wife so much, I’d wipe up the floor with you, right here and right now.”

“Great, Drake, once again you have endeared us to another SEAL team. Burp Adam and shut up.” Jack handed over Adam to the largest man in the room. “When you see him with a baby, he becomes a palatable human being.”

If Cullen hadn’t been so hungry, and he didn’t know Drake, there was no way he would have allowed Adam to be handed over to the senseless SEAL.

“So why are you two here?” Cullen asked.