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“That poor woman… She must have felt so torn…”
“The good news is the day after Alexandrov threatened her, we walked into her office. She identified your photo and his. We offered her help and protection and she agreed to work with us to free you.”
“That’s how you found me? Through Dr. Zapata?”
“More or less,” he said. “Like I said, there were a lot of people working twenty hours a day sifting through thousands of comms and satellite photos. I don’t want to burden you with all that right now. You need to rest.”
Nodding, Sky moved slowly to her side, sliding her arm across his waist. “Hold me? It was the one thing I missed the most,” she murmured against Cal’s chest, nestling closer to him. “Every night I went to bed, I would imagine you were there, behind me, shaping me against your body, holding me tight. Holding me safe…”
It was so easy to bring Sky into his arms, holding her gently against himself. Cal felt his erection stir, and knew she felt it against her belly. “Just ignore what’s going on below,” he told her, mirth in his tone as he kissed her hair, feeling her sink deliciously against him.
“For now, I will. Dr. Anderson said two weeks without sex while the placenta tear heals.”
Cal smiled. “I’ll survive, so don’t stress yourself about it.” He felt Sky’s hand move tentatively across his chest. It was as if she were checking to make sure this wasn’t a dream, that he was real. He struggled to keep things light between them right now. Sky didn’t need to talk about her captivity. Not now. Desperately, Cal wanted to get her home where he knew Sky would thrive, not just survive. Holding her soft gaze, he added, “I love you so damn much, Sky. There’s so many ways to show I love you beside just sex.” Cal saw some relief in her eyes. Again, a gnawing ache sat like a hard, sharp rock in his heart. What had Alexandrov done to her? His greatest fear was that he’d raped her. He wasn’t about to broach that topic with her right now. He had no wish to continue to tear her up emotionally over the trauma she’d endured with the sick bastard.
“The time I was at the villa, you have no idea how often I ran through our four months we had together.” Sky closed her eyes, content to be held by Cal. “Good times…”
“There’s going to be a lot more of those to come,” he promised her thickly. Cal would do anything in the world to see her smile once again. To see that cloudiness mixed with fear residing deep in her eyes banished. Kissing her closed eyelids, he murmured, “You need to sleep some more…”
July 16
Cal met histeam the next morning in a briefing room aboard the huge carrier. They were all dressed in civilian clothes, but Cal had already heard scuttlebutt from the sailors that there was a black ops team on board. They sat in the small room huddled around a gray metal table bolted to the deck. Everyone had a cup of coffee in hand.
“How is Sky doing?” Lauren asked.
Cal knew they all wanted to see her. He’d held off because she was tenuous, and he wasn’t sure she was up for any company right now. Even saying hello and thank you to the staff who cared for her seemed to tax her. “She’s fragile and completely vulnerable,” he warned them. He saw Alex scowl down at the end of the table. His shoulders were so wide and broad, it made the room look even smaller than what it already was.
“Is Dr. Cooper going to see her today?” he demanded.
“Yes, she’s taking good care of Sky, and Sky likes her a lot. She trusts this doctor.”
“Look,” Lauren said, reaching out and touching Cal’s arm, “we can visit Sky once she’s home and settled in. I’m sure she’s in deep shock. She needs us around like a hole in her head right now.”
Alex frowned at Lauren. “A hole in the head? As in getting shot in the head?”
Jack rubbed his face, a sour grin snaking its way across his face. “Ohhhhh, here we go again…”
“Slang,” Cal quickly injected. “It just means one more bad thing happening on top of another.”
“Oh,” Alex muttered, taking out his note pad and pen, beginning to write it all down. “Well, Sky is going to need some help. A therapist. Someone she trusts. A woman, for sure.”
Lauren eyed him but, said nothing, staring down into the cup of coffee. “How can we help you, Cal?”
He sat back and shook his head. “I’m reeling. That’s nothing compared to what is going on inside of Sky. No one except her knows what really happened after the kidnapping. I feel…,” and he hesitated, searching for the words to express his sense of things. “I feel Sky is holding on to a lot of shit. I don’t think she’s anywhere near being able to talk about it.”
“You are her best set of ears she has,” Alex urged passionately.
Cal gave the Ukrainian a look. “I don’t know. She trusts you completely, Alex.” And then he looked at Lauren.
“Right now,” Lauren said grimly, “we need to leave Sky alone, and let her call the shots. If I were in her shoes, I’d go screaming for home because home is where she was safe. She didn’t get kidnapped there, thank God. So home, Cal, for her, is vastly important for Sky to start the healing process. You and your home are mental and emotional stability to her.”
Alex cocked his head, admiration in his eyes and his voice. “You are very wise, Lauren. And sensitive to her plight.”
Lauren hunched her shoulders, refusing to respond, her lips thinned.
Jack said, “Tomorrow, we’re hitching a ride to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, thanks to Navy generosity. From there, a Gulfstream G700, leased by the military, is flying us into the Reagan International Airport.” He turned to Cal. “I’ve got my people meeting us. You and Sky will be taken to your SUV in the parking lot and you can go straight home.”
“Sounds damn good to me,” Cal muttered, running his fingers through his hair.
