Page 8 of Guarded By the Lumberjack
"Cal?" I knock against the frame of the open door, trying not to startle him. Of course, that's impossible, despite his laser focus, he seems to always be aware of the slightest shift in his surroundings.
"Come on in, let me show you something." Calvin sits up in his chair, swinging a monitor so it's easier for me to view as I move into the space beside him.
"I think we found him."
"I think he found us first." I hand the phone to Calvin with the text still unopened, so only the first few words can be read from the notification, and watch Calvin's jaw tighten as rednesscreeps up the back of his neck; the only indication of his anger as he reads the message.
"When he knows the truth, he'll help me gut you."
Calvin
Either this guy doesn't know I set up her new phone so I could back trace every in-coming message, or he doesn't care.
Since he made the move to text the new number directly, I'd say he wants us to know that he knows where she is. And that she's with me.
I traced the emails and the original text messages back to an address in Utah, a couple hundred miles from where she lives. When she walked in, I had just found his personal information.
I don't want to tell her that this new message pinged off a tower in Middleton-- about three hundred miles southwest of us, but far closer than I thought this asshole had the balls to get to her if he knows she's under my protection.
This house isn't secure. Not enough.
When I left the service, I left the danger too. A buddy of mine runs private security now, he asked me to come on board after my retirement but I declined.
Now I'm hitting him up-- not for a job, but for support. I need a secure location for Penny until I can lure this scum into the open and eliminate any kind of threat he poses to her.
"Frost. Murdock. I have a situation. Respond ASAP. Encrypted."
"What's going on? I thought you said you figured out who the guy is?"
Penny pulls a chair up beside me to stare at the screen with the map that has a red pin dropped on a location.
I do my best not to stare at Penny.
"Yeah," I answer slowly, glancing at my phone and willing Frost to call me back. "I know who he is-- and I know he's not where that pin is on the map."
Before she can say anything, my phone lights up.
"...Yes it's a goddamn emergency," I bark into the receiver after listening to Harlan scold me for interrupting whatever he was doing.
"I said I have a situation here. I need a secure location, the closer, the better. Preferably with a way in that doesn't put us on the open road."
He knows exactly what I'm getting at.
Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds later, I've got coordinates and my brother knows we're on our way up to his place.
"This place will be stocked. Just grab some clothes. Leave the phone here."
Penny nods but she's shaking. I'm agitated, and she already knows me too well. I don't get agitated. I've been through too much to let emotional responses threaten my decision-making skills.
Until Penny.
"It's all right. We just need to get a secure location, we don't have time to lock down the house."
I pull her into my arms. I can't help myself. Every instinct in my body drives me to provide comfort as well as protection to this sweet girl.
Penny melts against me. As I wrap my arms around her, I feel her shaking subside. Unfortunately, I also feel her soft curves.I can smell the floral fragrances layered up from the shampoo she brought with her, the body wash I sometimes sneak into her bathroom to smell, and the lotion I've watched her rub into her skin. Her hair is soft against my cheek when I find myself leaning into the top of her head and, although the kiss I lightly drop there might be fatherly-- nothing about the threatening hard-on beginning to thicken my cock is.
I came to terms with my attraction to her quickly enough, but it hasn't been until this moment that it's occurred to me that she might be feeling the same way.
