Protected by a SEAL: Hot SEALs (Volume 5) (8 page)

Sierra seemed to accept the lie at face value, even though it was so obviously not what Brody had meant.

It was a damn good thing she didn’t know Chris was speaking as a veteran ST6 sniper and Brody as an active DEVGRU operative who currently held the kill record among the men in his unit.

Sometimes ignorance was bliss.
 

Rick didn’t need Sierra scared out of her mind that he, Chris and Brody were talking about this stalker possibly carrying a gun rather than a camera. Being photographed without her knowledge had freaked her out enough.
 

As long as Rick and GAPS were on the job, she wouldn’t need to know any of those things, or how much danger she might really be in.

He drew in a deep breath. “Okay, Ms. Cox here has a job to get to so let’s sweep the bathroom and bedroom first so she can get ready.”

“All righty. The bedroom it is.” Chris grinned, acting his usual foolish self.

What Chris seemed to forget was that now Rick had a way to keep him in line. “Behave or I’ll tell Darci on you.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Darci wants an autograph. You wanna ask Miss Sierra or should I?” Chris asked.

Rick rolled his eyes at the ridiculous request.
 

Enemy surveillance and snipers were all things he had been trained to deal with, but this job came with a whole other set of challenges. He’d battled sandstorms and heat, cold and snow, enemy fighters and warlords, but he’d be damned if he knew how to fight fame the likes of Sierra Cox’s.

“Rick. You coming?” Brody’s summons from the doorway of the bedroom knocked Rick out of his own head.

“Yeah. I’m coming.” He paused by Sierra, standing in her pajamas, clutching her coffee mug and looking less than happy to have her privacy invaded further. “I’m sorry about this, but I’ll feel a lot better after we sweep those rooms.”

Her lips formed a tight line but she nodded her agreement.

That was probably all he could hope to get while there were three men, who were strangers to her, pawing through her bedroom and bathroom.

He decided to throw her a bone. “We’ll take that run at the lot today. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” She didn’t even reward him with a smile.

Oh well. He’d tried.

“Fucking hell.” The sound of Chris cussing in the next room had Rick running to catch up to them.

Tripping to a stop in the doorway between the bedroom and the bathroom, he saw Brody standing on the edge of the bathtub. The device he held up above his head was lit up like a damn string of Christmas tree lights.

Rick didn’t need to ask what was wrong. He could figure that out all on his own. Brody had detected something in the ceiling tile. Something Rick had missed during his manual sweep last night.

Brody handed off the device to Chris and pressed against the ceiling tile with both palms. A few seconds later, he had the tile free of the supports. Tile in hand, Brody stepped down.

Both Chris and Rick moved in closer and they all saw what the device had detected.

“Pin hole camera stuck right in the damn acoustic tile.” Brody grasped it between two fingers and squinted at it. “Looks like it’s got a microphone built in too.”
 

“Eyes and ears. He is one serious mother fucker.” Chris shook his head.

Chris had it right.
This was no amateur stalker with a cell phone camera. At the sound of a gasp, Rick turned and saw Sierra standing in the doorway, white faced and shaking.

Rick was shaken by the discovery himself. He could only imagine how badly Sierra was. But he was the professional here. It was his job to stay cool and, more importantly, keep her calm.

“You all right?”

She certainly didn’t look all right. Rick took the coffee mug from her hand before she dropped it and put it on the vanity by the sink so he had two hands free to grip her arms. He steered her to the closed toilet seat and sat her down. The fact she let him, without argument, without even a smart comment, told him how shaken she truly was.

Squatting down in front of her brought them eye level, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring off into space, her eyes focused on nothing, as if her mind rejected the idea someone had been watching and listening in on some very private situations.

Rick heard Chris on his cell phone, speaking softly to, no doubt, Jon. He’d need to be updated on this discovery. They’d have to ramp up security. That someone had gotten into her bathroom showed they had free access to the room. Possibly an employee with a master key.
 

Brody left the room and came back a minute later with a tiny bottle of whisky. He cracked the top and poured the contents into the cup of coffee, then handed it to Rick. “Get her to drink that. She’s looking kinda shocky.”

Rick didn’t argue. The way she looked, trembling now like her blood had gone cold, a little liquor could only help. “Sierra. Drink this.”

She shook her head.

“One sip. Come on. It’ll make you feel better.” He brought the mug closer to her lips.

Finally, she reached up and cupped it. He covered her shaking hands with his steady ones and helped guide the mug to her mouth.

She swallowed and wrinkled her nose.

“Don’t tell me you’re not a drinker. Party girl like you.” Rick smiled when his comment had her eyes moving to shoot him a look from beneath lowered brows.

He preferred her pissed rather than the way she’d been just seconds ago.

Pocketing his phone, Chris moved closer to where Sierra sat with Rick in front of her. His gaze moved between the two. “Jon’s on his way over. We’re going to move you to another hotel.”

“Where?” she asked.

“That’s what we’re going to figure out when he gets here. In the meantime, he doesn’t think you should go to work today.” Chris’s suggestion stoked the fire in Sierra’s eyes.

She shook her head. “No. I’m going to work. Do you know how much it would cost the studio if I chose to just not show up for a day?”

Chris lifted his brow. “No, ma’am. I can’t say I do.”

“I’m going to work.” Her tone left no room for argument.

“All right.” Rick nodded. “We’ll sweep the area prior to your getting there. While you’re at work, we can move your stuff to the new hotel
after
it’s been swept and secured. Today will be just like any other day at work, except I’ll be there with you.”

She digested that for a minute. “Okay.”

Her easy agreement was a pleasant surprise. One hurdle cleared.
 

Rick glanced up at Chris. “You okay with postponing that flight of yours?”

“No problem.” Chris shifted his glance to Brody. “You feel like playing at being a GAPS employee for a little bit longer?”

Brody tipped his head. “Sure. It’s turning out to be more exciting than I’d anticipated.”

Chris let out a snort. “Ain’t that the truth.”

Rick drew in a steadying breath. He had to agree with Brody and Chris.

This was turning into one hell of an assignment.

CHAPTER 10

Once Sierra had gotten her legs to hold her weight and her hands to stop shaking long enough she could grip her cell phone, she called Roger. She didn’t give a crap that it was six in the morning.
 

Even if it was the crack of dawn, she had a camera spying on her and, after the newest arrivals, nearly half a dozen men in her suite. She figured it was about time Roger got to share all the fun with her.

To his credit, he got to her room in just a few minutes, even though she could tell from his voice over the phone she’d woken him with her call.

After one of the two new arrivals opened the door at the sound of the knock, Roger came in, his concern evident from his expression.

He glanced in her direction, but paused to shake hands with the two men who’d introduced themselves as the founders of the company.

It was becoming difficult to keep all these guys and their names straight now that there were so many of them.

Looking at the security team now—all five standing together in a huddle on the other side of the room discussing her, no doubt—she came up with a new name for the company. GAPS could easily stand for
Glorious Abs and Pecs
from what she could see of the bulging muscles beneath their shirts.

She giggled at herself and wondered how much booze the one southern hottie had slipped into her coffee.

Finally, Roger broke away from the group and came over to her. His brow furrowed, he reached out to grab her hands. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m good.”

He frowned deeper. “I don’t know how you can be.”

“One of the hard bodies over there put whisky in my coffee to calm me down. Where did you find these guys, anyway? The local male strip club?”

Roger’s brows rose. “No. I told you, they’re from a security company that was very highly recommended to me.”

“I think they’re clones.”

“Why is that?”

“Look at them. Have you ever seen a group of men all in such good shape?”

“Yes.” Roger smiled. “You should come to my gym. Why do you think I belong there? It’s certainly not for the cardio class.”

“So you think they’re all gym rats?”

“Mm, no. We’re very near Virginia Beach.”

“So?”

“So, there are naval bases all around here. My guess is they’re all former Navy.”

Sierra wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like that one white uniform sailors wear. It’s the same outfit every mother of a three year old boy puts them in for pictures.”

“Here’s a little tip for you, sweetie. The uniform comes off.” Roger focused his attention on the group of possibly former military bruisers across the room, proof of his admiration of the breed.

She eyed Roger. “You got a thing for sailors, do you?”

“Actually, he was a Marine but yeah, there’s definitely something to be said for a man in uniform.”
 

“And out of uniform?” Sierra suggested.

“Amen, sister.” Roger grinned and then sobered as he turned back toward her. “But seriously, Sierra, you’re too calm considering everything. They found a camera in your bathroom. Are you sure you’re okay?”

No, not really.
 

“I just need to get to work and put it out of my mind.”

She was scared. She was pissed. Knowing someone was watching her made her feel completely violated. But the fact that the camera was down now and in the hands of her watchdogs where it couldn’t spy on her anymore helped.

That she’d be moving to a different hotel that would be checked out inch by inch by her super soldiers helped too.

Once she was on the lot, immersed in the life of her character and not her own, she’d be fine.

 
“You’re probably right. Keeping busy will be better than sitting and obsessing over it.” Roger evaluated her for a moment before nodding. “All right. I’ll let you go to the lot.”

Sierra widened her eyes. “Excuse me? You’ll
let me
?”

Roger’s lips twitched. “That’s right. You pay me to tell you what to do, remember?”

“Yes. You make it hard to forget.” She shot him an unhappy glance.

“Good.” Roger looked much too satisfied with her acquiescence.
 

She didn’t have time to discuss Roger or his acting like he was in charge. Rick and the dark-haired man who was his boss, broke from the group and came towards Sierra.

When he was right in front of her, Rick’s blue-eyed gaze pinned Sierra, as if evaluating her. “You doing all right?”

Frustrated, she let out a huff of breath. “Yes. Everyone needs to stop asking me that question and instead work on catching this crazy person!”

 
“We’re working on it. I’m meeting with hotel security today.” The guy standing next to Rick—Jon, if she remembered correctly—joined the conversation.

“I thought you’re moving me out of this hotel.” She heard how high her tone rose as the panic filled her. There was no way she could sleep here tonight.

“We are moving you, and believe me that hotel will be vetted from the housekeeping staff to the security protocols and the premises thoroughly swept before we move you in. I’ve already called the police officer in charge of your case and he’ll be meeting with us as well. But we also have to get to the bottom of how someone gained access to your suite in this hotel.”