Her Covert Protector by Victoria Paige

9

“Are you all right?”John demanded.

A gentle shake snapped her out of her stupor. She couldn’t believe he was standing right in front of her. Her gaze jerked to Bristow and Levi. They were checking the downed hostiles, but her eyes were searching for someone else.

“I’m fine,” she wheezed. Her body shuddered from the adrenaline withdrawal. “Kelso?”

“Here,” a voice said from the side and she was yanked from John’s arms and engulfed in a Kelso-sized bear hug. “I’m so sorry, Powell. That was my fault.”

Nadia leaned away. “How was it your fault?”

“We’ll do a post-mortem later,” Garrison interjected, grabbing Nadia back from Kelso.

She was too outraged to react. The man probably saved their lives, but she could still be annoyed with him, right?

“Bristow, how long before the cops get here?” John asked.

“Six minutes.”

Garrison glanced at Kelso. “You got this?”

“What the fuck?” The detective scowled. “How am I supposed to cover up this shit? I don’t know who was after us.”

Yes, John, what the fuck?

Levi approached their group and crouched beside the man who had dragged Nadia out of the car. He lifted the mask over his face and took a picture. “We have confirmation on Maxim Vovk.”

“Vovk?” Nadia cocked her head at John in disbelief. They had killed a member of the Odessa Order, the ruling committee of the Ukrainian Brotherhood.

“We’re trying to flush out his brother, Dmitry,” John answered. “Killing Maxim wasn’t the plan, but it seems we’ve just moved up our schedule.”

“What do you mean?” Kelso asked.

“We’ll discuss later.” Garrison clasped her arm to lead her away, but Nadia refused to budge.

“Hold on. Hold on. What the hell, John?” She wrenched her arm from his grip. “I have a scene to process.”

“Bristow needs to look you over.” Garrison crossed his arms over his chest. “There’s something more important to discuss.”

And here she was trying to act mature and not think about his broken promise, but she ended up sneering. “If you’re talking about your no-show that Monday, don’t sweat it. And an EMT can look me over.” She straightened her spine with self-righteous anger and walked away from him. “I feel fine.” In reality, it felt like she’d gone ten rounds with a gorilla, but any second longer in his company and the carefully constructed fortress around her emotions was going to crumble. John was a sledgehammer when it came to her resolve.

“Dammit, Nadia—”

“Four minutes, Garrison.” Bristow reminded, while John’s crew headed for their Escalade.

Kelso glanced from Nadia to him and smirked. “Just so you know, there’ll be no kidnapping on my watch.”

“Fuck it,” John clipped and captured her arm, ushering her behind their assailant’s SUV and out of earshot from the rest of the men.

Nadia had had it with this overbearing man. “If you don’t want to be singing in falsetto, let go of my arm.”

John positioned her against the side of the vehicle, his fingers clasping her shoulders. Something in the way he was assessing her made her nervous.

“Are these men after my dad?” she asked.

His eyes seemed surprised by her question, after which they softened to a degree and lessened Nadia’s anxiety.

“No.”

“Then what’s so important it couldn’t wait?” Her irritation returned.

His fingers tightened on her shoulders as if he was expecting her to bolt.

“You could be pregnant.”

Those words were so absurd she thought she misheard him. She exhaled the breath that went stale in her lungs. “Ha. ha. You almost got me.” She shoved him aside to move past him, but he was persistent and caught her arm again.

“Broken condom.”

Those two words sent Nadia’s mind cartwheeling back to how consistent she was with her birth control pill. One that needed to be taken as much as possible at the same time of the day. Her ears started buzzing.

Shit!

“G, three minutes,” Bristow hollered.

“A minute!” the man before her yelled back.

All Nadia could say was “Shit.”

John’s face was impassive. “Let’s go.” His voice was firm and in her spiraling panicked state, she followed his lead without question. Her brain processing. Her body processing. She was due for her period any day now. Her mind calculated. Two days from now. She wasn’t pregnant. She couldn’t be pregnant.

Before she knew it, she was bundled into the back of the SUV with John getting in beside her.

A choking feeling gripped her throat.

Fear.

* * *

John shouldn’t have brokenthe news that way to her, but he couldn’t keep it from her a second longer. She deserved to know. Nadia looked like she was going to throw up. Nothing wrong with her reaction given his own response to condom-gate. He had two weeks to process the possibility of becoming a father, especially since he spent majority of those days locked in a dank dungeon. Now he had to help Nadia get through her shock, so they could prepare for either outcome.

“Do we need to take you to a hospital?” he asked. “Did you hit your head?”

“No. I’m fine. Just got tossed a bit.”

“I can give you a once-over when we get to Garrison’s house,” Bristow interjected from the passenger seat. Levi was driving. “I have my med-kit in the back.”

“I said I was fine,” she snapped.

“Whoa. Chill there, Powell,” Levi said.

She was anxious, John assessed. He reached out and took her hand in his. Nadia resisted, but he held fast, giving her hand a squeeze, letting her know she wasn’t facing this alone. She cocked her head at his gesture. Yeah, he wasn’t sure where that came from either.

She asked, “What in the world did Maxim Vovk want with me? Does this have something to do with one of our cases?”

“Kenneth Huxley.”

“Shit,” Nadia said, looking out the window. “So that’s what it was.”

“Were you guys able to secure the Crown-Key?” John asked.

“What? You don’t know?” she retorted.

“We’ve been out of the loop, but we’re back now,” he answered mildly, ignoring her sarcasm.

“I need to talk to Gabby and Kelso before I release any info.”

“Of course.”

“If they’d planned to grab me and failed, would Dad be in danger?”

“I’ve messaged Declan,” Bristow said. “He communicated with Gabby to send a patrol over to your apartment. She’s heading there right now to tell your dad that you’re okay, before she joins Kelso to clean up the mess we left them.”

John tried not to let this close-knit circle give him claustrophobia. Staying in that dungeon was more familiar than this weird family vibe he seemed to have formed in LA. A muscle twitched beneath his right eye, and he let go of Nadia’s hand. He could feel her studying him. This situation between them was begging for a discussion, and he couldn’t wait to get her alone.

The second they arrived at his house, he asked Bristow to give her a look-over. Nadia didn’t balk this time and let the former SEAL make sure she was okay. John paced behind the two while the other man gave Nadia a checkup.

Levi joined them, tucking his phone in his pocket. “That was Kelso. He said we need to get on the same page, same line, and same fucking word before this blows up in their faces.”

“I agree,” Nadia said.

“So much for saving your asses.” Bristow shined a light on Nadia’s eyes before he strapped on the blood pressure cuff and oxygen meter.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m thankful, and I’m pretty sure Kelso is too,” she said. “But if there was any way you all could have given us a heads up that this was going to happen, then we wouldn’t have been in that situation.”

Bristow glanced at John, and he gave the SEAL the go-ahead nod to disclose their information. “We’ve recovered intel in Kiev. Maxim had been in the U.S. for a week, so someone else took the hit on Huxley.”

“Our gut tells us it’s Morris,” Nadia said, cutting her glance to John. “You had a run-in with him at the party.”

“Why it took them this long to make a move …” He stopped his pacing and gave her a penetrating stare. “I think you have the answer.”

“Where were you all this time?”

“Unavailable,” John said. “I’d like to repeat the story only once, so let’s wait until the detectives want that debrief.”

“Depends who’s debriefing whom,” Levi muttered.

“Good point.” With Maxim dead, big brother was unpredictable. CTTF was going to be in its crosshairs, so John was making sure they had what they needed to bring Dmitry Vovk down. Also known as the Gray Wolf of Odessa because of the color of his hair and eyes, it was common knowledge he doted on his brother. John would be a hypocrite if he said he didn’t want him to feel the pain he had when Vovk wiped out an entire special forces team under John’s command. Thirteen years was a long time to plan Vovk’s demise.

Nadia was a complication to his focus on the capture of the elusive crime boss.

Either she was pregnant or not. But by the way her already pale face turned bloodless when he mentioned the broken condom, she wasn’t confident about her birth control either. John had used his resources to check her medical records on the flight back from Kiev. She was on the progesterone pill which was pickier than the combination one and had to be taken more consistently. He’d done his research. He’d obsessed every bit with the possibility that she could be pregnant and … he wasn’t as horrified as he initially reacted.

The only thing he hated about this whole scenario was how it preempted his plans in figuring out this ‘thing’ between them. John was always one step ahead, but fate had its sassy ways of messing with the best-laid plans. It had a way of making him wonder if he’d run out of his nine-lives when he didn’t give a fuck before. But the other side of the scale was luck. And Lady Luck certainly pulled through when Kade and the rest of the team rescued their asses from certain execution, not to mention that cache of information recovered from the house where Bristow and Garrison were held was instrumental in stopping Maxim from taking Nadia.

“What time is the debrief?” John asked.

“Eight a.m. We left a lot of paperwork for them with four dead hostiles, and they’re one tech down.” Levi looked pointedly at Nadia. “But, since Nadia appears to be the target, Kelso appreciates us keeping her safe and said they’d deal.”

“You’re good to go,” Bristow told her. “Take it easy for the rest of the night. Maybe a Tylenol or two if you’re in pain.”

She shrugged. “I’ve been more sore after workouts with Kelso.”

“You’re a trooper,” John said.

Bristow cast him an amused glance.

Nadia arched a brow. “Is that … is that … a compliment?”

“Don’t be a smartass,” John shot back and walked over and took her hand, drawing her in. He searched her face. “You really okay?”

“Yes, I am.” Nadia’s face was starting to get back some color, and she tipped her head to their audience. “I think we’re embarrassing the guys.”

Judging by her heightened color, he figured she was the one getting embarrassed.

He faced the men. Bristow had a shit-eating grin, while Levi was staring at his boots, a smile playing on his lips.

“That’s why he was so distracted.” The ginger-haired SEAL directed his statement at Nadia.

She raised a skeptical brow. “He was?”

“Enough. Go home. Get some rest,” John ordered. “Be here at oh-seven-thirty.”

“Kelso said eight,” Levi protested.

“I might have to go over things with you guys before the briefing.”

“Fine,” Bristow replied and the two started whispering between themselves about being glad they were contractors so they could abandon his ass at any time.

John followed them to the door. In reality, he was having cold feet about confronting the woman in the dining room. “Bitch all you want. You guys love working for me.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Grumbling voices faded up the driveway.

He still had his back to Nadia as he slowly shut the door, but what had been left unsaid since he packed her into the SUV hammered at the back of his skull.

Exhaling a deep breath because it could be his last, he turned to the woman in the room whose hands had flown to her hips, her eyes shooting sparks of fury at him.

“What the fuck, John?” Nadia yelled. “Why did you wait to tell me about the broken condom?”

“If you would have just answered your phone—”

“Your paranoid ass couldn’t have made that exception?”

He shot her an incredulous stare.

She started pacing. “I can’t believe it. I could’ve taken a morning-after pill if you just told me, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Just imagine how I felt.”

She spun around, invaded his space, and poked him in the chest. “You could have sent word.” Her lips twisted in a sneer. “Oh, wait, your job is too important, so you didn’t give a rat’s ass that our carelessness could change my life.”

“And you think it won’t change mine?” he shot back. “You think I’m going to let you do this alone?” He scrubbed a hand over his face and raised his arm in her direction. “We’re jumping the gun, don’t you think? Can we just calm down?” He huffed a breath. “You’re on birth control, right?”

Nadia glanced away briefly before returning to meet his stare, mouth twisting. “I haven’t been consistent since that time after Mexico. Since I found out you were threatening to expose Dad to the people after him.”

John regretted using that as leverage against Nadia, but he needed her to help him run the Mexican op to rescue Ariana and retrieve the bioweapon. “You should’ve called my bluff and kicked me in the gonads.”

“I’m still debating the latter suggestion.”

“You did threaten to make me sing in falsetto earlier,” he reminded her.

Nadia smiled weakly, lowering her arms to her sides, and sinking into the chair behind her.

John approached and took the seat at the head of the table which was directly adjacent to hers. “How soon can we use those pee sticks?”

“I don’t know … I think after a missed period. And no, I haven’t gotten it. It’s due any day.” She blew out a breath. “Tomorrow, I think.”

He tried to keep a straight face. This whole thing was … foreign … but it was turning out he didn’t mind it very much. It was a novelty, talking about a woman’s monthly cycle instead of laying out the groundwork to a covert operation. This was why he welcomed his phone chats with Fiona Mason, it was his link to a life when he was normal, when he could be a son who cared deeply for his mother. What he’d not had since he became a Delta Force operator was have a woman he could plan a future with. Not that he was thinking it was a sure thing with Nadia. But this was as close to a normal relationship as he’d had in decades.

“You’re right.” She rubbed a finger across her brow. “I’m probably overreacting. We really might be fine.”

“I’m clean, in case you’re wondering,” he shared.

“I am too.” She stopped worrying her brow and started tracing the lines on the wooden table.

John scrambled for something to say and ended up with, “Are you hungry?”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m starving. And thirsty.” Nadia got up when he did, but it wasn’t to follow him to the kitchen but rather head into the living room, hooking the backpack on her shoulder.

Maxim’s men wanted her and the backpack. If John were to guess, since the Argonayts couldn’t fully hack into Huxley’s code repository, they planted malware that would notify them if someone had been successful. If Morris was involved, why wasn’t he with Maxim in the assault?

He checked his freezer for frozen dinners. If he were by himself, he’d probably grab an MRE from the pantry and nuke it. When living the life of the spy, one had to be flexible. He could tough it out in a rainforest and hope the water or the wildlife wouldn’t kill him, or don a tux and dine on caviar and fine wine. When they were rescued, the first thing he and Bristow requested were big juicy burgers and fries. Surprisingly, they didn’t lose too much weight since their diet of oatmeal and beef jerky sustained whatever muscle mass they had. Plus, they were mostly sedentary. At the moment, his craving was for home-cooked meals. The agency had a housekeeper who maintained a couple of the homes on Assassin’s Hill, and she regularly stocked up their freezers with food.

“Chicken pot pie okay for you?” He hollered from the kitchen.

Nadia had already booted up her laptop and simply gave him a thumbs-up without looking at him. He set the food in the toaster oven. It would take forty-five minutes. He strode over to the pantry to find some snacks to feed her. Christ, was he this way with Nadia before? Was he treating her as if she were already pregnant?

Fuck. He shoved that thought aside, but it kept nagging at him because he’d turned the idea over and over in his head in the past two weeks. It would be better if she wasn’t pregnant. Then he could resume his original plan of treading carefully into a possible relationship. Weigh the pros and cons. Consider how it would affect his job. Could he stand being away from her for months on end and stay focused? If she wasn’t pregnant, John would feel both disappointment and relief.

He wondered if he was losing his mind.

He rarely felt conflicted.

Nadia. She was the source of these damning feelings.

His eyes perused the chips and jars of different salsas. Then he glanced over at the woman in the living room, shaking his head as the surrealness of the situation. John walked over to the center island and did something as mundane as putting chips on a plate and the salsa in a bowl. He retrieved their drinks and set them on the tray with the snacks and headed to the living room.

Nadia and John might be heading into unknown territories, but he’d be damned if awkwardness was going to be part of the problem.