SEALs Love Curves Book 4: Failure

Ashleigh Edwards was exhausted. It had been a long trip, and she was ready to collapse into bed and sleep until morning, or longer if she had her way.

She was almost up to her room when she heard the front door open and close. She went to call out to Frederick, but she heard his sharp tone before she opened her mouth.

“What do you mean you don’t know what happened?” he asked.

Ashleigh hated that tone. She wasn’t afraid of her husband, but he was the kind of guy who didn’t take shit from people. If he wasn’t happy, he wasn’t likely to be happy without some serious changes.

“I’m sorry, sir,” a woman’s voice said, capturing Ashleigh’s attention. She didn’t recognize the voice.

“Is someone going to fix this?” he barked.

“Yes, sir. They’re on their way now. I’ve spoken to our contact within the police department, and they’re aware of the situation. No questions will be asked.”

“Good,” he said. “And what about me?”

“Sir?” she asked.

“I have fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, sir. Shall we go into your office?”

“Smart woman.”

Ashleigh tiptoed down the hall once they disappeared, her ears straining to hear sounds. She wasn’t sure she wanted to look, but she had to see what was going on. If he saw her, she could just say she got home early and thought she heard him, but when she got to the door, his back was to her. Bent over his desk was the woman he’d been speaking to, her dress pulled up to her waist. His hips pumped, his bare, hairy ass clenched tight as he grunted and groaned.

Ashleigh almost threw up. She almost screamed. She wanted to kill him, but more than anything, she just wanted to get out. She was supposed to be gone for another day, so she could leave and figure out what she wanted to do before she had to return and face her cheating bastard of a husband.

She was almost to the stairs when a sheet of paper fluttered to the floor. She glanced back, but the grunting hadn’t stopped so she knew he wasn’t done.

Ashleigh bent to pick up the paper. It was a missing child report. A three-month-old. She remembered the story. Her heart broke for the parents when they went on TV to plea for anyone to offer information about their son.

An open file was on the hall table, and Ashleigh assumed that was where the paper came from. She went to put it back and saw another sheet, with a picture of the same child, but this was an adoption docket.

She wanted to look through the rest of it, but she heard the jangle of Frederick’s belt as he pulled up his pants. She dropped the sheet on top and raced to the stairs, climbing as fast as she could so she would be out of sight.

Frederick and the woman came back out of the office and paused in the hallway. He grabbed the file off the table and straightened the pages. “Is the boy ready to move tonight?”

“Yes, sir. He will be with his new family early next week.”

“Good. Another successful adoption.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ashleigh clamped a hand over her mouth as tears ran down her face.

“Good. My wife will be home tomorrow by four. I need to be back by then.”

“You will be, sir. Not a problem at all.”

Ashleigh squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hand into her stomach. The front door opened again, then closed and locked. Ashleigh opened her eyes and peeked around. She was alone.

Terrified to move in case they came back, Ashleigh stayed on the dark staircase for close to an hour. Only once she was sure they were truly gone did she dare move. She went to her bedroom and keyed in the code for the safe behind the original Monet and waited for the locks to disengage. When it opened, she reached inside for her passport, just in case, but more than one fell out.

She picked them up and opened the first one. Frederick’s face smiled back at her. She met her husband through work. She was working at the local bank processing business loans, and he came in for one. They started talking and hit it off. When he asked her out, she wasn’t surprised at all, and she said yes without hesitation. They were married within a year, and he convinced her to quit her job so she could do something else, something she enjoyed.

Ashleigh volunteered with numerous organizations that helped place children for adoption. Her degree in accounting was a benefit to the companies that couldn’t afford their own accountant on retainer. The trip she just got back from was a conference about the dangers of private, domestic adoptions because many times the children were kidnapped and positioned as orphans.

It was on her mind. That was the only reason she was even considering what she thought she saw. And thinking Frederick had anything to do with it. He was a good man. He volunteered at church and he had a lot of connections in his business. He was good.

Ashleigh went to fold the passport and return it when she scanned the page and gasped. The name on the passport was not Frederick Edwards. It was Jonathan Moreau. She opened the next one. Albert Fordham. With shaky hands, Ashleigh reached inside and pulled out more passports. More names. More people. All with her husband’s face.

She had to be wrong, but she wasn’t sure how she was.

She stuffed everything back into the safe and locked it. She swung the painting over the safe and looked around the room. She hadn’t touched anything else. She grabbed her small suitcase and raced back down the stairs and out the front door. She half expected to find him waiting for her, but all that greeted her was the cool night air and darkness.

Ashleigh walked down her street and around the corner. She knew there was a bus stop a few blocks away, and if she could get on it, she could get away before he even realized she had been home.

She kept to the shadows, praying no one would recognize her. Her feet ached and her arms screamed in protest at carrying the suitcase while half-running. Ashleigh wasn’t the kind of woman who ran. She carried a few extra pounds and a few extra curves, much to her husband’s dismay. He constantly encouraged her to eat healthier and frequently ordered her clothes that were a size too small.

She told herself all along that he was trying to help her. He wanted her healthy, because if she was healthy, she’d be around longer. For their children, if they had children one day.

She couldn’t believe him anymore, though. She wasn’t sure what to think. His words hurt her, but she told herself he loved her. She told herself that about a lot of things Frederick did and said.

Bile rose in her throat as the picture of the child came back to her mind. He mentioned the child being delivered to his new home. There was no mistaking that. He never mentioned adoption being one of the industries he had a hand in, and with her work in the same business, it would have definitely come up over the last seven years.

If it was legitimate.

She couldn’t help the whisper of doubt. How many times had she questioned her husband’s motives? His actions and words. He always explained everything away, but there was no way to explain this away.

A child was in danger, and Ashleigh couldn’t sit back and let it happen.

She knew what she had to do, where she needed to turn. She hated the thought of seeing him again. The last time she saw him, he ripped the rug out from under her. She thought she was going to spend her life with him, but he chose another life. A life that didn’t include her.

Ashleigh never wanted to see him again, but she knew if she needed help, he not only could provide it, but he would do it in a heartbeat. Because that was just the kind of man he was.

The last thing Daniel Dunn wanted to do was run one more mile. His lungs were screaming at him to stop, his muscles begging him, but he couldn’t outrun his demons if he didn’t run. So he kept going. He pushed himself harder and faster, praying it would be enough to keep the nightmares away for a few hours. It never kept them away all night, but he could get a few hours of peace if he was lucky.

The lights of his house came into view, but he didn’t want to go home. He knew he needed to, but he wasn’t worn out enough. He would toss and turn half the night, and then he would be pissed off the next day.

But he couldn’t run any longer. His lungs ached for a big gulp of fresh air, but the damp chill of the autumn night made it impossible to fill them. He slowed his pace and panted, trying to bring his breathing down to normal as quickly as possible. After sixteen years as a SEAL, he knew how long it should take him to recover from a punishing run. The longer he was out of the service, the longer it took for his breath to catch up.

He was almost to his front porch when movement to the side of the door caught his attention. At first, he thought it was an animal, but the noise was too big to be an animal.

He drew his gun from the holster on his hip and pointed it at the noise. “Get the fuck out here, asshole.”

Instead of a slow movement, the woman jumped and scampered back. She fell on her ass in the mud from the recent rain and squealed.

Dunn’s dick twitched at the sound, something that hadn’t happened in far too long.

“Get up,” he demanded, both pissed off at himself for responding to her and at her for being there in the first place.

“I’m trying,” she spat. “Why the hell did you pull a gun on me?”

Dunn’s eyes narrowed as he tried to see through the darkness. “Ashleigh?”

“Yes. What is wrong with you?”

“Why the hell are you at my house? And how did you find me?”

“I need your help, Daniel.” She finally stepped into the light. “Please.”

Ashleigh Connors. Holy shit. Daniel couldn’t have been more surprised. He hadn’t seen Ashleigh in years, but she still had the ability to turn him inside out with just a look. One look, and he couldn’t say no to her. There was fear in her green eyes.

He nodded and looked around, then let them inside. He turned on the lights and locked the door behind them. Whatever happened, she was running from something. Or someone. Anger churned in Dunn’s gut thinking about Ashleigh being in danger. She was always so smart and strong and good.

She looked around as she walked through his home, and he wondered what she saw. He lived like a bachelor with a small house in the woods, secluded and dark. He had lots of wood and dark furniture. He hadn’t bothered to decorate because he didn’t have anything to hang on the walls except his TV. His couch and his TV were really all he needed. And a kitchen so he could eat, and a fridge to hold his beer.

But what did Ashleigh see? Did she see a man she was happy she didn’t spend her life with? A part of him hoped so, and a part of him hoped she wished things had turned out differently.

He thought about her more than a man should be allowed to think about his ex. On nights when he wasn’t sure how he would survive BUD/s, Ashleigh was on his mind. On nights overseas when he wasn’t sure if he was going to live, Ashleigh was on his mind. He regretted the way he treated her, which was why seeing her again was a shock.

Dunn couldn’t believe she was standing in his house. The years had been kind to Ashleigh. Kinder than he would have been. He knew the toll being a military wife took on some women. Ashleigh was the kind of woman who would have wanted him home, but he’d always wanted to fight for his country. He was willing to die for his country, and to do so, he had to give her up.

But staring at her from across the room, he could tell her life hadn’t gone exactly as planned either. The clothes she wore were not cheap, but her hair was matted on one side and her makeup was smudged. He wanted to pry, but he wasn’t sure where the line was. Yeah, she said she wanted his help, but did that give him any rights? He didn’t think it did.

She looked up and caught him staring at her. She didn’t even bother hiding her disdain for him. He couldn’t blame her. She had every right to hate him. When he broke up with her, she found out that he’d never intended to spend his life with her, even though he’d said he would. He always said it in the moment, when he tried to pretend he was a regular guy. But he wasn’t. And she was destroyed by it.

“I have a good life,” she finally said, her voice rough like she’d been chewing glass. She cleared her throat and drew in a breath. “I had a good life. I’ve never wanted for anything. It’s all over now.”

“Why?” Dunn asked. Rule number one of an interrogation was to keep the subject talking. The only way he’d find out why she was there was if she told him, and when dealing with a caged animal, the only choice was to let her come to him.

“I saw something. My husband… he’s not the man I thought he was. He’s… I guess I don’t know who he is. But I couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t…”

She put her hand on her stomach and drew in a breath. Her exhale shuddered through her and shook the room. Dunn acted on instinct, letting it lead his feet across the room to where she stood, looking out the window into his dark backyard. When he reached her, he didn’t hesitate, just pulled her into his arms and held her.

Peace settled over him. Ashleigh. The one woman he’d have given it all up for. The one woman he wanted to give it all up for. The one woman who…

“Ow!”

Slapped him. She actually slapped him.

Well, guess she didn’t feel the same about him anymore.

“I’m married, Daniel! And you have no right to touch me,” she spat. She shook all over at the feel of his hands on her. Rage from watching her husband fuck another woman. Fear from wondering what he was really involved with. Excitement from being in Daniel’s arms again.

But she wasn’t allowed to feel that last one. The last one was dangerous. She was married, or at least, she thought she was married. She wasn’t going to cheat on her husband just because he had a few extra passports and slept with someone else. That wasn’t who she was. Her marriage was over as far as she was concerned, but she wasn’t a cheater.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I wasn’t trying to do anything.”

She drew in a shaky breath and tried to push all her feelings away. Being in Daniel’s arms, even just for a second, brought back too many memories. He was her first love, and the first man she made love to. She gave herself to him, thinking they were building something together. She wanted to be with him forever, but he never had that intention. And it hurt when he finally told her the truth. More than anything she’d ever been through in her life.

“Why don’t we sit,” he offered. “And you can tell me what’s going on.”

She hesitated, not ready to talk yet. It had been a day since she snuck away from her own home and vanished. She didn’t know if someone was watching her, so she took multiple trains and buses to get from Detroit to Niagara Falls. The fastest way would have been to go through Canada, but it wasn’t until she was in Ohio that she found out where Daniel was. She hated going to him, but she didn’t know where else to go, so she was stuck begging the man who destroyed her for help.

“Or you can take a shower,” he said when she didn’t respond. “And we can talk after that.”

She nodded. “That sounds good.”