Free Brianna's Navy SEAL by Natalie Damschroder Page B

together, but not like you're settling. He's a good man. Point is, I think you'd be happy with him, and you know that's all I care about."
    "Thanks, Dad.” She glanced toward the house. The sun was setting on the far side, so they were in shadow here in the yard. The overhead kitchen light made it easy to see inside, where Cable seemed to be doing dishes and cracking jokes. He glanced back over his shoulder to say something to someone, and her heart caught in her chest.
    "What if it is easy, Dad? Can it still be right?"
    He shrugged. “Nothin’ stays easy, hon. So I can't say that's a valid question."
    Thinking of Darcy and Ken and the crook with a grudge that Cable hadn't mentioned since their first night together, she figured he had a point.
* * * *
    Tuesday night, Brianna and Cable ate early at the diner and stopped at his house to pick up his committee folder before they headed to Darcy's.
    "Would you grab the mail for me? I'll just be a sec.” He glanced at the steady light on his answering machine, then picked up the folder from where he'd left it on the coffee table. He got back to the porch as Brianna was climbing the steps, staring down at the top envelope on the small stack she held.
    "Cable.” She stopped on the steps. “Is this the first mail you've gotten from Sid Carothers?"
    His blood went to ice, and he felt his face fall into his old SEAL expression, the one that earned him the nickname Granite by a few of his BUD/S. Brianna handed him the mail, looking worried.
    "Are you going to read it?"
    He glanced at the return address and postmark. “Not now. This came from Florida. It can wait."
    " It came from Florida. Two days ago. That doesn't mean he's not here. He knows where you are.” Her voice went slightly shrill. “He could be watching you right now."
    "He's not.” Cable tossed the mail into the foyer and slammed his door. “We're going to be late for the meeting."
    "Screw the meeting. Cable.” She grabbed his arm, and he knew ignoring it wasn't going to make her stop thinking about it. “Cable, he's more serious than you thought. Can you please open that letter and see what it says?” She tried to laugh. “Or at least call the bomb squad?"
    His watch beeped the quarter hour. “We're definitely going to be late. Brie, don't worry.” He pulled her into his arms and tried to keep his voice from sounding like he knew his face looked. “We'll read it when we get back, okay? He's not going to come up here. It will violate his parole, and after the number of years he's spent inside, he won't be eager to go back.” He rocked slightly until he felt her relax. When he looked down into her eyes, he was relieved to see anger rather than fear.
    "Fine, but I'm reading that letter with you. You're not keeping it from me."
    "Never."
    "Okay. Let's go."
    As he followed her to the car, he had a feeling they were going to have a very long night.
    An hour later, he wished he hadn't thought that. It seemed like self-fulfilling prophecy. He sat on the couch, Darcy next to him acting like there was no one else in the room as she babbled on and on and on with all her ideas. Brianna hunched into her chair, shooting daggers at either him or Darcy, he couldn't tell which. Ken sat across from her, making moon eyes. Cable had never seen moon eyes before, but these were definitely them.
    "So, Cable, would that work for you?"
    "Huh?” He hadn't been listening to Darcy for a minute and hoped it wasn't too big a lapse.
    "Dinner Friday, so we can pick up these things in Boston?"
    Cable felt Brianna's eyes spearing him, but didn't know why. He just wanted to get this done and get out of here, and the quickest way to do that was usually to agree with someone, so he said, “Right, sure, Friday pickup."
    "And dinner. There's a wonderful bistro right down the street from the warehouse, which will be convenient since it would be too early to eat when we leave here, and too late when we get home.” Cable nodded a few times, then