Protecting Melody Read online

  The only difference Melody could see with her dog was that she now never let her mistress out of her sight. Baby would follow Melody around their house, not caring what she was doing, if Melody got up, Baby went after her.

  “You ready to go, Mel?”

  Melody nodded up at Tex. They’d come to the park to let Baby get some exercise, the vet had said it was important that she not just sit around, but that she exercise her leg and make sure she used her muscles more since they were compensating for the loss of her back leg.

  “Let’s go home. The girls will be calling in thirty minutes.”

  The Skype phone calls had started the week after their incident. All the girls would get together out in California and call to talk. Soon it had turned into a free-for-all because the men wanted to be there too. One night the call lasted for three hours. Everyone had laughed and told stories all night long.

  Afterwards, when Melody was in bed with Tex, trying to recover after a long love-making session which involved the bondage ropes Melody finally convinced Tex to use on her, she’d commented on the close friendship everyone had.

  “Being in the military makes men have a special bond. Combat makes that bond stronger. Being a Navy SEAL means that connection is unbreakable. Those men have been through hell and back, and so have their women. Because of their experiences, they know they have a group of people that will always have their back, no matter what. And Mel, you’re a part of that too. I know we don’t live out there with them, but they feel it just the same.”

  “I know, Tex. I feel it. I didn’t understand when we were talking online all those months ago. I told you that your friends were taking advantage of you because they didn’t come out and visit you. But I get it now. They weren’t. Your bond is just as strong from thousands of miles away then if you were right there with them. You’re a part of that team. You know it. They know it. The women know it.”

  “Yup.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “I have a question for you, and you can say no.”

  “What is it, Mel?”

  “Do you think all your friends will be able to fly to Vegas this month?”

  “Why?”

  “I want us to get married now.”

  Tex went up on an elbow over Melody in the bed and put his hand on her cheek. “Why?”

  “I want to be connected to you so badly. I just . . . I need that. I don’t want to wait.”

  “But your dream wedding. You and Amy have been planning this for your entire life.”

  “Here’s the thing, Tex. When Diane had that gun aimed at me and was about to shoot, all I could think about was how much I was sorry I wasn’t yours . . . officially. I honestly don’t give a damn about a white dress and all that shit. All I want is to belong to you. And for you to belong to me. I already talked to Amy. We can still have the reception. We’ll do that here for all my friends and family, but I want to have the ceremony itself with your family. I want to bring Baby and find a chapel in Las Vegas that won’t mind if she’s there. I want everyone to come and stand up with us. Amy and George will be there with their girls too. My parents said they’d fly out there for the actual ceremony as well. It feels right.”

  Tex dipped his head and kissed Melody’s forehead. “God, I love you so fucking much. When I think about how close we came to never meeting . . .”

  “I know.”

  “I’ll call Wolf in the morning and see when they can get free. We’ll drive out there with Baby, but take the time to sightsee along the way without rushing. We’ll have the best damn Vegas wedding ever. But know this, you belong to me and I belong to you no matter when or if we get married.”

  “Damn straight.”

  Tex smiled. She was so damn cute. “I’m feeling awfully awake now, Mel.”

  She grinned up at him. “Oh?”

  “Yeah. Turn over.”

  “Bossy.”

  “Yup, you said it yourself. You can take the man out of the SEALs, but you can’t take the SEAL out of the man. Turn. Over.”

  Melody did as Tex asked, knowing that whatever he had planned meant hours of enjoyment for her. He always took care of her. He was completely serious when he’d told her that she came first in all things.

  * * *

  On the other side of the country six Navy SEALs and their women were settling down into their beds for the night. Each couple had been through hell and come out on the other side. Each man had claimed their woman as theirs, and each woman had claimed her man right back. Some people would look at them and wonder how in the hell their marriages and relationships could survive the stress and uncertainty that came with being an elite fighting machine. But if they were asked each one would say it was because of love. They’d seen what life could be without the other and had made promises, spoken and unspoken, that they’d always be together.

  And if the women got together when the men left on missions and cried and got drunk, no one told their SEALs, and the SEALs pretended it didn’t happen. But ultimately it was the friendship they all had with one another that helped make the separations feel shorter and their love stronger.

  In Tex’s office, two computers stayed on all day and all night. Seven red dots blinked on a map, six dots in California and one in Pennsylvania. Seven Navy SEALs and women slept easier at night because of those blinking red dots. Some wouldn’t understand, but those people hadn’t been in their shoes.

  * * *

  Look for the last book in the SEAL of Protection Series, Protecting the Future, to be published in January 2016. See what all your favorite couples are up to two years in the future.

  In the meantime…check out Susan Stoker’s new series about a group of Law Enforcement officers in San Antonio and the women they love.

  Justice for Mackenzie

  Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes, Book 1

  …Mackenzie walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. Damn. The man standing at her door was so good-looking, she felt a zing shoot through her body, ending between her legs. It was the same reaction she’d gotten the night of the charity event. He was looking right at the peephole, as if he knew she was on the other side looking at him. Mackenzie took a deep breath and opened the door until the chain stopped it from opening any farther.

  “Daxton?”

  “Yup. That’s me.”

  Mackenzie shoved her hand through the small opening of the door and said, “ID please.”

  Dax chuckled, not offended in the least. “Good girl.” He reached behind him and took his wallet from his pocket, pulled out his driver’s license and put it into Mackenzie’s outstretched hand. “There you go.”

  Mackenzie looked down at the plastic card in her hand. Daxton Chambers. Forty-six years old. Six feet one and two hundred thirty pounds. She gulped. Damn, almost a hundred pounds heavier than she was. She went to hand it back and dropped it.

  “Shit, sorry.”

  Dax just laughed quietly and kneeled down to pick up the license. “No problem.”

  Mackenzie held out her hand again. “Ranger ID now, please.”

  Dax smiled even more broadly. “Damn, woman.”

  Mackenzie faltered a bit, but bravely said, “IDs are easy to fake nowadays, I just want to make sure.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t complaining. No fucking way. I’m pleased as hell you don’t trust me. I’d be more worried if you did. Good thinking. Here you go.” Dax held out his Texas Ranger badge that he’d pulled from his other pocket. “I don’t go anywhere without it, just in case.” She took it from his hand and Dax could see her hands shaking.

  “If it’s okay…I’ll just…” Mackenzie gestured back inside her apartment.

  “Take your time, Mackenzie. I’ll be right here.”

  Mackenzie shut and locked her apartment door and quickly walked over to her phone. She snapped a picture of Daxton’s Ranger badge and texted it to Matthew, Mark, and Laine. Laine knew she was going out with Daxton, but she wanted to in
form her brothers as well. She told them she was going to dinner with Daxton, who was a Texas Ranger, and she’d be back later. She trusted Daxton was who he said he was, but she wanted her brothers to know who it was she was going out with and what time she expected to be home. Even though she was thirty-seven years old, she wanted to be safe. She’d call Laine after the date. It was their ritual whenever one of them went out.

  Mackenzie thought hard about calling the local Rangers’ office and checking on Daxton that way as well, but then decided she was being an idiot. She’d seem him at the charity event with a table full of other officers. Hell, he’d been with the Highway Patrolman when she’d been pulled over. If Daxton was lying, he was an expert. Mackenzie went back to the door, took off the chain and opened it all the way.

  “Hi, Daxton.” Her smile was bright and welcoming, as if this was the first time she’d opened the door that night and she hadn’t demanded he show his IDs to her and treated him like a criminal.

  Dax chuckled. Damn, she was cute. She pulled him out of his bad mood easily. “Hey.”

  “Here’s your ID back. Sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be sorry. You have no idea how hot that was.”

  “Uh, what?”

  “Yeah, hot. I see all sorts of shit in my line of work. I love knowing you’re cautious. I just wish more people were like you.”

  “Oh, well, okay.” Mackenzie handed Daxton his Ranger ID.

  “What’d you do with it when you were in there?”

  “Uh…” Mackenzie was unsure if she should tell him. “I don’t know…um…I’ve never dated a cop before.”

  Dax stood there watching Mackenzie with an amused glint in his eye. “Okay.”

  “And I’ve never been in trouble before. I mean, really in trouble. I got detention in high school once, but it wasn’t my fault. Stupid Darci Birchfield decided to pick on one of the guys on the chess team and I told her if she didn’t lay off him she’d answer to me, and she didn’t lay off him, so she answered to me and I got a full week of detention for it. But she never messed with him again. I had to endure Bobby thanking me for the rest of our high school years, and shit, he still sends me a Christmas card every year, but still…it was totally worth it.”

  Daxton leaned against the wall next to the door, loving how fucking cute she was. He crossed his arms over his chest, holding his cowboy hat in one hand, and settled in to listen to Mackenzie babble.

  “Okay, I also got in trouble at work last year for telling one of the other managers to go fuck himself, but that wasn’t my fault either. He was totally harassing one of the lesbian women I work with. Calling her a dyke and shit like that. That’s just not cool. I mean really, in today’s day and age, that crap is totally uncalled for. So I told him off, explaining how a dyke was actually an artificial wall used to regulate water levels, and called a levee here in the States. Okay, I probably also used some other not-so-nice words as well, but he turned around and complained to HR about me, when he was the one being an asshat. I was sent home for a week, paid, while an investigation went on, but was called back after only three days because Ginger totally told HR what a dick Peter was and that I’d been defending her, and since everyone in the office backed Ginger, they ended up letting Peter go and not me.”

  Mackenzie paused, biting her lip. Shit. She’d done it again. She tried to finish her thought quickly. “So, I’ve never really been in trouble, or even been around any cops, other than the charity thing each year, so I have no idea what’s legal and what’s not, so I’ll tell you what I did if you promise not to arrest me. I’m claiming ignorance here.”

  “What’d you do, Mackenzie?” Dax asked with no animosity in his voice.

  “I took a picture of your ID and sent it to my brothers and best friend so if I end up dead in a ditch somewhere tonight, they’ll know who it was who took me out. I totally planned on deleting the picture when I got home, though. It’s not like I was gonna put it on the Internet for someone to make a fake ID from or anything.”

  “Good for you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. But you know, that name could be totally fake. If I did want to kill you and dump your body, and your brothers or friend checked me out, they might not ever find me if I used a fake name.”

  “Damn.” Mackenzie liked this guy. “So what should I have done instead?”

  “Called the Ranger Station and checked me out. Told them you’re about to go on a date with a man who claims to be a Ranger and that you have a badge and you want to know if it’s legit or not.”

  “I totally was going to do that!” Mackenzie exclaimed excitedly.

  “Why didn’t you?” Dax asked.

  “Well, because it felt like a shitty thing to do…not trusting you when you gave me your ID without giving me crap about it.”

  “Do it now.”

  “What?”

  “Do it now. Call. Check me out.”

  “But you’re standing right there. And I believe you.”

  “Do it.” Dax’s voice was unrelenting.

  “Oh all right. Jeez.”

  Pick it up now:

  Justice for Mackenzie

  A member of the famed Texas Rangers, Daxton Chambers has dealt with more than his share of depravity. But the Lone Star Reaper takes evil to a whole new level, kidnapping and burying women alive. It's Dax's job to help keep San Antonio safe, but even with help from friends in various law enforcement agencies, the killer remains two steps ahead. It's hardly the ideal time for a relationship, but Mackenzie Morgan is too luscious to resist. Dax wants her--which makes her an instant target for his newfound enemy.

  When the Reaper gets personal, it will take every ounce of Daxton's considerable skill and training to keep Mack alive.

  **Justice for Mackenzie is the 1st book in the Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.

  Discover other titles by Susan Stoker

  SEAL of Protection Series:

  Protecting Caroline

  Protecting Alabama

  Protecting Fiona

  Marrying Caroline (novella)

  Protecting Summer

  Protecting Cheyenne

  Protecting Jessyka

  Protecting Julie (novella)

  Protecting Melody

  Protecting the Future (Jan 2016)

  Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Series

  Justice for Mackenzie

  Justice for Mickie (Nov 2015)

  Justice for Corrie (TBA)

  Justice for Boone (TBA)

  Justice for Milena (TBA)

  Justice for Kinley (TBA)

  Justice for Sidney (TBA)

  Beyond Reality Series:

  Outback Hearts

  Flaming Hearts

  Frozen Hearts

  See all Susan’s books at Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/susanstoker

  Text STOKER to 24587 for information about new releases

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  www.goodreads.com/SusanStoker

  Email: [email protected]

  Website: www.StokerAces.com

  About the Author

  New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Susan Stoker has a heart as big as the state of Texas where she lives, but this all American girl has also spent the last fourteen years living in Missouri, California, Colorado, and Indiana. She’s married to a retired Army man who now gets to follow her around the country.

  She debuted her first series in 2014 and quickly followed that up with the SEAL of Protection Series, which solidified her love of writing and creating stories readers can get lost in.

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