Protecting His Pregnant Lover - Leslie North Page 0,11

at having allowed Olive to walk out of the shed alone in the first place.

It took every particle of self-control he had in him not to kick the door down and burst out into the open after her; but his SEAL training took hold, and Levon listened. The instincts he had worked hard to hone had yet to steer him wrong, and had saved plenty of lives before this moment.

Levon twitched the door to the equipment shed open slowly, steadily, using two fingers to ease the crack wide enough for him to slip through without making a sound. He tucked himself into the deeper shadows around the side of the structure and listened. He could pick up the muffled sounds of a struggle coming from nearby.

What surprised him most was how they became less muffled in the next instant.

“Listen, I… I don’t know who you are, and you’ve done a good job of concealing your identity.” Olive must have slipped at least partially free of her aggressor’s hands; she kept her mouth moving now, her voice gathering strength as that big brain of hers went into overdrive. “But I was just out for a walk alone. That’s… that’s all I’m doing. Just me and the baby.”

The moon cast enough ambient light that Levon could see her captor’s posture go rigid. Evidently the man had kept his grip around her shoulders and mouth and hadn’t noticed the women he held was pregnant. Amateur. Levon allowed himself a moment’s distaste as he crept along. How do you not notice the woman you’re holding hostage is seven months along?

“No, seriously,” she continued. “It might be hard to believe, but walking is good for your baby. Great, even. Even at seven months—which I’m at, by the way, not that you asked—I mean, I’m available to answer any questions if you have them. It’s just stunning, you know? It’s no wonder they write books and books about it. I’m not so much into the parenting books—not yet, anyway—but I’ve kind of been obsessing over the science behind it all. For instance, did you know introducing exercise while you’re pregnant helps protect against gestational diabetes? I didn’t even know that was a thing. So once I read that, I had to step back a bit, and learn what gestational diabetes actually was—”

Olive’s monologue seemed to be having the same winding effect on her attacker as a physical blow. Levon identified the man’s loosening grip, the awkwardness in the way he was standing—still holding onto Olive but almost gently now, carefully. Whether the other regretted coming after Olive because of her pregnancy, or whether he was just confused because of her motor mouth, Levon didn’t care to discover. But this did change his own tactic.

Levon melted out of the shadows. He allowed his approach to be seen, only for an instant—they could do this one of two ways, but the outcome would be the same. Olive would be released. If the guy fought, Levon would take him down. If he ran—Levon would let him. All that mattered was Olive’s, and her child’s, safety; this concern overrode everything else, even a possible apprehension. Olive’s attacker saw him in that split-second; the man dropped his arms from around her and bolted, giving Olive a rough shove in the process. She stumbled, her small cry cutting off her Web MD-style lecture. Levon wrapped her in his own arms the next moment.

“Shhh.” He cupped a massive hand to the back of skull and pulled her in. He could feel her quaking all over. If he hadn’t had it in him to kill before, he definitely did now—whoever was responsible for her scare was going to pay that fear back tenfold. “It’s me. I’ve got you now, Liv. You’re safe.”

“Did you see him?” Olive craned her head around to look, but her attacker was long gone, vanished back into the surrounding treeline.

“Not clearly. I’ll check the school security cameras later.” Though instinct told Levon the cameras wouldn’t have caught much in the dim light. If they were lucky, the cameras might have caught someone before it got dark out, but with the haze, it seemed like a long shot. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Olive shook her head. “I guess I shouldn’t have just… left you like that. I figured you needed space.”

“I shouldn’t have let you go,” Levon blurted before he could stop himself. He had realized his mistake the split-second after she ducked out of the shed, but that was still a