by Leslie North
“Come on, baby,” she said to Luke as she leaned down to scoop him up. “Let’s go find your daddy.”
She had no qualms about leaving Luke with Alex. For a man wary of commitments, he’d shown himself to be dedicated to fatherhood, even in the tough moments. A few nights before, Luke hadn’t been able to settle. Alex had patiently walked the floor with him for hours, insisting that she get some rest. She’d found them the next morning, Luke in his crib and Alex asleep on the floor next to it. She’d tiptoed out of the nursery smiling, absolutely joyful at how father and son had bonded. Truth be told, she felt a connection to Alex, too—stronger than the one they’d shared while dating, and she’d thought that had been pretty terrific. She sighed, remembering their months together. Life had been good, darn good… except when he was on a mission doing God knew what, God knew where.
She shook off thoughts of the past. With Luke in her arms, she made her way to the back door. Alex and Frankie were in the fenced yard, where Alex was planting shrubs. She’d known he had a knack for gardening, but in the past weeks he’d been putting his landscaping skills to work and beginning a transformation from just grass to something more interesting.
Alex looked up as she stepped through the door. Despite herself, her heart leaped a little in her chest. He was hot, of course, with his muscular build and square jaw, but he was more than that. He’d treated her with respect and kindness, making no suggestion that he was angry about her commandeering his house with a baby he didn’t expect.
It didn’t surprise her that he wouldn’t put Luke and her out on the street, but even if they hadn’t been so desperate for housing, she got the impression that he’d want them together. At least for now, while Luke was so little.
She waved to him, staying in the shade of the back porch for Luke’s sake. Alex smiled at her and started toward her with Frankie on his heels.
“Hi, I wanted—” she said, cutting herself off when his phone rang.
“Shoot,” he said. “Let me see who it is.” He yanked it from his pocket to read the display. He grimaced and answered. “Vale here.”
He looked hard at her, as if she’d done something to him, before pivoting on his heel and stalking across the yard. What was that about? She’d never seen him quite like that. Not even on the day they’d broken up or the day he arrived home from a mission to find her—literally—having his baby. He’d been scarily calm, even matter-of-fact both those times, but this was a different sort of emotion, a tension she couldn’t fathom.
Whatever it was, he didn’t want her to hear his conversation. His voice was low, inaudible, but his body language conveyed stress. She could take Luke in the house, but she waited, wanting to speak with Alex. Maybe he’d confide in her what the problem was—if, in fact, there was one.
“Sorry about that,” Alex said, shoving his phone in his pocket and burying the desire to pitch it across the lawn as he made his way back to Soledad.
“Something wrong?” she asked, her eyes on his face.
“No,” he lied, earning a raised eyebrow. Everything was wrong. She didn’t believe his answer, but he wasn’t burdening her with the information Travis had just shared with him. It wasn’t her problem. But it posed one for him. Fortunately, Luke reached up and grasped a lock of Soledad’s hair, drawing her attention away and giving Alex a moment to process the intel he’d just received.
Bruce Lewis’s family had used their connections to get his misconduct reduced in degree to non-judicial, which lessened the severity of his sentence. It was still bad, but it wasn’t the dishonorable discharge and prison sentence it could have been. Should have been, Alex thought. Bruce forfeited pay, was placed under restriction, and lost one grade in rank. Those were the short-term punishments. The formal letter of reprimand placed in his permanent personnel file was a career-killer, a guarantee that Bruce wouldn’t be following in the illustrious footsteps of his father and grandfather. No promotions would come his way.
And, according to Travis, Bruce wasn’t taking it well, despite the fact that he deserved a more severe sentence. He was looking for revenge and pointing his finger straight at Alex, the one who had supposedly “ruined his life.” The situation worried Alex, but he wouldn’t have played it any other way. A noble thought, but unfortunately not one that helped him in the immediate future.
“I was about to say,” Soledad started, and Alex swung his eyes back to her, “that I’d like to take Frankie for a walk. I need some sunshine and exercise. Can you take care of Luke for a while? I’ll be back before his next feeding.”
If Travis hadn’t called, Alex would have happily agreed to her request. Now, though, his inborn sense of caution stopped him. She probably needed some time to herself, but he couldn’t let her take it outside the house. Soldiers win wars by hitting their enemies at weak points. To Alex, that meant Soledad and Luke. If Bruce had it in for Alex, he’d find out about Alex’s former girlfriend and his baby son. Bruce would have no qualms targeting them to take his revenge on Alex. As Travis had said, he was a snake—and now he had little left to lose, which made him a very dangerous one.
“Why don’t we all go?” Alex suggested. “We can make it Luke’s first official walk and try out the stroller Zach and Carolyn got us.”
“Oh,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. “I guess that would be okay.”
Alex could tell it wasn’t what she wanted. She probably thought he feared being left alone with their son. That was mildly frustrating, but he’d have to deal with it, since he wasn’t prepared to explain himself.
“Go for a walk, Frankie,” Soledad said to the dog, who wagged her tail and pranced around the yard.
“Sit,” Alex commanded, and the dog sat instantly. They’d been working on some basic commands, since Frankie was little more than a puppy. She seemed trainable, quick to learn. Alex had a sudden thought. Could Frankie be trained to protect Soledad and Luke if the need arose? She was smaller than the average guard dog, but she’d be better than nothing. Alex knew a little about that type of K-9 training, and he pledged to look into it more. It might be another way of keeping his little family safe.
“I’ll put Luke in the stroller,” Soledad said and disappeared back into the house.
“Heel,” Alex said, and the dog responded. “Good girl. We’ve got some work to do.”
A few minutes later they set out to walk to a nearby park. Soledad pushed the stroller, and Alex held Frankie on a leash. It did feel good to be out, but Alex was still watchful, scanning their surroundings. Lots of people were out due to the nice weather. Quite a few cars were parked along the street. How easy would it be for Bruce to have his house under surveillance?
“Hi, Gina,” Soledad called to their neighbor, who had been over several times to visit Luke, bringing meals for the adults and gifts for the infant. Alex owed her a huge thank you.
“Lovely to see you all out,” Gina said, pausing to peek into the stroller at Luke. “So cute. Have fun.”
“Good to see you, Mr. Crandall,” Soledad said to a gray-haired man who came out of a house to pick up his newspaper. He waved before going back in.
Soledad nodded or commented to three other people before they reached the first corner.
“Do you know everybody?” Alex asked as they turned onto the next street. He’d lived in the neighborhood much longer than she had and knew almost no one. Once he’d ascertained that his neighbors weren’t security risks, he’d moved on to other priorities. But that was Soledad for you. She was friendly and trusting—which, in his experience, meant that people took advantage of you. If nothing else, those qualities made you vulnerable, something he was never willing to be.
“I don’t think so. Why?” She smiled at him.
“No reason,” he said, letting it go but acutely aware of the differences between them. From the outside, they looked like the perfect young family. Mom, dad, baby. For a second, he allowed himself to consider the possibility. What if that’s what they truly were? What if he
had a relationship with Soledad beyond being her baby daddy? What if they planned to raise their son together as a couple?
They were doing that for now, but he couldn’t say how long it would last. Everything was so up in the air. He’d shoved his reenlistment paperwork aside, planning to wait until the last minute to make the decision. But with Luke in his life, he was leaning toward not agreeing to another four-year hitch. He would miss too much of Luke’s childhood if he was gone on long missions as he had been in the past.
And Soledad wouldn’t like it, either. She had hated when he was gone and out of touch. He’d bristled when she expressed that, not liking the sense of being caged in.
He pulled himself back to reality and shoved away an impossible “what if” daydream. In the long run, he and Soledad would have to figure out a way to share Luke. He wasn’t sure what that would look like, but for now, with the Bruce Lewis situation what it was, he couldn’t leave them unprotected.
“This is where I found Frankie.” Soledad pointed to a spot along the curb, interrupting his worries. “I still don’t understand how someone could be so heartless.” She bent over Frankie, rubbing her head. “We were both lucky that day, weren’t we, girl? You got a second chance, and I got the best dog in the world.”
“She does appear to be a good one,” Alex commented when Soledad straightened.
“She’s awesome.” Understanding a compliment when she heard one, Frankie cozied up to Soledad, wagging her tail and begging for more attention. Soledad bent down again, her hair falling to one side and exposing the line of her long neck. She turned to Alex, giving him a smile, and his breath hitched. Somehow, she was more beautiful than she’d been when they were dating. Time and circumstances hadn’t dimmed any of his desire for her. He wanted to reach for her.
“We should head home,” he said, snapping himself away from thoughts that had no business being in his head.
“Sure, that’s probably far enough for Luke’s first time in a stroller. I think he likes it, though,” Soledad said.
Luke had looked around as they walked, making happy gurgling sounds. By the time they returned to the townhouse, he had fallen asleep. Soledad put a finger to her lips before gently lifting him from the stroller and carrying him upstairs.
“Some water for you,” Alex said to Frankie after watching Soledad climb the stairs, her lean, athletic body keeping his attention until she went into the nursery. His thoughts from a few minutes before came back in full force. Frankie’s damp nose nudging him brought him back to reality, and he took the dog to the kitchen and gave her a fresh bowl of water, which she noisily lapped up.
“Back porch?” Soledad suggested, coming into the room with the portable baby monitor in her hand. “I think he’ll sleep a little longer, and it’s so beautiful out.”
“Sure,” Alex agreed. “I’ll get us some drinks and meet you out there.”
She went past him and outside. He couldn’t stop himself from watching her through the screen door. She stretched her arms over her head, exposing the skin of her midriff, and lifted her face to the sun before settling a hip on the railing. He needed something to cool himself off. From the fridge he grabbed a craft ginger ale she liked and a beer for himself.
“Thanks,” she said, when he joined her on the porch and handed over the bottle.
Without hesitation, she closed her eyes, tipped the bottle back, and took a long drink. He couldn’t tear his gaze from the way the muscles worked in her throat. God, he wanted to kiss down her neck, to the edge of her shirt and beyond.
She opened her eyes and set the bottle aside, but he couldn’t stop looking at her. He didn’t care when she caught him and her lips tipped up in a tiny, flirtatious smile. Alex stepped closer, raising his hand to trail his fingers from her angular cheekbone to the line of her jaw. And because he’d lost all control of himself, he continued the caress down her exposed neck. Her breath quickened as he leaned in slowly until his lips met hers.
Everything good between them came back to him in an instant. He ran his tongue along her lush lower lip, teasing her to open for him. Before she did, he felt her hands on his chest, stroking over his pecs. He nearly moaned with desire but instead poured his energy into the kiss when her mouth opened for him and her tongue tangled with his.
With his hands low on her waist, bringing her closer to him, he changed the angle of their kiss, deepening it and wanting more. She gave it, meeting his tongue stroke for stroke, and he felt her soften in his arms. He was lost to the sensation until something squeezed between them. Frankie. With a gasp of surprise, Soledad pushed back, putting distance between them. Her head was tipped down, looking at the dog, so he couldn’t read her expression, but they were both panting. The desire wasn’t all on his side. The kiss had made that clear.
“I… uh… need to get a shower,” she said as she sidestepped him and went into the house without a backward glance.
His heart was hammering, and his dick had gone hard. He needed a shower, too, an ice-cold one.
4
Soledad tossed the novel aside, planning not to pick it up again. Its quality wasn’t the problem—she’d enjoyed every minute of the romance set in Ireland, with its quirky heroine whose family owned a hot-air balloon company and gave rides along the Irish coast. The hero was a wealthy American, pursuing his Irish roots as industriously as he pursued the woman he loved. She resisted his overtures until halfway through the book, and then on a rainy day in a remote cottage… That was the point where Soledad had started wishing she’d picked a different book.
Soledad pushed out a breath and added “sultry and hot” to the review she was writing for her blog. It had been tough getting through the passionate love scenes. More than once while she read, her mind had wandered to Alex and what it was like to share a bed with him. Fantastic, sensual, intimate. All that and more. His energy, though dark at times, had translated to some amazing sex. She missed that. And this novel hadn’t helped her state of mind.
She put the book in the nightstand drawer and slammed it shut as though containing it would contain her own desires.
“The mystery next,” she said aloud. “No more romance.”
She shivered at the thought of reading the suspense novel. It wasn’t really her thing, partly because it played to her worst fear—one she’d had multiple vivid nightmares about over the years. As much as she loved the beauty of hot-air balloons, she had never ridden in one, nor did she plan to. Her fear of heights didn’t help. From what she’d read, at one point in the mystery the murderer tossed his victim from a balloon’s basket midflight. She didn’t like to see tragedy associated with her favorite thing, but it was better than the desire for Alex that the romance had inspired.
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t just the romance novel. Maybe it was the scintillating kiss on the back porch. She’d spent that night and the next days replaying the memory. In the months he’d been gone, she wondered if his skills had become exaggerated in her mind. Now she had the answer. No, they had not. He was as amazing as she remembered. His lips, his tongue, the way his hands had felt on her body. Her temperature was rising by the second, so she thought of the chilly breeze currently blowing between them.
Since that afternoon, Alex had been aloof, coldly businesslike. They had spoken in regard to Luke’s care and nothing more. If anything, Alex had avoided being in the same room with her. It seemed as though he didn’t want to come too near her lest he make the mistake of kissing her again. Her mind understood his reaction, even if her heart didn’t. He was trying not to complicate their arrangement any further. They had agreed to co-parent Luke and nothing more, a fact he’d made clear from the beginning.
“So why did he start that spectacular kiss?” she asked the ceiling of her room.
It didn’t matter. And she couldn’t be surprised at the situation, she acknowledged with a wince. Perhaps she was succumbing to the family curse after all, the one that doomed all the women on her mother’s side of the family to make terr
ible decisions about the men they became involved with—men who inevitably abandoned them. Her mother’s situation was a prime example. Grace had fallen in love with a man from Spain while he was working for a US-based company. They’d been together long enough for him to name Soledad, but by the time she was one, he was out of her and her mother’s life.
Soledad thought of her mother’s explanation from when she was a teenager. “We fall too fast and too hard in love, always with the wrong man. It’s been happening for generations, and not one of us did differently. If that isn’t some type of curse, I don’t know what is. I can only hope it doesn’t touch you, but…” Her mother had trailed off with a shrug, as if suggesting it was unavoidable. It wasn’t the best advice to give a sixteen-year-old, but the Hayes women were always forthright.
Soledad, in her teenage wisdom, had laughed at the idea, but her perspective had changed over the years. She’d learned not to expect much from men and adopted the strategy of having fun but not letting her heart be touched. She’d violated that almost immediately with Alex. He’d touched her heart much more than she’d ever admitted, which had only made their breakup worse. Even though she was the one who had walked out, his rejection of the idea of making their relationship more serious had felt like an abandonment. And then, when she’d realized she was pregnant with his child and he was completely out of contact…
She fought to resist the urge to give in to negativity. Her life wasn’t bad. She and Alex shared a beautiful baby boy. Their situation was just complicated. She groaned at the understatement.
Downstairs, the front door opened and closed, and she heard the jingle of Frankie’s leash. The dog and Alex were back from their daily walk. Soledad knew she should be grateful for how easily Alex had accepted being a father and having a dog. Aside from that kiss, they’d fallen into a predictable pattern of behavior despite being a rather haphazard family of four.