SEAL's Bride: A Secret Baby Romance

by Vivian Wood

  “Do you remember that time you went home with me on holiday?” Liam asked.

  Jack watched him for a beat, then slowly nodded. “Yeah.”

  “You were the first friend I ever had who saw me, saw my family and all that fucked up shit that was going on, and didn’t even flinch. We slept on the streets for half the week, and you didn’t have a hard word to say to me.” Liam cleared his throat, starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

  “What could I say? It’s not like I’m from anywhere, like my family’s any better,” Jack said with a shrug.

  Liam gave him a long look. “No one’s family is like that. Not like mine.”

  Jack just shrugged. “No. Me and Aud, our parents are bad in a different way. At any rate, there’s no judging on that account. Not from me, not from Audrey. I promise you that.”

  Liam snorted. “You’re the only one in the world who will ever see my mum like that. Once I got money, I had her put into a proper home. At any rate, there’s your answer.”

  “That’s not really enough reason for all you’ve done,” Jack said, rubbing the back of his head.

  Liam shrugged. “What can I say, I don’t have a lot of people in my life that I’m close to. You stuck with me for some reason, so I make sure I stick with you. Isn’t that enough?”

  Jack didn’t seem to have an answer for that.

  “Let’s get you inside, then,” Liam said.

  He went around to help Jack out, then half-carried his friend into the house. Once inside, he got Jack to the couch and helped him lie down.

  “Errr… honestly, mate, I don’t know where any of the first aid is kept, your sister does all that.” Liam went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of whiskey, bringing it back to Jack with a glass of ice. “Here, this is a good start.”

  “You have my sister organizing your medicine cabinets now, huh? Nice life,” Jack said as he took a slug straight from the bottle.

  “Wait… has she not told you…” Liam paused.

  Jack arched a brow, and Liam realized that his friend didn’t know that his sister lived in Liam’s posh home. He pressed a hand to his face, then hissed. He’d forgotten for a moment that his face was insanely tender.

  “Listen, Jack—” he started to explain, but he didn’t get the chance.

  Audrey chose that moment to emerge from her bedroom, wearing a fluffy pink robe and a pair of god’s honest bunny slippers. She looked sleepy and disheveled, her robe slipping off one shoulder.

  “Hey—” she said, then stopped dead. “Jack. Are you hurt? Where have you two been? God, Liam, you have a black eye!”

  “What in the fuck are you doing in Liam’s house?” Jack growled at her, trying to get up off the couch. “Shit. I swear, when I can get up, I’m going to beat the shit out of somebody.”

  “Oh…” was all Audrey said. “Well… I sort of live here now.”

  “Seriously, you didn’t tell him you were living here?” Liam asked, crossing his arms and shooting Audrey a glare.

  “I— I was waiting for the right time,” she said, straightening her robe and tightening the waist belt.

  “You fucking asshole,” Jack howled, pointing at Liam. “You just told me that you weren’t after my sister!”

  Liam and Audrey shared a long, uncomfortable glance.

  “She’s living here for convenience,” Liam finally managed. “That’s her side of the house, I’m on the other.”

  “Bullshit!” Jack said, leaning up just enough to hurl his whisky glass at Liam. It went wide and shattered against a wall, knocking down one of the paintings that Audrey had hung only a few days ago.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Liam said, his voice dropping low with anger. “Audrey doesn’t even have proper shoes on and here you are smashing glasses? House isn’t even a month old yet—”

  “Liam,” Audrey sighed. “I’ve got this. Go ahead and clean your face up.”

  The pleading look she gave him was the only thing that made him willing to take her orders. He looked at Jack, pure seriousness.

  “If I hear so much as a raised voice, I will call an ambulance and have you taken to the hospital. No chance of avoiding Havershom’s fury then, mate. You hear me?”

  Jack gave him a grudging nod. To Audrey, Liam said, “Leave that glass for tomorrow.”

  She shrugged. Only then did he turn and head for his bedroom, stripping down and changing into his t-shirt and a pair of comfortable sleep shorts.

  He sprawled across his bed but left the lights on, staring off into space and keeping an ear open for any trouble in the living room. Whatever the siblings said, they were quiet about it.

  Liam checked the time on his phone, then laid back and let his eyes drift shut. A soft knock at his door startled him awake, and he sat up.

  “Yeah,” he said, blinking

  “Hey,” Audrey whispered, slipping into his room and closing the door. “I saw that your light was on.”

  “Mmf,” Liam said. His brain wasn’t quite working.

  Audrey held up a small first aid kit. “I figured you didn’t fix up your eye. Looks like I was right.”

  “It’s fine,” Liam sighed.

  “It’s not. If you let me do this, it will be less noticeable at practice tomorrow,” she said.

  Shit. He hadn’t even considered that.

  “Alright,” he said, waving her over.

  Audrey knelt beside him on the bed, opening her little first aid case. She pulled out some swabs and wiped at the cut on his temple, her touch feather-light. Liam make a face at the sting of the antiseptic.

  “Sorry, sorry,” she said.

  “It’s all right,” he said.

  She took out a butterfly bandage and put it on him with the utmost care. Watching her studious expression as she worked was almost comical. She worked so hard to be gentle with him, it was…

  Well, touching.

  She was ever so close, the soft curves of her breasts and hips covered by nothing more than her silly robe. Her hair was still a little damp, and he could smell her lavender shampoo.

  He leaned back, trying for a little distance from her. For the first time in a long time, they weren’t fighting or vexing each other. It wouldn’t do to ruin this nice moment by getting a raging hard-on just from her simple touch.

  “Take off your shirt,” Audrey said after a minute.

  “Sorry?”

  “I want to make sure you’re not bleeding internally or anything,” she said, her cheeks flushing pink.

  “Honestly? I can’t take it off. My ribs,” he explained.

  “Ah. I, uh, I’ll help.” Audrey tugged his shirt up and over his head, but the movement still hurt a fair bit.

  She began to examine his shoulders, back and ribs with the same gentle touch.

  “Let me know if anything hurts, okay?” she asked.

  “Let’s just get it over with, alright?” he grunted. Her touching his body was the opposite of the space he needed. She was closer than ever, and kept giving him flashes of plump cleavage or bare thigh.

  It was not helping his situation in the least.

  “Liam,” she said as she worked. “I want to thank you for rescuing Jack. He told me what happened. I… I don’t know what he would have done if you hadn’t showed up.”

  “I wish I thought that getting his arse kicked would make him stop.”

  Audrey’s fingers stilled for a moment, and she heaved a sigh.

  “No, I suppose it won’t.” She bent low to examine his stomach, her head of flaming red hair dipping alarmingly close to his cock, then sat up again.

  She’s killing me, and she has no idea, Liam thought, closing his eyes for a brief moment.

  When he opened them again, Aubrey was very, very close to him. Her lips were parted sightly, her gaze fixated on his mouth. The very tip of her pink tongue came out to wet her lower lip, a subconscious sign of her rising desire.

  Liam reached out and brushed her hair over her shoulder, running a fingertip ove
r the exposed skin of her collarbone. Audrey shivered, her gaze rising to connect with his.

  Something passed between them in that instant, an erotic pulse of bright heat. Audrey sucked in a breath, her chin lifting. Liam’s lips were drawn toward hers.

  Down, down…

  “Audrey!” Jack shouted from the living room, making them both jump apart. “Audrey, I need more whiskey.”

  Audrey pressed a hand to her heart, then chuckled and gave Liam an awkward shrug.

  “I should go,” she said. “You need sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early.”

  “Right. Of course,” Liam said.

  All he wanted in his whole cursed life was to ask her to stay, but he knew better. No reason to go through the whole litany of reasons why he shouldn’t do that. Couldn’t do that.

  Audrey gave him a soft smile, flipping off his bedroom light as she left. The door closed behind her and Liam sank back, feeling like a complete idiot.

  “You’ve gone completely mad,” he told himself. “You fancy her, and now you’ve gone totally soft in the head. You fucking fool.”

  There was no denying it, really. He hadn’t so much as looked at another girl since the day he met Audrey. Whether it was because she was always around, flaunting her charms, or because she was forbidden fruit, he didn’t know.

  But he really, really needed to get her out of his system, and soon. It was starting to change him, make him someone he didn’t recognize.

  And Liam fucking Packham didn’t change for anyone. Ever.

  He closed his eyes, exhausted, but knew that sleep would be elusive. He needed a plan, he needed… something.

  Something other than hot, mind-blowing sex with a certain prim ginger.

  Stop thinking about her, he chastised himself.

  But of course, it was easier said than done.

  10

  Audrey

  “So… confession time,” Audrey said, holding up her phone for Liam to see. He was relaxing on the couch, reading To Kill A Mockingbird. “Wait, what are you doing?”

  “Ah,” Liam said, setting his book aside. “A few people have told me how great this book is, so I am giving it a try.”

  “Oh yeah?” Audrey said, taking the overstuffed red velour chair across from the couch. “Any conclusions so far?”

  “I didn’t realize that the Southern part of the States was so complicated,” he said with a shrug. “That’s all I’ve really got, so far. Only about fifty pages in.”

  “Well, you surprised me,” Audrey said, unable to hold back a smile.

  “What, you think the dumb footballer can’t read?” he asked, rolling his eyes. “I’m sure the rest of the world thinks that about me, but I’d hoped you knew better.”

  “I do,” Audrey said, cocking her head and studying him. He really did look insanely sexy with a book in his hand. The way his tight MANCHESTER UNITED t-shirt clung to his chest didn’t hurt, either.

  “So, what’s this about a confession?” he asked, sitting up and running a hand through his hair.

  Audrey bit her lip for a second, distracted by his disheveled sexiness. Men really had all the luck in that department, Liam especially.

  Liam caught her gaze, then grinned. The knowing look in his eyes meant he realized that she was just plain checking him out, which was a little embarrassing.

  Busted.

  “Hmm?” she asked.

  “You were confessing your sins to me,” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms. She tried not to stare at his bulging biceps, at the vibrant colors of his tattoos.

  “Right. Uh, the night that Jack slept here, I got into his iPhone,” she said, forcing herself to focus. Was it just that she’d been so long without sex, or was her infatuation with Liam’s attractiveness a sign of the growing tension between them?

  More importantly, was the supposed tension mutual, or just in her head?

  “What do you mean, got into?” he asked, narrowing his gaze.

  “I mean… he was hammered. I asked him for his password so I could set an alarm on his phone. While I was in there, I turned on the Find My Friends app… but I didn’t tell him that.”

  Liam shrugged. “I don’t really know anything about phones.”

  “I’m trying to tell you that I can track my brother anywhere he goes,” she said, holding up her phone again. “Like I can see him anytime his phone is turned on.”

  “Okay…” Liam said. “A gross invasion of privacy, but alright. I assume you’re telling me this for a reason.”

  “Well, right now he’s in College Park. Like wayyyy south of the city, almost to the airport.”

  “Uh huh…” Liam said, giving her a baffled look. “Can you just cut to the chase, love?”

  Audrey flushed a little at the word love, though he called lots of women that. It was a very casual phrase for Liam.

  “He’s probably about to get himself in trouble,” she said. “There’s lots of abandoned warehouses and stuff down in that part of town, and I’d be willing to bet that he’s heading to a fight.”

  Liam perked up. “Well, shit. Good work, Sherlock.”

  “Thanks,” Audrey said with a chuckle.

  “If you give me the address—” he started, then stopped at Audrey’s glare. “Right. Of course you aren’t just going to make this easy. You’re going to insist on going, and argue with me until I give in. Have I got that about right?”

  “You’ve hit the nail on the head,” Audrey said.

  Liam huffed a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he said, “All right, but don’t make me regret this.”

  “I’ve already picked out an outfit,” Audrey said, breaking into a grin. “You know, to blend in.”

  Liam stood, looking her up and down. “I hope it’s spandex. Or that sheer lace stuff, that was good.”

  Audrey laughed and rolled her eyes. “You’re awful. If we get moving now, I can be ready in fifteen minutes.”

  “Deal,” Liam said. He held out his hand to help her up, then pulled her to her feet. For a moment, they were mere inches apart, her hand pressed against his. “Fifteen minutes, then.”

  Audrey hurried to her room. She quickly added a little extra makeup and hairspray to her daytime look, playing up her blue eyes and letting her red hair cascade around her shoulders in fiery waves.

  Then she opened a garment bag and pulled out something very special indeed. A skintight two-piece look, with a white tube top and a white mini-skirt, both adorned with delicate gold studs. She’d seen a pop star wearing this in photos, an after-Grammys look, and asked Liam’s stylist to find something similar.

  To her shock, the stylist got Audrey the exact same outfit… and it actually fit, to boot. Glancing in the mirror, she slipped on a pair of gold Louboutins and grinned at herself.

  Maybe it was the new job, maybe it was flirting with Liam. Whatever it was about her life these days, she felt good. Really, really good. Euphoric, except when she was fighting with Liam.

  And even then… well, she kind of liked arguing with him.

  Shrugging at her reflection, she walked out to find Liam pacing in the foyer. He wore dark jeans and a short-sleeved navy plaid button up, and he looked hot as hell.

  “Are you wearing glasses?” she asked with a giggle.

  “They’re fake. It’s part of my disguise,” he said, cocking a brow. “I’m trying to look like a sexy professor or something.”

  “Mission accomplished,” she said, before she could stop herself.

  Liam threw his head back and howled with laughter for a long moment while Audrey just stood there blushing. After a moment, he sobered a little.

  “And you, dressed up like a Beverly Hills girl,” he said. “I guess we’re playing opposites tonight.”

  “Hey, I can pull this off,” Audrey said, her lips pulling into a pout. She wasn’t about to let Liam’s teasing ruin her newfound sense of fun and freedom.

  “Audrey,” Liam said, taking her wrist and pull
ing her close. He ran a fingertip up her arm; the touch was innocent, but it still made her shiver. “You more than pull this off, okay? You look fucking incredible.”

  She relaxed and smiled at him. “Thanks.”

  Liam turned her around and gave her a little push toward the door. “To be honest, I think you look good in that god-awful bathrobe of yours, so…”

  Audrey bit her lip to keep from grinning. “Hey, that bathrobe is amazing. Don’t knock it till you’ve lounged in it, truly. So comfy.”

  The ride to the south side of the city went fast, with Liam and Audrey chatting and laughing. Truly, Audrey couldn’t remember them ever having a comfortable conversation, much less a pleasant car ride together.

  It made her happier than it should. Yeah, Liam was a complete player and he’d probably charmed a thousand girls just this way. But maybe they could at least be friends… if Audrey could keep her feelings simple and carefree, she thought there was a strong foundation for something good to come.

  And yeah, maybe a tiny part of her knew that she was already past that point, but at the moment she just wanted to feel free and happy.

  Liam didn’t give a shit what anyone thought, he just effortlessly succeeded in all facets of his life… he made it look so easy, Audrey couldn’t help but want to try it on for size.

  Tonight she was just going to be cool for once. Assuming her brother wasn’t getting murdered, of course.

  Her mouth turned down at that thought. There were lots of reasons why Audrey had never been wild and carefree, but Jack was among the biggest of them.

  “Ah, I think we’ve found it,” Liam said, pulling her from her thoughts.

  He cruised down a darkened street, pointing out a warehouse a block down. The building was the only thing on the block with lights on, plus there were dozens of cars parked on each street near it.

  “Yeah, I think you’re right,” she said.

  “Leave everything but your ID card in the car,” Liam said. “Under the seat is even better.”

  “Where would I put anything else in this outfit?” Audrey joked, and Liam snorted.

  They both got out of the car, and Liam held out a hand to her. She took it with a grin.