Broken Honor

by Burrows, Tonya

  He chuckled. “I win.”

  She opened her eyes and scowled. “You didn’t win.”

  “You can’t tell me you faked that,” he said smugly and moved his hips, thrusting deep. She caught her breath, and he grinned. “It was really fucking hot to watch. Bet I can make you do it again before I finish.”

  “Hmm. I’ll take that bet. Something tells me you don’t have as much control as you’re pretending to.” She tightened her inner muscles around him, and a fine sheen of sweat broke out across his forehead.

  “Christ, Mara.” Groaning, he gripped her hips tighter and pounded into her, hard and fast like she’d ordered.

  Mara bucked her hips in time with his thrusts. The sound of their bodies slapping together echoed off the tile walls and mixed with her moans into an erotic soundtrack. Her breasts bounced under her nightshirt and she sat up, wrapped her legs tighter around him, and dug her nails into his shoulders. That bite of pain was the shove he needed over the edge of control, and he reached down between their bodies to tease her clit, then covered her mouth in a hard kiss to muffle her scream as she came undone with him.

  He wrapped his arms around her and drew her in for a kiss. “I think,” he breathed against her lips, “we both won that round.”

  She laughed and kissed him back. “I think you’re right.”

  Once he caught his breath, he withdrew from her, tucked himself back into his pants, then smoothed her nightshirt down, taking time to enjoy the feel of her curves under his hands.

  “Mmm,” Mara said and leaned against the vanity’s mirror, her chest heaving, strands of hair sticking to the side of her face. He loved seeing that sated, well-loved look on her face. “Merry Christmas.”

  He leaned in, kissed her again. “If that was my Christmas present, I love it.”

  “Christmas present?” She laughed and nipped at his lower lip. “You get that every night.”

  “Yeah, I do. I’m a damn lucky guy.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said dryly. “A lucky guy with super sperm.”

  He drew away. “What?”

  “This is your Christmas present.” She leaned over and pulled out the drawer in the vanity that usually contained the toothpaste. Inside, lying on his World’s Greatest Dad shirt and topped with a silver bow was a pregnancy test. And the digital screen read “pregnant.” He picked it up, stared at it, then at her, then at the test again.

  “Are you fuck—” When she raised an eyebrow, he winced and finished, “Kidding me? You’re on birth control.”

  “I was last time, too. And, yes, I take it like I’m supposed to. Told you, super sperm. It’s the only explanation.” She tugged on his ear to get his attention. “Hey. Talk to me. You’re not silently freaking out, are you? I don’t know if I can deal with all that again.”

  “Freaking out? No.” A wild, incandescent joy burst through his chest. He grinned, scooped her into his arms, and carried her into the bedroom. “I love you,” he said between kisses. “I love Bianca. And I already love our son and can’t wait to meet him.”

  Mara laughed as he dropped her on the bed and she bounced. “You can’t possibly know it’s a boy,” she said, pulling her nightshirt off over her head.

  “It’s a boy this time. You just wait and see.” Turning his back to her, he found the ring in his pocket and stuck it between his teeth, then stripped off his jeans. If there was a better time to do this, he couldn’t think of one.

  “And if it’s another girl?” she asked.

  He crawled up the bed, pausing to kiss her cesarean scar and drop the ring there. “Then I’ll love her all the same and we’ll have to keep trying for a boy.”

  “Wait a minute. How many kids do you think we’re going to have?” She reached down, picked up the ring. “What’s this?”

  “I want the family I never got, Mara. I want more holidays like today, big and loud and crazy. I want days we feel like we’re going to pull out our hair in frustration. And the days we feel like pulling out each other’s hair. I want more nights like tonight, with quickies in the bathroom. I even want more of the nights we fall into bed too exhausted to do anything more than sleep.”

  She laughed softly even as tears leaked from her eyes. “You say that now.”

  “And I mean it. I want all of it. The good, the bad. In sickness and in health. All of it, with you by my side.”

  Mara sniffled. “I want that, too.”

  “Then your answer to my next question should be easy.” He took the ring from her and slid it onto her finger. “Marisol Rosa Warrick, will you marry me?”

  “Yes.” She gave a squeal that only female vocal cords were capable of making and threw her arms around his neck. “Finally!”

  Quinn scowled and ducked out of her embrace. “Hang on. What do you mean, finally?”

  “Well, you’ve had the ring for weeks. I didn’t think you were ever going to ask.”

  “How did—wait, did Jesse tell you?” He never should have asked for the cowboy’s input on rings.

  Mara rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. Jesse wouldn’t do that.”

  “Then how—?”

  “Baby, you left the jeweler’s receipt in your jeans pocket. I found it when I washed them.”

  “Foiled by a receipt again?” He released an exaggerated sigh. “I’ve lost my edge. Those trainees are going to chew me up and spit me out.”

  “No way.” She patted his cheek reassuringly. “It’s just that I’m a mother now, and all mothers have eyes in the back of their heads. You’re not as stealthy as you think you are, Mr. Navy SEAL.”

  “You scare me sometimes, you know that? And, Christ, I love you for it.” He nuzzled the soft skin of her stomach. It blew his mind that there was another tiny person in there, created by his love for this woman. “We’re definitely pregnant again? It’s not a false positive or anything like that?”

  Mara stroked a hand over his head. “We’ll have to go to the doctor to be sure, but I took more than one test and…I can’t explain it. I just know.”

  So he’d have another small branch added to his budding family tree. For a guy who came from hatred and grew up broken, it was nothing short of a miracle to him.

  His chest tightened, and he brushed his lips across her lower belly. “Hi, little one. You don’t know me yet, but my name is Travis Benjamin Quinn. I’ve been a lot of things in my life. An orphan. A sailor. A SEAL. A mercenary. A lover—which I plan to be again very soon.” He paused to kiss Mara’s hip. She giggled, squirming as he swept light kisses across her flat stomach, along her ribs, the side of her breast, her neck, chin… And finally he tasted her mouth, long and slow and sweet.

  When they broke apart, he stretched out beside her and laced their fingers together over her belly. “And soon I’ll be a husband, and I look forward to that. But to you and your sister, little one, I’ll just be Dad. And you know what?” He grinned at Mara. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever been.”

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  Acknowledgments

  Funny story time.

  In 2011, I started writing the first book in the HORNET series—SEAL of Honor. In it, I mentioned Travis Quinn’s adopted mother by name, knowing when I got to his book, he’d have a daughter by the same name.

  Fast forward to fall 2012. My sister was pregnant with my first niece and I had completed a (very) rough first draft of Broken Honor. Now my sister isn’t a reader and has never read any of my books, not to mention any my ugly first drafts. So imagine my shock when she stopped by to tell me the baby was a girl and they had chosen to name her Bianca Rose—the same name I had chosen for Quinn and Mara’s baby the year before.

  Pretty sure my jaw hit the floor, cartoon-style. Really, what were the chances of that happ
ening?

  So this book is dedicated to my niece, Bianca. And I have to give a shout-out to my sister for laughing off the crazy coincidence. Thank you for not making me change my Bianca’s name.

  About the Author

  Tonya Burrows wrote her first romance in eighth grade and hasn’t put down her pen since. Originally from a small town in Western New York, she’s currently soaking up the sun as a Florida girl. She suffers from a bad case of wanderlust and usually ends up moving someplace new every few years. Luckily, her two dogs and ginormous cat are excellent travel buddies.

  When she’s not writing about hunky military heroes, Tonya can usually be found at a bookstore or the dog park. She also enjoys painting, watching movies, and her daily barre workouts. A geek at heart, she pledges her TV fandom to Supernatural and Dr. Who.

  If you would like to know more about Tonya, visit her website at www.tonyaburrows.com. She’s also on Twitter and Facebook.

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  Discover the HORNET series…

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  Honor Reclaimed

  An interview with a runaway Afghani child bride lands photojournalist Phoebe Leighton in the middle of an arms deal. Forming an unlikely alliance with a ragtag team of mercenaries, she meets Seth Harlan, a former Marine sniper with PTSD. He ignites passions within her she thought long dead, but she’s hiding a secret that could destroy him. Racing against the clock, Seth, Phoebe, and the rest of HORNET struggle to stop a ruthless warlord bent on power, revenge…and death.

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