“Hoping he could spend it with you, I bet.”
She breathed out a laugh. “He did ask to come over tomorrow.”
I shrugged. “He doesn’t seem too bad of a guy, Naomi.”
Her smile faded. “He’s not Matt.”
“You’re never going to find another Matt. Doesn’t mean you can’t be happy with someone else.”
“God, you sound like my sister. I’m okay. I don’t want anyone else. I met the love of my life. He’s gone. If I can’t have him, it’s no one. We don’t have to be with someone, you know. I’m not alone. I have you, and the guys, and Walter,” she said, patting her boot. “I’m as happy as I can be, considering.”
“Okay, okay, just thought I’d mention it.”
“Well don’t,” she said, her eyes widening for a second when she spoke the last word.
“Copy that,” I said, checking my watch again. “What about Zeke and Watts? What were they doing there?”
“Not being alone,” she said, annoyed.
“Just asking.”
“Speaking of questions that are no one’s business, have you told her everything yet?”
I frowned. “Not everything. Not about the job, obviously.”
“What about that little detail about you being a Marine?”
“Not yet.”
She raised her brows. “Trexler, what the hell?”
“I know. I know. I’ve had multiple moments to tell her, but usually we were arguing about me keeping things from her. At this point, I think it’s better just to keep it to myself.”
“How the fuck are you going to do that? How does she not know? You have a USMC tat on your shoulder.”
I shook my head. “It got all fucked up during the surgery. It’s a mess. No one can tell what it is.”
“She hasn’t asked?”
“Yeah. I told her I was a kid when I got it, and that it was a dare, and that it was messed up in an accident, which are all true.”
Naomi shifted in the seat. “She is going to be so pissed. You have to tell her, Trex.”
“I honestly don’t know how. It’s too late.”
“It’s not too late until she finds out someway other than you. Then it’ll be too late.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right. Things are so good right now, and with Shawn sniffing around, I just…It’s not a good time. I’ll wait until after the baby.”
She shook her head. “It’s a big risk, buddy. She’s already said once she can’t trust you. She forgave the background check thing because you were trying to protect her.”
“It wasn’t a background check,” I grumbled.
“This is just you lying. She knows you well enough to know you’re not like Shawn. That was your original excuse, wasn’t it?”
“That’s the thing. I feel like she’s constantly comparing me to him. Or, at least, she was when this all came up. When she agreed to move in, Nomes…I just want to leave the past where I left it. Things have been really good.”
She put her hand on mine. “I hope it works out. I really do. But you gotta tell her. Every day you wait makes it worse.”
I nodded. “Can we change the subject now?”
“Sure.”
We chatted about everything but potential prospects for Naomi until the sunrise. The job, her house, Zeke, Bennett, the general, the latest news on our buddies still deployed. Naomi stayed another half hour and then hopped down from the passenger seat. She waved before backing out, turning toward home.
I started the truck and pulled under the overhang, waiting for Darby like I did every morning, Monday through Friday mornings. She waved to me from behind the desk and finished closing down her shift. Maya waved to me as she passed in front of my truck, the entrance doors swept open, and a few minutes later they swept open again, making way for my gorgeous girlfriend. She still had not a hair out of place, her red lipstick still just as vibrant as it was when she’d applied it at the house. I hopped out and jogged around to the passenger side, opening the door for Darby and holding her hand while she climbed in.
“Good morning,” she said, a bit tired.
“It might be time to get a shorter vehicle,” I said.
“Don’t you dare. I like this truck.”
“Maybe a second one, then.” I jogged back to the driver’s side, then slid in behind the wheel.
“Trex, I can’t afford a car, and you’re not buying me one.”
“Do you have any idea how much money I make? I can get you a car,” I said, pulling the gearshift into Drive. I pulled forward, seeing Darby shake her head from my peripheral.
“No way. Absolutely not. I’ll get a car eventually.”
As we passed the other side of the hotel, a white sedan caught my eye, four shadows sitting inside. Lane was in the back, the man next to her kissing her neck. She was staring at me, a small smile on her face. The two men in front were facing forward, unfazed about the activity behind them.
I continued to the highway and then turned toward home. The sedan stayed put at the hotel, but I couldn’t shake the strange look on Lane’s face. Revenge was loud, but the eyes don’t lie. There was much more to Lane’s smile than hoping for a jealous reaction from me.
“You’re quiet,” Darby said. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Just tired.”
“I noticed you had on the same clothes as last night.”
“Oh, I have the day off today. Did I tell you that?”
“You do?” she asked, excited. She grabbed my arm with both hands.
“So I just put on the clothes I had last night. But I didn’t sleep worth a shit last night. I think I just need you in my bed.”
“Are you saying we’re going to go to bed together when we get home?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I even had this whole cup of coffee and I’m still ready to crash.”
“That’s not a cup, babe. That’s like…a liter of coffee.” She squeezed my arm. “But I’m so excited to get into comfy clothes and lay in bed with you!”
I took her hand and kissed her palm, then interlaced my fingers in hers. There were enemies waiting in the wings, and the Lane situation was highly suspicious. I would lie with Darby until she fell asleep, then I had to make that phone call to Val.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Darby
Stavros was teetering on a ladder, reaching to put the last few ornaments at the top of the fifteen-foot-tall fake fir tree in the corner of the lobby he’d been putting together off and on throughout the afternoon. I’d come to help him, killing time before Trex got off work.
“Like this?” I asked, turning the small ceramic tree on the desk. “Stavros?”
“Huh? Yes. That looks great, thanks.”
I walked over to him and touched his arm. “How’s Tilde?”
His tired eyes glossed over. “You should come by the house, Darby. She’s not doing well.”
“I will. I’ll come tonight before my shift.”
Stavros nodded.
Lane was not as happy with my décor placement. “It’s right in my way,” she said, pushing the tree to the edge of the desk.
“Maybe just wait until I’m not here, and then you can try to get what you want,” I said. “It wouldn’t be the first time you tried that.”
Lane’s mouth fell open.
Stavros pointed at her before walking to the bar. “Don’t act like you didn’t deserve that.”
I followed him to his corner of the lobby, surrounded by his colleagues Jim Beam, Captain Morgan, and Kim Crawford. He cleaned the counters for the third time that day, even though he’d had few customers.
“Is she in a lot of pain?” I asked.
He simply nodded.
“How is Ander?”
“He’s taking it harder than I thought he would. The only time he’s not by her side is when he’s at work. Maya has already agreed to work his shift after she passes until the funeral.”
“That’s kind of her.” I pulled hi
m into a hug. “I’m sorry.”
He hugged me and wiped a bottle top down before waving. “I’m going to head back to the office for a bit. Get some paperwork done. Thanks for all your help today.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, watching him disappear around the corner.
Lane strolled over to me, glancing over her shoulder once to the hallway where Stavros had gone.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“No, actually we don’t.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, so I tried to kiss your baby daddy. But I don’t think you know the whole story.”
“He told me everything, Lane. We’ve already had this conversation once. Are you sure you want to go there?”
“Did he tell you we’ve done a helluva lot more than kiss?”
I stared at her for a moment. “You’re lying.”
“He’s been here before, Darby. You think he was celibate before you? We met at Cowboys. He brought me back here”—she looked up—“to that room.”
“So? We weren’t together then,” I snapped.
“There’s a lot more that Trex hasn’t told you than about his job. He’s all about the secrets. That’s just a nice way of saying he can’t tell the truth. All he knows how to do is lie, even when it doesn’t matter. He just can’t seem to tell the full truth. So, yes, I tried to kiss him. There were some unresolved feelings there. But since then, mostly I’ve found I just feel sorry for you. I dodged the bullet on that one. But you…you’re bringing a baby into this world with a man who can look you straight in the eyes and lie to your face like it’s nothing. How can you trust anything that comes out of his mouth? Having a man who decides what you get to know and what you don’t? Not something I’m interested in, I’ll tell you that.”
Lane was pleased about the expression on my face. I touched my stomach, pushing at a sore tendon that was stretching as Maddie grew.
“How do you know about his job?” I asked.
“Ask him.”
I frowned, seeing Trex’s truck pull under the overhang. He jumped out, a smile on his face, happy to see me for a few hours before I had to go back to work. Whether or not to confront him had to be decided in the moment, and it broke my heart. The light in his eyes when he saw me as he walked through the doors was already turning to suspicion. There was no point in trying to hide what I knew. Either he would see through me, or Lane would open her damn mouth.
“Hey,” he said, wrapping his arms around me. He kissed my cheek before speaking again. “What’s up? Everything all right?” His eyes danced between Lane and me. She had a smug expression, and the last thing I wanted to do was give her the satisfaction of an argument.
“Lane told me about…before,” I said.
Trex frowned, and then his gaze floated to Lane. His shoulders sagged. “What are you doing? I’m in love with this girl.”
Lane crossed her arms. “Then why lie?”
“I didn’t lie, Lane. It wasn’t worth mentioning.”
“That’s not what you said back then,” she snapped.
“I didn’t say anything back then. I stopped calling you when I figured out you were insane.”
I tried not to smile, instead pressing my lips together. Trex took the look on my face to be anger.
“Baby…” he began.
I patted his chest. “It’s okay. Let’s go.”
I passed him, turning when he didn’t follow. Lane and Trex were standing, dumbfounded.
“You already said she wasn’t worth mentioning. I agree. Let’s go, please.”
Trex didn’t waste another second, rushing to walk next to me as we made our way to the truck. He helped me in and then jogged to the other side, peeking at me as he started the engine. When he pulled out, he cleared his throat.
“How mad are you?” he asked.
“Furious,” I said, turning to face him. “You knew she was going to drop that bomb on me eventually. Why didn’t you tell me? I realize she ain’t worth mentionin’, but you could at least’ve saved me from the humiliation of finding out from her.”
First, he cringed, but as I talked he worked hard not to smile.
“This ain’t funny, Scottie!”
My use of his first name wiped the grin off his face. “I know. I know it’s not, and I’m very sorry. But when you get mad and Texas comes out of your mouth…it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I glared at him.
He reached for my hand, but I crossed my arms over the top of my enormous belly.
“Baby…you’re right. I should’ve told you. There was really no good time to bring up Lane.”
“Then maybe not act like you’d never met her?”
“That wasn’t what I was trying to do. I was trying to show my indifference. She stalked me for a good five weeks after I tried to let her down easy. It kind of freaked me out that she got a job at the hotel.”
I looked out the window, trying not to be flattered. The rest of what she said came to mind. “She said she knew about your job. She said you had a lot of secrets. I don’t like her knowing things about you that I don’t.”
“She doesn’t know anything, Darby.”
“She knows something.”
He sighed. “I can’t tell you, Darby. You know that.”
He held out his hand again, and this time I took it. He squeezed.
“She said you’re not capable of tellin’ the truth. She said I couldn’t trust you. Just so you know, your job is the only secret you get to keep,” I said. When he didn’t answer, I craned my neck at him. “Trex.”
“Deal,” he said quickly, kissing my knuckles.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Trex
The fireplace was crackling, two big red stockings with white fur trim and a tiny, sweater-knit cream-colored stocking with red ribbon trim hung from the mantel. I’d ordered them just after we moved in, our names embroidered at the top, even Maddie’s. Hers read MADDIE ROSE even though Darby hadn’t agreed to the middle name yet. I was already attached to it, and Darby had stopped arguing after I’d hung the stocking.
The room was dim, and Darby was relaxing on the couch with her bare feet in my lap, her belly bouncing as she giggled at the sight of me trying to paint her swollen toes.
“What?” I said, smiling but trying to concentrate. “Hold still! I’m already terrible at this. It’s that much harder with your feet shaking every time you laugh at me.”
“I can’t help it.” She took out her phone and snapped a picture.
I looked up. “Really?” I deadpanned.
Darby cackled, and I shook my head, trying again. It didn’t bother me in the slightest, but Darby got so much enjoyment from giving me a hard time, I pretended it did. After I finished, I’d put cuticle oil on her toes and rub her feet, and she would lie back and look serene and happy. I loved that part, our quiet nights at home before she went to work. Life doesn’t get better than this.
Darby’s phone rang in her hands. She looked down at the display and then showed me. Unknown Number was listed at the top.
I reached out, gesturing for the phone. Darby reached as far as she could, huffing when she sat back. I slid my thumb across the bottom to answer. “Hello?”
Someone was breathing on the other end of the line. It wasn’t a pocket dial. Whoever had called her was waiting.
“Who is this?” I asked.
More breathing. Not the kind you’d expect from a pervert or a bored punk kid. Just waiting. Listening.
“Who is it?” Darby asked.
The breathing stopped, and the call ended. I frowned at the phone. “No one.” I’d be calling Val for another favor, even though I owed her ten.
“You, Stavros, Ander, and Maya are the only ones who have my number. And the doctor’s office.” She smiled at saying the last part.
She was so proud to finally have a number to give them, and they were relieved she had access to a phone. Dr. Park had finally warmed up to me, trusting my intentions. I used my lunch h
our to sit with Darby at every appointment, glad that it didn’t make a difference to the general. Bianca hadn’t even asked about specifics. They only knew that my girlfriend was pregnant.
Darby turned to look at the large clock hung in the kitchen. “This is the only thing I dislike about my job. Hospitality is three hundred sixty-five days a year. It’s Christmas Eve, the fire is going, and I have to start getting ready for work soon.”
“Have you talked to Stavros yet?”
“I can’t,” she said, an edge of whining in her voice. “Tilde is still in hospice. She’s lasted a month longer than they thought. She’s going to go at any time.”
“How is she looking?” I asked. Darby visited almost every day.
“Like a skeleton. She sleeps most of the time. It’s cruel. Trex? Don’t let me…Don’t let that happen to me, okay?”
I put her feet gently on the floor and then snuggled up to her. She didn’t talk about our future very often, and she had no idea the way it made me feel. Even talking about the frightening end was a comfort, knowing she would let me love her every day of the in-between.
“We’re going at the exact same time, in our beds, warm and happy.”
“I mean it.”
“I won’t,” I promised. “I’d never let anything bad happen to you.”
Darby seemed satisfied with that, and she relaxed against my shoulder. We interlaced our fingers over her belly, laughing when Maddie rolled.
“Should we tell her?” I asked. “I mean…I was thinking, no one knows she’s not mine. We could…you could take my last name and that’s what would be on the birth certificate. It happens all the time.”
Darby was quiet for a long time, and I worried that I’d upset her.
“Unless you…unless you don’t want to,” I said quickly.
She looked up at me, a tear rolling down her nose. “Did you just ask me to marry you? Because that was terrible.”
She smiled, prompting me to breathe out a sigh of relief. “I can do it way better if you want.”
“I want,” she said.
“Really? You’d marry me?”
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