A SEAL's Return

by Grace Alexander

“Awesome.”

  Charlotte and Graham kicked their legs under the table, giggling, and stopped upon one swift look from Nora. Jake really needed to master that drop-chin-and-pinch-eye thing she did. He was ninety-nine percent sure that if he tried it, a kid would cry.

  “Which type of pizza looks good?” Nora asked, this time in a normal volume.

  Jake eyed the choices and realized eating with kids was a lot like eating with the guys. If he didn’t hop to, he’d go hungry. “That one.”

  “Good choice.”

  As Nora moved to dole the slice, Graham’s hand shot forward. “I want to help.”

  “Sure thing, buddy.” Jake lifted his plate and caught the flying slice of pizza at the last second.

  Charlotte ate her pizza backward, and Graham ate his topping-side down. They both had pizza sauce on their faces and ranch dressing on their chins. Jake laughed, settling back in his chair and taking a sip of milk.

  “What’s funny?” Charlotte asked.

  “Just taking it all in, snuggle bug.”

  Charlotte and Graham were having a heated debate on whether honeysuckles had honey in them, and Jake caught Nora studying him.

  “Are you okay?” she mouthed.

  Good question. He ran a quick hand into his growing hair and nodded. But the truth was that this dinner table was nothing that any parenting blog or new-to-guardianship checklist had prepared him for. He was content to see and hear the clatter and chatter as napkins dropped and milk sloshed.

  Jake was a planner. He understood the planks of success and why he was driven to always triumph. He liked to win. It took resources. Prep. Training.

  That was how he approached moving back to Tidings and taking over Charlotte’s care. Every resource he’d consulted had mentioned the immense risks that he’d come across, but none explained the reward other than the joys of parenting. What was that?

  This was that. His chest tightened. Was he okay? “I’m doing all right.”

  “Good. Charlotte, seconds?” Nora offered Charlotte more salad, only to receive a polite ranch-dressing-covered headshake, then she caught his eye again. “Don’t forget to eat. You’re just starting this marathon.”

  He appreciated the good-natured mothering as he promised to do as told. This was the life. Good food. Great company. Maybe he was doing better than all right tonight.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The pizzas had been demolished. Even the salad had been eaten to the bottom of the bowl, and since both of Nora’s helper bees were on cleanup duty, the kids had piled utensils and cleaned off the table as best they could. Warm water ran over Nora’s hands as she washed off the dishes that Jake had scraped, and the two adults worked side by side in silence and listened to Graham and Charlotte question each other over who had counted closer to infinity.

  Graham stopped volleying incoherent numbers and, at the foot of the table, called, “Can we go watch a movie?”

  The table was cleared, and Charlotte waited patiently next to Graham. Nora was fine with it, but she decided to ask Jake too and lifted her eyebrows his way. He snickered as though he thought she was nuts for asking, then Nora gave the kids a thumbs-up. “Finish what you were watching the other day.”

  As soon as they were out of the room, she wondered if he needed a reminder that he was in charge. Graham led the way to the living room—and stopped, turning back. “Jake? Where are your kids?”

  “Me?” Jake wiped his hands on a kitchen towel.

  “He has me now,” Charlotte added.

  “Good point, snuggle bug.”

  Snuggle bug. Cute. “Graham, leave Mr. Westbrook alone.”

  “Ya know.” He turned to her, pressing his lips together. “The mister part is weird for me. Maybe it’s an adjustment thing…”

  She shrugged. “Your call.”

  “Just Jake.”

  “Jake,” Graham tried out. “Why don’t you have kids?”

  Nora tittered. “And that part doesn’t make you uncomfortable?”

  He cracked a grin. “Nope.” Then he walked back to the dining table and spun a chair around to straddle it. “Because my old job kept me away from home a lot, and then I never found anyone I wanted to have kids with.”

  “How do you have your kids?” Graham followed up.

  Jake’s mouth opened and closed, and he sent a silent SOS to Nora.

  As much as she’d enjoy seeing Jake struggle with that one, she wanted to handle the birds and the bees on her own. Preferably with the right info, and who knew what he’d have to offer to the kindergarten crowd. “Time for the movie. Now or never, please.”

  Neither Graham nor Charlotte seemed to notice Jake squirming as they left for the living room.

  Jake clucked his tongue. “I may never be able to thank you enough for saving me from myself at that moment.”

  She shooed that away. “Like I’d let you get within ten miles of that conversation.”

  “Hey.” He stood up from the chair, spinning it back to the table. “If I had to, I’d nail it.”

  His footsteps were slow. Mesmerizing. They seemed far louder than they actually were in the quiet kitchen, where there was no sound to compete other than the thump of her heartbeat. Jake had a way about him when he walked. It wasn’t a swagger. More of a stroll that oozed confidence and breathed dominance. Her gaze flitted away instead of focusing on his broad chest and thick arms. It wouldn’t be right to stare at the hardened edge of his jawline, not when his full lips made her wonder what his kiss might feel like. Nora needlessly rearranged the salt and pepper shakers on her counter. Fidgeting was far better than imagining his take on the birds and bees.

  “Nora?”

  The pepper clinked into the salt. Her cheeks pinked when she gripped their tops to steady her hands. She coolly lifted her gaze as though he wasn’t working through her mind in ways that caused a crimson blush. “Hmm?”

  He stopped on the other side of the breakfast bar. Three feet of polished wood countertop, her favorite part of the kitchen, separated them.

  “Nothing to say?” He smoothed his large hands across the well-cared-for wood, following the grain. “Haven’t known you that long, but you always have something on the tip of that tongue.”

  A shiver slid down her spine, and he held her eyes. Nora swallowed, unsure why she was unnerved. She smiled a wobbly smile but said nothing.

  Amused, he crossed his arms, doing nothing to bat away the images in her head of how this man could date any woman he wanted. “Why do you think I’m going to screw up?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He squinted, unbelieving. “Yeah, you did. Almost word for word.”

  She couldn’t exactly tell him that she assumed a bachelor military operative who looked like him didn’t have a handle on the correct words to use in a discussion about sex with a five-year-old.

  He laughed. “I mean, I know why I think I screw up, but what about you?”

  Well, ugh… “I’m not sure.”

  He stepped around the breakfast bar, and her pulse quickened. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t been alone, and of course, she’d had any number of sex-related conversations with parents. Even attractive dads, but at the time it never occurred to her that they were good-looking. Sometimes it was just a fact. A person was attractive, and she went about her business.

  This was… chemistry. They had it. Jake walked closer, and his skin prickled with nerves and excitement. Their tension stacked, compounding with the hours they had known each other and with every inch they drew closer.

  Nora’s insides fluttered. The dizzy race of blood at the base of her neck made her breath stutter, then he stopped. Too close to be near her and too far away.

  Jake leaned his elbow on the counter. “I don’t buy that for a second, Ms. Cabot.”

  Okay. Okay. That was flirting. Was it possible that Jake was flirting with her? But nothing about the gravity of the situation drawing them together seemed strained by her ridiculous bachelor-military-operative-on-the pro
wl assumptions.

  Heat curled up her neck, and she didn’t know what to say or think anymore.

  “You don’t trust me.” He angled closer, but it was the devastating smile that closed the distance, almost curling around her.

  Nora licked her lips, concentrating on the even keel of her tone. “I didn’t say that.”

  “You didn’t have to.”

  She snorted at the smug confidence. That much she could do without worry. Teasing him was easy. “Did the SEALs give you the power to read minds?”

  He inched back, and their moment broke. Nora could almost picture a heavy bubble bursting, the soap splashing and flying every which way in the sun, and she was the one to pop it. He’d flirted. She’d assessed. Rebuked. Thrown a bit of sarcasm on top of the wariness she’d burdened him with earlier. After school, that had been about Charlotte. Now?

  Nora turned toward the wood counter, smoothing her hands as he had done from the other side.

  “I’m sorry someone gave you a reason to be this defensive,” Jake said quietly.

  Her splayed hands froze, and the “I’m not” didn’t make it past her lips because he was correct. Jake had been flirting with her, and she’d slammed him away. What started as a parenting discussion had turned into a far more intimate conversation, and without crossing any lines, but it was now… nothing.

  Nora turned back to the empty sink rather than talk about her ex-husband, and Jake quietly drummed his fingers on the counter. “I wasn’t trying to pry.”

  She turned on the water for no good reason. The dishes were mostly done. Just a few left to load, and they could be finished tomorrow or after company left.

  “I know.” She stared out the window into her dark backyard, past the insulated shed and a fence line break to the pine trees that backed her neighborhood.

  The finger drumming stopped, and Jake moved to her side, arm to arm. Silently, he grabbed a dish that she’d scraped and sprayed earlier and loaded it into the dishwasher. Nora glanced over at him, and he dropped a quiet smile to her. They went to work without a word. She scraped off the crumbs and sprayed away the cheese stuck to the plates before handing them to him. He stacked them, grabbing the glasses and lining them on the top row while she scratched baked-on cheese off a pizza stone.

  When the dishwasher was full, she filled the soap cup and put the detergent back under the cabinet as Jake shut the door.

  Nora pressed the button for normal wash then dried her hands on the towel Jake passed to her before she tossed it to the side. “My ex-husband was a treasure-hunting con artist.”

  “Interesting profession.”

  She smiled. Not the normal response. “He was always busy, always promising riches even as he bolted at a moment’s notice.”

  She lifted a shoulder to indicate that she didn’t know what her ex had done. Didn’t care, either, but maybe that was too callous to share. “The only trip I ever joined him on was to Alaska, and he didn’t do much treasure hunting. He ran into friends he knew, and they left me to enjoy the wilderness for a few days by myself. Just as well.”

  “Weird to run into friends in Alaska.”

  “His friends were probably weird to begin with. They were the type to spend months scouring the Bay of Bengal or the South China Sea for riches.”

  “Is that even legal?” He scoffed.

  “No idea. Didn’t matter because there were never riches found.”

  His brown eyes softened. “You don’t seem like someone to fall for the wanderlust type.”

  “I thought he was eccentric, and”—she rolled her eyes—“I’m sure half this town still does. He blew in like a storm with tales of adventure, but I think he used me to have a home base.”

  Jake’s lips flattened. “Hate that you were used for anything.”

  “I don’t hate it. Or anything. Realizations like Sean, that’s his name, when you figure out that someone doesn’t love you and married you for a mailing address… It’s one of those things you go through, so you can grow through it. Something better is waiting for me on the other side one day.”

  “I like that.” Jake leaned back as though he were turning that over, then he nodded. “That’s a good one.”

  “Helps when it’s your job to figure out how to handle road bumps.”

  “An ex-husband is a road bump?”

  “Maybe roadkill.” She made a face. “Well, he’s still alive, but at that same level, dirtbag. Pardon my language.”

  His mouth twitched. “I’ve heard worse.”

  “Sean wasn’t into the idea of marriage. I’m not sure why I thought things would be different with a baby.”

  The gleam in Jake’s eyes vanished. “Wasn’t a good dad?”

  “Was never a dad. One look at a pregnancy test, and he split.” Nora sighed. “Graham wasn’t an accident, and I don’t know what I expected. But…”

  Jake came closer, comforting her with a hand on her shoulder and a light squeeze. “Seems like you’re being hard on yourself.”

  Her eyes slipped shut. In one simple moment, his palm copped her shoulder and the weight of her body wanted to lean into him. Her family wasn’t close, and Nora had moved to Tidings for the great job opportunity in the school system. She stayed for the tight-knit community. But she didn’t have the closeness of a casual hug whenever she wanted, not that she had thought much about that need.

  Sighing, she nodded, agreeing with him somewhat. “Maybe just annoyed. Everyone who knows Sean still thinks back to our marriage as though I married a fun guy who wasn’t meant to be tied down. It’s annoying, and it’s an excuse.”

  Jake’s hand dropped, taking away its protective warmth. “It says something about society, honestly.”

  Caught off guard, she hesitated. “What do you mean?”

  “If a mother ran off to go hunt for treasure?” He shook his head. “She’d be roasted. I’m not sure how treasure pays in child support—”

  “It doesn’t. He has no legal or financial responsibility.”

  He leaned against the counter. “I can see why you’re careful.”

  Careful… Very. Except with Jake. She’d told him more about herself than she’d told anyone. Nora bit her lip. “About earlier, and every time today that I’ve stuck my foot in my mouth. I didn’t know you, but I know Ally wouldn’t have put Charlotte in a bad situation.”

  “You can stop explaining any time, Nora.”

  She dropped her head then looked back at him. “Okay, it was all for Charlotte’s best interest. More than mine, whatever defensive walls I may have.”

  The corner of his soft brown eyes tightened. “You wouldn’t be half the woman you are if you didn’t protect those kids.”

  It wasn’t just his compliment but how he said it. Earnest and soft. Thoughtful, as if each word cast a net around her, pulling her closer to hear more. “Thanks.”

  “I have a way with people.” There wasn’t a hint of sarcasm behind that man’s smile, just genuine friendship. “Now that I know the history behind it? Doesn’t worry me at all.”

  The air in the kitchen thinned. He stood, rugged and charming, laying on the line far more than she understood, and he was forward. Aggressive and charming, unlike Sean, who was just a charmer. But forward how? Jake hadn’t said a thing. Hadn’t made a move. She couldn’t breathe as fireworks threatened to ignite the air around them, and Jake hadn’t even hugged her. Not so much as a kiss, and nowhere near a suggestion of more than friendship.

  “You know the right things to say.” A fever smoldered under her skin.

  His face searched hers. “How so?”

  “I’m not sure. But…” They were two grown adults in the midst of a full-fledged moment where her breaths didn’t feel deep enough and her mind swam in warm circles. “I really like talking to you.”

  “I…”

  Did his skin feel hot like hers? She stepped closer, her hair falling across her face, and he didn’t move. His jaw tensed. His shoulders shifted back as his nostrils flared w
ith a deep inhale.

  What was she doing? She was too close! Her words were too intimate! Nora’s cheeks blazed almost as hot as the sea of embarrassed tears that taunted her eyelids.

  She was a helper. He needed help. Simple!

  They had a friendly connection, and now she’d taken advantage of that.

  “I am so sorry.” Nora turned to the sink, hating the realization that she’d disclosed too much and the cold sweep rushing through her chest with the new space between them. “That was inappropriate.”

  In all her years as a counselor, she had never taken advantage of a situation, and that was what she had just done. Humiliated, Nora didn’t know what was worse. Rejection tonight, having to face Jake time and time again in the future, or knowing that she’d poured her heart out about the kids as her priority then almost made a move on Jake on his first day as Charlotte’s primary caretaker.

  The dishwasher chugged. Nora counted its rotations instead of focusing on the man who didn’t move from beside her. They both waited until the dishwater changed to a different cycle, and he gripped her bicep, gently swinging her in front of him. “Stop apologizing to me. We haven’t done anything wrong.”

  We haven’t.

  Not her or him but we, and that was because of him.

  “Fine.” She forced a half smile onto her face, though her embarrassment was no less. Her gratitude, however, soared. She should have known the moment he walked up and shook her hand. Jake Westbrook was a gentleman.

  CHAPTER TEN

  If Jake could survive BUD/S training when he was naïve and too young to know how hard life could be, then he could survive an innocent evening with Nora Cabot while she was wearing what had to be the cutest, comfiest, most endearing outfit known to man. He'd already spent too much time focusing on how great it would feel to touch her hair. It looked so soft and smelled wonderful.

  He ached to hold her hand, caress her cheek.

  Jake had high standards. So he knew quickly who might interest him. Looks played a role, but the number one quality for someone driving him wild was a kind heart, passion for life, and a dedication to whatever made their world rock.