by Lilly Holden
Table of Contents
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
PART TWO
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
EPILOGUE
The SEALs Secret Baby
Mailing List
About Lilly Holden
Table of Contents
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
PART TWO
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
EPILOGUE
The SEAL’s Secret Baby:
A Second Chance Bad Boy Military Romance
SEAL Mercenaries 2
By
Lilly Holden
The SEAL’s Secret Baby: A Second Chance Bad Boy Military Romance
Published by Lilly Holden
Copyright 2017 Lilly Holden
Edited by Red Quill Editing LLC
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9945764-6-0
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
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THE SEALS SECRET BABY
Some secrets ensure a person’s freedom.
Sophie’s secret ties her to me forever.
One day two and a half years ago, I buried a ghost, a man who had haunted me throughout my life.
That night, I seized my one chance and shared my bed with the girl I’d secretly adored from the time we were kids. The woman I’d never dared hope would be mine.
She was too good, too pure.
I was hard, rough. A Navy SEAL. A killer.
All we had was a few stolen hours before life and family destroyed the fantasy.
Now I’ve returned to Rushville to sell my family home, the last step in breaking free of my past…until I find I’m nowhere near done.
Not with Sophie. Not with my past. And not with the secret she was desperate to hide from me.
But I’m not the only one who has unfinished business with Sophie.
I’ll need every one of my killer instincts to protect what is mine.
**The SEAL’s Secret Baby is a quick and naughty page turner involving an obsessed alpha hero, a sassy heroine, and enough second-chance love and sizzling romantic suspense to melt your kindle. HEA and no cheating in this emotional tale.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The SEALs Secret Baby
Mailing List
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Part Two
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
About Lilly Holden
PART ONE
Two and a half years ago
CHAPTER ONE
Deke
I stood beside the graveside and gazed at the coffin that held my father. Stained mahogany with brass fittings. The closest Boyd Williams had ever come to anything classy in his life.
Dead at fifty-seven from an aneurysm.
The bitter-cold breeze, synonymous with Rushville, Ohio, in late winter, slapped my face and shoulders like an angry lost love. The dark winter coat and gray suit I’d purchased this morning doing little to keep me warm. No matter. The biting chill served as a reminder of why I’d left all those years ago.
I ignored the Pastor’s voice as he attempted to flesh out the meager biography of a bitter and twisted man, who was never happy and always resented what others had after his wife had run off and left him with a four year-old son and lots of regrets.
Over the years, the old man had shared those regrets with me, loudly, sometimes accentuated with the use of his fists, whenever life dealt him a losing hand.
Lost promotions. “I’d have got that job if I hadn’t had to take that time off when you were sick. Pneumonia? Nothing but a bad cold.” Lost girlfriends. “Marcy’s gone. Doesn’t want some whelp that isn’t her own.” A lost future. “I was gonna be a baseball player. Had scouts come to my school. But your ma got herself pregnant. No more baseball. And then she leaves. She leaves me! Where’s the justice in that?”
Of course there was no justice for Boyd Williams. Life didn’t come with apologies for having to deal with the choices he made.
Nor for those who suffered because of those choices.
I ran my thumb along my index finger, feeling the thin line of scar tissue where the skin had broken when he pounded my hand with a frying pan for daring to question him on something innocent. Twelve-year-old boys should mind their manners in Boyd’s book of parenting.
Good times, Dad.
I could feel the stares of the mourners around me. Some filled with pity, others outright curiosity of what I was, the twenty-nine year old long-lost son, returning home after eleven years away as a Navy SEAL.
Ignoring all those stares was easy.
All but one.
I swept my gaze over the small crowd gathered on the other side of the coffin, past my childhood friends and neighbors Andy Neilson and Rob Hawkins, both men looking older, their expressions uncertain, as if not sure of who I was after so many years away. Then further along, past Rob’s parents and the woman standing beside them.
Sophie Hawkins, her small frame hidden under a tan-colored winter coat and dark pants, studied me with those soulful brown eyes of hers. Good manners would have dictated after a few seconds I look away. But I wasn’t a man who bowed to convention.
Gone was the flyaway hairstyle of her teenage years, her long brown waves now caught up in one of those twisty buns, allowing a glimpse of the skin below her ears not hidden by the black scarf wrapped around her neck.
How many times as kids had I teased my friend’s little sister that the curiosity always shining in her gaze would get her into trouble? But there was no trace of curiosity now. Was it pity? No. She’d never burdened me with that when my dad was alive. Sophie had always been a quiet believer in me, always wanting to be on my team when I played ball with Rob and Andy, cheering me on when I got into scrapes with the school bully.
No, pity wasn’t Sophie’s fallback when it came to me. But I wasn’t going to question deeper whatever was behind that unfamiliar look in her gaze.
Not just because I was standing beside my old man in his coffin.
Sophie represented a bigger threat than any insurgent in a far off conflict zon
e.
From the time as young kids when, at age eight to my ten years, she’d so trustingly slipped her hand in mine and chatted to me as we walked to school, Sophie had become everything that was good, pure. The girl I’d secretly adored for more years than I could count. The girl I vowed was too special for me, a rough kid who’d learned too young how to use his fists to stand his ground against a man decades older. A kid who’d left at eighteen to apply for the Navy SEALs and became the man I was now.
A battle-hardened killer.
“My condolences, Deke.”
I turned my gaze from Sophie to stare at the pastor as the man closed his Bible and moved close. A stranger to me, his services had been organized by the funeral home.
“Thanks. I appreciate your time today.” I shook the man’s hand. What more was there to be said? I wasn’t a guy for empty platitudes and the pastor read that loud and clear, stepping away to make room for others.
Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins, a dusting of gray now streaked through their hair, were first up. Emily Hawkins pulled my head down to kiss my cheek before wrapping her arms around me for a hug. I allowed her this moment. Many years ago, she and her husband had opened their house to me, inviting me to be like an extended member of their family. I’d not been shy in taking them up on their offer and have never forgotten their generosity.
Doug Hawkins gripped my arm with one hand and squeezed my hand with the other. “Come over and see us when you’re ready, son.” With a nod, he stepped aside, allowing the onslaught to begin.
Ten minutes of shaking hands and deflecting questions about my life and I was done. The one person I wanted to speak to hadn’t come near me. I glanced over to my left and caught sight of Sophie slipping into the backseat of a sedan, her parents getting into the front.
No words at all? A sense of loss filled me, lodging heavy in my gut.
I cursed to myself. What good would it do, having Sophie, the unattainable prize, standing in front of me?
Count your blessings, dumbass.
From behind me, a hand clapped my shoulder.
In less than a split second I’d turned and had a man’s arm in a punishing grip, ready to break bones and render my assailant powerless.
“Shit, Deke.” Rob grimaced, his face contorted in pain as he bent over at the waist. His dark brown hair, the same color as his sister’s, fell over his forehead.
Fuck.
“Man, I’m sorry.” Releasing my hold on Rob’s arm, I put my hands on his shoulders, tightening my grip through his thick black coat, and steadied him. Andy, dressed like Rob in a dark coat over a suit and tie combo, stood next to Rob, his expression wary. Seeing Rob now had his bearings, I held out my hand. “Not always good to approach a SEAL from behind.”
Rob’s semi-glare held a grudging amount of respect and not a small amount of caution. “Next time, I’ll blow an air horn before I step within ten feet.” But he shook my hand all the same.
Andy followed suit, his grip firm. “We should have given you more warning.” Around six feet like Rob, but with short blond hair, he ran his blue-eyed gaze over me. “You’re even bigger than I remember. What, six-four now?” A line creased his forehead. “Why aren’t you in uniform?”
“I’m out.” Three days ago to be precise. “About to start working for a private security firm.” One owned by his former SEAL team leader.
Rob’s gaze remained steady. “I’m guessing that firm isn’t based near Rushville.”
“Nope.” Years of keeping mission details secret didn’t wear off overnight, but I could share a few basic points with guys who had been my friends since childhood. “Based in Denver.” I glanced around the gravesite. Only the three of us remained. I checked my watch. 2 pm. Still early. But it was a Friday, and for some reason beyond my comprehension, I was feeling a sudden onset of nostalgia. Or maybe I didn’t want to go home to that house just yet. “Either of you guys needed back at work this afternoon?”
Andy shook his head. “I’m working weekend shift at the station.”
I’d heard through an email from Rob years ago that Andy had achieved his dream of becoming a cop.
“I’m good,” Rob confirmed. “That’s the beauty of owning your own carpentry business.”
“Let’s grab a couple of beers and catch up for an hour or so.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Andy gave that same easy smile I remembered from our youth.
Rob pulled out his phone. “I’ll call my wife and let her know.”
“You’re married?” Christ, how much had I missed these last years?
Rob, his phone at his ear, chuckled. “I think this catch-up is gonna take longer than a couple of hours.”
A few beers and easy conversation with a couple of buddies might dull the insane urge to track down Sophie and…what? Chat over old times?
Jesus. Bring on the distraction.
That suited me fine.
CHAPTER TWO
Sophie
I must have been crazy. There was no other way to explain why I was standing on the front porch of Deke William’s family home at seven o’clock at night with my hands encased in kitty-patterned oven mitts while holding a dish of lasagna.
Maybe if I just left the dish on the—
A flash of a vehicle’s headlights shined on the porch—and on me as an SUV pulled into the driveway.
Seconds later the lights turned off and a tall figure climbed out of the vehicle.
“Sophie?”
The nerves in my belly quivered.
That voice.
Deep. Gravel rough.
And a major element of my fantasies over the last ten or so years.
“Hi.” I swallowed against the thickness in my voice and tried again. “Hi, Deke.” Smiling brightly, I lifted the pan of lasagna. “Mom thought you might like something for dinner.” I kept my gaze on Deke as he walked up the porch steps and stopped a few feet in front of me.
With no porch light on, the early winter evening left us both shrouded in shadows. And he was one freaking big shadow. Not that I was frightened of Deke. Not the boy I’d fallen for when I was eight years old. He’d never hurt me. More that his size and that steely manner with which he held himself earlier today reminded me he was all man, a SEAL, not the lost teenager who’d left us so long ago.
Tall. Masculine. Dangerous.
And standing right in front of me.
A heady combination for any girl.
Those nerves in my belly did a flip flop as Deke moved beside me, unlocked his front door and turned on the foyer light.
The idea of standing in shadow so close to Deke was enticing. The reality of having him towering over me in clear sight stole my breath.
His brown hair was cut military short, and the features of his face—high cheekbones and a strong, square jaw—looked harder than I remembered but ruggedly handsome. His sharp, gray gaze studied me with a quiet intensity that was both thrilling and unnerving, sending a sudden rush of excitement through me.
Dressed in a dark winter coat that only emphasized the bulk of his build, he dropped his gaze to the dish I was holding. “Cute oven mitts.”
Was it my imagination, or did I see his lips twitch?
“A gift I got for Mom years ago,” I shared against a rush of inane nervousness now that I was standing in front of the man I’d missed terribly for the last eleven years. “I thought they were cute at the time. You know, kitties and, um, so forth,” I further shared.
Lord, someone beam me up and save me from myself.
Deke refrained from further comments on said kitties, instead, nodding at the dish. “Your mom made this?”
“I did.” The words tumbled out before I could call them back.
“But it was your mom’s idea for you to bring it over?”
“Yes,” I began, except… “I mean, no. That was me, too.” As he lifted a brow, I tripped over my words. “I thought it would be nice for you to have a home cooked meal, and she agreed.” I groaned inwardly. Had that s
ounded too caring on my part for a guy I hadn’t seen in years? “Hey, who doesn’t like lasagna? And this way you don’t have to make dinner.” Good point. Okay, I was on track now. As long as I didn’t think of him staring down at me like he could read my every secret. “Not that you have to limit eating lasagna to dinner. Breakfast and lunch are options, too.”
Oh my god, did I just say that? Closing my eyes for a second, I aimed to regroup. “That’s to say, it’s a meal for all occasions,” I prattled on as Deke leaned back against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest as if settling in for the full show. “And, um, times of eating.”
Deke lifted his gaze to over my head and stared into the distance, as if deciding something. Likely on how to nicely suggest I seek some kind of therapy. Then he straightened from the door and gently took hold of my arm. “Sweet of you to think of me. Let’s get you and that lasagna inside before you both get cold.”
Too late I noted I should have just handed him the dish, kitty-patterned oven mitts and all and made a dignified exit. But the truth was I didn’t want to go. Every step I took down the hallway toward the kitchen reminded me this man had just buried his dad. Boyd Williams may have been a bastard of the highest order, but he was still Deke’s father. Coming home to an empty house after such a day seemed too harsh a reality in my mind.
But…Deke had been away for years now from everything I still considered familiar. Maybe he wanted to be alone?
“I can just leave the lasagna and give you some privacy if you wish.”
“No.” Deke’s tone made his answer seem more like a declaration. “I’d appreciate the company if you’d like to stay and share a meal with me.”
Happiness welled up inside me like a bubbling brook in the spring. Maybe I hadn’t been wrong in thinking he could use a friend. I smiled as I walked through the kitchen doorway. “Okay then.”