The SEAL’s Secret Baby

by Lilly Holden

  The bitter truth was I would be reliant on her sharing more facts about our son.

  Following her up to the house, I waited while she unlocked the front door and followed behind her as she entered and headed for the living room.

  A play area with a box of toys was set up next to the sofa. I lowered Noah to the floor, and he immediately started setting up brightly colored building blocks into a mini skyscraper.

  That activity lasted about half a minute until he decided to sort through his box of toys and put them in piles according to some secret formula in his head.

  “He’s got walking mastered.” I sat in one of the easy chairs and watched as Noah walked to all the different piles of toys and studied their contents.

  “He was confident on his feet by twelve months.” Sophie dropped the bags beside the chair opposite mine and sat.

  “That’s good?” I had no fucking idea, but I wanted to learn as much as I could.

  “Yes,” her smile was short-lived but genuine. “Some children are taking their first steps at that age, but Noah seems to be ahead of the game in some physical milestones. He’s tall and big for his age, too.”

  Another physical characteristic he got from me?

  The words were unsaid, but I’m guessing Sophie knew they were hanging in the air.

  “Noah’s got most of his teeth, too. We’re just waiting on his second molars to come through. He gets a little grumpy sometimes with teething, but on the whole, he’s been a champ.” She rubbed her hands back and forth over her denim-covered thighs. “His hearing is fine. We had a free check at the local pharmacy a month ago.”

  “Sophie, what you’re sharing is interesting, and I’m going to want to hear all about it later, but you telling me about a free hearing check for Noah isn’t what I meant about getting the full story.”

  She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she met my gaze squarely. “Ask your questions.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”

  She straightened in her chair. “I tried to.”

  “How hard?” I shot back.

  “Numerous times.” Ignoring my disbelieving stare, she continued. “Rob knew the name of your employer, Marshall Security in Denver. I rang them three times and left messages for you to call me, that I needed to speak to you, and that it was important, vitally important.”

  “I didn’t get those messages.”

  “That doesn’t mean I didn’t call. You can check my phone records if you don’t believe me.”

  “When exactly did you call?”

  “Your dad’s funeral was the twenty-sixth of February. I called the end of April when I had the results of the blood tests confirming I was pregnant.” She leaned forward and pointed her finger, stabbing the air. “And Rob called around the same time when I didn’t hear back from you.”

  April. Going back roughly two and a half years now. Marshall Security had a smaller staff then. There’d been a receptionist that was fired sometime in the May—or was it June?—for being incompetent. Plus, she’d tried to date all of the guys working for Lance, including me.

  A sickening feeling developed in the pit of my stomach.

  “Sophie, I swear, I didn’t get those messages. I can tell you Lance Marshall fired the receptionist who was employed at that time for incompetence.”

  “I believe you, Deke.” She shrugged, her expression mirroring the sadness in her voice. “I always had trouble associating the man I knew to the one who couldn’t be bothered returning my calls. We know each other. Know the kind of people we are. So, yes, I believe you. Just like I hope you believe me when I say I made those calls.” She lifted her chin in a small measure of defiance.

  I had no reason to doubt her. Not only was she offering up her phone records, but like Sophie said, I did know her to be a person of character.

  Thinking back, I could remember instances where a couple of the girlfriends of Lance’s men had complained of hassles with the receptionist. It was one of the reasons the men were happy when Lance showed her the door.

  “Jesus, Soph, I’m sorry. I wish I’d known sooner. I can only apologize for that fucked up situation.” I sat there, shaking my head. One deluded bitch could wreak so much damage. I clenched my fist and imagined smashing it through a wall, the shattering pain in my knuckles as bone hit a hard surface a welcome release.

  The caveman existed in all men, and I was no different. Meting out and enduring physical pain was a cathartic experience in some ways.

  “Well, okay.” Sophie rose from her chair and held her hands together in front of her like she’d just concluded a meeting with her accountant.

  Oh, no, sweetheart. That’s not how we were playing this out.

  “Do you have a spare room set up?” I remembered the house had four bedrooms.

  “Of course, why?”

  “Good. I’d prefer a bed to the sofa.”

  Sophie blinked, as if I was talking in a foreign language. “I don’t understand.”

  “Let me spell it out for you. There’s a crazy nut job stalking you, and I’m not a fan of that happening. Also, I’ve just found out I have a son who I want to get to know and protect.” I stood and glanced at my watch. “I’ll need a couple of hours to sort some jobs out at the house, and then I’ll bring my stuff over.”

  “No,” she said in a whisper, before shaking her head vigorously. “No!” This time she shouted her dislike.

  Noah looked up from his toy deliberations and drew his brows together in a frown. “Mommy, yes!”

  “See, Noah thinks it’s a good idea.” I ignored her clenched mouth and looked to our son. “Right, buddy?”

  Noah smashed a fist through his newest skyscraper creation. “Right, buddy.”

  I took that as a ringing endorsement of my plan.

  “Deke you can’t stay here.”

  “Sophie, either you let me stay here or I’m going to ring Lance Marshall and have my buddies come and put you and Noah in protective custody.”

  I would have laughed at the way her mouth dropped at my ultimatum if I hadn’t been serious.

  “You can’t just do that.”

  “Wanna bet?” I stepped closer, forcing her to retreat until the back of her legs hit the seat of the chair behind her. “You’d be surprised what a private security firm with close links to many government agencies can achieve. Especially when some of those agencies can’t be found in any government directory.”

  Sophie dropped her gaze to the floor and sighed, which I took as a sign of her compliance with my plan. The fact was her permission wasn’t essential to me protecting her. Whether she stayed by my side of her own free will or in handcuffs, I didn’t mind either way. In fact, there were times when I preferred to have a pretty lady in cuffs.

  But for now, I’d leave that discussion with Sophie for another time.

  “See you in a little while, buddy.”

  “See ya.” Noah waved before turning back to his toys.

  I walked toward the front door, but turned before I reached the foyer. “Oh, Sophie?”

  “Yes?” she snapped with more than a little hint of irritation.

  “Don’t try to run, babe. I’ll catch you and have you taken to a secure location.” I saw her quick intake of breath. Yep, she had been debating the pros and cons. “Promise me.” I ordered, holding her gaze.

  She didn’t look away. “I promise.”

  And that had to be enough for me to walk out of here and do what was necessary to ensure I could move in.

  Trust worked both ways.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Sophie

  “Sophie, step away from the window.”

  Deke’s voice came from the direction of the lounge chair behind me.

  “No window,” Noah said with way more authority than appropriate for a toddler.

  Life father, like son.

  I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Slowly. Using point five numbers for added measure.

&
nbsp; And still I wanted to kick Deke in the butt by the time I got to nine-point-five.

  I couldn’t walk past a damn window without Deke telling me not to linger and make myself a target for the stalker dude to view and get his cheap thrills.

  Deke had been giving me these warnings for the last three days.

  Three. Days.

  Noah, who thought it was fun to speak in a serious tone, had taken to this new game with great fervor, buoyed by his father who kept congratulating him for being such a “good little man”.

  Meanwhile, I was ready to grab a spotted handkerchief, toss in my Chanel No. 5 perfume along with a roll of chocolate chip cookie dough and run away for the next twenty-four hours.

  All my calls and mail were being screened by Deke. Let’s not even begin to discuss the utter humiliation I felt on behalf of our mailman, Phil, who today was forced to “assume the position” meaning face the wall with his hands pressed to the wall above shoulder height and legs spread shoulder width apart as Deke frisked him for any weapons or other such contraband. All this happened because Deke and some guy called Ryder he spoke to daily by phone had decided the stalker must be someone I know, since the crazy jerk had managed to leave the rat at a house located on a quiet street and go unnoticed. As for the postal worker, the poor man had been delivering mail to my family for sixteen years, but as far as Deke was concerned, he was potentially public enemy number one. Their interaction concluded with Deke warning Phil of the dangers of ‘fucking with what’s mine’ followed by me handing the man a tin of my home-made blueberry muffins as a token of my deep and everlasting apologies.

  Notwithstanding the fact my muffins are awesome, I was betting we wouldn’t be seeing Phil the mailman again anytime soon.

  I could give a lot of leeway for the way Deke filled out a pair of jeans and a snug t-shirt—a lot of leeway. The black ensemble he was wearing today ticked many boxes in my appreciation of the male physique.

  But I think I may be close to resembling a woman on the edge.

  “Soph, I’m not kidding.”

  Uh huh.

  “Neither am I, Deke.”

  He creased his brow. “What?”

  “I’m not kidding when I say you’re driving me freaking nuts.” Hands on hips and voice rising, I didn’t care that I was setting a bad example for Noah. Deke had been setting a bad example for Noah the last three days, too, and they were now exchanging high-fives on a regular basis.

  Deke’s sigh went nowhere toward improving my mood.

  “I get this has been a huge adjustment for you.”

  “No, Deke.” I moved forward to stand in front of him as he sat in my beige lounge chair and had managed to squish my gorgeous aqua and brown patterned throw cushions down into one corner of the chair. Of course, this was not the first time he’d abused my throw cushions. But since he considered them pests that somehow managed to breed and create more cushions overnight, he didn’t really give a damn. I made a sideways slicing motion with my hand. “I’m done.”

  “With what?”

  “Operation Overbearing.”

  As I finished speaking, there was a knock at the door. I didn’t bother going to greet whoever was there as this was Deke’s territory for the foreseeable future.

  Unless I killed him first.

  Rob, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt decorated with flecks of sawdust, had likely just finished work.

  “Thank God!” I rushed to give him a hug.

  “Hey, kiddo.” Rob squeezed me back before letting go. “How’s everything going?”

  “Take me with you.” I pleaded.

  Rob stared at me blankly a second before flicking his gaze to Deke. “Is everything okay?”

  “No,” I stated without preamble.

  Deke gave Rob an easy-going smile and shook his head. “It’s fine. Sophie’s adjusting to having close quarters protection. Thanks for coming over.”

  “I’m going nuts.” I gripped my brother’s hand. “Either take me with you or take Deke.”

  Rob’s gaze flashed to Deke and back to me. From his assessing gaze, clearly he was weighing up the options of physically taking on the giant-sized former SEAL against the benefits of continuing to breathe unassisted by machinery.

  “I’m not going anywhere and neither is Sophie,” Deke stated, under the delusion he spoke for both of us. “But thanks for agreeing to have Noah for the night.”

  Wasting no time ignoring me and thus not having to answer my earlier plea, Rob looked to Deke. “No problem.” He smiled over at Noah. “You ready for your sleepover, kiddo?”

  “Sleep over!” Noah was already on his feet and walking to the front door.

  “What?” My gaze switched between the men, who clearly had hatched some plan earlier this afternoon.

  “Noah and I packed his bag.” Deke reached behind one of the side tables and lifted up the cute blue and white sports bag decorated in little soccer balls that Mom and Dad had bought for Noah last winter. “He’s ready to go.”

  “Bye.” Noah started waving madly to the room at large like he was the star attraction at a political fundraiser.

  “Hang on a minute. I haven’t agreed to this.” I swung my gaze between the men and back to my son.

  “He’ll be fine, sweetheart.” Rob gave me a quick hug.

  Noah loved having sleepovers at his Uncle Rob’s house. It was me who fretted and called, sometimes every couple of hours to check on him until Rob threatened to take the phone off the hook.

  “Kisses.” Noah kissed his palm and threw his arm out in our direction, repeating the act a number of times. Then before I even had a chance to bundle him up in my arms and kiss him properly, he walked out the door.

  “Gotta go.” Rob did a craptastic job of smothering his laughter as he picked up Noah’s bag and closed the door behind him.

  I spun around to face Deke. “How dare you! That’s my baby you handed over.”

  Even with his beard I could tell Deke’s lips twitched despite what I guessed were his best efforts to maintain a straight face. “Noah’s spending the night with his beloved Uncle Rob and family, not signing up to join the French Foreign Legion.”

  “That’s not the point.”

  Deke sighed. “Rob’s already warned me how this will go. He’s agreed to two phone calls, two hours apart. Any more than that and Noah gets unsettled.”

  Dammit, they had a point.

  “Okay,” I agreed rather ungraciously. But I was curious. “Did Noah ask for a sleepover?”

  “I may have planted the seed. He was all for our plans.”

  Worry lodged heavy in my chest. “Are you getting bored with his company?” I rushed to explain at the way his expression tightened. “Because I get having a child around 24/7 is a huge adjustment for anyone not used to kids.”

  “I’m going to say this once, only, Sophie.” Deke gripped my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Having the chance to get to know my son has been amazing. I used to think of my life in terms of before I joined the SEALs and after I became part of the teams. Now I think in terms of before and after Noah came into my life.”

  I stared at Deke for several moments, blinking against the burning sensation at the back of my eyes. Dammit, when did it become so hard to swallow?

  “That’s wonderful, Deke.” I cleared my throat against the sudden onset of gruffness.

  “You don’t have to worry about my plans for Noah, Sophie.”

  “You’re plans?”

  Deke stroked his thumb over my chin. “He’ll always be a huge part of my life.”

  “I’m glad for that.” If not also a tad ridiculously jealous.

  “You only have one thing to worry about.”

  Wariness covered me like a cloak, tightening around me. “What’s that?”

  He leaned close and spoke in a deeply masculine voice. “My plans for you.”

  I had a moment for my pulse to skip, before I found myself thrown over his shoulder.

  “Deke,” I cried,
gripping the back of his t-shirt as he turned and headed up the stairs. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Giving you a lesson in close-quarters protection, baby.” He swatted my bottom. My shriek of outrage blended with his deep laughter as heat bloomed over my left butt cheek. “Pay attention, I take no prisoners, except maybe pretty subs.”

  Deke headed up the stairs two at a time while I gripped his shirt and hung on for dear life.

  Call me crazy, but I had a feeling I was in store for way more than a personal pat-down.

  And the prospect of that coming true was absolutely thrilling.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Deke

  With a hand pushed firmly on the backside of the sweet feminine bundle slung over my shoulder, I strode into the guest bedroom I’d been allocated with its queen sized bed. Not as luxurious as a king, but I didn’t plan for either of us to need extra space. We’d be touching each other in a variety of different ways and positions, the more intimate the better.

  Before that could happen, I had a lesson plan to deliver.

  Earlier, I’d turned down the bed so that only the fitted bottom sheet remained. The rest was lumped on a chair to the side.

  A quick check over the materials I’d laid out on the bed earlier confirmed I had everything needed for my hands-on method of tutoring.

  “Sophie, I’m excited about our plans for tonight.”

  “Bite me.”

  “That’s on the list, baby. But let’s not jump the gun.”

  I chuckled at her kittenish growl. The sight of a pissed off woman being tamed to the point her fiery temper converted into sensual passion was unbelievably hot.

  Coming to stand at the end of the bed, I slid Sophie from my shoulder onto the bedsheet and followed to kneel beside her on the bed. I’d noted her hair was in a ponytail tied at the base of her neck, making my plans for her easier to carry out.

  It took a nearly a minute but I soon had her stripped of her clothing and her gorgeous naked body on show. The benefits of being an expert in hand-to-hand combat training—lethal or otherwise—was always a bonus.

  Flipping her over to lie face down, I pulled her arms behind her back.