SEAL Baby Daddy

by Claire Adams

  SEAL Baby Daddy

  Claire Adams

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 Claire Adams

  Contents

  Free Book

  1. Harper

  2. Ace

  3. Harper

  4. Ace

  5. Harper

  6. Ace

  7. Harper

  8. Ace

  9. Harper

  10. Ace

  11. Harper

  12. Ace

  13. Harper

  14. Ace

  15. Harper

  16. Ace

  17. Harper

  18. Ace

  19. Harper

  20. Ace

  21. Harper

  22. Ace

  23. Harper

  24. Ace

  25. Harper

  26. Ace

  27. Harper

  28. Ace

  29. Harper

  30. Ace

  31. Harper

  32. Ace

  33. Harper

  34. Ace

  35. Harper

  36. Ace

  37. Harper

  38. Ace

  39. Harper

  Epilogue

  Thank You

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  1

  Harper

  To say that my morning had been hectic didn’t even begin to cover it.

  Things had been different ever since Ava arrived. Where once I could spend twenty minutes fixing my hair and makeup and getting dressed, plus maybe grabbing a quick breakfast if I had time, I now had to plan on at least an hour to get out of the house. I not only had to dress myself, but I had to get Ava, my squirmy three-year-old, into clothes. No breakfast wasn’t an option anymore; I had to feed something to my daughter. And usually, my hair had to be done at least twice since Ava was still in that hair-pulling phase that I’d hoped she’d grow out of.

  It was exhausting. But she was my whole world, and no matter how much work having a daughter was, I was happy with my life.

  There were some mornings I really wished there were someone else to pick up the slack. It was hard to juggle a career and a toddler, but I was managing.

  “Do you want to come in for some coffee?” Maisie asked as I dropped Ava off with her.

  I laughed and shook my head, tucking a stray strand of curly, dark hair behind my ear. “No, don’t have time for that today. Sorry!”

  Maisie gave me a sympathetic look. “Lots of work today?” she asked.

  “Just a meeting with my editor,” I told her. “I’ll be back to pick up Ava right afterward, like we talked about.” I had an interview that afternoon as well, but Maisie couldn’t watch Ava for the whole day. It was enough that I didn’t have to bring her into the office with me. At least the interview would be outdoors, and she could run around and entertain herself. I was always worried about bringing her into the office with me; I could just imagine her deciding to color on the expensive furniture or something like that.

  I glanced at my watch. “Shoot, if I don’t hurry, I’m going to be late! I’ll see you later, okay?”

  “Don’t worry about us,” Maisie said, balancing Ava on her hip, bouncing her lightly to keep her calm. “We’ll see you later.”

  “Bye, baby girl! I’ll see you later!” I gave Ava a quick kiss on the cheek and then rushed down the stairs. I was tempted to take a taxi to the newspaper office, but I knew there wasn’t enough money left in the budget this month for it. If I pushed it, I could make it on time to my meeting anyway.

  I hoped.

  I could take the T, too, but I knew that a couple of the stations were closed due to station updates, and I didn’t want to mess around with walking the blocks in between the closed stations. It would take me in a circuitous route anyway. Best to take the quickest route possible, even if it meant ducking in and out of pedestrians on their way to see all Boston had to offer during the summertime.

  I still didn’t know why my editor had asked me to come into the office that morning. I’d gone freelance a couple of years earlier to make it easier on me while I was raising Ava. It meant that I could usually count on working with the same companies, but I had the flexibility to pick which articles and how many I worked on rather than feeling like I had to pick up certain pieces. It gave me the flexibility to pick my hours, even though I ended up working most days, both trying to keep my editor happy and in an attempt to make enough money to pay the bills.

  And also just because I liked the work that I did. I was lucky to have found the perfect career for me.

  As a freelance contributor, usually I scheduled my days in the office, and they were few and far between. I filed most of my stories remotely, and things were going fine.

  I had to wonder if the paper was downsizing and they’d decided to cut my articles from here on out. But it wasn’t as though I was under contract with them. They weren’t firing me either way. If they were downsizing, they could just let me know that over the phone. Maybe they were just being polite.

  I shrugged. I wouldn’t know what they wanted until I got there. And as I glanced at my watch again, I began to have serious doubts about my ability to get to this meeting on time. I gave a cursory look each direction and barreled into the street, darting around other pedestrians.

  It was one of those things that I never understood: if you were moseying along with your friend, why did you have to spread out across the whole pedestrian crossing? If other people were moving faster than you, it was only polite to give them some space to cross. Instead, it felt like I was playing some weird game as I dodged left and right to pass each new group.

  A girl in front of me changed direction at the last minute, turning left, and as I swerved to avoid her, I slammed headlong into another person. His body was hard and muscular, and given his height in comparison with mine, it was obvious who won that battle.

  I stumbled backward, and his quick hand on my arm was the only thing that steadied me. I blinked up at him, still shocked by the whole thing.

  And then, I had to stare.

  Those beautiful gray eyes. I thought that I would never see them again, not after…

  I swallowed hard. Ace grinned down at me, just like he had four years ago. As though he had all the secrets of the universe and he was just indulging me.

  Still shocked, I stumbled back into yet another pedestrian, who swore at me. But I only had eyes for the first man. He was strong, clearly military but dressed in civilian clothes at the moment. His dark hair was cropped close to his head, and his gray eyes were laughing. His features were chiseled; there wasn’t a speck of fat on his whole body. I couldn’t see most of his tattoos, hidden as they were beneath the cotton, long-sleeved shirt that he was wearing. But I knew it was Ace. There was no doubt in my mind.

  And he recognized me as well. “Fancy running into you here,” he said, smirking at me. As though I were the one who didn’t belong there.

  I still couldn’t seem to find the words to respond. Finally, I shook my head, laughing incredulously. Fancy running into him here indeed. But where he was clearly amused, I couldn’t help wondering what I had done to piss the universe off.

  Not that Ace was a bad guy. He was
a great guy, in fact. One of the better guys I’d ever met. Oh, he was afraid of commitment and came with a whole host of other problems, but he wasn’t a bad guy. He just wasn’t right for me. And given our complicated history, a history that he didn’t even really know about, he was the last guy that I wanted to see. Ever.

  Ace raised an eyebrow at me and then slipped an arm around my shoulders, steering me toward the sidewalk. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  To be honest, if he hadn’t been there, I was so shocked that I probably would have just gone right on standing in the middle of the street, even as the lights changed and cars whizzed by all around me. I had never understood that expression about someone being able to knock you over with a feather, but I definitely understood it now. The slightest breeze could push me off my feet.

  “Fine,” I finally managed. “Just fine.”

  He gave me a strange look and then shrugged. “All right,” he said easily. “I’d love to catch up with you, but I don’t really have the time right now. Why don’t you give me your number, though?” He said it matter-of-factly, like we were old high school friends or something. People who just hadn’t seen one another because they were at two different places in their lives.

  Which I supposed was true. We weren’t high school friends, but we were two people who had once maybe been more than acquaintances. Two people who hadn’t seen each other in three, almost four years.

  But he acted like it was totally natural to want my number, to want to catch up.

  It was the last thing I wanted to do, but when he held out his phone, I didn’t figure I had a choice. I would just have to ignore him if he called. When he called, because Ace always did honor his promises. It was that whole soldier lifestyle.

  I punched in my number all the while hoping I wouldn’t hear from him.

  “Are you free for lunch today?” Ace asked.

  “Probably not,” I said automatically. It wasn’t true; I didn’t know what I was doing for lunch, and my meeting with my editor shouldn’t last anywhere near that long. But I definitely didn’t want to see Ace for lunch. And I had to hope that if I delayed for long enough, he would leave town.

  He wasn’t from Boston, after all. I clung to that knowledge, to the idea that he must just be passing through. After all, he knew I was from here, and we hadn’t exactly left things on the best note. Surely, he wouldn’t have come here looking for me, right? Nor would he randomly have chosen Boston as a place to set down roots after his tour of duty was finished.

  What were the chances? One in a million. Or not really.

  I peered up at his face, noting all the similarities between his features and Ava’s. Or rather, between Ava’s features and her father’s. They had the same nose, and there was a similar shape to their eyes. Her hair might be more like mine, a curly brown mess, and her skin might be just a hair lighter than mine. But overall, she was her father’s daughter. Noticeably.

  If Ace stuck around in Boston, if we met up, if he came over to the tiny, cramped place that I shared with Ava, it was only a matter of time before he realized everything. Before he figured out all of my secrets. Secrets I had never planned on sharing with him, not when I knew his feelings on kids and commitment. The life I had with Ava, that wasn’t the sort of life that Ace Bradley wanted for himself.

  He had to be just passing through.

  “I have to go,” I blurted out, pushing past him, heading away down the asphalt toward the newspaper office. I didn’t think for a second that it would stop him. If he really wanted to have lunch with me, he’d have lunch with me.

  This was Ace Bradley, after all. I had always been a sucker for a guy with charisma.

  But hopefully, I could weasel out of lunch with him. Or maybe he’d forget he had ever run into me. Or maybe his phone would fall in the sewer as he made his way across the city.

  I prayed to whatever gods might be out there that I wouldn’t have to actually sit down and face him, not ever. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to do that. Not without telling him the truth.

  I couldn’t tell him the truth.

  I could only hope that he was just passing through.

  2

  Ace

  I dug my fingers into my pocket, looking for my keys. For a moment, my fingers slid across the cool metal of a shell, the one I always carried in my pocket. I smiled to myself, lost in memories. Then, my fingers caught on the sharp edges of my house key, and I was jolted back to the present.

  The apartment was nice enough, I supposed. In a good location. Easy walking distance to the T and the bus, plus easy enough to get to other places around the city. Stone, my roommate, was another former SEAL, and even though we hadn’t served on the same unit, he was good people. Or at least, we didn’t drive each other crazy. Although I’d only been in Boston for a few months, so it was hard to really tell.

  I grinned and shook my head. “Lots of time left to drive one another crazy,” I muttered under my breath. I was actually surprised at how well things had been going between the two of us: we both had our routines, and we were both pretty anal about them. It was routines that kept a man alive in the military. If you forgot one little detail, if the slightest thing was out of place, that could doom the whole mission.

  But our routines never seemed to clash. And living with someone else who was ex-military meant I knew his routines had a reason behind them. He wasn’t trying to be irritating.

  I pushed my key into the building’s front lock, finding my mind drifting back to thoughts about Harper. I still couldn’t believe I had run into her, even though I knew she lived in Boston. It might not be as big a city as New York or LA, but Boston was still big enough that a person could disappear there. Not that I’d been actively looking for Harper or anything.

  Oh, I’d wanted to see her, of course. She looked just as good now as she did all those years ago, too. Three years? Four years? To be honest, I didn’t really remember. Everything sort of blended together when you were out on active duty.

  I remembered a lot about Harper, though. Her dark hair was curlier now than it had been, and her body was just a bit curvier. In a good way. In fact, I was pretty sure she was even sexier now than she had been back then. Not that there had been anything wrong with her body or her personality before.

  I hadn’t slept with many people during my years of service, but there had been something about Harper that I’d just found myself drawn to from the moment I met her. She’d come over for about six months as an overseas journalist writing about the SEALs. We’d joked about her when we’d first learned that she was going to stay out there for that long. I don’t think anyone thought she was going to make it past the first week; our life over there was just too hard, and she was just some city kid from Boston.

  But she’d surprised me. She was tough, and she really wanted to be there. In the couple interviews that she did, she always asked these questions that you had to wonder how she came up with them. Things that really got into the details of our life over there, as though she somehow knew more about it than she should.

  We’d gotten close, and we’d ended up hooking up.

  Now, running into her back in Boston, all this time later, that was just awesome. I wanted to pick up where we’d left off. Our time together had been brief, and it had been interrupted at the worst possible moment. We’d had that one great night, and that was it.

  I was going to be in Boston for a while, though, and if she was still here, who knew what our relationship could evolve into.

  Then again, I was mostly thinking about the sex when I was thinking about her. I was thinking of that smooth, coffee-colored skin and those round hips of hers. Of that cute little birthmark on her thigh, of how she’d shivered when I’d kissed it. I was thinking of her riding me, pushing her wild, dark hair back as it fell into her face.

  I was thinking about sex, and that was probably just because I hadn’t had any in a very long time now.

  I sighed as I left the stairwell and let myself
into our apartment. They had me in mandatory group therapy, part of my reintegration process. I’d been overseas for a long time now. One of the things they’d told me was that I had to steer clear of giving in to baser needs while I came to grips with being back home. That meant not leaning too heavily on alcohol as a sleeping aid and not going out and fucking a bunch of random women just to feel normal and alive again.

  Besides, Harper hadn’t seemed too excited to see me. She’d definitely been reluctant to meet up with me again, even though she’d given me her number. I had to wonder whether something had changed in her life. Maybe she was married now. Or maybe she was still doing the overseas correspondence stuff and was gearing up for another long trip away.

  Or maybe she knew all the horror stories about ex-military guys trying to come back into normal society. Maybe she was afraid I was just another angry drunk—or worse.

  I grabbed an energy drink from the fridge and headed for the makeshift gym that Stone and I had set up. There were plenty of good gyms around the city, and even a few in our area, but we’d come to the conclusion that it was cheaper to just have our own setup. And it meant that on nights when we couldn’t sleep, we could do a few reps to wear ourselves out. It was one of those quirks that we both understood in the other: a perk of living with someone who was also a former SEAL.