Arrogant Neighbor: A Navy SEAL Romance (13 page)

I
should have known
when I woke up and she wasn’t there that something was wrong. But I assumed she’d had some work to do or she’d gone out with a friend of hers. I didn’t have a monopoly on her time. She could come and go as she pleased. Just because the bed was cold without her and the apartment too silent, didn’t mean that I couldn’t live without her for a few hours.

But that also didn’t mean I had to like it.

I spent the day cleaning the place up, putting away dishes that needed putting away, tossing the laundry into the proper baskets, scrubbing the toilet so she wouldn’t think I was a complete slob. And then I found myself looking at hotels in San Francisco, thinking about our conversation the night before. It’d be nice to take a trip with her, see a little something new. I wondered how much time she could get off of work and how to ask without giving anything away.

It grew late and she didn’t come over. The building had impossibly thin walls and I didn’t hear anything in her apartment either. Not even the low din of the television. I finally went downstairs to check for her car, but it wasn’t in the parking lot.

Where the hell was she?

I told myself it wasn’t that big of a deal. She’d call me soon.

But she didn’t. She didn’t call. She didn’t stop by. She didn’t even come home as far as I could tell.

For a week.

First I was worried. Then I was mad. I grabbed on to the mad and held it tight, letting it grow into a small pit of fury. And then I drove down to her office at the publishing house.

A publishing house that was ironically owned by my family’s company.

There was no security guard there, just a friendly receptionist who was more than happy to answer any questions I had. She pointed the way to Sloane’s office, her eyes on me as I walked away.

Sloane was sitting behind her desk, staring out the window when I reached her door.

“So you aren’t lying in a hospital somewhere?”

She looked up, what little color there was in her cheeks disappearing as her eyes fell on me.

“Major,” she said, her voice little more than a hoarse whisper.

“Were you just not going to call me? Give me some sort of explanation for your absence?”

She got up and rounded her desk, gesturing for me to come inside. I refused to budge. Instead, I let my eyes move slowly over the tight little skirt she was wearing and the shirt that seemed a little too tight for her ample cleavage. A couple of buttons were threatening to pop and her breasts were spilling over the top of her bra. It was sexy, but not really appropriate for the office.

“You dress like that for someone particular?”

She glanced down at herself, a blush giving some color back to her pale cheeks. In lieu of answering, she crossed her arms over her chest to hide the bulge.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I just…I needed some time to think.”

“About what?”

“About you. About us.”

“Why? Everything was fine, and then I wake up and you’re gone.”

Her eyes fell to the floor, but before they did, I thought I caught a flash of something. Anger, maybe.

“Sloane? Did something happen?”

“Are you seeing someone else?”

I stared at her, but she wouldn’t look at me. She just continued to stare at the floor, or the tip of her shoes, I wasn’t sure which. But there was tension in her shoulders and the way her fingers bit into her arms, it was obvious she thought she knew something.

“Why would I do that?”

She shook her head. “We never talked about what this thing between us was. We never said anything about commitment.”

“But we never talked about seeing other people, either. I just sort of thought it was implied.”

“Which?”

I straightened a little from where I was leaning against the doorjamb, aware that there was a secretary behind me who was likely hanging on to every word we were saying.

“Sloane, I’m not seeing anyone else.”

“And you told me the truth about you, about your family?”

A few fingers of fear began to dance on my spine. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I was beginning to get a little sneak peek. And I didn’t like what I was seeing.

“Did you? Did you tell me everything about you?” I fired back.

“Of course,” she said, anger flashing in her eyes when she finally looked up.

I took a step toward her, and she backed up, her arms wrapping even tighter around her. It was an obvious “don’t touch me” statement, but I’d never really paid much attention to body language before. I took hold of her upper arms and pulled her against me.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

Tears were running down her cheeks, dripping onto her blouse as they rolled off the end of her chin.

“I won’t live my life like my mom. I won’t chase after some man who doesn’t want me, a man who lies and cheats.”

“And that’s what you think I am?”

She didn’t answer, but the way she was trying so hard not to look me in the eye spoke volumes.

I wanted to shove her up against the wall, wanted to shake her until a little common sense broke through this wall she’d put up between the two of us. I wanted to force her to tell me what the hell had happened and why she was acting that way. Instead, I let go of her arms and stepped back.

“I don’t know what’s going on and I don’t know why you’re acting this way. But I’m not your father, Sloane. I would never do to you what he did to your mother. And I know you know that.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know that.”

We just stood there for a long minute. I should have left. I should have left her to her misery, to this conviction she’d come to, let her think the worst of me. I’d let Anna do that. I could do it again. But when I thought of it, I got this ache in the center of my chest that I knew I couldn’t live with. I couldn’t just leave without showing her who I really was. I had to lay the whole truth out there and see what she would do with that.

“Will you come with me for a little bit?”

She looked up, wiping almost absently at the tears on her cheeks. “What?”

“I want to show you something. I don’t know if it would change anything, but I think it’s important for you to see it.”

“What?”

“I can’t explain it. You just have to see it.”

She nodded. “I can go with you later. But I have this book—”

“We need to go now.”

“But my job.”

“Your job will be waiting for you. I promise.”

I held out my hand and she still hesitated. But then she took it.

As we left the building, I had to fire off a barrage of text messages to get everything I had planned lined up in such short notice.

* * *

W
e drove
to the airport in my old truck. She sat as close to the passenger side door as she could get, her eyes glued on the outside world so that she wouldn’t have to accidentally look at me. I couldn’t believe I was doing what I was doing, but I knew I had no other choice.

She sat up a little straighter when we pulled right out onto the tarmac. A private jet sat fueled and ready to go on the edge of the runway, a pilot and a flight attendant standing by the steps like a couple of privates awaiting the arrival of their general. I’d forgotten what it was like to utilize the perks of being who I was. There was once a time when I took full advantage of things like private planes and limitless credit cards, but not anymore. This would be my first time on the jet since I was seventeen.

I stopped the truck and walked around to help Sloane from the passenger side, but she was already out and staring around her like a child seeing Disneyland for the first time.

“What is this?”

I just gestured for her to lead the way to the plane.

We boarded, and she was so awestruck that her mouth practically fell open and stayed that way for most of the flight. She was so busy looking around and staring out the window once we’d taken off that we didn’t talk. And that might have been for the better. I wasn’t sure what I had to say to her was appropriate at the moment.

“I don’t understand,” she said once we landed. “Where are we? And whose plane is this?”

“It belongs to my family.”

“Your family?”

“I wanted to tell you, but there never seems to be a good time to tell your girlfriend that you happen to be the black sheep of a family like the Waterstons.”

“So it’s true. You’re really a Waterston?”

I stepped in front of her and held out my hand. “Hi. I’m Major Rutherford Waterston.”

Her eyebrows rose, but she didn’t take my hand.

“Why are you telling me now?”

“Because it kind of explains this,” I said, gesturing toward the rather large helicopter that was sitting just on the other side of the tarmac.

Her eyes widened as she took it in, surprise etched in every line of her face. And then she seemed to wobble a little bit. I grabbed her arm and she moved close to me, taking strength from my nearness.

“That…what…where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

I slid my arm around her waist and led the way to the helicopter. As soon as we boarded, the pilot started the engines and all speech ceased to be possible. Sloane clung to my hand as we took off, her eyes glued to the window beside her head. When the Golden Gate Bridge came into view, she pressed her hand to her mouth.

I pulled her close so that my lips were against her ear. When I first suggested the ride, the pilot has said we should wear helmets and speak through a mic system provided through the helicopter’s radio. But I wanted it to be private. So I spoke directly into her ear and hoped she heard everything I had to say.

“I love you, Sloane,” I said, deciding that starting with the basics was the best way to go. “I think I fell in love with you when you accused me of keying your car. I just didn’t realize how deep my feelings went until you disappeared from my life, and I couldn’t function. I need you. I need you with me, I need you in my life even if it’s to accuse me of things I didn’t do.”

She laughed, tears running down her cheeks again.

“I love you,” I said again. “And whatever happened—”

“A girl called your phone. Called you Major Waterston and sounded like she knew so much more about you than I did.”

I groaned, feeling like an idiot for not having put it together sooner. “She’s just an old high school—”

Sloane pressed her fingers to my lips. “It doesn’t matter,” she said softly.

I took a small jeweler’s box out of my pocket and sat it on her knee. “I had it all planned out. The helicopter trip, a candle light dinner, a nice hotel suite…”

She looked away, her eyes moving to the bridge down below us.

“I said I wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge.”

“And I wanted to make it happen for you. I just wanted it to happen a few days sooner, but you ran away.”

She shook her head. “You’re too good to me.”

My heart sank a little. I was afraid that was her way of shooting me down. She picked up the box and ran her fingers over the outside of it, but she didn’t open it. She didn’t seem even the tiniest bit curious what the ring inside looked like.

“I have a secret, too.”

I almost didn’t hear her over the noise of the helicopter. I wished I hadn’t.

“Are you seeing someone else?”

She looked up, clearly startled at the suggestion. “Of course not. I’m just pregnant.”

Damn!

Why hadn’t I seen it? It was so obvious, me and my stupidity, forgetting the condom almost every time we were together. And she was so tired. She stopped drinking, she fell asleep at eight o’clock in the evening…I should have known.

But then, maybe I had, deep down. It just didn’t matter. I knew she was what I wanted. A pregnancy was just the icing on the cake.

“Then I guess we should pick a date soon… if you’ll have me.”

She stared at me a long moment. Then she threw her arms around me, laughing and crying all at the same time. We nearly lost the ring, but there weren’t many places for it to go after it rolled off her lap. In a matter of seconds, it was snug on her finger and she was in my arms. She wasn’t going anywhere.