SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (41 page)

She looked down at the floor. “Hi,” she
said. I looked at Kimber.

“Your friend?”

“Oh, yeah! This is Nona. She’s in first
grade.”

“Wow. Hi, Nona.” That was a hard name to
pronounce, but the little girl didn’t seem to notice. She peeked up at me
through her hair and smiled.

I looked back at Kimber and she said, “Can
I see your owie?”

“I’m not sure you can handle it, little
girl.”

She giggled. “I can handle it, mister!”

“Are you gonna scream?”

“No!”

“Cry for your mama?”

“No.”

“Okay, but remember you promised no
screaming.” I slid off my ball cap and just as I knew she would, she said,

“Ew! Gross! Does it hurt?”

“Not so much anymore.”

“Can I touch it?”

I laughed and put the hat back on my head.
“No. Where’s Mom?”

“In the kitchen. Can I have a ride?”

“Of course.” I rolled the two of us into
the kitchen, and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw who the surprise
guest was.

“Mama, Uncle Kyle is here!” Kimber jumped
off my lap as I stared at Amber in shock – and maybe a little bit of lust. My
sweet little niece “whispered” the way five year olds do and said, “I didn’t
say nuthin’ about the way he talks, either.”

I laughed, Amber looked like she was
trying to hold it in, and Sarah gave Kimber a stern look. “Why do you have
chocolate all over you right before dinner?”

I reluctantly took my eyes off of Amber.
Damn. she looks hot in a pair of jeans
.
I looked at my niece and saw her little eyes filling with tears. “I gave it to
her,” I said.

Sarah looked at me and her eyes fell to
the chocolate all over the front of my clean shirt. “Aye! What am I going to do
with the two of you?” She took Kimber’s hand and led her out of the kitchen. I
looked back up at Amber. She was smiling.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“You look like you didn’t know I was
coming.”

“My sister,” I said with a shrug.

She laughed. “I’m sorry. I picked my niece
up from school today and ran into her and Kimber. She invited us.”

“Good,” I said. I didn’t want to try and
say too much. Between the impediment and the goddess in blue jeans, I wasn’t
sure I could manage much more than that.

Sarah came back way too soon and tossed
one of Michael’s shirts at me. “Go change,” she snapped. “And, stop covering
for her when she does things she’s not supposed to,” she yelled after me. Fat
chance that was ever going to happen. I changed my shirt and when I got back,
they were putting things on the table. Michael was already in his spot and the
two little ones sat at Kimber’s small table next to the big one. Sarah had
moved out one of the chairs and I parked there. Of course, she put Amber next
to me. I wasn’t complaining, but sometimes I just had to shake my head at the
not so subtle way my sister has of doing things.

“Michael, say Grace please.” Michael bowed
his head and reached for Sarah and Amber’s hands. I took my sister’s hand on
one side and Amber’s on the other. “Take off the hat, Kyle.”

Shit!
My sister is a pain in my ass
. “I’d rather not.”

“Kyle
John Cloud!” She was using her stern mother voice. I’m not afraid of her, but I
didn’t

want to bicker in front of Amber. I took
it off and felt the cool air of the room waft across the bald spot on the side
of my head. It was mortifying, to say the least. That was until I felt the
gentle squeeze of Amber’s soft hand in mine. I looked at her from the corner of
my eye and she winked at me. I felt that simple wink all the way down to my
core, and even as my brother-in-law thanked God for the food we were about to
eat, I was having carnal thoughts about the woman sitting next to me.

“So, Amber,” Sarah said as we began
passing things around. “How long have you lived in Dallas?”

“My whole life,” she said. I passed the
potatoes to her and our fingers brushed as she took them. I wanted to brush my
fingers over a lot more of her skin. “My folks have a ranch just out near
Seagoville. That’s where I grew up.”

“Oh, how nice,” Sarah said. “Do you have
any siblings?” I handed her the meat and gave her an apologetic look. She
smiled, and my heart sped up.

“I have three sisters,” she said. “They’re
all older than me.”

“Oh, you’re the baby like Kyle.” I shot
Sarah a look, but she just smiled at me and said, “Kyle loves to ride horses,
don’t you Kyle?” That time Michael gave her a look, too…she ignored him the
same as she did me.

“Yeah,” I said. I took a bite of my bread
and hoped she wouldn’t ask me a stupid question while my mouth was full.

“Do you ride, Amber?”

“Yes. Not as much as I used to. Between
work and…life, I don’t have a lot of free time.”

“You’re so young, you should be out having
fun every chance you get,” Sarah said as if she were forty years old herself.
“Have you ever been married, Amber?”

I dropped my fork. “Sarah.”

Amber laughed. “It’s okay. No, I’ve never
been married.”

“I’m just trying to get to know her,
Kyle.”

I rolled my eyes and gave Amber another
apologetic look. I was surprised when I felt her touch my hand lightly. I
looked at her, and she mouthed, “It’s really okay.”

I mouthed, “Thank you” – or something that
hopefully looked like that.

Sarah did most of the talking through the
meal. She told Amber how she and Michael met and talked about our dad and his
job in the oil fields. After dinner, Amber tried to help her do the dishes, but
Sarah insisted poor Michael help her and pushed me and Amber into the den.

When we were alone, I said, “I’m really
sorry about her.”

“I think she’s cute. She’s just trying to
help out her little brother.”

I shook my head. “She hasn’t noticed that
I’m not so little anymore.”

She was still smiling. She went over to
the mantle and picked up a picture of me and Sarah that was taken when we were
small on the Reservation where our grandparents lived in Oklahoma. “Is this
you?” she asked.

“Yeah, me and the pushy one in there.”

“So cute,” she said. “Where is this at?”

It took me three tries, but I finally
said, “The Cherokee Nation Reservation in Oklahoma.”

I was rewarded with her pretty smile. I
thought I might just stand on my head for that. “You’re doing so well with your
speech,” she said.

“I like to talk,” I told her. “Not as much
as my sister, though.”

She laughed, and then I saw her look at
the clock. “I should get going. Nona has school tomorrow, and her mother will
be by to pick her up soon.”

“You didn’t have dessert.”

“Maybe another time,” she said, putting
her hand on that gorgeous, flat stomach. “I’m so full…and skipping a dessert or
two isn’t going to hurt me a bit. I’ve been trying to shed my winter coat.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Smiling, she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t
mean that to sound like I was fishing for a compliment.”

“You should be. You’re gorgeous.” She gave
me a long, piercing look, like she was trying to figure out if I was being
serious or not. I couldn’t believe that she didn’t know how drop-dead gorgeous
she was.

“Thank you, Kyle,” she said after a long
pause. “I’m going to get Nona and say good night to Sarah and Michael.” She
started to pass me, and then she stopped and bent down and kissed me on the
cheek. “Have a good night.”

“You, too.” I knew exactly what kind of
night I was going to have: it was going to be a sexually frustrated one. That
tiny little brush of her lips had turned my insides into hot liquid and sent
the blood all racing down south.

CHAPTER
SIX

AMBER

Dylan didn’t come home until the following
Monday. I was okay with that because I’d decided that I was going to end things
with him. I’d talked to Marlene about it the night she picked Nona up and the
next day when I saw Kyle again in the clinic, I knew that I had to do it. It
wasn’t that I thought I had any chance of a relationship with Kyle, but the
attraction I was feeling towards him really brought home that Dylan wasn’t the
man I was meant to be with.

Dylan got home just as I was getting home
from work. As soon as I stepped out of the car, he grabbed me and started
putting his hands all over me and trying to kiss me. He smelled like horses,
whiskey, and stale smoke. It made my stomach turn.

I pulled away from him and he said, “Jeez,
nice welcome home.”

“I’m sorry, but I haven’t even gone inside
yet. Give me a minute, okay?”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. How about some
help unloading the truck?”

I wanted to say no. He spends my money to
go gallivanting around the country instead of getting a real job and then acts
like it’s a real job. I didn’t want to piss him off before we had our talk,
though, so I started pulling his tack out of the back end while he put the
horse away. By the time we finished, I needed a shower.

“I’m going to shower and then I’ll make
dinner,” I told him. He was already at the refrigerator getting a beer. He gave
me a backwards nod as I went into the bathroom. Thinking about how grabby he
was when he got home, I locked the door. I’d just stepped in when I heard him
fumbling with the knob.

“What the fuck, Amber? Why is the door
locked? I’ve seen your fat ass naked before.”

My stomach clenched in knots. “I’ll be out
in a few minutes,” I tried.

“No…fucking let me in.”

“No, Dylan. Let me take my shower in
peace.” That was when he started banging on the door.
Shit
. “Knock it off! I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Why don’t you want me to see you?”

“Jesus, Dylan, I don’t want to have this
conversation through the door.”

“Then open it.”

“No.”

“Open it or I’ll kick the fucking thing
down. Who do you think you’re saving that ass for? You should be grateful I
still want to fuck you.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as
the warm water cascaded down across my neck and shoulders.
God, I’m so tired of living like this
. I hoped if I ignored him he
would go away…and for a few minutes, it seemed to be working. I hurried through
the rest of my shower, and just as I stepped out and reached for the towel
flying pieces of wood came crashing in on top of me. The house was old and
Dylan didn’t do anything to keep it up. The door splintered when he kicked it
and pieces of it rained down on top of me. One of them knocked me off balance
and I slipped on the wet floor, striking my forehead on the vanity as I went
down.

I must have blacked out because when I
woke up, I was lying in bed with a washcloth on my forehead. I was dried off
and under the covers, but I was still naked. The room had gotten dark since I
came home and I was disoriented. I panicked a little bit, not knowing how long
I slept.

I pushed myself up to a sitting position
and looked around. Dylan was in the chair next to the window, asleep. I lowered
my feet to the floor and tried to ignore the pain and the nausea as I stood up.
As soon as I was on my feet, the room began to spin and I had to sit back down.
My stomach was rolling with acid and I felt like I was going to throw up.
Shit
. “Dylan!” He groaned, but he didn’t
open his eyes. I was really going to be sick. I got back to my feet. I was
still dizzy, but not as bad. I used the furniture to hold onto as I made my way
into the bathroom. It looked like he cleaned it up after putting me to bed. The
only evidence of what happened earlier was the dangling hinges where the door
used to be.
Asshole
.

I took a towel down and kneeled in front
of the toilet. I hadn’t eaten since lunch time, so my stomach was empty and I
sat there and dry heaved for what seemed like hours. When I finally thought I
was finished, my whole body was shaking and I didn’t feel like there was any
way I’d be able to stand and walk back to the bed. Instead, I curled up on the
towel and went to sleep.

*******

“Amber…Amber wake up.” Dylan had his hand
on my shoulder, and he still stunk. I didn’t want to open my eyes. My head was
pounding and my whole body hurt from the retching – the last thing I wanted to
see was his face. “Amber.”

“Leave me alone!”

“I’m not going to leave you on the
bathroom floor.”

“All of a sudden you’re filled with
compassion?”

“I’m sorry, baby. You know I didn’t mean
to hurt you.”

I opened my eyes then. The son of a bitch
smiled at me. “Fuck you, Dylan. I want you out of here, today.”

His smile turned into a smirk. “This house
belongs to my parents. I’m not going anywhere.”