A SEAL's Courage (Military Match #1)(60)
Tears flooded her eyes again, and she gave him a soft smile. “Yes.”
Relief flooded through him. He squeezed her so tight she squeaked, then let out a quiet laugh. Then he released her enough to meet her gaze again. “You should also know I want kids. And I think it’s time I got a dog.”
Unable to sleep one night, he’d found himself in his closet, staring at all those wooden statues. Then he’d found himself looking up websites on retired service dogs on his phone. The waiting list was long, more than a year, but he wanted one.
The warmth of her palm settled over his heart. “I’m okay with that.”
He brushed a kiss across her mouth, then released her and took her hand, sinking to the sofa. Lauren climbed in his lap, straddling his thighs, then wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. They sat that way for some time, neither one speaking. The rightness of the moment settled inside of him. For the first time since he’d come home, he felt at peace with himself, like he was finally beginning to stitch back together and that maybe, just maybe, morning had finally come, chasing away the darkness within.
Lauren was the first to move. She sat back on his knees and rolled her eyes. “I should probably tell you, Mandy figured out something was up at the party tonight. She noted the tension between us. When I refused to tell her anything, she said if we didn’t fix whatever had gone wrong, she’d lock us in a room together.”
He could only shake his head. He still wasn’t entirely comfortable with his baby sister knowing the details of his sex life. “I suppose that’s for the best. I’m going to have to tell her eventually that I’m marrying her best friend.”
She laid her head on his shoulder again, and for a few moments a comfortable silence settled between them. He ought to get up, take her to bed. It was late, after all, but he couldn’t force himself to move, to relinquish even this small intimacy with her.
“Trent?” Her voice came muffled from his throat.
“Yeah?”
“I’m not sorry, you know.” She leaned back again, sitting on his knees. Her gaze caught his for a brief moment, then dropped to his chest, her hand caressing the spot over his heart. “For that month I spent with you. I have no regrets. Even when I thought I’d lost you.”
He cupped her cheeks in his palms, letting his thumbs stroke her soft skin. He was a lucky man. “Me either. You made me feel whole again.”
Her gaze slid to his, eyes soft and glowing from within. She was happy, and his chest swelled at the sight. Finally. He’d done something to make her happy. He’d try to lasso the moon and the stars in order to keep that look on her face.
Determination lit in her eyes, and Lauren slid off his lap, holding out her hand. “Come on. Time for bed.”
He set his hand in hers and let her pull him to his feet, watching the sexy sway of her ass as she led him out of the living room and down the hallway. “To bed or to sleep?”
She shot a smile over her shoulder, but he didn’t miss the heat that flared in those gorgeous eyes. “That depends. How tired are you?”
His heart tripped over itself. He hadn’t slept in a week. He was exhausted, actually. Bone-dead tired.
Not that he’d tell her that.
He grinned and winked at her. “Not in the least.”
BEAUTIFUL, SASSY, AND DRIVEN, LAWYER STEPHANIE MASON STOPPED BELIEVING IN LOVE A LONG TIME AGO. SO WHEN HER MILITARY MATCH DATE ENDS UP BEING HER SEXY FORMER COLLEGE HOOK-UP, GABE DONOVAN, SHE DOES WHAT ANY INDEPENDENT, STRONG WOMAN WOULD: SHE PROPOSES A NO-STRINGS-ATTACHED FLING. BUT THIS FORMER SEAL IS DETERMINED TO CONVINCE STEPH THAT, SOMETIMES, LOVE IS BETTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
SEE THE NEXT PAGE FOR A PREVIEW OF
A SEAL’S HONOR.
Chapter One
Gabriel Donovan frowned at his reflection in the full-length mirror, then glanced down at his ten-year-old daughter, Charlotte. She stood in front of him, her gaze intent on her task of knotting his tie. “Why the hell am I doing this again?”
Char frowned her disapproval and darted a glance at him. “You owe the swear jar a dollar, Dad. And you’re doing this because you need a date. It’s time.”
With a heavy sigh, he stuffed a hand in his right front pocket, pulled out a dollar bill, and held it out to her. The jar was full already, and the money in there was mostly his. Some example he was setting.
Char stuffed the bill into the pocket of her jeans and resumed knotting his tie. He turned back to his reflection, frowning at the dress shirt and tie she’d insisted he wear. At least he’d won the jeans argument.
He let his shoulders slump. The whole evening set out before him exhausted him, and it hadn’t even started. “I am so not cut out for this. I miss your mother.”
Life with Julia had been simple. Reliable. She’d been a constant. He’d been cocky enough back in college to think he was good with women, but he hadn’t dated in…hell, before Char was born. He was so far out of practice he might as well be a gangly, uncertain teenager all over again.
Char looped one end of the tie over the other and tipped her head back to look up at him. “I miss her, too, Dad, but you promised you wouldn’t be sad forever.”
While her face remained stoic, her scowl set firm, he didn’t miss the worry and sadness that crept into her eyes. Julia’s death had been hard on them both but on Char most of all. His baby sister, Molly, was right. A little girl needed her mother. That was also partly why he was going on this date. They both could use a change.