Safe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #5)(78)

“We need a test!” I jump up out of the chair and pat my body down. “Where’s my wallet?”

“In your pocket,” she replies dryly.

“I’ll be back!” I race out of the house and drive the short distance between Dom’s estate and the nearest village. After I find a drug store and buy one of each kind of pregnancy test they have, I race back to my hopefully pregnant wife.

“That was fast,” she murmurs with a grin. She’s still sitting in the lounge chair, sipping her coffee.

“Should you be drinking coffee?” I ask.

“Let’s not get crazy,” she responds. “I need coffee.”

“I got one of each kind,” I announce and upend the bag, sending small white and blue boxes scattering.

“Uh, Caleb, we only need one.”

“What if we can’t figure them out?” I ask and pick one up to examine it. “All of the instructions are in Italian.”

She laughs hysterically and then stands, wiping her eyes.

“It’s not funny.”

“Yes, it is. Pregnancy tests are pretty universal, Caleb. You pee on it and a line either appears or it doesn’t.” She rubs my arm sweetly and kisses my shoulder before plucking the box out of my fingers. “I’ll be back.”

“I’m coming with you.” I begin to follow her but she turns quickly with her hand out to stop me.

“Oh no, you aren’t. You are not going to watch me pee on this stick.”

I scowl down at her and cross my arms over my chest. “I’ve helped you bathe and dress and every other damn thing when you were hurt. I can handle watching you pee.”

“Absolutely not.” She shakes her head but then leans in and kisses my chin. “But thank you for helping me when I was hurt.”

She turns and runs for the bathroom and it feels like an eternity before she comes back out, white stick in hand.

“Well?” I ask.

“It takes about three minutes, babe.” She sits in the lounge chair and stares out over the vineyard. “Are you sure about this whole having another baby thing?”

I lean down and pick her up, sit in her chair and settle her on my lap.

“I want more babies,” I whisper and kiss her cheek.

“Okay,” she whispers back and smiles shyly. God, she can destroy me with just a look. I’ve faced horrors that no man or woman should have to see and faced them without qualms, but this woman and her two daughters bring me to my knees.

“I love you, Legs.”

“I love you, too, sailor.” She grins and kisses me, wraps her arms around my neck and turns her body until she’s straddling my lap.

“Hold up. Check the stick,” I interrupt before we’re both naked and sweaty and the stick is a distant memory.

She glances down. “It’s not ready yet.”

“Go pee on another one,” I instruct her. “This one is taking too long.”

“I don’t have to pee anymore!” She laughs. “You pee on one! They say we’re pregnant, so it should work just fine.”


“Smart ass,” I mutter and pull her face to mine so I can kiss the f*ck out of her. God, she’s so amazing.

Finally, she pulls back and offers me a lazy smile.

“Look again,” I whisper and lean my forehead against hers.

“Its positive, babe.”

My heart stops as I gaze into her deep chocolate eyes.

We’re having a baby.

“Really?” I ask.

She nods as tears gather in her eyes.

“Oh, baby,” I sigh and gather her to me, rocking us back and forth and clinging to her. “Thank you.”

“You’re such a good daddy,” she murmurs.

I grin and tip her chin back so I can see her face.

“I’m so honored to be your husband, my love. To be the father of our kids. When I left the Navy, I thought I was losing everything that mattered to me, but now I know that it was leading me to you. I wouldn’t change anything. I love you.”

She grins and pulls my face down to hers, presses her body closer to mine and nuzzles my nose. “I love you too.”




The End





The With Me In Seattle series continues with book six, TIED WITH ME, Matt and Nic’s story, in the spring of 2014.





A note from the author:



Every book I write is personal to me on some level, but Caleb and Brynna’s story is one that I hold dear to my heart. My own husband is a soldier in the Army National Guard, and has deployed to Iraq twice, each for one-year deployments. I know what it is to live with a war veteran who lives with and fights the inner battles he brings home with him. Many, many brave men and women return home from war with internal scars that we can’t see. PTSD is a wound these proud men and women may struggle with for many years to come, often to a debilitating degree.

According to statistics, more soldiers lost their lives by suicide (averaging one every day) than on the battlefield in 2012. This statistic is heartbreaking.

Our men and women in uniform fight battles we can’t or won’t to keep us safe in our homes. They know what they sign up for when they take their oath to protect our country, and they do so willingly and bravely.