SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (45 page)

I felt his body shake as he laughed at me.
He reached up and took my face in both of his hands again and then he held it
back and kissed me. He kissed my lips and my cheeks and my nose and forehead
and then he looked at me with his sexy eyes and he said, “No, you can stay
there all night if you want to.”

“I’d love to, but can I pee and text my
sister first?”

I felt him laugh harder this time. “You
have that kind of sister, too?”

I was embarrassed, but I knew Marlene
would worry and I hated that. “Kind of. I’m sorry, but I don’t want her to
worry.”

He kissed me again. “Don’t be sorry. The
bathroom is to the right and on your way back from getting your phone, would
you mind grabbing some water out of the fridge?”

“Not at all. I’ll be right back.”

“Hurry!”

I giggled like a schoolgirl as I got out
of his bed naked and went into the bathroom. I tried to do my business without
looking at my face in the mirror. I knew I had to be a mess. Sometimes Dylan
used to tell me I looked like the Swamp Thing after sex. I know he just said
things like that to be mean, but sometimes I couldn’t get them out of my head.

I ran into the living room and grabbed my
phone out of my purse, and then I grabbed Kyle’s water. I took it back to the
bedroom and handed him the water bottle as I began to text Marlene. I sent her
a quick one that just said,
“Safe. Fun.
Love you. Home in a.m.”
I started to sit it down on his nightstand when I
saw I had three missed calls and two text messages. I checked the text messages
first. One was from Dylan. It said,
“Where
the fuck are you?”
The next one was from Marlene and it said,
“Dylan is looking for you. Don’t come home
tonight.”
Shit!
I could see Kyle
watching me, but I had to listen to the messages. I didn’t want Dylan harassing
Marlene. Nona was there and she’d be scared to death…

The voicemails were all from Dylan. He
started out calm and telling me he just wanted to talk. In the second one, he
called me a bitch and told me to call him back. In the last one, he was
rambling and telling me he would burn my sister’s house down if I didn’t come
home now.

“Kyle, I have to go.” It was dark in the
room, but there was enough light through the windows that I could see the
confused look on his face. “I’m sorry. I’ had an amazing time. My sister needs
me.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she will be,” I said as I fished
around on the floor for my clothes. I was trying not to work myself up into a
panic.
Dylan wouldn’t burn down my
sister’s house with her daughter in there…would he? He’s never done anything
that violent, but he has been escalating lately
.

“Amber?” I couldn’t find my panties.

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem really
stressed all of a sudden.”

“I told you, my sister’s sick.” I fished
around underneath the bed…bingo!

“Do you want me to go with you in case you
need to take her to the hospital? I can stay with her daughter-”

“No, Kyle!” I snapped at him.
Great. Now he looks hurt, instead of
confused
. I leaned in and put my hand on the side of his face. “I’m sorry.
Everything will be okay. I just have to take care of this, okay?” I laid my
phone down on the bedside table as I pulled on my panties and shoes. Then I
went into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face and tried to
straighten out my hair. I heard the “Ding” of my text message sound and I
suddenly had a memory of where I left it. I rushed back into the room. Kyle
wasn’t touching the phone, but he was looking at it. I’d left it there…right
next to the bed.

“Who’s Dylan?”

I reached for the phone. I flinched as I
did because I half expected him to grab my sore wrist. When he didn’t, I was
reminded once again that he wasn’t Dylan. “He’s my ex-boyfriend,” I said.

“Oh. How long ago did you break up?”

“Kyle can we do this another time? I
really have to go.”
God, what a way to
end such a beautiful night.

“It’s kind of a simple question, Amber.”

“Last Monday night.”

“Wow… So, are you leaving to go meet him?”

“Jesus, no! I’m going to check on my
sister.” The chime went off on my phone again. I had it in my hand, but I
didn’t look down and I suddenly didn’t have to. It went off again and again and
again until I wanted to scream – and I knew only one idiot who would get drunk
enough to do that.

“He’s persistent,” Kyle said. “What is it
he wants this late at night?”

“I’m sorry, Kyle. It’s a long story. I
promise I will tell it to you…”

“Next time.”

“Yes.”

“But not this time because you have to
rush out and see your ex-boyfriend.”

“Kyle…” the phone went off again. “It’s
not that, I swear to you.”

“Then prove it to me, Amber. Let me see
the texts.”

The panic I felt inside of me told me that
getting Kyle involved at this stage of his recovery would do nothing but set
him back. I couldn’t take the risk that Dylan would hurt him. “No, I’m sorry
Kyle. I have to go.”

I rushed out with my shoes in my hand. I
didn’t look over my shoulder because I was afraid if I saw his face one more
time, I’d want to fall into his arms, be a damsel in distress, and ask him to
rescue me…but this was my problem, my mess, and I was the one that needed to
clean it up. Kyle’s not strong enough to deal with Dylan right now and even if
he were, I don’t want him fighting for me.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

KYLE

I sat and brooded for an hour after Amber
left. I wondered what she was doing. I felt sorry for myself. I felt angry, and
I tried telling myself that my feelings were unjust since this was our first
date and it wasn’t up to me who she sees and when. I told myself this jealousy
was residual from what Greg and Lisa had done to me and it wasn’t fair to put
that on Amber.

None of that helped.

I’d had the greatest night since…I can’t
remember when. That was not the way I expected it to end. I was thinking more
like cuddles in the early morning and breakfast.

I tried going back to sleep, but it wasn’t
working, so I finally got up and went into the kitchen to make some coffee. As
I rolled into the kitchen, my eyes went up to the cabinet where I keep the
coffee. I was suddenly pissed off all over again. She didn’t bother to think
about leaving me here where things weren’t up to accommodate half a man. I knew
it wasn’t not her fault, but I needed someone to blame. I pushed myself up to
the counter and used my arms to lift myself up. I stood on the toes of my good
leg and reached up with one arm to get the coffee out of the cabinet. I pulled
it open and the motion of the cabinet set me off balance. I fell into the chair
– which I had forgotten to lock. It rolled back and I fell and struck the back
of my head as I went down. The pain shot through me like a rocket and I think I
may have blacked out for a few seconds. When I regained my bearings I was lying
on the cold floor in nothing but my boxers and my head was throbbing. I reached
back and touched the spot that hit the floor. It was wet and my hand came back
covered in sticky, crimson blood.
Shit!

I sat up and waited until the room stopped
spinning before I pulled my chair close and put the brakes on. It took me a
couple of tries but ultimately I got up on one knee so that I could grab the
counter and pull myself up. Once I was on my feet, I reached back and struggled
to get the locked wheelchair pulled up behind me. In the meantime, I could feel
the warm blood flowing down my back. It seemed like there was a lot of it. I
rolled back to the bedroom and got my phone. It was four forty-five. Dad would
be up getting ready for work, but I hated the idea of asking him to take more
time off. Sarah would get up and come get me, but she would have a thousand
questions. I could call an ambulance, but I thought that would be over-reacting
a bit… Finally with a resigned sigh, I called the man I had sworn to never ask
for anything ever again: Greg.

“Dude, it’s like the middle of the night.
Are you okay?”

“Not really. I need a ride to the
hospital.”

“I’m on my way,” he said without asking
any questions. It made me feel a little bit like an ass for the way I felt
about him lately. “Are you at your dad’s?”

“No I’m at my loft.”

“In the Penny’s building?”

“How is it you know so much about my life
when we’ve barely spoken in years?” I was asking the guy for a favor so now
probably wasn’t the best time to question him, but what the hell?

“Sarah and I talk,” he said. “I’m on my
way.” He hung up and I shook my head at both him and my nosy sister. My head
hurt, like a mother fucker.

*******

“Okay,” the ER doctor said as he snapped
off his gloves. “All stitched up.”

“How bad is the bald spot?”

Before the doctor had a chance to say
anything, Greg said, “Which one?” I just had the staples taken out from the
surgery two weeks ago and my hair was only starting to grow back in that spot.
Now, I had another one.

“Shut up.”

“Sorry…
I meant to say, you remember Old Man Smith from down the street?”

I flipped him off. Old Man Smith lived in
our neighborhood when we were kids. He had literally three hairs on his head
that he combed every day. Greg laughed.

“You might want to think about not staying
alone until you get stronger,” the doctor told me. “You’re only six weeks out
from brain surgery. That’s serious stuff.”

“Yeah, I’ve been staying with my dad. I
just spent last night at my own place.”

“Okay, good. What have they got you on for
pain?”

“I was taking OxyContin for a couple of
weeks, but I haven’t taken them for over a month now.”

“Wow, tough guy, huh? Okay, I’ll prescribe
you some Vicodin to take as needed.” I probably wouldn’t take them. I hated
that doped up feeling pain meds gave me, but I didn’t argue with him. I was
tired now and I just wanted to go home.
 

“You know if we don’t call your sister
she’s going to be pissed when she sees those stitches?” Greg said when the
doctor had left the room.

He was right, but it was kind of pissing
me off that he was suddenly so close to my sister. “I’ve already got one
sister, Greg. You’ll have to apply to be someone else’s.”

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious. Should I call
her…or will you?”

“Fuck, hand me my phone.” He handed it to
me and the first thing I looked for was a missed text or call from Amber. There
was nothing. I pressed Sarah’s number and took a deep breath while I waited for
her to answer.

“Kyle?” she said in a sleepy voice.
“What’s wrong?”

“Sorry to wake you up-”

“I’m up,” she interrupted sounding
instantly more alert. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m fine. I had a little fall-”

“You fell? Where? Was Dad there?”

“Take a breath please, Sis. I was at the
loft; I stayed there last night-”

“What? You’re kidding, right? You’re not
strong enough to be on your own yet.”

“Sarah, if you’re not going to let me
talk, I may as well hang up now.”

“Fine…talk.”

“I had a date last night. I stayed at the
loft. I slipped and fell and banged my head on the floor. Greg came and took me
to the hospital.”

“Greg? You called Greg instead of me?”
Jesus Christ, this woman!

“I thought one was the next best thing to
the other since the two of you seem to talk all the time about everything…”

“Don’t be a smart mouth, Kyle. Who did you
have a date with?”

“Never mind. I’m gonna go now. The doctor
just came back in.”

“Wait…Kyle…”

“Bye, Sis!” I rolled my eyes, and Greg
grinned.
I think it’s time for another
ass beating…as soon as I can stand on my own two feet.

After the doctor really did come back and
the nurse had me sign all of the discharge papers Greg said, “Breakfast?” I
started to say no out of habit, but then I figured what the hell. I never got
to have my coffee.

“The Waffle House?”

“IHOP.”

“I’m the guy with the gash in his head.”

“I’m driving.”

“Fine, IHOP.” He grinned again. He
definitely needed an ass whooping.

When we got to the restaurant, we were
shown to a table and we ordered right away. The server was around our age and
really cute. Greg didn’t waste any time turning on his charms. After she left
he said, “So, who was the date with?”

“Why do you ask? So you can run and tell
my sister?”

He laughed. Every fucking thing was funny
to this guy. “Nah, she’s the one with all of the good information.”

“So tell me, how did that happen?”