SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (53 page)

I nodded. I could see how excited he was
about it and I didn’t want to take that away. “I know, and if you really want
to do this, we can figure it out.”

He grinned. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” The waiter came back to
take our orders. I was happy to see that Dylan hadn’t poured any more champagne
as we sat and talked.

“Dad’s talking about building another
house on his property,” he said.

“Really? For the ranch hands?”

“Nope, for us.”

Dylan and I had lived in that piece of
shit house of his dad’s for five years now. He had only been over to our house
once in that entire time. He’d sat there for an hour making digs about how bad
the house looked, only he directed it all at me. It did look like shit because
the paint was peeling, the carpet was old, and the roof leaked…but none of that
had anything to do with me keeping house, although he acted like it did.

The bottom line was that his father was
kind of an asshole. He was an old cowboy who was never around when Dylan was
growing up and when he finally retired and came home, he wanted to be buddies
with him instead of a father. He holds the night I had Dylan arrested against
me and he thinks I “nagged” Dylan into going into rehab. He drinks like a fish
and sees no harm in his son doing the same. As far as I knew, he was not happy
about us getting married. I wondered why he suddenly wanted to build us a
house. Dylan must have seen the skepticism on my face because he said, “He
knows how much I want this to work. He only wants to help.” I forced another
smile and took another drink of my champagne.

“It’s nice, really.” I was determined not
to let myself slip back into the pattern of finding fault with everything Dylan
said or did. He really was trying. “I’m going to use the ladies room before our
food comes.”

“Okay, baby.” He stood up when I did and
kissed me before I left. I tasted the champagne on his lips and felt that
tickle of anxiety again. It had moved to my belly. I made my way to the front
of the restaurant where the bathrooms were. There was a young woman washing her
hands when I walked in. She had on this gorgeous black dress. I’d seen one like
it not long ago and thought about buying it for myself. Now that I saw it on
her, I wished that I had.

“Your dress is gorgeous,” I said. She
looked up at me in the mirror with a smile. As soon as she saw me something
else crossed her face. I wasn’t sure what it was but she said,

“Thanks…is your name Amber?”

Surprised because I didn’t recognize her
at all, I said, “Yes, do I know you?”

“No, you were my boyfriend’s therapist. I
saw your name in his phone…”

“Who is your boyfriend?”

“Kyle Cloud.” My heart fell into my
stomach so hard that it practically knocked the wind out of me. I’d done so well
confining my memories of Kyle to my dreams late at night.

“Oh…” I squeaked out.
Breathe, Amber
. “Yes, I was. How is Kyle?”

“Amber, woman to woman, was there more
between you than therapy?”

My throat was parched. “Why would you ask
me that?”

“Because he won’t discuss therapy – at
all. His doctor asked him just today after he told Kyle the tumor was gone-”

“Wait a minute, the tumor came back?”

“It was growing, but he did radiation and
he’s fine.” She sounded annoyed with my interruption and she went on. “The
doctor asked him about therapy and Kyle kind of brushed him off. I asked him
and he brushed me off. He does that anytime anyone brings it up. I saw some of
the old texts you sent him in his phone, he never deleted them. I saw that you
were texting you were sorry and worried about him…and I saw the way he looked
at you when you walked in tonight. Is there something I should know?”

My brain grabbed on to “the way he looked
at you” and held it and caressed it for a few seconds before the rational part
took over and I said,

“Why don’t you ask Kyle?”

“We haven’t been dating that long. I don’t
want him to think I’m all jealous and clingy…”

Yet
she reads his text messages and confronts me in the bathroom
,
I thought. “Kyle and I went out a couple of times when I was split up with my
boyfriend. I got back together with my boyfriend months ago and I haven’t seen
Kyle since. That’s really all there was…is to it.”

“You broke up with him?”
Did I?
I’ve never really been sure. I
almost believed if he would have asked me to stay with him and forget Dylan
that last time we talked, I would have.

“It was mutual. If you’ll excuse me, my
fiancé is waiting.” I stepped into the stall and locked it. Then, I pressed my
back into the door and stood there trying to get my breathing back under
control. I had no idea what it was about Kyle…simply the mention of his name
turned my insides to jelly. I’ve poured all of myself into my relationship with
Dylan and most days, I don’t even think of Kyle anymore. But he must still live
somewhere in my subconscious because almost every time I close my eyes and
drift off to sleep, he’s there. The dreams aren’t always good. Sometimes, I
re-lived the times we were together and other times my brain took me back to
the time I saw him in the hospital…only instead of arranging therapy, I’m
saying good bye. Sometimes I woke up short of breath and had to remind myself
it was only a bad dream. Then, I would snuggle into Dylan and push Kyle back
into my subconscious where he belonged. Knowing he was here in the flesh,
though, was an entirely different story. It took me another ten minutes to get
it together enough to walk out of the ladies room. As soon as I did, I came
face to face with the object of both my nightmares…and my dreams.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE

KYLE

“Hi, Amber.” She looked at me like she was
seeing a ghost as she walked out of the restroom. Her face was pale, and I felt
kind of bad for startling her. I guess I might even come off like a stalker,
but I just had to talk to her for a second. I’d seen her go into the restroom
while Callie was gone and as soon as Callie came back I told her I had to use
the restroom. There’s a little alcove here so she couldn’t see us, but I’m
pretty sure she knew I came over to talk to Amber.

“Kyle… How…how are you?”

I smiled at her.
God, she’s so pretty it makes my insides hurt
. “I’m good. How are
you?”

She smiled, but it looked forced. I had to
wonder if that meant she was happy to see me or not. “Good, really good. I’ve
missed you at the clinic lately, though.”

I shrugged. “I’ve been doing really well…”

She raised an eyebrow. “That’s not exactly
the story your girlfriend told.”

“My girlfriend?”

“Yeah, the girl in the pretty black
dress.”

“Callie? You talked to her?” I suddenly
had an even bigger knot in my stomach. How did Callie even know who Amber was?

Amber smiled again and said, “That’s what
women do in the bathroom.” Her face and tone turned serious then as she said,
“She said the tumor came back. Are you okay?”

“The tissue they left was growing. I had
some radiation, no big deal. They zapped it.” I tried to play it off like it
was nothing. She looked worried about me, though, and I found a kind of sick
satisfaction in that.

“Radiation is a huge big deal,” she said.
“Are you finished with it?”

“Yep, two weeks ago. I got my clean bill
of health today. The MRI shows that it’s dead now, so no chance of it growing
any bigger. That’s what Callie and I are celebrating.”

“Oh, good! Congratulations.” She looked
genuinely happy and relieved. Again, there was that sick satisfaction.

I’d mentioned celebrating and I’d seen the
ring on her finger that was causing me to fight off the nausea, so I bit the
bullet and said, “What are you and…Dylan, is it, celebrating?”

“Um, Dylan and I got engaged.”
Is she not happy about the engagement…or
just not happy telling me about it?

“Oh…congratulations.” That didn’t sound at
all sincere.

“Thank you. I wish you all the best,
Kyle…and if you need us at the clinic, I don’t want anything that happened
between us to hold you back.”

“What happened between you?” Dylan was
suddenly standing behind me and that question sounded threatening. She looked
at him with shock, but when I turned around, his eyes weren’t on her, they were
on me – and they had murder in them.

“Nothing, Dylan, please don’t do this.
Let’s go back to our table…” I could hear the tremor in her voice. She was
afraid of this guy and that pisses me off.

“Like you should have done after you went
to the bathroom? I’ve been sitting there for twenty minutes now waiting for you
to come back. Who is this, Amber? Is this the guy?”
“The” guy? Did she tell him about me?

“I’m just a patient…” I tried for her
sake. Dylan wasn’t buying it, though.

“Shut the fuck up! I asked Amber.” I felt
my blood begin to boil and I clenched my fists at my sides to keep from socking
him in the mouth.

“Dylan!”

“Is this the guy you fucked while I was
trying to get sober?”
Oh my God, she did
tell him
.

“Hey, this isn’t the time or the place…” I
tried again. What I wanted to do was kick his ass. But that wouldn’t solve anything…would
it? Dylan apparently thought it would. He shoved me with both hands and I flew
back into the wall. Now, I really wished that I had thrown the first punch.
Amber screamed and tried to get to me as he grabbed her by her arm. He was
twisting it. I got to my feet and just as I threw a punch, he pushed her into
me. My fist connected with the side of his face…but barely. Suddenly, Amber and
I were both on the floor and there were people standing around looking at us. I
wanted to kick my own ass now.

“What’s going on?” Jean Paul pushed his
way to the front. “Kyle! Are you okay?” He turned on Dylan. His face was bright
red as he screamed at him, “Get out of my restaurant!”

“Wait a fucking minute-”

“Get out or I’ll call the police.” Amber
was struggling to her feet. She put her hand out to help me up, but there was
no freaking way I was taking it. I got to my feet on my own, albeit slightly
off-balance. There was chaos going on around us now and suddenly, Callie was at
my elbow.

“Are you okay?”

Before I could answer her, Dylan looked at
Jean Paul and said, “Fuck you,” then he looked at me and said, “And you too,
freak!” Grabbing Amber roughly by the arm he said, “Come on.”

“Amber, you don’t have to go with him.”
Dylan was instantly in my face and Jean Paul was on his phone calling 911.

“Where she goes in none of your fucking
business, back off!”

“Amber…” She wouldn’t even look at me, but
Dylan did. He let go of her and shoved me again. This time I stayed on my feet
and shoved him back. She grabbed his arm.

“Stop it!” she looked at me then finally,
accusingly. “Both of you stop! Come on, Dylan…” She didn’t look at me, but
Dylan did. I got a smug, self-satisfied smirk. Everyone in the restaurant watched
them go. Callie asked me again if I was okay and so did Jean Paul. I just
wanted to get the hell out of there.

“I’m fine. I’m sorry, Jean Paul.”

“No! You have nothing to be sorry for.
That man is never allowed in here again. I’m so sorry for your troubles, Kyle.
Let me comp you two a nice dinner and champagne.”

“I just want to go home, but thank you.” I
looked at Callie then. “I’m sorry.”

She had tears in her eyes, and I felt bad
for embarrassing her. I wondered if she was ashamed of me for not really fighting
back. Besides being a little off-kilter still, I’m not really a fight in public
kind of guy. I guess I’m a little slow because after all of that analyzing, it
didn’t even dawn on me until we got into the car that embarrassment wasn’t the
emotion she was struggling with. She started the car and then turned it off and
turned in her seat to look at me. “Are you in love with her?”

Shit!
Am I in love with her? “
I’m not sure” would probably not be
the answer my current girlfriend was looking for, so I played dumb instead.
“What? Who? Amber?”

“Yes, Amber, of course Amber. Was there
another woman you snuck off in the middle of our date to talk to and then
fought with her fiancé over?” Her words were dripping with sarcasm.
Wow…completely clueless, that’s what I am
.
She had tears flowing down her cheeks now.
Shit.
I’m an ass. I honestly never meant to hurt her.

“Jesus, Callie, I’m sorry, really…” she
started the car again. “Callie, please look at me. I shouldn’t have gone to
talk to her, that was so wrong and the worst part of it is that I didn’t even
realize it until just now. Please believe that it didn’t have anything to do
with you-”

“Of course, it didn’t have anything to do
with me. It was all about Amber. While I was left wondering what the hell
happened to my date, two men were fighting over the green eyed princess…”