Tempted by a SEAL (21 page)

Rocky watched the exchange between the two men, happy all he had to do was take orders because judging by this conversation, leaving the military and starting a company hadn’t been without its challenges for Jon.

Thom glanced sideways at Rocky. “Makes the Navy not seem all that bad, huh?”

Rocky laughed that Thom had been thinking the same thing he had. “You ain’t kidding.”

The glass door sliding open had Rocky’s attention shifting to the house just as Darci popped her head out. “The chili is hot on the stove so anytime you want some, just go grab it.”

“Thanks, Darci.” Rick turned back to the guys. “I figure I’ll throw the burgers and dogs on the grill during halftime. Brody and Chris should be here by then.”

“You sure Brody’s coming back?” Rocky asked. “It seems he finds Alabama irresistible now.”

“Well, there’s good reason for that.” Rick grinned. “Chris told me that Brody’s got himself a girlfriend down there.”

Rocky nodded. “Yeah, we heard. My question is how the hell did he get himself this girl all the way in Alabama? He was there for barely three days between us being in Turkey and Nigeria and then we had less than a week before they called us in again. When did he have the time?”

Rick lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “Those Cassidys work quick, but you can ask Brody yourself when he gets here.”

Rocky blew out a snort. “Yeah, like he’ll tell me. That guy doesn’t share shit.”

“No, but his brother Chris will.” Jon grinned.

Rocky raised his bottle to Jon in a salute. “Probably true.”

The distant sound of the doorbell ringing filtered out to the deck. Rick leaned forward in his chair and peered through the sliding glass door. “Who the hell could that be? Chris and Brody shouldn’t be back in town yet, and everybody else is here.”

Jon shrugged. “Maybe Darci invited somebody from work.”

“Or maybe Grant decided to come over. You said you invited him too, right?” Thom suggested.

“Yeah. Could be.” Rick hoisted his large frame from the chair and stood. “I guess we’ll soon find out.”

“Rick!” Darci’s shout came from inside the house. “Get in here. Now!”

“What the hell is wrong with her?” Rick drew his brows low as he moved to open the door.

Rocky watched Rick go into the house, curious but not enough to get him out of his chair. It seemed the other guys felt the same since Jon and Thom stayed put as well.

“What the hell?” That loud exclamation from Rick had them all standing at once.

Jon was first to clear the door. He stopped dead, blocking Thom and Rocky’s entry and their view.

“Holy shit. Whose is that?” At Jon’s question, Rocky couldn’t take it any longer.

He edged past the blockage and finally got a look at what all the cursing was about.

A car seat containing a baby sat in the center of the dining room table. And surrounding the table were three very unhappy looking women.

Darci crossed her arms. “That’s exactly what I’d like to know.”

“Zane’s maybe?” Rick lifted one shoulder. “He was a real dog before he got together with Missy.”

The usually lovely and perfectly composed Sierra Cox, who Rocky had never seen up close and personal before, didn’t look as if she was buying it.

“One problem with that theory. Zane doesn’t live here,” Sierra pointed out.

Darci nodded. “But you do, Rick.”

Uh oh.
It looked like Rick was in big trouble as both his girlfriend and his sister presented a united front against him.

Rick stood his ground and leveled a gaze at his girlfriend. “The problem with that is, before you, I lived like a monk so no. It’s not mine.”

Darci glanced at Sierra. “That is true. He like never dated. Ever.”

Rick scowled. “Thanks, sis. And might I remind you that you live here too? Maybe this is about you.”

Darci lifted a brow. “I think I’d know if I had a baby, Rick.”

“Not you. Chris.”

Rocky watched wide-eyed as Rick threw Chris Cassidy, Darci’s boyfriend, under the bus.
 

Darci visibly paled at her brother’s accusation. Meanwhile the baby, already squirming in the seat, began to wail. The noise only seemed to ramp up the tension in the room.

Rocky didn’t feel right standing by silently. If Chris’s friends and former teammates didn’t defend him, he would. “Hey, now. Let’s not make assumptions. Chris isn’t here to defend himself.”

No one made a move toward the baby and the screaming went on. It was probably way less than a minute but it felt like an eternity. A crying baby was one of those sounds that grated on the nerves pretty fast.

Finally, Jon’s girlfriend Ali stepped forward. “For goodness sake. If no one is going to pick up the poor child, I will.”

Instinct and training kicked in for Rocky. He took one step forward. “No!”

Almost simultaneously, Jon shouted, “Ali, don’t!”

Heart pounding, Rocky watched Ali release the buckle and slide her hands beneath the crying baby’s arms.

The whole scene seemed to move in slow motion.

Rick ran for Sierra and shoved her and Darci into the kitchen as Thom threw both forearms up to shield his own face as Ali lifted the baby from the car seat.

All of them had to be thinking the same thing. They’d all been in too many hellholes in the world where US forces would go to investigate a body or help a person, only to be blown to bits when they got close.

Seconds ticked by in the surreal way they do when adrenaline is pounding through the bloodstream during a crisis. But the explosion never came.

Ali frowned at Jon. “What’s wrong?”
 

“Get into the other room.” Jon shoved Ali and the baby toward the kitchen, where Rick had already pushed Sierra and Darci.

Jon bent low to investigate beneath the car seat on the table. Rocky stepped forward to join him.

Sad but true, the innocent-looking baby seat could be wired to explode. The fact they were standing in Rick’s dining room in Virginia in the good old United States didn’t matter. ISIS, aka Daesh, aka the Islamic State was there in America. That was a proven fact.

“What do you think?” Rocky asked Jon.

“Hell if I know.” Jon glanced up to Thom. “Get over here. You have kids. You’re the only one who knows what this thing is supposed to look like.”

Thom stepped forward and bent low too, the three of them squinting at a contraption that looked innocuous enough—to a person who hadn’t spent the last decade of their life searching for threats around every turn and under every rock.

Darci peered past Rick’s bulk as he blocked the women in the kitchen. “You guys are ridiculous.”

“Darci, be quiet and let us figure out what’s going on.”

“How about you read that note that fell out of the blanket when Ali picked up the baby? Maybe it will give you men folk a clue while us helpless women hide in the kitchen.” Darci’s comment about a note had Rocky tearing his gaze away from the seat.

He searched the area beneath the table. Sure enough a paper was resting on the carpet by Jon’s feet.

Jon saw it too and bent to pick it up. He lifted a brow and then glanced up. “Rocky?”

“Yeah?”

“It seems this delivery is for you.”

Rocky’s eyes flew wide. “What?”

Thom leaned closer to Jon to inspect the paper. “Yup. Says Rocky right there on it, plain as day. Dude, what have you been doing?”

“Nothing. I was deployed with you for six months and then on those last two missions for the past month.”

“And it takes nine months to make a baby, so . . .” Rick tipped his head to the side and let that idea dangle in the air as Rocky’s world tilted and spun.

Thom glanced at Ali, who’d finally quieted the baby and had come back to hover on the edge of the room. “And by the looks of that baby, she’s about three month’s old. So the question remains, what were you doing about a year ago?”

Rocky could barely remember this morning never mind what he was doing a year ago. Still, a feeling of doom settled in his stomach.

A baby? What the hell.

Click to get Wed to a SEAL

ABOUT CAT JOHNSON

Cat Johnson is a top 10
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TEMPTED BY A SEAL

Cat Johnson

Copyright © 2016 by CAT JOHNSON

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