“How’s Naomi?” I asked. I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that, but small talk had never been my forte. I’d always preferred getting straight to the point.
Link stopped typing and focused on me. “Good. Why?”
“Just curious. When’s the last time you talked to her?” It was a dangerous line of questioning, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to know.
“Last week. Why?”
Link was staring at me, waiting for an answer. He was a good man who didn’t deserve to be lied to, and I was desperate enough to tell the truth. Just not all of it. “You ever have a fucked-up dream that someone’s hurt, and it feels so real you just gotta check on them?”
In the service, we learned to trust our gut. Link had excellent instinct, and so did I. His eyes went wide. He snatched his cell phone from the top of his desk, punched something in, and held it to his ear. “Hey, Squirt, how you doin’?”
I could barely hear her voice on the other end of the phone, but Icouldhear it. My entire body relaxed, and I took my first deep breath in days. She was okay. For now. I thought about getting out of Link’s office before he could get off the phone, but his gaze kept me pinned in place.
“Everything’s good. I’m just checking on you since you haven’t called yet this week. Do you know when your next deployment is?” His brow furrowed. “Well, okay. Love you, too.” He hung up and cocked his head to the side, still studying me. “She’s fine. In one hell of a hurry to get off the phone, but fine. You want to tell me why you’re dreaming about my sister, Eagle?”
Fighting the urge to tell him everything, I swallowed. I was going to have to come clean with him soon, but I wanted to give Naomi the heads up, first. “She’s a good woman. I worry about her out there,” I replied, not denying shit, but not confirming it either.
His gaze bore into me. Link was a smart man, and he knew me well.
Thankfully, his office phone rang. He glanced at the display and looked torn, but finally gave me a chin lift, and then answered it.
I took it as a sign and got the hell out of there.
Hurrying upstairs, I opened my bedroom door and stepped inside to find Naomi perched on my bed, staring at her tablet. She looked so goddamn gorgeous, her brown eyes wide and her fair skin glowing like an angel in the light streaming in from the window above the bed. I could barely believe my eyes, but she was very much real. Nervous, fidgeting like I’d never seen her do before. Then she dropped the bomb that rocked my world.
“You’re… pregnant?” I asked, making sure I’d heard her correctly.
She went off about how she was sure it was mine while I struggled to make it to the bed before my legs gave out. I’d grown up in a small family, Mom, Dad, and my sister, Deena. Deena was five years older than me, and we were never close. I’d always wanted more siblings, but my parents barely got along well enough to live together. Sleeping in the same bed was out of the question. They were still married, but I was pretty sure their relationship was more about punishing each other than love.
Genie and I had talked about kids once. We both wanted a big family, full of love and laughter, nothing like the tense battlefield I’d grown up in. For years I’d believed the dream of a family died with Genie. Naomi’s declaration that she was pregnant with my child was unexpected, but not unwelcome.
“I’m having this baby.” She settled a hand on her belly. Protective, fierce, I could see the kind of mom she’d be, and it was sexy as hell. Our kid would be lucky to have Naomi. Our kid would have us both.
I was going to be a dad.
Holy shit!
She kept rambling. She didn’t know if I’d want to be involved?
“You must think I’m a real piece of shit,” I said.
That frustrated her. She continued to shock me by admitting she wanted me involved, with the kid and with her. My head was spinning, and I was struggling to keep up, but she accused me of pushing everyone away. Normally, that was accurate, but I’d never once pushed her. No, the last time we’d been together, I’d asked her to stay. I’d wanted her here with me.
She was the one who left.
Both times, in fact.
For the first time in a long time, I wanted to be with someone, andshekept leavingme. Probably karma for all the women I’d unceremoniously ejected from my room after sex.
“I can’t compete with a ghost. Especially not one that makes you feel guilty for being with me.”
She didn’t get it. There was no competition, and that’s what I felt guilty about. Naomi had even managed to take over my nightmares. She’d scrubbed my life free of Genie from day one, and it had felt so wrong.
But also, extremely right.
And now she was carrying my baby. I stared at her in awe and wonder, my gaze drifting down to her belly. Soon it would grow round, and she’d bring life into the world. Would it be a boy or a girl? Would our baby have Naomi’s big brown eyes? Her perfect nose? She kept talking, but I was having a difficult time focusing on her words while my mind kept conjuring up images of her holding my baby.
I wanted that.
