The Black Knights cut no corners when it came to security.
Following Ozzie over to the railing, he looked down to see Samantha, Ozzie’s wife, walking across the cement floor with two large pizza boxes and two gallons of ice cream balanced atop her ever-expanding belly.
“If there’s anything sexier than a woman bearing my child,” Ozzie said as an aside to Sam, “it’s a woman bearing my child who’s also bearing ice cream and pizza.”
Samantha, looking as cute as a hobbit with her head full of mink-brown ringlets, grinned up at her husband. “Your text said it might be a long night. Figured you could use the fuel!” she called.
“Woman, I love you more today than I did yesterday! And I’ll undoubtedly love you even more tomorrow!”
Samantha blew him a kiss and he pretended to catch it and eat it. Then he nudged Sam. “Go help her. She shouldn’t be carrying things in her condition.”
“What’s wrong with your arms?” Sam demanded.
“I need to go help your woman.” Ozzie hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward the computer station. “So it stands to reason, you should go help mine.”
“She’snotmy woman,” Sam insisted through a clenched jaw. “I don’t know why everyone keeps saying that.”
Ozzie’s words were, “It’s a mystery.” But the look on his face said it was anything but.
Feeling decidedly out of sorts, Sam stomped toward the stairs. He was down the steps before Samantha had climbed the first tread.
One look at his face had her chin jerking back. “Whoa. Why are you wearing a face like a smacked ass?”
“Because all the self-satisfied know-it-alls around here keep sticking their noses into my business.”
“I smell a story.” She tapped the side of her nose after she’d handed him the pizza boxes.
When he tried to fry off her eyebrows with his molten stare, grumbling, “Not you, too,” she rolled her eyes.
“Fine. I promise not to pry if you promise not to tell Ozzie I already downed a pint of Rocky Road on the ride here. He’s worried I’m getting too much sugar in my diet.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” he assured her, happy to know at leastoneperson at BKI would refrain from getting all up in his shit.
The pizza boxes were warm, and the smell of pepperoni had his mouth watering. A frozen rescue mission followed by a bath that highlighted his unmitigated horniness had combined with his perturbation at his teammates to leave him famished.
It’s been a helluva night.And something told him it was just getting started.
Before he could lug the pizza and ice cream upstairs, Samantha stopped him with a hand on his forearm. “There it is again.” Her eyes were huge with wonder.
“Therewhat isagain?” Apprehension made his tone harsh.
“The baby. She’s moving.”
Just a week before, Ozzie and Samantha had announced Samantha’s most recent sonogram revealed she was having a girl. The celebration at BKI that night had included pink cupcakes, strawberry cookies, and Hawaiian Punch—spiked with Ozzie’s favorite flavored rum, naturally.
“Here.” Samantha pulled on Sam’s arm and he was forced to one-hand the pizza boxes and ice cream so he could cup his palm around the little mound of her belly.
The awkwardness of touching another man’s wife was quickly replaced by awe when he felt a tiny ripple of movement against the tips of his fingers.
New life. Created by two people who think the other hung the damn moon.
It was so beautiful a lump formed in his throat.
But he was a big, macho man. He’d run through a field while mortarswhumpedat launch and hit the ground around him. He could use an Israeli bandage to stop critical battlefield blood loss. And he could clean and load both his primary and secondary weapons with his eyes closed.
He wasnotsupposed to get choked up by a pregnant woman’s belly.
Clearing his throat, he donned what he hoped passed as a smirk. “You sure that’s not gas?”
