Natalie didn’t realize how worried she’d been—despite Scott’s assurances—until that moment. She burst out crying.
Scott chuckled as he repositioned her on his lap—still naked—and bundled her in his arms.
When she had exhausted her tears of relief, she looked into his amused gaze and blinked back watery eyes. “You shouldn’t be laughing at me.”
He was unrepentant, and the look he shot her was a little smug. “You should have trusted me more. I told you it would be all right. Looks like you might be able to have that farm and cheese business after all.”
She smiled, biting her lip. Now probably wasn’t the time to tell him that she had some ideas about that. He hadn’t been the only one busy the past few weeks. She and Becky had come up with an idea on how to fend off the developers, and it involved Scott. Or rather, some of those millions he had put in trust when his father died. “Have you ever heard of land conservation?”
He looked momentarily confused by the non sequitur. But he caught on quickly enough. “A little, but why do I think I’m going to be hearing a lot about it, and that it’s going to cost me?”
She beamed. He was no dummy. “You never did get me a new watch. Maybe we can come up with some kind of deal.”
He waggled his brows, and she swatted him.Ouch. Blasted muscles!
“Not that kind of deal. I can’t believe you are trying to negotiate with sex.”
He sighed. “I have a feeling there is going to be very little negotiating involved. You already have thetake the ball and run with itlook.” He glanced down at the Yankees sweatshirt that was still on the ground. “Which reminds me. I need to get you a new shirt.”
Natalie just didn’t get the whole Red Sox–Yankees rivalry thing. It was just agame. “This one is just fine. Besides, it was Jennifer’s, and it reminds me of her.”
He swore, apparently realizing he was going to lose that one.
Suddenly the ramifications of what he’d said earlier came to her. “What about you and the team? If this stays buried does that mean you won’t be a SEAL anymore?”
She would blame herself forever if he had to stop doing what he loved.
“Not exactly. I’ve been offered a new position.”
“You have?”Thank God!“That’s wonderful.”
He looked at her uncertainly. “I hope you still think so when you hear it. The president figured that being dead is pretty much the best deep cover you can have, and she wants Retiarius to go completely black. I would be in charge of a new SEAL squad composed initially of the survivors and a few others handpicked by me, who will only be known by a handful of senior officers. We’ll report directly to the president.”
Even though he was trying to hide it, she could see right away that he wanted to do it. “It sounds like an incredible opportunity. Of course you are going to accept.”
He looked at her intently. “Are you sure? It’s going to make things more difficult for you here. You’ll have to lie—or at least not tell the complete truth—to a lot of people.”
She winced a little. “Can I tell Brock and Becky?”
He smiled at her expression and kissed her on her wrinkled nose. “We’ll talk about it.”
“What about Colt? Will he be a part of it?”
Scott shook his head. “Not right now. Colt is taking some time off to spend some time with Kate and the baby.”
“Did you say‘baby’?”
He grinned at her expression. “Yes, baby. Apparently Colt had the idea when they visited Travis’s girlfriend in the hospital. She planned to give the baby up for adoption, but Colt convinced her to do a private adoption. She liked the idea that one of Travis’s friends would be raising the baby and agreed.” She could tell that Scott liked the idea, too. Travis’s death had been hard on him. “They brought the baby home yesterday. I would have come yesterday, but I wanted to stick around and meet my new nephew.” Scott beamed, but then practically snickered. “You should see Colt with him. He’s ridiculous. I’ve never seen someone so nervous in my life. He didn’t want to put JR in the car to drive him home because he was worried some lunatic would crash into them.”
Natalie laughed along with him but didn’t have the heart to tell him that he’d probably be the same way. He’d figure it out soon enough. “JR? They named him after Colt?”
Scott shook his head. “James Robert. They named him after Travis.”
It took her a minute to put it together. “Jim Bob?”
Scott nodded. The shadow that passed over his face wasn’t quite as sad anymore. She suspected that knowing Travis’s son was now in the family forever helped.
“I’m looking forward to Kate and Colt meeting their niece in a few months,” she said.
