SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (34 page)

  
I finished my cone and looked around for some napkins. Dylan
noticed my searching gaze and he rose immediately. “You sit down,” he said.
“I’ll get the napkins.”

“They’re right over
there,” I pointed out. “I can reach for them.”

“No, don’t strain
yourself, I can do it.”

  
It was his tone more than anything that got to me. I hated feeling
as though I was handicapped in some way and I was starting to get the feeling
that he knew I was pregnant and he was just waiting to back me into a corner.

“What on earth is wrong
with you?” I demanded. “Why are you treating me like I’m going to break?”

  
Dylan took a deep breath and I knew what he was going to say
before he said it. “I know Maddie,” he said and his aura of calm fell away.

My heart was beating fast
but I kept my face clear of emotion. “You know what?”

“I know you’re pregnant,”
Dylan said. “And I know you’re far enough along that …”

“That what?” I demanded.

“That the baby could be
mine,” he said at last. “Is it?”

  
I just stared at him, trying to remember all the reasons I was
doing this in the first place.

Chapter
Thirty-Five

Dylan

“Lizzie?” I said again
when she didn’t say anything.

  
Her face was impassive at first and then slowly I saw the worry
flit through her eyes before she composed herself. She looked me straight in
the eyes. “The baby is not yours,” she said.

  
I blinked at her a couple of times and tried to understand the
words she was saying, but it just didn’t make sense. I had been so sure; I had
been so confident that she would tell me the exact opposite. I was feeling so
many things in that moment that I could barely hold on.

“You’re sure?”

  
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Lizzie said abruptly as
she got up and walked out of the parlor. I ran out after her but she kept
walking without waiting for me to catch up.

“Lizzie!” I called out
after her. “Come back here … please. I need to talk to you.”

  
She whirled around to face me and her expression was fierce and
flushed. “I don’t want to talk,” she said passionately. “I really, really don’t
want to talk.”

  
I was about to insist a little harder but she looked so tired and
so … alone somehow. It was as though she was carrying the weight of the world
on her shoulders and she just needed a moment of rest. Curiosity burned
fiercely inside me but I knew I couldn’t push her if she didn’t want to open up
to me. I also knew that I couldn’t leave her here, not now.

“Ok,” I sighed. “Ok, we
don’t need to talk; let’s go somewhere.”

She seemed taken back by
that. “Where?”

  
“How about … the football field where I used to play in high
school?” I suggested. “I haven’t been there in over a decade.”

  
I thought for a moment that she was going to turn me down but then
she nodded once. “All right,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  
We walked back to my bike and rode there. I helped her off, put
away the helmets, and then we walked onto the outskirts of the field where the
track was. I wanted to reach out and take her hand but I knew from the set of
her spine that she wasn’t ready for that kind of contact yet.

  
I tried to start up a conversation, but every question on my lips
was directed at her pregnancy and her plans for the future. I knew if I pushed
it she would just leave and I would worse off than when I started the
conversation. So I mustered every ounce of patience I possessed and I tried to
think of a safe topic to broach.

“I’m officially out of
the Navy,” I told her casually.

She gave me a small, distracted
smile. “Your mother must be over the moon.”

“Oh she is,” I nodded. “I
know it may be hard to believe, but I’m pretty glad myself.”

“Of course,” Lizzie
nodded easily. “Now you have the time to focus on the rehab center.”

  
She said it as though it were inevitable and the way she said made
me believe that it was. She had always had the ability to make me feel as
though I could accomplish anything. Ironically, she had been the reason I had
felt like I could get through the Navy training process. As strenuous and as
hard as it was, it had been Lizzie’s voice in my head that had spurred me
forward.

  
“I suppose,” I nodded. “I’m thinking of selling the land that dad
left me so that I can invest in an appropriate piece of property.”

“Where are you looking to
invest in?” Lizzie asked.

  
I hesitated. “I don’t know,” I replied. “Maybe Bastrop, maybe
somewhere else … I haven’t decided anything yet.”

  
She nodded and I couldn’t help but glance at her every few seconds.
She was wearing light blue jeans and a white, billowy blouse that set a nice
contrast against her silky red hair. She certainly didn’t look pregnant. She
just looked beautiful.

“Have you been playing
the keyboard much?” I asked.

  
“Quite a bit actually,” Lizzie nodded. “I’ve actually started
writing some music too. I’ve just been feeling inspired lately I guess.”

“That’s great,” I said.
“I’m glad you’re getting back into music.”

“Thank you for the
keyboard,” she said softly. “It’s the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever got
me.”

“It was my pleasure,” I
told her honestly. “Truly.”

  
She gave me a shy smile and I felt my body yearn for hers. I
wanted to reach out and touch her, I wanted to pull her to me and kiss her. Her
pregnancy didn’t even factor into it. I still desired her in the same way; I
still loved her the same way. Even if the child wasn’t mine, it was still hers
and that meant something to me.

“How are things at the
bar?” I asked trying to keep the conversation going.

“I quit yesterday,” Lizzie
replied.

“You quit?” I asked in
surprise. “Why?”

“There was another fight
last night,” Lizzie started.

“Was it Paul?” I asked
before she could continue.

  
“No, no,” she said hurriedly. “He’s stayed away from me ever since
he got hit with the restraining order. I haven’t had any trouble from him in
the last few months. It was just a random fight between a bunch of drunk guys. Anyway
I tried to break it up and I ended up getting pushed into a table. I’m ok,
nothing happened, but it made me realize that I needed to protect my child. And
working in a bar is not exactly a conducive environment for a pregnant woman.”

  
I registered the warmth in her voice when she spoke of her child.
It was strange to think that she was really going to have a baby and it was
even stranger to think that that baby was not mine. I stopped walking and
Lizzie turned to look at me.

“What’s wrong?” she
asked.

“I’m sorry … I’m trying
to be sensitive but … I just have to know …”

“What do you want to
know?” Lizzie asked calmly.

  
“Are you still with the baby’s father?” I asked and the words
tasted bitter coming out of my mouth. I hated the idea of Lizzie with another man;
it rankled further knowing she had created a life with this stranger.

  
“No,” Lizzie said. “He was a guy who was passing through town. You
had just left and I was lonely; we spent a couple of nights together and then
he left town. And a few months later, I found out I was pregnant.”

“Did you tell him?”

“Yes,” Lizzie nodded. “He’s
not going to be involved in the baby’s life, which is fine by me.”

“You’re really ok with
that?”

  
“Yes I am,” Lizzie replied and I could tell that she was telling
the truth. “I know I haven’t done many of the things I wanted to do when I was
younger, but maybe I just wasn’t meant for those kinds of adventures. Maybe
this was always the adventure I was meant for.”

“You’ll make an amazing
mother,” I said softly.

She smiled and her blue
eyes lit up at the compliment. “You really think so?”

“I know so,” I nodded
fervently.

  
I could feel our bodies leaning in towards each other
instinctively and evidently she sensed the same thing, because she pulled back
abruptly and cleared her throat. “I should get home,” she said. “I’m a little
tired and I need to rest.”

  
“Can I come with you?” I asked. She looked at me questioningly and
I realized I couldn’t pretend any longer. “I’m not ready to say goodbye to you
just yet.”

  
She nodded and we headed back to her apartment. Her cat greeted us
at the door and he seemed to recognize me from the last time. I scratched him
behind the ears as Lizzie went and got his dinner ready. Afterwards she joined
me on the couch but she made sure to sit on the opposite end so that we were
nowhere near close to touching one another.

  
We just sat there, staring at one another, waiting for the other
one to say something and break the pregnant silence. I could feel the
atmosphere change and in that moment everything became clear to me. I had been
chasing all the wrong things this whole time. The one thing, the only thing
that mattered was Lizzie. And the moment my mind had made that one irrevocable
truth, my path forward was clear.

  
I leaned in, grabbed Lizzie around the waist and I pulled her
towards me until she was practically sitting on my lap. She struggled against
me slightly but I held her firmly in place. “Dylan …” she said warningly.

“I want to spend the
night with you,” I said cutting her off. “I want to stay with you.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Elizabeth

  
He looked so beautiful, so masculine and sensual sitting there on
my couch that it was impossible for me not to want him. I sat as far away from
him as I could manage, but it didn’t seem to matter. The air was cut with
daggers of passion and I could sense his desire for me as powerfully as I could
sense my desire for him.

  
I knew he was hurting from what I had told him before and it hurt
me to give voice to the lie but I knew this was the only way I could protect
him. He had given up so much of his life, he had been fighting for so long that
he deserved this respite from life. I didn’t want him to be saddled with a wife
and child he wasn’t ready for.

  
I remembered that conversation we had had the day we had walked
through the cemetery to see his father. He had told me then that he needed more
time before he married and had children. He needed time to breathe and think so
that he didn’t carry all the baggage of the last decade into those new
relationships. How could I know all that and still tell him? I knew I couldn’t.

  
He was watching me intently and I noticed his eyes flit to my
belly from time to time. Then, all of a sudden he reached out and grabbed me by
the waist and pulled me towards him until we were pressed together on my sofa.
I pushed against him half-heartedly, loving the feel of him against me and hating
how much I wanted to stay there.

“Dylan …”

“I want to spend the
night with you,” he said abruptly, taking me by surprise. “I want to stay with
you.”

  
I froze for a second. “That’s not a good idea, Dylan,” I said
breathlessly as I pushed myself off of him to my feet.

“Why not?” he asked as he
mimicked my action and rose from the sofa too.

I looked at him in shock.
“Have you forgotten that I’m carrying another man’s child?”

“I haven’t forgotten,”
Dylan said calmly. “I just don’t care.”

“You … don’t care?” I
repeated incredulously.

  
I felt tears crowded out my voice and I stumbled over my own
words. I didn’t know what he wanted from me. Was he asking for a roll in the
hay before he left forever and pursued his dreams? Was he asking for a
relationship despite my condition? Was he just playing some cruel joke on me? I
didn’t know and for the first time in my pregnancy I felt my hormones charge
through my body, removing all composure from my faculties.