A Little Harmless Military Romance Bundle (A Little Harmless Military Bundle) (20 page)

And his woman.

"Well, if she kicks you out, call my brother or sister. They'll put you up. Or that crazy Aiona family will take you in,” Mal said.

He gave them both a hug, and then walked into the airport.

An hour later, he was sitting in his seat when his phone vibrated again. She hadn't started calling until two weeks ago, and he had been worried that she had found out about his assignment—or the other information. But now he knew she didn't know. There was no way. Her brother wouldn’t have been able to find out, and he knew that Mitchell was her only other connection to the military these days. Still, he turned the phone off. It was too late to have second thoughts.

His new life and the woman he had always loved were in Hawaii. It was all he needed to think about.

He closed his eyes and counted the minutes until the plane took off.

* * * *

Sam was happy she had kept down half a bowl of broth finally. The last few weeks had been horrible. The only thing that had saved her this week was that the kids had been on spring break. Zoe had ordered her to rest, and for once, Sam had listened. It might have been that or the meds the doctor had given her, but Sam was finally feeling a bit better. Keeping a whole bowl of broth down was amazing. Her phone rang. Checking the screen, she saw it was Zoe.

“Hey.”

“Aw, you sound horrible. I was hoping you could meet us out.”

She pulled the phone out from her ear and looked at it. Being that it wasn’t a video call, Zoe couldn’t see her nasty look, so she set the phone against her ear.

“Really?”

“I hate that you’ve spent your entire spring break stuck at the condo.”

She snorted. “I think my days of dancing are over at least for the next eight months.”

There was a pause, and she could hear the loud music and the people talking in the background. This new Zoe was a little disconcerting. She’d been in full nurse mode for the last two weeks. There were times she really freaked Sam out.

“Still haven’t heard from him?”

She sighed. She should have known that Zoe would pick up on that. “Nope. I called three times today. Nothing. Last time went to voice mail. He wasn’t supposed to go on a mission, but you never know.”

And it might be weeks before he got back. That had panic tickling the back of her throat, but she took a drink of water to keep from choking on it.

“Okay, well, call if you need anything. We’ll both keep checking on you.”

She smiled. Her friends had turned into perfect mother hens. It might be bothering her that Zoe was being so pleasant, but it had been nice to have two people babying her.

“I will. I’m so tired. I think I might go to bed after I finish this broth.”

“Did you take your meds and vitamins?”

“I will after I eat this.”

She paused again, and Sam knew she was worried about her. She hated to ruin their night, especially when nothing could be done. She just had to ride out the storm.

“Okay, well, again, call if you need anything.”

She hung up and was starting to finish her broth when the doorbell rang. Glancing at the clock and seeing that it was almost eight, she wondered if her brother had decided to stop by. He’d always been protective of her, but he was getting worse by the day. He was using the excuse of her condition to check on her daily. Where she appreciated her friends’ attention, her brother was starting to piss her off. She padded barefoot to the door and rose to her tiptoes to check out her visitor. When she looked through the peephole, her stomach started to turn.

Deke
.

“I hear you in there, Samantha. Open up.”

She breathed through her mouth, trying to keep the little bit of broth she had eaten down.

“If you don’t answer, I’ll bust down the door.”

And wasn’t that just like him? He avoids her then shows up in Hawaii and tries to bully her.

“Funny coming from a man who didn’t answer his phone for two weeks.”

He sighed. “Open up, Sam. I’ve been flying all day long.”

His voice sounded weary, tired. She knew if he had flown from the west coast, he had been at it probably more than twelve hours.

She opened the door. He had his suitcase there beside him. He was dressed in low-riding Wranglers, a pair of running shoes, and a Navy shirt. He looked like he had just gotten out of bed. His hair was a mess and there was a little scruff on his chin.

God, he looked good.

“You going to let me in?”

She nodded and stepped back. She shut the door and leaned back against it.

“Are your roommates here?”

“No. They’re out tonight.”

He kept looking at her as if she were the only thing in the world. But he always did that, and it never failed to make her feel melty inside.

“I thought you would have called before you came over for a vacation.”

“Not here for a vacation, but I guess I should have. I forgot you have to get up in the morning. You look exhausted.”

He sounded so damned concerned that it had her stomach flip-flopping. Apparently it was too much for her to take after eating. She swallowed hard.

“No school. Kids are out on spring break here. They always have it the last week of March.”

He nodded and opened his mouth.

“I need a second.”

He held up his hands, and the determined look on his face warned her that he wasn’t going to let things go right now. “Sam, I know you’re mad at me, but I knew if I let you call me, you would talk me out of moving here.”

Her alarm rose. “Moving here?”

He nodded. “I took a job at PACOM.”

That stopped her in her tracks. “A desk job?”

He jerked one shoulder. Samantha knew that it was a definite Berg reaction to life in general. All the guys in his family were like that. “In a way. I’ll be doing some work with plans, etc, or whatever.”

Sam shook her head. “But you wanted to teach?”

He gave her a smile. “I wanted to be here more.”

He stepped closer, and she felt her stomach give way.

“I need to—“

He furrowed his brow. “Sam?”

She shook her head and tried to get away, but he wouldn’t let go of her, and she couldn’t hold it any longer. She threw up on him.

Chapter Seven

Several minutes and a fresh shirt later, Deke joined Samantha back in her kitchen, but he kept a respectful distance. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he didn't want to think he was causing her to get sick at the sight of him. And if she had something, he didn’t want to end up with it.

"Have you been sick for long?"

She gave him a look that told him his question didn't set well. It was part of that mean look she had always given him, but there was something else to it, something that made her look so damned vulnerable.

"No. Why didn't you answer my calls?" she asked.

This was going to be hard to explain. He hadn’t really expected her to think he was dodging her for other reasons. He could lie and say he was too busy because of the move, but lying just didn’t feel right, even if it was just a little fib tonight. Samantha always did better when you told her the truth head-on. Well, most of it.

“Truth is I was afraid I would tell you about moving here and you would tell me that you didn't want me to do that."

"But once you had the assignment, the orders were cut and they wouldn't be able to cancel it."

He shook his head. "They could do anything they wanted. It’s happened before. Truth is they would do more to keep me in the field if they could, but it’s hard to do at my advanced age."

She gave him a tired smile. "You're not old, Deke."

And why did the way she was looking at him make him feel soft? There was something different in her gaze. "Tell that to my back," he said, twisting until it cracked. "It hasn't been the same for a while."

"I thought you would go teach." It had been his dream for a long time. She was the only person on earth he had told about it.

"Yeah, I did too. Until Kade's wedding." He had known then he had to make it back to her and fast. One thing he had learned in that fucked up mission last year was that he could no longer wait for the right time. He had to make it.

"So, you're going to be working at PACOM?"

He nodded. He knew she was trying to avoid the subject of her illness, but he was worried about her. She looked like she’d dropped weight, and she was pale. It was easy to see the dark circles under her eyes.

Was she really sick and she’d been trying to get a hold of him? Now he felt like a complete ass.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

She nodded and picked up a saltine and nibbled on it. "I tried to call you because I had news for you."

He knew when she had something important to say she would just drag the whole thing out. He resisted the urge to close his eyes. It was bad if she was taking this long to tell him.

"I started getting sick about three weeks ago."

When she didn’t continue, he asked, "Have you gone to the doctor?"

She nodded.

"What did he say?"

"He said it would pass in about another month, if I was lucky."

"A month? You've been getting sick like this and he wants you to wait a month? That doesn't sound right. Maybe you need another doctor to look at you. Maybe he has the wrong diagnosis. I think we should get a second opinion."

He would make sure she saw someone. The fact that she looked so sickly worried him. Sam had always been a healthy girl. Curvy, never worrying about her weight, always in excellent shape. Now, though, she looked like she had been through hell.

She gave him a sad smile. "There’s no other diagnosis. I’ve covered my bases on this one."

Fear wrapped its scrawny fingers around his heart, and he had to swallow to rid himself of the lump in his throat. "What is it?"

She apparently realized that he was worried. She reached over to pat his hand, and then she drew away. "It isn't anything life ending. I'm pregnant, Deke."

For a second or two, the comment didn't register. He had been waiting for a cancer diagnosis or something else.

“Pregnant?” he asked, the word seeming weird against his lips. He couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the idea that she was carrying a child. Deke was known for his quick thinking, but for once his brain seemed to stop dead in its tracks.

“Yes.”

"Ours, of course."

She looked relieved and that angered him. He frowned.

"You can't think that I would think it was someone else's?"

She shrugged, and he hated the defeated attitude. She was a lot of things but his Samantha wasn’t someone who accepted defeat. And he didn’t like it, not one bit.

"I've been with other men before."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have slept with me this time if you had been involved with someone else. It’s the same for both of us."

"You're right."

"Why didn't you call me? This is a serious situation that I should have known about. Or were you not planning on telling me?"

She looked at him as if he had grown another head. Her face flushed with anger, and he knew he had stepped over the bounds.

"I did call, you jackass. I cannot believe you just accused me of not telling you—like I was hiding it. Maybe if you hadn’t been acting like a scared little girl for two weeks and avoiding my calls, you would have known. But, no, Deacon Berg has another of his master plans and he decides he shouldn’t tell me. You know, all the calls I've been trying for almost two weeks?"

Usually, this is where she started throwing things. He’d gotten brained with the remote control once for something he said. Instead, she did something very un-Sam-like and started to cry.

He didn’t know what to do. He’d dealt with women who cried, but not Sam. Samantha just didn’t cry big fat tears, and she definitely didn’t sob openly. She was the stereotypical military brat with the stiff upper lip. That woman was apparently gone.

"I called and called and called. When you didn’t answer, I thought you might have gone on a mission. I thought about calling your mom, but then I thought she would worry about you, too, or wonder just why I was trying to get ahold of you. And I didn't want to explain, not until I talked to you."

By now, the tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she was sobbing openly. He finally gained his wits and pulled her into his arms. She tried to struggle once or twice, but she settled against him, her head on his chest. Feeling her slight body against his caused some of the tension to ease out of his shoulders. He was still worried, but with her there in his arms, it didn’t seem to matter as much.

"I'm sorry, babe. I thought it best I just show up."

She punched his chest half-heartedly. "Well, it wasn't."

He chuckled. "I can see that. First you throw up on me, and then you cry all over me."