Breaking Through (Book 2 of the SEAL TEAM Heartbreakers) (51 page)

Zoe smiled. Amen to that.

***

Brett paced the floor in the waiting room, just outside the OB area. “You’d think somebody would come tell us something,” he complained.

“They will as soon as there’s something to tell,” Tess said. “Come sit down. You’re making the rest of the guys nervous.”

Brett tried to curb his impatience and sat next to her. He scanned the room, full of military camouflage uniforms. Everyone invited to the house had postponed the party and come to the hospital to wait for news. Bowie and Doc sat slumped half-asleep across the room. Now and then Doc would rouse and look inquiringly across the room at him and Tess. Logan and Tyler, though they didn’t know Zoe very well, were there to support Hawk. Lang and Trish were sitting with his mom and Russell. Greenback and his wife Selena were cuddled up in the corner, enjoying each other. They were a family. His family. And that included the woman sitting next to him.

Doc wandered over and sat down next to Tess. His eyes were swollen from jet lag and rust-colored whiskers stubbled his jaw. “There’s something I wanted to say to you, Legs,” he said. “I guess this is as good a place to say it as any.”

“Me?” Tess pointed to her chest with her fingers, surprise in her expression.

“Yeah, you.”

“The cover you and your dad gave us after we rescued those kids made the legal crap go away. You saved our butts. And it was a bonus when you put Senator Welch and his followers under a microscope and made them back off. We owe you, and your dad, Legs. You need anything—all you have to do is say the word.”

Tess cheeks were bright red with embarrassment, but there was a gleam in her eyes, and her smile was something special. “Thanks, Doc. I’m glad I could help.”

Doc rose to his feet. “I need some caffeine before I fall asleep. Can I get you guys anything?”

Brett shook his head.

“No, but thanks for asking,” Tess said.

Doc sauntered down the hall.

Brett turned to study Tess’s face. “Doc’s right. Hawk’s in there with my sister without any kind of legal bullshit hanging over his head because of you and your dad, Tess. I’m sitting here, instead of facing a court-marshal or prison, or both, because of you and your dad. This is my family and you gave them cover. You gave me cover.”

“I did it because it was the right thing to do, Brett, and I believed in you. I did from the start.” She smiled. “And it hasn’t hurt my career any either.” She ran her hand down his thigh. “But mostly I did it because I love you.”

Brett cupped her face and brushed her lips with a kiss, soft and tender. “Have you ever thought about having kids?”

“Eventually, one day.” She looped her arm through his and rested her head against his shoulder. Her red hair fanned out, gleaming with copper highlights against his sleeve.

“We could do it, Tess.”

“Do what?” she asked.

“Make beautiful babies together. But we’d have to get married first.”

Her eyes widened, and she studied his expression.

“I love you. And I want to have a family with you. You can let me know when you’re used to the idea.”

“The idea of getting married, or of having babies?” she asked.

Always the stickler for details. That was another thing he loved and appreciated about her. “The marriage thing has to come first.”

She studied him, speculation in her gaze. “I never knew you were so old-fashioned, Brett.”

“It isn’t old-fashioned for a man to want to lay claim to the woman he loves, honey. That’s just man stuff.”

Tess laughed and shook her head.

Hawk shoved through the door. He wore a paper gown over his cammies and paper booties covered his stocking feet. He looked as though he’d just taken a beach single-handed, but he was smiling.

Brett hustled to his feet taking Tess with him. Everyone in the room followed suit.

“Zoe’s fine and so is the baby. It’s a boy,” Hawk announced. “Eight pounds, six ounces.”

A happy cry went up and everyone converged on Hawk offering congratulations.

Smothered with relief for his sister, Brett barely caught Tess’s words. “What?” he asked.

“I said, I love you, and I think I could be convinced about the marriage thing,” Tess said, then smiled.

Brett scanned her face and a slow smile built across his features as excitement leapt inside him.
Yes!
He molded her against him, bent his head, and kissed her with more than a little heat, until she hummed beneath the pressure. He drew back to look into her flushed face. “I’ll get right on that.”

Books by Teresa J. Reasor

Breaking Free Book 1 of the SEAL Team Heartbreakers Series

Breaking Through Book 2 of the SEAL Team Heartbreakers Series

Timeless

Highland Moonlight

Captive Hearts

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