The Officer and the Secret (27 page)
She choked out a watery laugh. “I—”
“No, wait. Let me get it all out.” One corner of his mouth tilted up. “I’m not great with words, remember? I had this whole thing planned out. I’m sorry. I couldn’t be more sorry for how I let things fall apart between us. I made some serious mistakes, and I can’t change them. But I know what went wrong and I won’t let it happen again.”
With a shuddery sigh, he rolled his shoulders. “So, can you forgive me? Or have I really screwed things up for good?”
She stared at him, taking in the hesitant expression on his face, the way his body was coiled, as if ready to run at any second. Did he seriously doubt for a moment? “Of course I do. I screwed up too. I shouldn’t have led you on with the whole school thing. And then not knowing better about the birth control so I—”
“No.” His voice, so fierce, cut through her apology like a knife. “Don’t. I know it wasn’t expected, but Kidney Bean’s here now. And I don’t want either of us to want to take that back. I love the bean already. No way would I give that up.”
One hand instinctively went to her belly. “Neither would I. And I love you. I do. Still, always.”
He grabbed under her arms and tugged until she sat with her legs draped over his, her head resting on his shoulder.
“Good. Very good.”
She sat for a moment, breathing in his scent, being lulled into a happy state by the feel of his arms around him.
“I’m sorry, did you call our child Kidney Bean?”
His chin rested on the crown of her head. “I think it has a certain ring to it, don’t you?”
“Why not Dwayne Junior?” she teased.
He groaned. “I love him too much to do that to him. We’ll figure something out.”
His hand covered hers, resting protectively over their child.
“You’re right. We’ll figure something out.”
This series has been such an eye-opening experience, from beginning to end. It was the birth of my first paperback, my first full-length series, and my first time working with my agent. I learned how to shoot a gun while researching this series, I moved twice while writing it (one move was a five-stater!), and survived the terrible twos as a mother. Talk about a learning curve, in every way possible. On-the-job training doesn’t come close to writing a series like this. But I loved (almost) every minute of it.
There are too many people to thank from throughout this entire series, and I’ll forget 67 percent of them just due to excitement, so to be fair I will give everyone a shout-out combined. To those who have touched my life or these books in some way, thank you for your positive thumbprint on my life and the life of this series.
There’s one group I can’t help but single out… the readers. I can’t thank you enough for joining these three Marines on their journeys to find love, and for joining me on this equally special journey. Stick with me, guys. I’ve got more in the tank!
Jeanette Murray is a contemporary romance author who spends her days surrounded by hunky alpha heroes… at least in her mind. In real life, she’s a one-hero kind of woman, married to her own real-life Marine. When she’s not chasing her daughter or their lovable-but-stupid Goldendoodle around the house, she’s deep in her own fictional world, building another love story. As a military wife, she would tell you where she lives… but by the time you read this, she’ll have already moved. To see what Jeanette is up to next, visit
www.jeanettemurray.com.
