Possession: A Little Harmless Military Romance (12 page)

“You were an idiot.”

She laughed. “I was. And you walked out.”

“You told me to leave. I did what you wanted.”

She looked away. “I’m always worried you won’t come back, but I can’t seem to help myself. Every time, I just push.”

“And I am going to start pushing right back. Just because we fight doesn’t mean I don’t love you. Now that I know better, I won’t walk. I don’t want to, and I refuse to do it anymore.”

“How can I know that this isn’t just you caring because we are together right now? The baby adds another layer to it, but what if this is just because of that, of the idea that we’re starting here together?”

“It was never like that. Never.” He walked over to her and took her hand. “Jesus, my whole life I wanted to be a Seal. I dreamed about it, prayed for it.”

“I know,” she said as she sniffed.

“Do you? Then know this. There is one thing I wanted more than that. It kept me tied up in fucking knots so tight that I couldn’t think straight.”

“What?”

He knew he had no way around it. He had to tell her what he had been feeling all the years he had known her. He had to or he might lose her.

“You. I was too much of an ass to admit it. Every minute I was gone, every second, you were there. Right here.” He pressed their joined hands to his chest. “I should have told you. I should have made you understand.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Fear.”

She shook her head.

“No, it was fear. What if I told you? What if I said, ‘hey honey, you’re the one I need forever’ and you walked away. You had walked before. It was too much for you, and I wasn’t sure if you would want it now, would want to take that chance again.”

“And you took a job you hate to be near me.”

“I thought I would, but I am actually starting to like it. But, I can’t say that, at least for the next few years, they won’t tap me to go out in the field in case of a national emergency. You know the military. My orders might say no deployment, but if something comes up, they can pull me out. I have the training. What I want to know is if you can do it? Can you handle that if I have to do it?”

He could see her thinking about it, and his heart almost stopped then and there.

“Know that while I want to be with you, there are things bigger than us. I’m not going to do this forever, but…I have a duty. You understand that.”

She nodded. “And after. What would you do then?”

“I would come back to you. I always do, babe.”

“I liked what I was doing and there are plenty of things for someone like me to do. But know that the military is a duty. I swore an oath, and I have to follow through.”

He would. It was one of the things she admired about him.

“But I don’t live to work. That was never me. Or it wasn’t me after I met you. Everything I do, everything I am, I am because of you. I am a Seal, but in my heart, in my soul, I’m your husband.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “Ex.”

He sighed. “About that…”

“What?”

“Answer me one question. Will you marry me?”

“Marry you?”

“Shit, I’m doing this wrong. I want us married again. I want to have ten more kids with you.”

“Ten kids?”

“Okay, not ten, but more than just one. What do you say?”

She didn’t say anything for a moment and he felt his heart sink just a little.

“Why?” she asked.

He looked at her, his gaze direct. “Because I love you. Without you, I don’t even want to be a Seal.”

“Oh, Deke.” Tears filled her eyes. “Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But, I want a ceremony here, and I want a real dress. And we’ll have to do it really soon, before I get big.”

“Okay, but about that…”

“And we’ll have to apply here for a marriage certificate.”

“Sam.”

“What?”

“See, before I came to Hawaii, I sort of got some information I didn’t share with you.”

She frowned. “What?”

Now came the moment of truth. There was probably going to be a fight, but he had her acceptance of marriage, thank God. But she would fight him.

“Uh, apparently the office where we had our divorce finalized has been, well, uh...”

She rolled her eyes. “Good lord, spit it out.”

He swallowed. “We’re still married. That lawyer who handled the divorced messed up the papers, so they were never really filed correctly.”

For a second, she didn’t say anything. Her mouth turned down into a frown. “What?”

“We’re still married. The divorce didn’t go through.”

She shook her head. “What do you mean?”

“You are still Samantha Berg.”

“Married.” She pulled her hand from his and smacked him on the back of the head. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn’t you tell me?”

The slap had his ears ringing and he had to shake his head to clear it. “Because I knew you would get mad and blame me.”

“I wouldn’t have. I blame you right now for not telling me. Deacon Berg, what the hell were you thinking?”

“That I needed to win you back before I told you.”

She paced away, that sassy walk of hers in full force. God, he loved her. She was pissed beyond belief, and for some reason, that turned him on. He was a sick, sick man.

“I should divorce you on principle. No, first, I should shoot you.”

She was muttering now, and he knew he had won. He walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. She didn’t resist. Instead, she leaned back against him and sighed. He kissed her neck. It felt good to hold her against him. He rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Tell you what. How about we have a big fancy Hawaiian wedding? Your brother can give you away, and we can do it all up right.”

She leaned back to look at him. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Mom would love it. They’d come over. AJ should be able to take some time off, and you can see that Jonah has a lot of time on his hands. Jacob should be able to get some time off the ship, maybe, but most of us will be here.”

“And your friends?”

“Mal and Kade? Should be able to, if they haven’t been called out.”

She turned to face him then. “Can I confess something?”

He nodded and waited. She stepped back then tugged the chain out from beneath her shirt. The two rings that dangled there were familiar.

“You still have them?” he asked, his heart tightening at the sight of them.

She waited for him to look at her. “Always. I couldn’t get rid of them.”

He grabbed her then and pulled her against him. He bent his head and kissed her. It was tender, but soon turned ravenous.

“Get a room, bro,” Jonah yelled.

She started laughing against his mouth. “I love you, Deacon Berg.”

“I love you too, Samantha Berg. And I promise to get you another ring. Bigger.”

“I’m fine with this one.”

“Well, how about I take it and incorporate it in a new ring?”

She smiled. “That sounds great.”

He tugged her back into his embrace. “Now, Mrs. Berg, how about we start planning that wedding ceremony.”

She nodded. “I love you, Deke.”

“I love you, too, Samantha.”

Epilogue

Almost six months later

Deke smiled down at his daughter in his arms and then looked over at his wife. Samantha was exhausted, but beautiful. Six hours of labor and she still had that radiant glow about her.

“What are you smiling at, you idiot?”

“The most beautiful woman in the world,” he responded.

She shook her head. “I think you’re delirious from lack of sleep, Seal.”

Deke chuckled. “No way. Scared shitless is more like it. I don’t think I ever had a man threaten to do bodily harm to my most favored appendages as many times as you did.”

One side of her mouth curved as her eyes closed. “I don’t remember a thing.”

Still cradling their daughter in his arms, Deke rose to lean over and kiss Samantha’s forehead.

“We agreed on the name? Anela Dawn?”

She opened her eyes. “It seems appropriate. Angel Dawn.”

He heard Mitchell and Zoe arguing in the hallway and knew they were about to be invaded. “Well, our quiet time is over.”

Her smile widened as she looked at Anela then up at him. “In more ways than one. I love you, Deacon. I’m so happy you were too hard-headed to give up.”

“I love you, too. And you only get until tomorrow to keep calling me names and disparaging my character.”

She laughed as he leaned down to give her a kiss. Right before he touched his lips to hers, she said, “Sure thing, Sir.”

About Melissa Schroeder

Born to an Air Force family at an Army hospital Melissa has always been a little bit screwy. She was further warped by her years of watching Monty Python and her strange family. Her love of romance novels developed after accidentally picking up a Linda Howard book. After becoming hooked, she read close to 300 novels in one year, deciding that romance was her true calling instead of the literary short stories and suspenses she had been writing. Since her first release in 2004, Melissa has had over 30 short stories, novellas and novels released with multiple publishers in a variety of genres and time periods. Those releases include the Harmless series, a best-selling erotic romance series set in Hawaii. A Little Harmless Sex, book 1, was one of the top 100 bestselling Nook Books of 2010.

Since she was a military brat, she vowed never to marry military. Alas, fate always has her way with mortals. Her husband is an Air Force major, and together they have their own military brats, two girls, and two adopted dog daughters, and they live wherever the military sticks them. Which she is sure, will always involve heat and bugs only seen on the Animal Discovery Channel. In her spare time, she reads, complains about bugs, travels, cooks, reads some more, watches her DVD collections of Arrested Development and Seinfeld, and tries to convince her family that she truly is a delicate genius. She has yet to achieve her last goal.

You can connect with Mel all over the web:


WEBSITE

TWITTER

FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

  HARMLESS ADDICTS

HARMLESS BOOK DISCUSSION

Or email her at: [email protected]

Coming late June to digital and print, the next exciting novella with the military hero everyone has been waiting for: Malachai Dupree

To claim the woman he loves, he will have to be the Dom she desires.

Surrender: A Little Harmless Military Romance

Navy Seal Malachai Dupree has everything a man could want. Well, not everything. The one woman he wants is too innocent for his Dominant needs, so he plays the role of supportive friend even if it kills him.

Amanda Forrester is tired of being treated as if she were fragile. She might have been through a rough patch losing her husband in the line of duty, but she is not a wimp. Her feelings for Mal have grown and she is more than ready to be the woman he needs in and out of the bedroom.

One night she pushes him too far and the result is more than either of them ever expected. Mal wants forever, but after losing one husband, commitment isn’t in Amanda’s vocabulary. What she doesn’t realize is that Mal is one Seal who isn’t backing down until he gets exactly what he wants: Amanda’s total submission.

WARNING, the following book contains: Sexy Navy Seals, a stubborn woman, handcuffs and crops and all kinds of naughty things. This book has one of those hot Duprees, so you know that you will need a glass of water to cool off. Every
Addict
will tell you that reading a Harmless book is anything BUT harmless—so read at your own risk.

Unedited Excerpt

Mal took a step closer enjoying the scent of her. Amanda didn’t wear perfume, but he could smell the soap she used and that basic primal aroma that always called to him. It took him a second to remember to speak.

“I think you need to watch yourself, Amanda. You’re a little out of your depth here.”

She blinked up at him, those luminous green eyes shining with arousal he knew she didn’t understand. She wasn’t a virgin of course. She’d been married over a year before she’d lost her husband. But being a sub was something different, something Mal knew she didn’t comprehend.

“I think you don’t know me that well, Malachai.”

Damn, he loved the way she talked. She was a military brat who’d lived in five different countries, but that deep Georgia accent clung to every one of her words, drawing out his name. He could only imagine the way it would sound when she moaned.

Shaking his head, he tried to step away. At least he told his feet to move, but another part of his anatomy seemed to be controlling his actions.

She reached up and brushed her fingers over his jaw. He growled and she smiled.

“I’m not a little girl.”

Hell, he knew that. He would be seriously worried about the sex dreams he’d been having about her if she were. “No, but you don’t know what goes on here or what a Dom will expect from you.”

She cocked her head, the silky strands of her chestnut hair sliding over her bare shoulder. “The question is, are you Dom enough to show me?”

He heard the defiance in her voice and he knew what she wanted—what she thought she wanted. Settling a hand against the wall on either side of her head, he leaned even closer. Her breath caught and he could see her pulse flutter in her neck.

“Is that a dare, Amanda? Because there is one thing you should never do, and that is taunt a Dom.”

She looked down for a moment, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. His breath clogged his throat at the thought that maybe he had convinced her she was wrong. Part of him was happy, but a bigger part of him, the one that dreamed of her every night, thought of her every day, was crushed.

She slowly raised her gaze to his and one side of her mouth curved.