Hot SEALs: Discarded Heart (Kindle Worlds; Danger Incorporated Book 2.5) by Olivia Jaymes

was her only child unless she was living a secret life no one knew anything about.
    “I rarely came home. I should have and I didn’t.”
    “You were building your life and career. You’re supposed to do that and we didn’t expect anything different.”
    “And now I have nothing to show for it.”
    Cal couldn’t keep the bitterness from seeping into his tone. All the years of hard work were down the drain.
    “Maybe you concentrated on the wrong things.”
    Pouring himself another cup of coffee, Cal pondered his mother’s observation. She hadn’t asked many questions about his life in Chicago since he’d been back nor had she asked much about Mika.
    “I was trying to make something of myself.”
    “You always were ambitious.” She shook her head when he offered to refill her cup. “I admired that but I also hoped you’d take time out to find a good woman and have a family.”
    That was half a sentence.
    “You mean you wished I had married Mika and settled down in Applewood.”
    His mother pursed her lips, her gaze far away. “I think you and Mika could have a good life but I’m sure there are other women as well you could be happy with. Maybe even happier. Mika is a lovely girl but she can be bull-headed and set in her ways. She certainly left you high and dry after you moved.”
    Cal started to defend Mika but then simply chuckled. Alice Faulkner wasn’t fooling anybody. She adored Mika and always had.
    “Are you trying out some reverse psychology, Mom? We both know that the breakup was just as much my fault as hers. If I’d been any kind of man I would have stayed here and helped her raise Alex but I cut and ran. I took the easy way out.”
    Alice’s brows shot up in mock surprise. “I didn’t realize your life had been so leisurely since you left. I must have missed that. How lucky for you.”
    “You know what I mean,” Cal growled in frustration. “Maybe my life wasn’t a bed of roses but the only person I had to be worried about was me. Hell, I don’t even have any plants in my apartment to water and if I did they’d be dead. I probably shouldn’t be trusted with an actual human being.”
    Yet for some strange reason Cal had taken to Alex right away. The boy needed a father and Mika needed…
    Whoa.
    What the hell was he thinking? He wasn’t father or husband material. He was an agent who put the bad guys behind bars. It was the only thing he knew how to do and he was damn good at it.
    “I’m not going to argue with you, son, but I think you have more love and care in you than you know. Just don’t make the same mistake twice.”
    “Leaving Mika? Even if I stay there’s no guarantee she wants a relationship with me. When I kissed her last–”
    Cal broke off, heat rising in his cheeks. He hadn’t meant to say anything about the kiss last night, least of all to his mother.
    Alice Faulkner wore a pleased smile as she sipped her coffee. “A kiss? About time. I’ve been waiting weeks for that to happen. Did she kiss you back?”
    He did not want to discuss this with her.
    “Yes.”
    “So things are moving in the right direction. Excellent.”
    If his mother had rubbed her hands together with a maniacal laugh he wouldn’t have been surprised. He’d suspected all along that this “volunteer” thing was just a ruse to throw them together.
    “It doesn’t mean she wants me. In fact, she told me to never do it again and ran out. She hates me.”
    “She hates that you’ve made her feel something. That poor girl has lived for her son and that’s fine but she needs something for herself. She needs to be loved.”
    “What makes you think I still love her?” Cal asked desperately, hopping to his feet. He paced the worn boards of the front porch, the paint cracking and chipping away. His father was too old to be thinking about taking care of this and Cal made a quick mental note to handle it himself. “That ship sailed long ago.”
    His mother plucked the last chocolate frosted from