Possession: A Little Harmless Military Romance by Melissa Schroeder Page A

look. She smiled at Sam.
    "Do you mind if I use the shower?" he asked.
    "No, go ahead."
    He walked toward her room but paused by her chair.
    "Eat." He softened the order with a kiss on the top of her head.
    Once he shut the door, Zoe sighed. "Oh man, oh man. Okay, if you don't want him, I want him. I call dibs on him before Fiona."
    Sam sighed. "It isn't a matter of wanting him. That is never a problem. The problem is getting along during the other times."
    "If I were you, I would figure out a way. Damn, he is so sweet I want to eat him up." Zoe made smacking noises with her mouth.
    "Wait, he will get on your nerves. At some point, he will start barking orders like you're an E-1 who just got in. That was never fun. Think of the way my brother acts."
    Zoe's dreamy look dissolved. "Your brother is opinionated."
    "And Deke is, too. You just aren't seeing it."
    "Does he have a brother?" Fiona asked.
    "Two. Jacob and Jonah. Jonah is sort of a black sheep of the family."
    "Yeah, what does he do?" Zoe asked.
    "Since the family is Navy, being a Marine is bad. They give him crap about it."
    Zoe closed her eyes. "Okay, wait, does he look like Deke?"
    "Yeah, a little. He has brown eyes, though, like milk chocolate."
    "Oh, God. Now, put the two of them together..."
    "Ew, I see Jonah as a brother. That is just...ew, no."
    Zoe laughed and opened her eyes. "I will happily keep that fantasy to myself."
    "What are you going to do, Sam?" Fiona asked.
    "Not sure. I think for the most part, I will just play it by ear."
    "Wait. You are Samantha Walters, right? The woman who always has a plan? You didn't body snatch her, did you?" Zoe asked.
    She smiled and shrugged. "I really don't have a choice, do I?"
    "What do you mean by that?" Fiona asked.
    "I didn't really plan on getting pregnant."
    "No. But there is a bit to that in my way of thinking."
    She glanced at Fiona. The most flighty of the three of them, Fiona always seemed to know things before they would happen.
    "Well, maybe somewhere in your self-conscious, you wanted to get pregnant. Don't even think of telling us that you didn't want him back here with you."
    She sighed. "There was always a part of me that wanted him back with me. Wanted him here, to be married again. I just didn't want it to be like this."
    “Is Mitchell still mad at you?" Fiona asked.
    "No. Well, sort of. This is not going to go over well."
    "What do you mean?"
    "Mitch didn't want me to tell him. Which I completely disagreed with, of course. But he thought that maybe Deke could be left out of the picture."
    "That doesn't sound like your brother," Zoe said.
    Sam and Fiona looked at their friend. Zoe didn't usually worry about defending Mitchell.
    "No, don't read anything into it,” Zoe continued. “Mitch irritates me on some level I cannot even explain right now. But, that being said, he is a pretty decent guy."
    "He always thought that Deke and I should never see each other again. I can't say that I disagreed with that at the time."
    "And like a big brother, he wants to protect you," Fiona said. She had a soft heart for brothers since she had lost her own only two years earlier in Iraq.
    "So, I have to figure out a way to tell my brother that my ex is here to live. But maybe I don't have to tell him any time soon."
    As soon as she said the words, the front doorbell rang.
    Sam looked at the door. "No. Karma doesn’t hate me this much."
    Zoe shook her head. "You knew he was going to get worse with you pregnant."
    "Today is a Friday."
    "And you should have expected him to be off. He doesn’t go out to clubs when he has to work the next day," Zoe said. "You better figure out a way to tell your brother that your ex is here and naked in your bathroom."
     
     
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
    Deke was shaving when his phone rang. Mal's face popped up to the sound of the Jersey Shore theme song.
    "Hey, Chief. Recovered from the trip?"
    He shaved the last bit of cream off his face. "A bit. Could probably do with a few hours of