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

sleep, though."
    "You'll get used to it, and guys your age need extra rebound time.”
    “Fuck off.”
    “Are you going into Honolulu today?”
    “Might. Not sure. I figured today I would go meet the O-6 I’ll be working for. Let him know I have to find a place to live.”
    “So, you aren’t in Honolulu right now?”
    He rolled his eyes as he used a towel to scrub the rest of his face free of any traces of shaving cream.
     “No.” Mal was pussyfooting around the issue.
    “Did your lady-love kick you out?"
    "Now why would she kick out the father of her child?"
    There was a beat of silence.
    "Father of her child?"
    "Yeah. All those phone calls were because she was trying to tell me."
    "Holy shit."
    He heard a mumbled voice in the background, and he knew Kade was there. Deke rolled his eyes again. Kade and Mal were getting to be like little old ladies.
    "Sam's pregnant."
    "That's what I said."
    "No, I'm telling Kade. So, it happened at Kade's wedding. Holy shit."
    "You already said that."
    He couldn’t tell from his response what Mal was thinking. Deke didn’t know why it mattered so much, but it did. The friendship the three of them had forged through the last few years, and especially after the mission where they lost Forrester, had made these two men like brothers to him.
    "What are you going to do?" Mal asked.
    "I don't know. We haven't discussed much. Apparently the pregnancy isn't going that well. Sam can't seem to keep any food down and has lost a bunch of weight. So I didn’t push her last night."
    "You're going to have to talk to her about that."
    "I know. I was fucking tired last night and needed time to think."
    And he had thought. Now he was pretty sure the plan he had in place before he flew over here would work. It was just that he had to hope that it would work for their sake and the sake of the baby.
    He heard voices in the other room. The three women were talking, and there was a man’s voice. One he unfortunately recognized.
    “Listen, I have to let you go. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”
    Before Mal could respond, he clicked off the phone. The pounding on the door started. “Open up, dickhead.”
    “Do not call him a dickhead, you dickhead,” Sam said.
    Deke rolled his shoulders and opened the door. Mitchell stood in the doorway, anger rolling off him in waves. Sam slipped in between them, but Deke didn’t let her talk. He grabbed her and put her behind him. Mitchell wouldn’t intentionally hurt her, but he had a wicked temper—especially where Deke was concerned.
    “You bastard,” he said as he lifted his fist. Being a Seal, he reacted instinctively. He blocked the punch and delivered one of his own. He hit Mitchell square on the nose. The crack of bone filled the room and blood spurted.
    “Fucking hell!”
    Mitchell stumbled back, and Sam screamed.
    “Shit, sorry,” Deke said.
    “What do you think you were doing?” Mitchell yelled.
    “I was defending myself, you asshole. Don’t you know better than to try and hit a damn Seal?”
    Zoe came forward. “Lean your head back, Mitchell.”
    He gave her a nasty look. “They say not to do that anymore.”
    “I know they do. I am an RN, so I kind of know, but you’re bleeding on our fucking carpet. Bathroom, now.”
    She tugged him in the other direction. Once they were alone, he turned to Sam. She had her face covered, and he was worried she was crying.
    “Oh, baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think. I’m not trained to when I’m attacked.”
    She finally looked up, and she was crying, but it was from laughing. “Oh, Lord, that was funny.”
    She was snorting.
    “You think me breaking your brother’s nose is funny?”
    “Yeah. He has been a pain in the ass. And I will let you in on a little secret—I did the same thing to him when we were in middle school.”
    He felt his lips curve. “Is that right?”
    She nodded and sat down on her bed. “Mitchell told me that I didn’t have the right to play baseball in middle