Filing away that for a later date, I placed the bag of food on the red tablecloth and watched Addy gather plates, forks and glasses. The bag was full of plastic containers, eating straight from them would be more than acceptable, but Addy still set the table with proper cutlery and plates.
I stood silently, as she dished out all the different foods, then watched as she opened the two cans of soft drink and poured them into the glasses. This I found very interesting, it was as if she wanted to sit down to a proper meal, takeaway or not.
“Okay, here we go,” Addy announced, pointing to the chair across from hers, “take a seat and dig in Marshall. I just guessed that Chinese would be okay, so I got the most popular dishes just to be safe.”
“Perfect choice.” Taking my seat, I picked up the fork and took a mouthful of fried rice, covertly studying Addy. As a sniper, it was my job to study and determine what the target may or may not do. Get inside their head; learn what made them do the things they did. With Addy, though, this wasn’t as easy as it was watching an insurgent walking in the desert, assessing their next move, and preventing it.
My Sweet Cheeks kept herself closed off just enough that she still came across pleasant and friendly but not showing what she was really thinking.
Breaking through her wall wasn’t going to be easy, that much I knew. However, the fact remained that we were going to be parents, in each other’s lives for a very long time if I had anything to do with it. Something she was going to have to get to grips with pretty fast.
I watched in fascination at the way she savoured every fork of food, the way she chewed almost meticulously, the soft noises of appreciation she made, the way her eyes closed as she chewed then the faint smile as she swallowed. A ball of unease settled in my stomach; I had seen a similar reaction during certain deployments, especially to the poorer nations. Local kids who ran alongside our convoys begging for something to eat from our ration packs. Or when we stopped and shared fun size chocolate bars to kids that looked after our equipment for us. Gabe made it a rule we pretend to leave something outside a building or tent then ask a few children to watch them for us, letting them think they were doing something good. Letting them think they were being helpful to the soldiers invading their villages and towns then reward them with a yummy treat. Chocolates they would never get to experience otherwise.
Suddenly, the rice and pork felt like lead in the pit of my belly, thinking that Addy may have gone hungry at some stage in her life gutted me.
“Don’t you like your meal, Marshall?” Addy asked me, interrupting my thoughts and where they were heading.
“Love it,” I answered, nearly choking on my words.
Addy’s eyes narrowed at me for a second, then shrugged.
“Okay, so we are here. Let’s start getting to know each other. I’ll go first. How old are you?”
Okay, so it begins.
“Thirty-six, you?”
“Twenty-nine. Are you from Ballarat?”
“No and yes. I was born in Creswick, but Ballarat is so close I spent a lot of time here on Friday and Saturday nights.”
“Getting drunk with mates?”
Laughing, I took another mouthful of the sweet sticky pork. “Something like that, yes. Did you grow up here?”
“No. I came here after I finished vet school, did my placement here and decided to stay.”
“Did you work for a vet here or start up your own clinic right away?”
“Hey, that’s two questions in a row!” Addy protested, laughing at me. “But I will answer. Yes, I worked for a local vet for a couple years to gain experience, then about three years ago, I took over my old boss’s patient list when he retired. His building was getting old and run down, so two years ago, I purchased a newer building. Dr Hoffsteader helped me with my proposal for the bank and I got the loan.”
“He went guarantor for you?”
“No! He showed me what a loan manager would need from me, he offered to do that for me, but I didn’t— don’t need that kind of help. I can do things for myself,” Addy insisted, her voice rising. The pitch suggested she didn’t like that I would suggest anything like that.
“Hey, it was just a question, Sweet Cheeks, nothing wrong with taking favours from friends or family.” I rushed to assure her, ducking my head to keep eye contact with her. One thing I had already noticed about Addy was whenever she got uncomfortable, or if the conversation was getting too personal, she refused to make eye contact. Why what made her this way? What could have possibly happened to her to make her hide so much of herself? That made her run out on me after sharing a beautiful night together, decide to go it alone with our baby.
“I don’t have any family, and to be honest, no friends either. Well, at least that was true, I met a lovely lady a few weeks ago, Wren. She is pregnant and her fiancé is—”
“Bastian, I know. He is my commanding lieutenant,” I interrupted her, “we are in the commandos together along with a few other guys from town. My captain is Booth and Stella’s son. Booth said he met you at the sweet shop.”
Addy nodded her head. “Yes, I did. He is a very intense, very … handsome man. Though not my type, nearly but not quite.” She smiled sassily at me. Letting out the breath I had been holding, I allowed myself to relax. If Addy had of said … damn now I was jealous of Booth, the man worshipped his wife to the point of obsession. I had no cause to be worried and yet this tiny, sexy woman had me second-guessing myself and acting like a possessive fool.
“Yeah, he can be intense, but he is one of the best men I know. His son is just like him, I would follow Gabe into any situation, I trust his judgement and his leadership. I just wish I had been lucky enough to experience command under his dad. That man knew how to lead a team,” I told her truthfully.
“Sounds like you have a bit of hero worship yourself,” Addy joked, scraping her bowl with her finger, then sucking the digit between her lips. My cock twitched in my pants and I was grateful the table was hiding my growing hard-on. We had a long way to go before Addy was going to invite me into her bed. Pregnant with my kid or not, the woman had major trust issues, working my way through her wall wasn’t going to be quick or easy.
“I admit it, yes. Since I joined Team FIVE, the Wounded Souls have become my second family.”
“And your real family?”
I picked up the glass in front of me and took a long gulp, the cold, fizzy liquid giving me an instant sugar hit.
“Just an aunt. Faye took over raising me after my mother died when I was six,” I replied with a shrug. Talking about my mum wasn’t hard; talking about the way she died was another matter.
“Oh, I am so sorry, Marshall.” Addy reached across the table and placed her hand over mine; the stark contrast of our hand sizes wasn’t lost on me. Everything about the woman was petite; even her baby bump was perfectly round and no bigger than a half blown up balloon. Noticeable? Yes. Big? Absolutely not.
I waved off her apology. “It was a long time ago, Sweet Cheeks, I got over it. Faye was a great proxy mum, firm and strict when she had to be. God knows in my teen years, I gave her enough reason to pull her hair out,” I mused with a shake of my head. “She has this threat she uses on me even to this day. It involves my swearing and a bar of soap, and I’m sure your parents said the same to you.”
“Nope, my parents gave me to my grandmother two days after my birth, and she raised me until she died when I was two then my parents had to take me back. The only problem was my egg and sperm donors weren’t up to the task, so they put me in foster care. I never saw them again.” Addy shoved back from the table, gathering the empty dishes as she went, then walked to the sink.
The handy thing about being observant was I could read a person pretty quickly. And what I read about Addy was, she acted nonchalant– badly.
The names she called her parents, some might find harsh, but if the shoe fit. Giving up your child twice should be a jailable offence, in my opinion.
“Shit, Sweet
Cheeks, that must have been horrible for you.” I got up from the table and followed her to the sink. Standing behind her, I closed in tight and pressed myself against her, careful to keep my groin away from her, but damn she was so short that wasn’t all that easy. Her arse reached the top of my thighs which meant my cock was right about—.
“Why do you call me Sweet Cheeks?” Addy asked, turning around quickly, her belly pressing into me, or into my rock-hard cock.
Fuck me drunk.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ADELINE
Marshall is aroused. Why is Marshall aroused? Why is he so close? Oh god, he smells so good, manly. Was I saying these things aloud?
Marshall’s hand reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, then did the same on the other side. The whole time he kept his eyes on my face.
“I call you Sweet Cheeks because of these,” he murmured, tracing his fingers on both hands from my ears to my cheeks, his thumbs pressing gently.
“You have the sweetest little dimples on both cheeks,” he whispered, his thumbs making slow circles in the most hypnotic way.
“They really show when you smile, they showed that night we spent together, the night we made our baby.” His voice so incredibly deep, I wouldn’t mind if he recited the phone book to me just as long as he kept speaking in that sensual timbre.
Snapping out of my erotic-filled fog, I shook my hair away from behind my ears, using my hair to hide my blush.
“Ah, do they?” I asked, slipping away from the warmth of his body, instantly missing it. Marshall was dangerous, the way he said whatever was on his mind. The constant reminders of our night together, the power behind his dark brown eyes and my god his body. I’ve felt those arms, been in them. Had his muscular body over me, covering me … in me. He made me feel … want things, things I had no business feeling. Feelings I didn’t know what to do with now— sidestepping my way over to the other side of the table, putting some distance and furniture between us.
“So, the ultrasound, it’s on Wednesday at the BHS, the best time I could get was four-fifteen, so I have to close up the clinic early that day,” I told Marshall, not looking him in the eye; instead I kept my gaze on his throat.
“Public hospital? Booth said you went to see the same OBGYN as Wren,” Marshall asked, his voice confused.
“Ah, yeah, I was, but I asked my GP about share care. I go to see my GP for general check-ups and the prenatal clinic at the hospital once a month until I reach thirty weeks, then I have to attend twice a month, then more as I get closer to my due date,” I explained matter-of-factly.
“Public system? Are you sure that is the best choice?” Marshall asked, his forehead creasing in what … disgust?
What the hell! He shows up halfway through the pregnancy and he thinks he can judge the decisions I made for my— our baby?
“I hope you aren’t suggesting that I’m not caring for the wellbeing of our child, because I am the one that has been here for the last five months. You don’t have to be involved—”
“Don’t!” Marshall growled, “Do not finish that sentence. I have spent every available minute looking for you since I woke up alone and found the broken condom on the end of my cock.” Marshall stalked over to where I was standing, moving a chair out of his way so he could get closer to me. “I didn’t even know if you were pregnant, but that didn’t matter, finding you was the only important thing to me,” he declared quietly, his voice controlled and low. The only sign that gave his displeasure at what I said was his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down his throat.
“Marshall—”
“That night we had together may have been a one-night stand to you. To me, I thought something else, be that as it may, it resulted in a baby. Our baby. I won’t be left out or pushed aside. Our baby will know me as its father, and I will be involved Addy, very involved.” By the end, Marshall was panting heavily, his nostrils flaring, a bead of sweat dotted along his forehead.
“Hey.” Stepping into him, I placed my hand on his chest, and Marshall surprised me by grabbing my hand and pressing it hard to his chest.
“Every child deserves two parents, Addy. Please don’t go into with this without me, don’t leave me out of my child’s life,” Marshall begged, his pleas bringing tears to my eyes. His desperation didn’t go unnoticed, the reason behind it; however, I wasn’t all that sure on.
One thing was clear, he wanted this baby. And he was terrified that I wasn’t going to allow him any involvement. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whether it be luck or fate, I found the father of my baby or rather he found us.
My screwed-up head about my childhood and years after may be off kilter, and I was scared of falling in love with a man, but I would never allow those fears to keep Marshall from his baby.
Never.
Placing my free hand on Marshall’s strong jaw, I rose up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his scruffy cheek.
“I promise never to do that Marshall, not to you or our baby. I want Sproggo to have two parents,” I assured him, sensing that there was much more behind his overreaction to my silly slip of the tongue comment I decided Marshall and I had a lot more talking to do.
And that meant I was going to have to share some of my life.
Oh, joy.
***
“So, let me get this straight: Gabe is Tank, Bastian is Ammo, you are Grill, then Deke, who is Signal and Rafe, Kodah and Cole use their real names. Right?”
Marshall and I were settled on the couch and for the last two hours, we had been getting to know each other.
“Yeah, well no, Cole does have a nickname, we just don’t use it outside of a mission. His role in the team requires more security to protect his identity.”
“Huh, well I have no idea what that means, but … you certainly do lead a very exciting life from what you are allowed to tell me.” Grabbing the blanket, I pulled it further over my belly, my house might be small but it was cold. Usually, when it was just me I used a small space heater on the chillier nights, but with the baby due in the dead of winter, I was going to have to start using the more expensive heating system.
“I know what I have told you isn’t much, but believe me when I tell you a lot of what we do is mostly sitting around or walking through jungles on recon or driving around the desert in armoured vehicles.” Marshall shrugged. “Now tell me about being a vet. That is a lot of school I’m guessing.”
“Sure is,” I agreed nodding, “but worth it. I love animals of all kinds and at one time, I thought about specialising in zoo animals, but that required more years at school and my partial scholarship didn’t cover that. I could have gone for another one, I suppose, but with my student loans, I needed to start making money.”
“So, you didn’t settle for a small animal practice; you just wanted to get your career started.” Marshall smartly deduced.
“Yep, the vet I worked for here originally owned the practice, but he retired and offered the clinic to me. We came up with an amount that suited both of us, I went to the bank and begged, and low and behold I got a business loan. Not long after, I got myself a mortgage and bought this place.”
“Wow, impressive. And all this before thirty?” Marshall asked, raising his brow at me, a small blush staining his cheeks.
“Yep,” I replied, laughing at his discomfort, asking about my age. For two people who had a lot of sex in one night, we were basically strangers, but tonight we were fixing that.
“When did you join the army?”
“I joined the army in my early twenties; I’m the oldest in the team. The others all joined straight after high school. Ammo, Tank and Cole went through the academy, the rest of us general enlistment.”
“Ah, I see,” reaching out for my hot chocolate, I took a sip studying Marshall over the rim.
“You said your mum died, what about your dad?”
“Never knew him; he died before I was born. Mum never told me a thing about him, at least nothing I can remember. Faye wa
sn’t around during the time mum was pregnant or before, so she doesn’t know either.”
The way Marshall talked so casually about his parents impressed me. I sensed he was more upset about not knowing who his father was, more than the death of his mother, which explained a lot.
“At least we know why it is important to each of us why our baby grows up with two parents. Our pasts aren’t all that dissimilar,” I noted, keeping my tone controlled, but under the blanket, my hands were wringing. Just talking about becoming a parent brought a high level of anxiety.
“Yes, exactly. Only I want us to be a real family, and that means us being married. The baby and you having my last name.” Marshall leaned towards me, stressing the last part.
“Marshall please, let’s not do this now,” I sighed, throwing the blanket back and pushing off the couch.
“When Addy? When can we talk about it? You are twenty weeks already, halfway through. I can be called away anytime, so when will we get around to talking about it?” Marshall growled in frustration, getting up as well and following me.
“Not now! Damn it; Marshall don’t push me this soon. Before today I was already in the mindset of doing this alone. All we really have between us is one amazing night, and that is it. Please let’s take some more time to get to know more about one another before we jump into a shotgun wedding,” I implored, facing away from him. One thing I did know about my baby’s father was, he had an intensity about him that unsettled me. He had a goal, and nothing was going to derail it, nothing.
Grill (The Wounded Sons Book 3) Page 7
