HOT SEAL Redemption

by Lynn Raye Harris

  The answer was that he didn’t care. He was just being a decent human being. For now. It’s what his mother would want him to do. He could be decent and helpful and still be rid of this woman by late afternoon.

  He muttered a curse to himself—in Russian, of course, because that’s all he’d spoken until he started watching American cartoons as a toddler—then headed for the kitchen and fixed coffee. While it brewed, he poured some cereal into a bowl, added milk, and ate it standing up while he waited for the coffee. When that was done, he poured a cup and drank it while watching the woman sleeping on his couch. She hadn’t moved.

  He went over to the diaper bag and rummaged through it more thoroughly, looking for identification. He found a small purse tucked into a pocket and took it out. Inside was her wallet, her car keys, and a tube of lipgloss. There were random business cards, and who knew what else, but he was mostly interested in the wallet. He opened it up and found a Tennessee driver’s license. There was forty dollars in cash but no credit cards.

  Bailey Jones.

  SEX F, HGT 5'-08", EYES HZL.

  According to her birth date, she was twenty-five years old. Her address was in Tennessee, so he doubted it was current. A quick check of the town on Google told him it was in the northeast corner of the state, near the borders with Virginia and Kentucky. He put everything back and tucked the purse into the diaper bag.

  She jerked in her sleep. A second later, she pushed herself upright, panic written in every line of her body.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “You’re fine and the baby is fine. She’s sleeping.”

  Bailey pushed lavender hair from her face and tucked it behind an ear. She had delicate features—a small nose with a slight upturn at the end, a pretty bow mouth that looked kissable and inviting, and smooth cheekbones. Her eyes were big and pretty, with long lashes and amber irises that were striking even while bloodshot.

  “I fell asleep. I’m sorry.”

  “Coffee?” he asked, ignoring her comment.

  “Uh, please.”

  He went and poured another cup. “What do you like in it?”

  “Um, black with three sugars would be great. Thanks.”

  He heaped in the sugar, stirred, and took it back to her. She was smaller on his couch than she’d appeared when he’d opened the door. Probably because she’d been pissed, which had made her seem bigger. Plus he’d been slightly groggy and confused about the situation.

  She took the cup in both hands and lifted it to her mouth. When she’d taken a sip, she sighed and fixed him with a wary look. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You got her to sleep.” She sounded amazed.

  “Five siblings, all younger. Two sets of twins and a brother who’s a year younger than me. I had a lot of practice.”

  She blinked for a second. “Two sets of twins? Oh my God, your poor mother.”

  He nodded. “Yep. Runs in the family. Both sides, apparently. Mom had her tubes tied after the second set.”

  Bailey’s gaze dropped to his crotch. She jerked it back up again. Her cheeks were pink. “Then I guess I can be thankful my sister didn’t have more than one baby.”

  He snorted, both at what she’d said and at how she was embarrassed to be caught looking. “I guess so. Though I am not this kid’s father. That I can promise you.”

  She tilted her head and frowned. “Can you really? Never forgot the condom? Never ripped one? Never got one with a microscopic hole poked through it?”

  Smartass, this girl.

  “No, I never forget. Never ripped one either. As for the hole… Well, sure, there are women who might try that. But it wouldn’t matter. I pull out.”

  “Before you pull out then. Pre-come. It happens.”

  Hearing her say anything to do with come sent a tickle of desire straight into his balls. He wasn’t surprised at the reaction. He’d been downrange for weeks, so yeah, sex was on his mind. He’d been intending to head out tonight, call one of his hookups, take care of the itch with a long night of fucking. He didn’t do relationships, and there were very few women who could accept that. But he’d found a couple who enjoyed the sex enough to put up with his lack of commitment.

  “It happens,” he said. “But it would take a supersperm to get through, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe you’re making the whole thing up and you forgot the condom when you were with Kayla.”

  Kayla? He didn’t recall any Kaylas in his life. Not that there couldn’t have been any, but this one would have been within the past year and… No. No Kaylas.

  “You think with multiple twins running in the family I’d take that kind of risk? Hell no.” Because the last damned thing he wanted or needed was to father a bunch of kids right now. His life was not conducive to family and relationships. He wasn’t sure it ever would be—or that he’d want it to be.

  “All I know is what she told me. She said it was you. And that you made it clear beforehand that if there were consequences, you wouldn’t do anything to help.”

  Anger rolled inside him. That was a dick thing to say, and he wouldn’t have said it. Not that Bailey would believe him. “She’s mistaken.”

  She lifted her chin. “You’re going to have to prove it to me. I can’t just take your word for it.”

  He knew where she was going with this thing. There was only one logical place to go. “You mean a paternity test, right?”

  She nodded.

  He thought about refusing her. But that wouldn’t get her off his back. She’d plague him until he got called out on a mission again. And when he returned, she’d still be here.

  He liked his peace and quiet too much for that. “Sure thing, sweet cakes. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

  Her eyes went flat. Her voice, when she spoke, was soft and hard at the same time. “Don’t call me sweet cakes. Don’t call me anything but Bailey or Miss Jones.”

  Alexei studied her. She’d gone stiff and she looked angry. He wondered at her reaction, but then he told himself he didn’t care enough to ask why. Probably one of those angry feminist types who hated when guys opened doors and tried to be nice like their mamas taught them. “If that’s what you prefer. Bailey.”

  “Yes. Thank you.” She took another sip of coffee. Fixed him with those amber eyes, which had softened slightly now that he’d agreed to call her Bailey. “You’ll take a paternity test? Really?”

  “Yes, really. But you’re paying for it. If I’m the father, I’ll pay. But not until then.” No chance of that though.

  The corners of her mouth tightened. “All right. Seems fair enough.”

  “So where are you planning to get this done?”

  She frowned. “I don’t know yet. I’ll Google it.”

  Clearly she hadn’t expected him to agree so easily. He picked up his phone and tapped on the browser. “I’ll save you the time.”

  A quick check of the results told him there were any number of clinics in the local area as well as several over-the-counter options that you had to mail in. He turned the phone around and held it out. “Which one?”

  If he wasn’t mistaken, her cheeks started to grow red as she scanned the results. This chick was interesting. The oddest things embarrassed her. “How about a swab that we send in?”

  “Fine with me.” He wouldn’t let her out of his sight until they’d dropped it in the mail. Not that he figured she could tamper with the test, but anything was possible. Besides, it was the nature of his business to be suspicious. “When do you want to get it?”

  “Um, today?”

  “Today’s fine.”

  She looked confused. “You’re being very understanding about this whole thing. Why?”

  He decided not to tell her that he wanted to put the question to rest—and get her off his back and out of his hair. Instead, he went with an equally plausible reason.

  “Because you seem like you’re in a bad situation, Bailey Jones. And helping people is what I do.
In a way.”

  Bailey clutched the coffee mug in both hands and blinked at him. He had no idea how true that statement was. She had a roof over her head and money coming in—good money—but her livelihood depended on her job, and that was difficult with a baby. Not to mention she sucked at the whole baby thing. It took her hours to get Ana to sleep, and he’d done it so easily.

  She was exhausted, which explained how she’d fallen asleep on a strange man’s couch for an hour without waking. Hell, she was still tired, but she couldn’t stay here. Didn’t want to stay. She just wanted to get that paternity test, find out if Alex Kamarov was the father, and then—

  Then what?

  Bailey frowned. She didn’t know. She’d had some sort of vision of getting help with childcare and support, but the reality was that if he was the father, he had more claim to Ana than she did. The thought sent a chill down her spine that hadn’t been there before.

  Alex was watching her with those gorgeous green eyes of his. She had the uncomfortable feeling that he could see right into the heart of her, see all her fears and secrets. He was devastatingly handsome. How many women spilled their guts to him—and opened their bodies—before he dropped them like hot potatoes and moved on to the next one in line? Because that’s what he’d done to Kayla. Used her and dropped her before the sheets even got cold.

  Nervously, Bailey took another drink of coffee. She hadn’t been able to make any this morning before setting off for his house. She hadn’t eaten either, though she’d made sure Ana had a bottle. Her stomach growled and she cleared her throat to cover it.

  He heard it though, because he frowned. “You want some cereal or something?”

  “No, I’m fine.” She wasn’t, but she wasn’t going to accept food from him too.

  “If you say so.”

  “I do.” She cleared her throat again. “You said you help people. In what way?”

  “My job. I get people out of bad situations, though I have to say there are usually criminals involved.”

  Her heart skipped. “I’m not involved with any criminals.” But she probably knew some. The club drew all kinds.

  “Never said you were. But you’re in a bad situation.”

  She bristled. He seemed so certain, and even though it was true, she just wanted to deny it. How did he know? “What makes you think that? Because I fell asleep on your couch? Babies are hard—and I wasn’t prepared to deal with one.”

  “I think you need to tell me what happened to put you in that position in the first place. Since I’m supposed to be Ana’s father.”

  Bailey swallowed. Did he have that right? Maybe he did. And even if he didn’t, she was so close to a breakdown that she wanted to tell someone.

  “There isn’t much to tell. Kayla slept with you, then she took off with a friend and went to California because she knew you wouldn’t help her. She didn’t tell me she was pregnant. I didn’t know anything about it until she came back a week ago with Ana.”

  “And where’s Kayla now?”

  Bailey dropped her gaze from the piercing look in his. She didn’t like this part. Couldn’t make sense of it even now. If Ana was hers, she didn’t think she’d be able to abandon her. Then again, she didn’t know what Kayla had been through the past few months. “She left. Two days ago.”

  Alex frowned. “She left her baby with you? Just took off?”

  Bailey nodded. The familiar lump was in her throat again. “She’s a kid herself. Only twenty-one. She’s not prepared for a baby.” Anger flooded her belly with acid. “You should have been more careful. You military guys, always fucking with women’s heads. She was dazzled by you. Probably thought you would take care of her, but you didn’t. You fucked her and sent her on her way.”

  His face was a thundercloud. “That’s a lot of accusation, don’t you think?”

  “Not if it’s true.”

  His jaw worked. “We’re going to find out if it’s true. You have a picture of Kayla?”

  Bailey reached into the diaper bag and got her phone. Then she scrolled through pictures until she found one. She turned it to him with a surge of triumph.

  “Can you deny this is you?”

  He glanced at the picture. It was of him and two other men. He had an arm over Kayla’s shoulders and they were all grinning. Kayla had sent her the picture when Bailey asked who Ana’s father was.

  He frowned. “That’s me, yeah. She was a waitress at Buddy’s. Pretty sure her name wasn’t Kayla though.”

  Bailey felt the acid churning. “Did she go by Harley?”

  “Yeah, I think that was it.”

  “Did you sleep with her?”

  His troubled gaze met hers. “I don’t know.”

  Chapter 3

  It was surreal to stare at a picture of himself with a woman who claimed she’d had his baby. Cowboy and Money were in the picture too, but he was the one with his arm on her shoulders. Alexei didn’t think he’d slept with her, but he couldn’t say that with one hundred percent certainty. There’d been a period of time a few months ago when he’d been trying to erase some bad shit that had happened on a mission. Drinking heavily was frowned upon, especially for a sniper, so he’d eased his pain with sex. Lots of sex.

  And yeah, he’d made some regrettable choices in partners. He hadn’t gotten anyone pregnant though. Not one woman ever came to him with that claim. Not one.

  He had an ironclad rule about sex without protection, and he followed it to the letter. So even if he’d slept with Kayla, aka Harley, he wouldn’t have gotten her pregnant. But if he had slept with her and she thought her baby was his, why hadn’t she come to him about it?

  “You don’t know,” Bailey said. “How can you not know?”

  “Because I don’t. Because it was months ago. Because I don’t keep a fucking diary about these things.” He leaned forward, pierced her with his gaze. “The baby is not mine. But if she was, I’d do what’s right.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.” Her voice was soft, a counterweight to his hard one.

  “That picture proves nothing,” he pressed on. “It’s me and my buddies with your sister. That’s not a crime. It’s also not evidence of guilt.”

  She looked down at the picture before clicking the phone’s Sleep button. “No, it’s not. But it was the only one she had so I could see your face.”

  “She could have shown you a picture of Justin Bieber and said he was the father. What then?”

  Annoyance flashed across her features. “She showed me you. The two of you together. Could she have lied? Sure. But right now all I have to go on is what she told me. And you aren’t denying that you might have slept with her.”

  Irritation flared. “So we need to get to the truth.”

  “The sooner the better.” She shook her head. “You know, I have to work tonight and I still need childcare. So if you’d like to head out to the pharmacy, we can do the swabs and I’ll be on my way.”

  “Who’s going to take care of her while you work?”

  “My neighbor, I hope. If not her, then I have a friend or two I can call.”

  She didn’t look at him when she said it. Alexei felt his gut tighten. Goddamn it, he didn’t need to get involved. He would not get involved. Especially when there was the weight of this thing sitting between them.

  “I can watch her.” Fuck, dude. Where did that come from?

  Her head snapped up. “Why would you want to do that? You don’t even know her—and we don’t know you.”

  Alexei rolled his eyes. “You don’t know me and yet here you are, accusing me of being her father. Did you think I’d write some checks and leave you to it?”

  She had the grace to look embarrassed. “No, of course not. But I figured it would be a process, and I’d get to know you before you spent time alone with her.”

  “Up to you, Bailey Jones. I’m offering to watch the kid so you can go to work. I don’t know why I’m doing it, considering babies are a pain in the ass and I just returned from an ov
erseas mission. I’d like to spend some quality time with my television, a pizza, and a woman, not changing diapers and burping a baby. But if my offer’s not good enough for you, I get it. No problem for me if you turn it down.”

  She was frowning. “If my neighbor can’t do it, then I accept.”

  “Don’t sound so excited about it.”

  “I am excited. It means I can work, which means I get paid.” She frowned harder. “But wait—are you planning to use her to pick up women?”

  He scoffed. “Lady, I don’t need a baby’s help. I manage just fine on my own.”

  “I bet you do,” she grumbled, half to herself.

  “So where do you work?”

  Her gaze skittered away. “At a nightclub.”

  He’d been expecting her to say she was a hairdresser with hair like that. Apparently not. He got the feeling she didn’t want to say anything more about the nightclub. Since it wasn’t important to him, he didn’t press her. “If your neighbor can’t watch her, you can drop her here before you go.”

  If she took him up on it, he was so not getting laid tonight.

  She seemed to be thinking about it. “She’d need to stay until about two or so.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll be awake.” Awake and asking himself what the hell he’d been thinking to volunteer to watch an infant when he could be getting head instead.

  “You won’t call someone to come over for a booty call, will you? I don’t want you ignoring her to get laid.”

  He grabbed his keys off the coffee table and pocketed them. “First of all, I wouldn’t offer if I was planning to do that. And second—you ready to go get that test?”

  She tipped her head back to study his face, and his chest tightened for the briefest of moments. She was pretty. And he was horny. Down, boy.

  “Fine. And yes, I’m ready.”