HOT SEAL Redemption

by Lynn Raye Harris

  She tapped out a reply, sniffling as she did so. Call me, Kayla. Alex is a good guy and he knows people. He can protect you. And Ana. She’s safe, but she needs her mother. I know you care. If you didn’t, if you really didn’t want to be a mom, you’d have let Dunn sell her to the agency. But you didn’t do that. So you care and you want your baby. Come home and let me help. Love you, B.

  “Bailey?” Alexei stood in the door, a towel wrapped around his torso, his gaze questioning. “You okay?”

  She dragged in a breath and tried to smile. It probably didn’t look like much of a smile. “Kayla answered.” She lifted the phone. “You’ll be pleased to know you never slept with her. She lied because you made a guy pay his bill after he tried to stiff her. She thought you were nice.”

  He frowned. “I remember that incident. But I didn’t realize it was her. Some guy spent hours there, eating wings and pizza, drinking beer—bought a few rounds for the bar too. But then he walked out on a three-hundred-plus bill. Unfortunately for him, he spent a little too much time in the parking lot trying to get into some girl’s pants. I walked him back inside and made him pull out his credit card.”

  “Well, it earned you the coveted spot as her pretend baby daddy when she needed one.”

  Bailey bit the inside of her lip. She wasn’t mad because her sister thought Alexei was a good guy and would be a good dad for Ana. She was mad because Kayla had thought nothing of implicating an innocent man in the first place. Even if she had done it for what she thought was a good reason. Bailey was also mad because Kayla hadn’t told her any of this in the first place, hadn’t trusted Bailey to help keep her and Ana safe. Maybe Bailey wouldn’t be here with Alexei now, but she’d have thought of something. They could have left town. Called the police. Something.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” Alexei asked.

  Bailey pulled in a breath. “Dunn is Ana’s father. He wanted to sell her to an adoption agency. That’s why Kayla said she left. She thought that I would bring Ana to you, which I did, and you’d keep her safe. She clearly didn’t think the whole thing out in any depth.”

  “You sound pissed.” He walked into the room, his gaze straying down her form. She’d forgotten she was naked until then. Her nipples tightened at his perusal. Sexy beast.

  “A little. She didn’t think about how it would affect you to be accused. The way it might disrupt your life. Or mine. Or how being left with her clueless aunt might affect Ana. And what if there were no drugstore paternity tests? What then?”

  “We’d have found another way.” His towel was beginning to move. He ran his hands softly over her arms. “I know this is important, but I can’t fucking think right now,” he told her. “You’re naked and your mouth is red and swollen. All I can think about is getting inside you again—but first I need your pussy in my face.”

  Her breath hitched. “You just showered.”

  “I’ll shower again. With you. After I make you come a few more times.”

  The towel was a tent now. She reached for it, slipped it free, and let it fall. Because he was the only thing making her feel good right now. Her one indulgence.

  “Okay… but only if I get to suck you off first.”

  “No deal, babe. But I’ll let you suck me if you straddle my face while you do it.”

  Bailey shivered at the thought. “Now that sounds like a deal I can wrap my lips around…”

  “Thank God you’re here,” Cowboy muttered as Alexei walked into the house behind Bailey. He tried not to laugh at the wide-eyed crazy look his teammate sported.

  “Yeah, thanks for taking care of the squirt.”

  Cowboy put a hand on his shoulder, stopped him from proceeding. “Camel, man, I love you like a brother, but if my wife starts telling me she wants to begin a family, I’m going to kill you in your sleep.”

  Alexei snorted. “Aw, come on, dude. That little pip-squeak scared you that much? She’s cute and pretty easy right now. It gets more difficult later.”

  “More difficult? Like how? I’m going to have nightmares about changing diapers as it is.”

  “Miranda made you learn, huh?”

  Cowboy grumbled. “Probably wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t told her I was glad it wasn’t me having to do it. Even then, I might have gotten away with it if I hadn’t said I’d probably never change a diaper in my life because it’d make me gag. I was trying to prepare her, you know, in case…” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I learned. Right then and there. No matter how much I gagged.”

  Alexei couldn’t stop the laugh this time.

  Cowboy frowned. “Seriously. You. Dead. Fragged somewhere. I’ll get the guys to back me up. They will when I tell them.”

  Alexei wrapped an arm around his teammate and smacked a kiss on his cheek before Cowboy could stop him. “Dream on, buddy. You love me too much.”

  “Eww, don’t do that you crazy motherfucker,” Cowboy said, pushing him away and wiping his cheek while Alexei laughed harder.

  “Then don’t threaten me and make me prove that you harbor mad unrequited love for me.”

  “Jesus. Hell no, not in this lifetime,” Cowboy growled. “Not unless you develop tits and a pussy—and not even then because Miranda’s the only one for me.”

  Alexei slugged Cowboy in the arm. Not hard. “I know. Just ribbing you, man. It’s funny as hell to watch you freak out.” He gazed into the living room where Miranda and Bailey were gathered, Ana cradled in her aunt’s arms, Bailey making funny faces and talking in a high-pitched voice. His heart did a little stumble thing in his chest and he rubbed his hand over it. What the hell was that shit?

  “I know,” Cowboy said, voice pitched low. “It’s terrifying as hell to watch women with babies, right? I mean it gets you thinking maybe, if she really wanted to have one…” He shook his head. “Nope, nope, nope. Not going there.”

  “Hey, Cowboy,” Alexei began, and his friend turned from where he’d been all starry-eyed over Miranda.

  “Yeah?”

  “How did you know? About Miranda, I mean?”

  Cowboy arched an eyebrow. “You asking for a reason?”

  “Yeah,” he admitted. “I just don’t know how people know. I mean maybe fucking the same person is great and all that, and knowing there’ll be someone there when you get home instead of having to call a hookup—that has to be a nice thing. But what makes it different? What makes it real? How do you know it’s not just infatuation because you’re enjoying the pussy too much?”

  Cowboy looked far more serious than Alexei would have thought in a moment like this. He’d have expected jokes and innuendo about his life and, yeah, even insinuations about his relationship with Bailey. It was probably obvious they’d had sex by now. Hot sex. Found-a-new-religion sex.

  Well, maybe that part wasn’t obvious, though he expected the sex part was. He’d spent far too much time alone with Bailey, not to mention she was as hot as a Playboy bunny, for Cowboy not to think he’d gone there with her.

  “I’m not going to say the skies parted and a light shone down and I knew,” Cowboy said. “But I knew that I felt different with her. And I knew, when I wasn’t with her, that I wanted to be. Nothing felt right without her. And everything did when I was with her. The thought of ever being with another woman? Not even remotely appealing. Miranda is the best part of me. I can’t be who I am without her. Not anymore.”

  Alexei couldn’t fathom that part. Not be who he was without a woman? Someone else be the best part of him? It didn’t seem possible. He liked who he was, liked his life. Well, most of it anyway. Sometimes coming home to an empty house, especially after a mission, was a little lonely. Not that he minded it too much. He was a loner. Always had liked his solitude, probably from growing up surrounded by so much chaos.

  “Thanks,” he said. “Just wondering.”

  “You’ll know,” Cowboy told him. “Maybe not right away, maybe not when you should—but there’ll come a moment when it’s all clear as rain. And you’ll p
ray to God you didn’t fuck it up too badly and she’ll still want you.”

  “Yeah, pretty sure this miraculous woman doesn’t exist, so I’m not too worried about it. I’ll just keep fucking my way through the greater DC area and feeling sorry for you bozos who’ve decided to settle down. Especially when the babies start coming,” he added.

  Cowboy shook himself. “Asshole.”

  “What, you don’t want any little pieces of you and Miranda running around? Being adorable and shit?”

  “Not saying that. Just not yet. I want more time with her alone before I start to share.”

  “Yeah, I hear you.” That had been his parents’ problem from the beginning. They’d married because she’d been pregnant with him. And then she’d stayed pregnant for years. They’d never had time alone together. Time to learn each other and let their relationship strengthen.

  Alexei and Cowboy went to join the women. Bailey looked up when he approached, her eyes sparkling with happiness. Something inside him twisted, like a key inserting into a lock. It just clicked, and he stood there wondering what the fuck it was. What had just happened to him. He didn’t feel any different, so he went to her side and put his hand on Ana’s head.

  “Hey, pip-squeak,” he said. “Did you behave yourself for Auntie Miranda and Uncle Cowboy?”

  “Oh, she’s just a little angel,” Miranda said excitedly. “So precious. Sleeps pretty good too. I was surprised.”

  “Thank you so much for keeping her,” Bailey said. “I know two nights is a lot with a baby who’s not yours, and I really appreciate it.”

  Miranda squeezed Bailey’s arm. “Sweetie,” she said, her Alabama accent lilting and syrupy, “You don’t have to keep saying it. I really did enjoy her.” She eyed Cowboy. “I learned a few things about my man too. We’re going to have to work on some stuff around here.”

  Bailey smiled softly at Cowboy. Alexei tried not to feel a pinprick of annoyance at that soft smile that wasn’t for him.

  “Sorry about that, Cody,” she said.

  “Eh, she’d have figured it out sooner or later,” he replied. “Not to mention, taught me a few things about babies that I didn’t know… like how much of a commitment it is to have one. I knew, but I didn’t know.”

  Bailey laughed. “You and me both. It’s trial by fire—but you figure it out. Especially when you have help,” she finished, glancing at Alexei.

  “So hey, y’all want to grab something to eat?” Miranda asked. “We were thinking of going out for Italian. Or Korean. I can’t decide.”

  Alexei wanted to say no. He wanted to take Bailey back to his place, get Ana settled into her crib, and then nail her aunt again while the baby took a nap. Bailey didn’t have to work for two more nights, so he’d been busy thinking about all the ways he was going to fuck her. But Bailey was looking at him like she’d enjoy the outing, so he nodded. “Yeah, sounds great. Bailey?”

  “I’m hungry. Sure.”

  “Awesome,” Miranda said. “So which do y’all prefer?”

  “Pasta sounds great to me,” Bailey said, “so long as everyone else agrees.”

  Everyone did. Miranda turned to Cowboy. “Babe, can you call the restaurant and see if we can get a table?”

  He pulled his phone out and walked away to make the call.

  Miranda turned to them. “I know it’s only midafternoon, but they’re pretty popular,” she explained.

  He came back a few moments later and gave a thumbs-up. “We’re good.”

  Bailey took Ana’s carrier while Alexei carried her things to his truck and put them in. Then he took the carrier from Bailey and buckled it into the back seat. It wasn’t the first time he’d put Ana in his truck and taken her and Bailey with him somewhere, but it felt different this time. Almost like a preview of some strange future where he had a woman and a kid, the very things he wasn’t ready for.

  “Something wrong?” Bailey asked when he got into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle. He glanced at her, at her pretty face and purple hair, and thought, Wow. Then he thought, What the hell have I gotten myself into?

  “What color is your hair really?”

  She blinked. “You’re just now asking that?”

  He shrugged. “I thought I’d know when I stripped you naked, but I didn’t realize you’d shaved your pussy. By the time I knew that, your hair color was the last thing on my mind.”

  Her mouth quirked. “And your mind hasn’t been working since?”

  “Not really, no. In fact, I’m not sure what made me wonder now, except that I was thinking of your pussy and figuring out how long it’s going to be before I get to lick it again.”

  “Alexei,” she breathed, her voice sounding strained. “I don’t know why you have such a fixation with doing that, but I’m pretty happy you do.”

  “Baby doll, pussy is one of my five favorite things.”

  She snorted. “What are the other four?”

  “Tits. Ass. Guns. And pancakes. Love pancakes.”

  She burst out laughing. “Oh my God, not what I expected.”

  “So what color is it, baby? You gonna tell me or what?”

  “It’s boring. Blond, but not sunny blond like Miranda’s. More like a sandy blond that wishes it was more exciting.”

  He glanced at her as he turned onto the main road, right behind Cowboy and Miranda. “Bailey, if you got any more exciting, I’d probably lose consciousness.”

  She blinked. “Why’s that?”

  “All that blood draining from my brain to my dick would happen much too fast for me to handle.”

  Bailey burst into giggles. Alexei couldn’t help but laugh too. Damn, she was fun. He liked hearing her laugh. Liked hearing her moan too. Tonight he planned to make that happen as much as possible. Before this was all over and he had to give her up for good.

  Chapter 19

  Bailey liked Alexei’s friends. She got used to him and Cody calling each other by their call signs, which is what they said their nicknames were. Cowboy and Camel. Names for missions. Names that somehow fit them even if they weren’t really their actual names.

  “So what are the other guys called?” she asked, twirling pasta on her fork.

  “Let’s see,” Cody said, ticking off his fingers. “Viking, Money, Cage, Blade, Neo, and Dirty Harry, though we call him Dirty for short. That’s our team. There are others though.”

  “Yeah,” Alexei said. “We’ve got all kinds.”

  “How do you get these names?” she asked.

  Miranda took a drink of her wine and grinned while Alexei explained. “A variety of ways. Mine comes from my last name, like I said. Cowboy here—well, he grew up on a ranch and liked to ride mechanical bulls when I met him. Money’s first name is Cash. Cage is a Cajun from south Louisiana. Viking looks like a Norse god.” He shrugged. “It’s a play on your name or maybe something you said or did once that follows you around. They can be cool, but they can also be funny.”

  The waiter came by and asked if they needed anything. Alexei asked for a refill on his water. Miranda wanted more bread for the table.

  “What about you, Miranda?” Bailey asked once the waiter was gone. “What do you do?”

  They’d been talking about Alexei and Cody’s work, but Bailey still didn’t know what Miranda did. There were swift glances exchanged between all three of them that had her wondering if she’d crossed a line somehow.

  “I’m a government employee,” Miranda said smoothly. “I travel a lot, but right now I’m on a break. Like Cody. We try to schedule those together if at all possible. More bread?” she asked, picking up the basket with the remaining bread and offering it to Bailey.

  “Thanks,” Bailey replied, taking a slice and dipping her knife in the butter. She waited for someone else to pick up the conversation. It soon shifted to other topics, and they ended up staying in the restaurant for a long time, finally ending with dessert and coffee. When Ana got fussy, Bailey reached for her, but Alexei was there first.

&nbs
p; “I got it,” he said, taking the baby to the bathroom where he’d probably change her diaper or feed her, depending on the issue.

  Cody watched him go with wide eyes that made Bailey stifle a laugh. He caught her looking and shrugged. “It’s weird, okay? I’m used to a different Camel, not one that cuddles babies.”

  She thought about the version of Alexei he must be accustomed to. It made her shiver to imagine Alexei in camouflage, weapons strapped across his torso, sweat streaming down his face, fighting for his life in a hot and dusty desert somewhere. She glanced at Miranda, who had to deal with the same knowledge and thoughts about Cody.

  But Miranda didn’t look worried about anything. She touched Cody’s arm. “Let’s talk about something else, sweetie. Bailey has enough to worry about.”

  “It’s okay,” Bailey said. “I don’t really know what y’all do, but I’ve seen enough movies to have an idea. I think. And we’re all complicated, right? What Alexei does at work isn’t the entire picture of who he is.”

  Both of them were looking at her with interest. “Alexei. I don’t think I knew that was his name,” Miranda murmured.

  “Oh. Well.” Bailey started to blush. “His family emigrated from Russia. It’s what they call him.”

  “And you,” Miranda said.

  The blush was spreading. “Well, er, that’s what he said his name was. It kind of stuck in my mind that way.”

  Alexei returned with Ana then. Bailey bit the inside of her lip, wondering if they’d say anything to him about his name, but neither of them did. They finished their dessert and when the bill came, the waiter had divided it into two bills, one for each couple. Bailey reached for her wallet in the diaper bag, but Alexei took out a credit card and handed it to the waiter while Cody did the same.

  Once they said their goodbyes and got into the truck, with promises to get together again sometime—promises that Bailey found sort of awkward considering she wasn’t Alexei’s girlfriend and wasn’t going to be around forever—Bailey turned to Alexei.