His Baby Secret - A Second Chance SEAL Romance (Once a SEAL, Always a SEAL Book 1)

by Layla Valentine

  She nodded, holding his wrist to keep his hand in place. She didn’t want to risk it. Not with how amazing she was feeling.

  “Are you ready for me to move?” he asked, watching her carefully.

  Hannah nodded, completely trusting Dominic. He hadn’t failed her yet. This was just the next step.

  Any discomfort she’d experienced was completely banished as he eased in and out of her, guided by her own slickness. That ebb and flow of him, the feeling of his thumb against her body, the feeling that he was taking his time, almost toying with her, was too much.

  It was too much, too delicious, and she came a third time, glad for Dominic’s hand over her mouth as she grappled with a moan, her body clenching down on him. The fact that he was inside her when she came gave her a completely different orgasm than before. It echoed through her entire body, this one, while the first two had been more localized. It was hard to explain. Hard to believe, even if she was the one experiencing it.

  Dominic gritted his teeth hard, holding her close to him, and a single grunt he barely held back was the only evidence of his orgasm. He thrust languidly in and out of her, riding the crest of the wave, before he gently withdrew, looking at the condom with concern.

  “Looks fine to me,” Hannah whispered when she trusted her voice again.

  “Yeah, I think we’re good.” Dominic checked the clock. “Dammit. I have to get going.”

  “Dom.” Later, Hannah would blame it on her brain, scrambled by a trio of orgasms. “I love you.”

  The admission caught them both by surprise, but Dominic leaned down to kiss her and said, “I love you, too, Hannah. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Hannah watched him disappear out the window, resting on her bed for as long as she dared before closing it and getting dressed. She wasn’t a virgin anymore. She was a real woman, and Dominic was the one who’d helped her take that next step.

  How was it that she was even more excited about the fact that they’d said they loved each other than the idea that they’d had sex? She drifted to sleep thinking about it, puzzled but pleased. There would be plenty of time to figure everything else out.

  Chapter 6

  Dominic

  “What the hell is this?”

  Dominic blinked up at his father, morning light slotting in through the window. There was no way of telling what the drill sergeant was talking about.

  It could’ve been about something he found wrong with the car, even though Dominic always took care to double check that everything was in working order with it after using it. It could’ve been the fact that he’d overslept, probably. Or the fact that his father had finally figured out that he’d been sneaking out of the house for years late at night to go over to Hannah and Harvey’s place.

  Could he suspect that Dominic had taken Hannah’s virginity last night? Hell, no. Dominic dispelled that thought immediately. There would be no way for his father to know.

  “What is what?” he asked, bleary.

  If his father knew what time Dominic had actually gotten in last night, maybe he wouldn’t have woken him up so early. Dominic had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep.

  A heavy envelope slapped against Dominic’s chest. The Navy emblem was emblazoned on the upper left-hand corner of it, but the envelope itself was open.

  “Did you open my mail?” he demanded, irritation spiking. “That’s illegal.”

  “As long as you’re in my house, I can open whatever I want. Move out, boy, and you can do whatever you like.” The drill sergeant looked down his nose at Dominic. “That’ll be a wakeup call to end all wakeup calls. Welcome to the world of bills. Of being an adult. It’s better than being in the Navy.”

  Dominic ignored him as he went off on his diatribe against the branch of the military Dominic was fondest of. If he’d opened the letter, if he was angry about it, then did that mean…

  “Yes!” Dominic said, clenching his fist. “They accepted me. I’m going to be a Navy SEAL.”

  “They’ll take anything,” his father said dismissively. “You’re not special.”

  “I’m going to be training in one of the most elite forces of the military,” Dominic informed him. “As biased as you are, you have to recognize how important SEALs are.”

  “No more important than the Army Rangers,” he sniffed. “What was so offensive about the Army to you, boy? You know this is an Army family, and yet you shit all over it by enlisting in the Navy.”

  “You know, most families would appreciate a fun rivalry,” Dominic pointed out. “Most families would be honored that their son was going to serve in the military.”

  “Sure, if it was the right branch,” his father cried. “But this is just a blatant insult. Maybe the biggest sign of disrespect for me you’ve ever shown.”

  Dominic stuffed the letter back into the envelope and yanked on his clothes as his father blustered and blathered. He didn’t have to stay here and take this. Sure, the drill sergeant had learned how to be a mean old bastard in the Army. But that didn’t mean that Dominic had to follow in his footsteps. He could be his own man, and that was what the Navy SEALs were for.

  Harvey was going to flip. It was Harvey who’d helped Dominic decided on the SEALs, and it was Harvey who he wanted to celebrate with first.

  Of course, Dominic wondered if Hannah would be up for a little celebratory sex later tonight. Surely, she’d be feeling patriotic for him. He couldn’t wait to get more from her, and made a mental note to pick up a pack of condoms from the drug store nearby.

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” his father demanded, finally noticing from his complaints that Dominic was heading out the door.

  “I’ll be back later,” Dominic said, not bothering to even look over his shoulder.

  Now, the drill sergeant was going on and on about a lack of respect, but Dominic was pretty convinced he didn’t deserve it. Not with the utter disregard Dominic himself was subjected to. What, did his father think they were all of a sudden going to have a wonderful relationship with each other just because Dominic enlisted in the Army? It was ludicrous.

  The jog to Marnie’s house burned off much of Dominic’s aggression. He barged right in the front door, a frequent enough visitor to eschew common courtesies like doorbells.

  “Hey, there, Dom,” Marnie said, friendly as ever, her shock of white hair wavy in a careless halo spread around her head. “You in a hurry, or could you eat a little breakfast?”

  He was about to decline when his stomach betrayed him, yowling and growling at the prospect of food.

  “Maybe just a little something,” he admitted, then saw, for the first time, Hannah sitting at the kitchen table, spoon poised over a bowl of cereal, dressed only in her robe.

  He knew what was under there. Had tasted, felt, and experienced it only hours before. The idea enough that she was so casually there, studying him with her blond eyebrows raised slightly, close enough to touch, made Dominic feel a little hot and bothered.

  “Well, you know to make yourself at home whenever you’re here,” Marnie said. “Eggs and bacon are in the fridge.”

  “Thank you,” Dominic said.

  Hannah gave a cute little smirk. “You know Dom doesn’t know how to cook, Marn. You basically just invited him to burn down the house.”

  Marnie patted Hannah on the shoulder fondly. “Then you could always cook them for him, Hannah, and show him what a good friend you are.”

  Marnie left the kitchen, and Dominic grinned. “A very, very good friend.”

  “Harvey’s upstairs,” Hannah said quickly, frowning at him.

  Dominic quickly took the hint. They were supposed to keep their night together a secret, which was fine with him. Harvey would murder him before he let him officially date Hannah. That was fine.

  “Okay,” he said. “I’ll just run up and say hi real quick. What’s the chance you’ll actually fix me eggs and bacon like Marnie said you could?”

  Hannah smiled. “Slim to none.”<
br />
  “Thought so.” He winked at her. “How could I convince you? Anything you want in particular?”

  “Maybe I wasn’t clear,” Hannah said, glaring at him as she pointed up at the ceiling. She mouthed her twin’s name in an exaggerated fashion.

  “Right, right, sorry,” Dominic said quickly. “Back soon.”

  He took the stairs several at a time, busting into Harvey’s room without knocking.

  “Ugh,” Harvey groaned, lying face-down on the bed. He turned his head to the side. “I swear to Christ you’re going to just barge in here one day, and you’re gonna see something you’re not going to be able to un-see.”

  “What, like you in misery?” Dominic teased. “Sucks for you, man. Hangovers are hell.”

  “Not so loud,” Harvey mumbled, fixing a baleful glare on him. “Any sound is like an ice pick to my brain. Plus, Marnie’ll be pissed if she figures out I was drinking last night. I promised her I’d hold off for as long as I was under her roof. Stupid rule, really. Mile-wide loophole. Last night, I wasn’t under Marnie’s roof, was I? I was under Ronnie Kurtz’s.”

  “Whatever you have to tell yourself to look yourself in the mirror every morning,” Dominic reasoned. “Check this out.” He tossed the envelope to Harvey, who slapped it away.

  “What part of my hangover don’t you understand?” Harvey groused. “I can barely look at you without gagging. How am I supposed to read something in this state?”

  “See, you’re always telling me how I should have fun and drink more, but this part doesn’t look very fun, honestly,” Dominic said, snagging his letter from the floor and putting it in a safe spot on Harvey’s dresser.

  “Don’t knock it till you try it,” Harvey said. “I get to stay in bed all day and get waited on hand and foot because Marnie just thinks I have a touch of the flu.”

  Dominic shook his head. “You know she has to know at this point.”

  “Probably.” If it concerned Harvey particularly, he didn’t show it. “So, what’s in the letter?”

  “I’m going to be a SEAL,” Dominic whooped, and Harvey covered his ears in pain. “Damn, sorry.”

  “How are you going to be a marine mammal?” Harvey asked, wincing.

  “Not Marines, idiot. Navy. Navy SEALs.” Dominic pointed at the envelope. “That’s what the letter’s from. I’ve enlisted. I’ll start training soon.”

  “Holy shit, dude.” Harvey managed a sickly, crooked grin. “They’re going to kick your ass so bad during training.”

  “It’ll be fine.”

  “No, seriously. Your ass is going to be hamburger meat. From all the kicking.”

  “Jealous?”

  “Of all those pushups and sit-ups? Hell, no.” Harvey pushed himself up to a sitting position, yawning and scratching his stomach. “Will I miss you when you leave me to my own devices in this stupid city? Sure. But the Navy SEALs are awesome. And you getting in? Even more awesome. Go ahead. Read the letter. I want to hear it.”

  Dominic started, grinning as he realized how nice it was to have someone who was actually excited for him to be in the Navy. But, at the end of the dramatic reading aloud, Dominic turned to see Hannah standing in the doorway, gaping at him, staring at the letter.

  “Hannah, isn’t it amazing that Dom’s going to be a Navy SEAL?” Harvey asked. “He’s gonna be this big old badass.”

  Dominic had frozen, trying to keep Hannah’s gaze on him. They didn’t want to give anything away. Especially not to Harvey. Dominic had to think fast.

  “Hey, man,” he tossed over his shoulder. “I was going to say something to you before, but the stench of vodka is overpowering. Take a shower if you want me to be able to stick around long enough to hang out. And to try to convince Marnie that your strain of flu virus isn’t 80-proof bottom shelf paint thinner, huh?”

  Harvey gagged before heaving himself off the bed. “Fine, but only because I have to barf. Not because I took your suggestion.”

  “However you need to treat it,” Dominic said, waving his hand at him as the bathroom door down the hall shut.

  The shower started soon after, and from the expression on Hannah’s face, Dominic pretty much figured that, whatever it was, he was in deep shit.

  Chapter 7

  Hannah

  Things had been just fine a matter of minutes ago. Dominic had walked into the house like he’d owned it, flirted with her, and suggestively joked around that there was a strong chance for a repeat performance of what they’d done last night.

  Now, though, everything was upside down.

  “Did last night mean nothing to you?” Hannah hissed at him.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, cocking his head, looking like he was keeping one ear open for Harvey, the other for Marnie. “Of course it meant something to me, Hannah. You know how I feel about you. You mean everything to me.”

  “Ah, okay, that makes perfect sense,” Hannah seethed. God, she was mad. “Because when you told me you loved me, when I told you I loved you, you didn’t think that you leaving to be a Navy SEAL was something important to impart?”

  “I only got the acceptance letter today,” he said. “Honest.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” she whispered. She wished Harvey and Marnie hadn’t been there so she could really do some screaming. She was angrier than she’d ever been in her entire life. “You didn’t even tell me that being a SEAL was something you wanted to do.”

  “I didn’t?” he wondered aloud. “I’m sorry. It’s been something I’ve been working for. Maybe you noticed I wasn’t drinking like Harvey anymore? That was for fitness tests.”

  “Not interested,” Hannah said. “Don’t care. What I do care about is what I’m supposed to do with this information.”

  She watched his Adam’s apple bob in his throat.

  “You could congratulate me. That’s what Harvey did, anyway. Or you could tell me what a piece of shit I am, and what a disgrace. That was what my father said.”

  Hannah flinched. She hated Dominic’s father, but she refused to be derailed. Not now. Not over this.

  “You and I being together last night clearly didn’t mean a single thing to you,” she said. “How could it?”

  “Hannah, that’s crazy talk,” Dominic said, taking a step forward. She crossed her arms over her chest protectively. “I meant what I said last night. I’ll say it again, right here, if you think it’ll help. I’ll scream it from the rooftops. Right in Harvey’s face. Why don’t you think I was serious?”

  “Because if you’re really leaving in six weeks, like that letter says, I was just some last-minute lay before you went off to training.”

  To her utter mortification, saying that aloud was enough to make Hannah dissolve into tears, covering her face with her hands. She was so embarrassed. She’d thought Dominic would be different from other guys, but he was just the same. Maybe even worse, since he’d taken advantage of her trust.

  How could he say he loved her? Had it just been to get in between her legs? She was the stupid one, then, falling victim to his manipulations.

  “Hannah, I’m sorry that I haven’t really ever talked to you about it,” Dominic was saying. “Everyone in my family has served in the military in some capacity, though it’s usually just in the Army. Being a Navy SEAL has always been my dream. Ever since I was a little kid. I mean, hell, it’s what Harvey and I used to play in the public pool, rescuing you.”

  Hannah wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I thought you were just playing lifeguard. I don’t know. I was always just playing mermaid, pretending you two were, too.”

  Dominic looked distraught. “I’m trying to uphold and upend my family tradition all in one move,” he continued. “And yeah, sure, I might just be doing it to get out of the house. You know what it’s like over there. Do you really blame me? I mean, honestly?”

  “I think you’re full of shit,” she spat, the words tearing out of her throat. “I think you fabricated all of your feeli
ngs from last night because you wanted one last conquest before you left Tucson.”

  “It’s not like that, Hannah.”

  “You’re right.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Six weeks is a long time. I’m sure you can fit in a couple of fucks before you leave.”

  “Come on, Hannah…”

  “No, you know what?” She flipped her hands at him, as if she were shooing away an errant animal. “I don’t have to stand here and listen to you lie to me. Get out. Get out of my house.”

  He listened to her, slinking off down the stairs, the front door opening and shutting just as the shower turned off. That meant something. She only wished that last night had meant something, too. That the loss of her virginity and the confession of her love for him hadn’t been a waste.

  Harvey sauntered back into the room, wrapped in a robe of his own.

  “Where’d Dom go?”

  “Home,” Hannah said, as neutrally as she could manage. If she acted pissed off, her twin would eventually figure out what had happened. She didn’t want anyone to know she’d been with Dominic like that. Hannah was just going to have to get good at having a poker face.

  “Lame bastard,” Harvey said conversationally, flopping back down on the bed. “Oh, well. Guess that means I get to take a nap after all.”

  Hannah took a page from her twin’s book, burying herself in the covers of her bed, trying to keep the rest of the world out.

  Chapter 8

  Dominic

  Dominic was awake in his bed, listening to the distant snores of the drill sergeant, who had been enthusiastically sawing logs for three hours now. Lucky old fart.

  This was the second night in a row that Dominic hadn’t been able to sleep, five days since Hannah had screamed at him to get out of her house. He’d done everything he could think of to try to soothe his mind, to relax enough to slip off into slumber. But he couldn’t get Hannah out of his mind. Neither Hannah nor the Navy SEALs. They were strange bedfellows. It was probably why he couldn’t sleep.