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

by Layla Valentine

  “Hey, if they can make it work, then more power to them,” Hannah said. “Marriage is hard. Or, so I’ve heard.”

  “Same here,” Dominic said. “The bartender at the rehearsal dinner said he’d been divorced twice and had just kind of given up on it. I don’t know if I’d be able to get back on the horse after that, either.”

  “You’re married, then?” Hannah asked, not sure why she felt so disappointed.

  “No. Absolutely not.”

  “Lifelong bachelor?”

  Dominic cleared his throat and ran a finger beneath his collar. Hannah took a savage sort of pleasure in making him so obviously uncomfortable. It was like it gave her just a little bit of control back in the situation.

  “It’s just hard to even seriously date someone when you do what I do,” he said finally. “There are long periods when I just can’t be in contact with anyone outside of my mission.”

  Hannah ignored the way her stomach somersaulted at the idea that Dominic wasn’t seeing anyone. “And that life’s treating you well? Being a Navy SEAL?”

  “As well as can be expected. Can’t really talk about it, though.”

  “So, like, super-secret spy stuff, or something?”

  “Or something,” he agreed, dark eyes warm as he glanced at her again in the rearview mirror.

  “I guess I ought to…uh, thank you for your service and all that,” Hannah said, feeling inexplicably awkward.

  Her brain was trying to reconcile the last time she’d seen Dominic, when they were both eighteen years old, with the idea that he was toting around automatic rifles and fighting for their country and defending the innocent—or whatever he got up to on his missions.

  “You don’t have to do that,” he said softly. “It’s just good to be back in Tucson, Hannah. And to see you. And Harvey, of course.”

  She couldn’t help but notice how Harvey was almost an afterthought for Dominic. Or maybe her brain was just reading too much into everything.

  “I didn’t even know you were coming,” Hannah said softly, and Dominic reached into the backseat, his hand out.

  Of its own volition, Hannah’s hand met his. Hannah marveled at how big his hand was, how strong it had become, the calluses and rough parts that had been weathered in the service of this country. She remembered those hands, how they’d felt caressing her body. These hands had made her feel good, made her feel safe. They were the same, but they were different.

  Everything had changed, and yet, here they were again, Dominic and Hannah, and it seemed like no time at all had passed. No time at all, or a million years.

  “Why are you holding hands?” Kira asked, wrinkling her nose at the display.

  Hannah laughed easily, as a distraction, and abruptly let go. Immediately, she felt bereft of the comforting pressure of Dominic’s hand on her fingers.

  “I guess things were so busy when we were looking for your headband that nobody really got properly introduced, did they?” Hannah realized. “Kira, this is Dominic Riley. Uncle Harvey and I were friends with him when we were kids.”

  Kira didn’t need much time to analyze that. “My best friend is Julie Ryan. I like her because she always has extra dessert in her lunch. If I’m lucky, she picks me to give it to.”

  “Smart way to make friends,” Dominic said. “I love dessert.”

  “Me, too,” Kira said.

  “Uh-huh.” Hannah gave her daughter a thoroughly unimpressed look. “That raging sweet tooth of yours got you two cavities the last time we were at the dentist.”

  “I know how that goes,” Dominic said ruefully. “My head is full of fillings. Never could figure it out. Hannah and Harvey would go to the dentist around the same time, but they always got clean bills of health.”

  Hannah tried not to react too obviously. It was true—both she and her twin had good, strong teeth. Her entire life, Hannah had only had a single cavity. But Kira had cavities all the time. Yet another one of Dominic’s features their daughter had inherited.

  “And, Dom, this is obviously my daughter, Kira,” Hannah said, finishing the introductions a little lamely.

  “Kind of picked up on that,” he admitted. “What grade are you in, Kira?”

  “First.” Kira perked up. “My homework’s a lot more this year than it was last year. Our teacher says it’s because our brains are sponges, and we need to soak up as much information as possible. Information is like spilled juice. My mind is the sponge that cleans it up.”

  “That’s a very interesting way to look at things,” Dominic agreed. “So, does that mean you’re—let me see if I can guess—seven years old?”

  “I’m six and a half!” Kira said, and if Hannah had eaten anything substantial for lunch, she would’ve vomited it all over the backseat.

  She knew Dominic had to be counting backward, trying to figure out when Kira had been born. When she was conceived.

  “Here we are,” Hannah said a little too loudly, relieved beyond reason as they pulled up to the wedding venue. “Kira, do you remember what you’re supposed to do today?”

  “Throw flowers,” Kira said in a tone that suggested she thought that would be obvious. “Because I’m the flower girl.”

  They parked outside of the venue, and Hannah couldn’t help but smile as Dominic opened the door for Kira and gallantly offered her his hand to help her from the backseat. Hannah managed just fine on the other side, a little glad that she could hide her face from the scene for a moment.

  Because, God help it all, Dominic was really, really good with Kira, and Hannah needed to stop questioning that. There wasn’t any reason why he shouldn’t be. Dominic was a good person. He always had been. It made sense that he knew how to conduct himself around a kid.

  It just made her think those dangerous what-ifs. As in, what if Dominic had never left Tucson, and they’d raised Kira together? That this was just a family outing for them, and they were a perfect family. The kind of family other people talked about, aspired to be. They’d enroll Kira in a bunch of sports and go to every game. Never miss a meeting at school. Host play dates at their house. Have a nicer house.

  God, that was a rabbit hole Hannah didn’t need to fall down right now, as she followed Kira and Dominic into the venue, Kira talking up a storm and Dominic listening and offering feedback. Hannah didn’t even know what the subject of conversation was. Kira could talk a mile a minute about anything and everything.

  Hannah couldn’t think in what-ifs anymore. Her life was a simple fact. She couldn’t afford to have regrets, or to think of hypotheticals. The possibility of having something with Dominic? That ship had very nearly literally sailed from Tucson when Dominic had picked the Navy over sticking around. Just because he was back in town for Harvey’s wedding didn’t mean there was a chance of anything rekindling. Hannah didn’t know how many times she’d have to reiterate it to herself. She and Dominic were through.

  It was just…he was so good with Kira. That was something she couldn’t quite ignore as well as she’d like.

  Chapter 14

  Dominic

  “Thank God,” Harvey said, greeting Dominic, Hannah, and Kira as they entered the venue. “The missing pieces to the puzzle of our wedding day have found their way here. Dom, glad to see you survived the chaos.”

  Dominic frowned at that description. “It was no trouble at all. A pleasure, in fact.”

  Harvey was talking about Hannah and Kira’s home life right in front of them. If Harvey needed a lesson in sensitivity—or one in how to treat Hannah the way Dominic believed she deserved to be treated—Dominic would be happy to educate his old friend.

  Speaking of old friends, though, Dominic’s mind was working in overdrive. “Did you happen to invite anyone else who graduated with us to this thing?” he asked, intent on playing out a theory.

  “Just you and Hannah,” Harvey reasoned. “Screw everyone else.”

  “Kira, why don’t we try and track down your basket of petals?” Hannah asked after sighing and shakin
g her head at Harvey. “Come on.”

  “Seriously, man?” Dominic demanded, glaring at the groom after Hannah and Kira had walked off.

  “What?” Harvey asked, genuinely puzzled. “What’s your problem?”

  “Can’t you choose your words more carefully around your niece?” Dominic asked, conveniently overlooking his near slip-up in the car. He had an excuse, he told himself—during missions, every other word out of his and his team’s mouths were curses.

  “She’s heard worse,” Harvey scoffed, dismissive.

  “What, from you?” Dominic shook his head. “She’s just a little kid. You need to grow up, man.”

  Harvey laughed, incredulous. “What do you even care?”

  Dominic couldn’t quite find a satisfactory answer to that question. He’d always felt protective of Hannah, just as he was sure Harvey had, especially growing up. But now, Dominic’s protective streak was winding its way around Kira, too. It probably had to do with the fact that the father wasn’t around. That Dominic knew how that felt, even if his own father had raised him. There had been a good portion of his life that Dominic had wished the drill sergeant was physically absent from it.

  “Why isn’t Kira’s father involved?” Dominic asked, lowering his voice, hating himself thoroughly for not asking this personal question directly to Hannah.

  He thought he had a good chance of capitalizing on Harvey’s nature toward Hannah and finding out some intel on the situation without arousing suspicion.

  But Harvey only gave a sharp shrug.

  “No idea, man. If I had even an inkling who the son of a bitch was, I’d castrate him. Seriously. You don’t just walk out on the mother of your kid like that. I mean, Hannah does what she can—she’s an amazing mom, actually—but it’s not ideal.”

  “You mean you don’t know who the father is?” This was the last question on this subject, Dominic promised himself. After this, he was going to take everything at face value. No more sneaking around, gossiping about Hannah’s life behind her back.

  “If I did, things would be different,” Harvey vowed. “Bastard would pay his dues. Do his duty. I tried to get Hannah to come clean about who it was, but she refused. I don’t know. Maybe she doesn’t know.”

  Dominic only restrained himself from saying anything by virtue of Hannah approaching them again with Kira and her basket of flower petals in tow.

  “Gosh, who died over here?” Hannah asked, wrinkling her nose at them in an expression that Dominic could tell Kira had grown to mimic.

  “Just catching up,” Dominic said, as brightly as he could manage.

  “Well, hate to drag the two of you apart, but Josie says to get the show on the road.” Hannah eyed Harvey. “That means you need to be at the end of the aisle already. Get out there, tiger.”

  “See you on the flip side,” Harvey said, giving Kira a double thumbs-up. “I’ll be a married man the next time we talk. Looking forward to that flower throwing, kiddo.”

  “Seriously, what were you guys talking about?” Hannah murmured as they watched Harvey saunter down the aisle by himself. “You didn’t tell him about the bartender with two divorces, did you?”

  “What’s a divorce?” Kira asked, and Hannah winced.

  “I did no such thing,” Dominic said. “And a divorce is something your aunt and uncle will never have to worry about as long as your uncle always does what your aunt says.”

  Kira nodded, apparently ready to accept that explanation just as a door opened off the foyer they were standing in.

  “Has he gone? Can I come out yet?”

  “All clear, Josie,” Hannah called. “We’re about to send out Kira. You ready?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Josie said, patting the veil on her head. She really did look beautiful, and Dominic did his best to be happy for Harvey, even as questions swirled in his mind about Hannah and her security and happiness. “I mean, it’s a little late to worry now, isn’t it?”

  “It’s okay, Aunt Josie,” Kira reasoned. “As long as Uncle Harvey does whatever you say, there won’t be a divorce.”

  Josie’s laugh was a little too close to hysterical for Dominic’s comfort, and Hannah shook her head. “What part of the sponge speech in the car did you not understand?” she murmured to him.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Really.”

  “No worries,” Josie said, waving away his concerns. “I needed that laugh. Okay, flower girl. You’re on.”

  Kira nearly skipped down the aisle in her eagerness to perform her flower-throwing duties. Dominic had to smother some laughter, though, as she discovered she had been a little overzealous in distributing her petals, running out of them about midway up the aisle. Kira paused for a moment before backtracking, nudging heavy clumps of petals apart with the toe of her shoe. Everyone in the seats watching her were shaking, trying to contain their mirth.

  Kira seemed to think that if she could get them more evenly distributed and reached the front of the hall, she’d be in the clear. She strolled all the way back and started again, gathering up her flowers and putting them back in her basket to conserve them. It took her so long that whoever was in charge of the sound system went ahead and repeated the song.

  “Oh my God.” Hannah shook her head, looking at Josie. “I am so, so sorry.”

  “Are you seriously apologizing about the funniest thing that could’ve happened today?” Josie demanded, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. “God, I’m glad I went with waterproof mascara. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Hannah. I love Harvey, but I’m kind of the opposite of sentimental when it comes to these kinds of things. I just thought in case someone cut an onion around me or tossed a handful of glitter into my eyes, I might as well have been prepared for tears.”

  “Good planning,” Hannah said, finally giving in and laughing.

  It was a sight that warmed Dominic’s heart. She was so beautiful when she laughed. It reminded him of when they were young, just how carefree she could be sometimes. Life had been hard on Hannah and Harvey both, but Dominic lived for those times when they could forget about all their baggage and just have fun.

  The song changed subtly—Kira had finally made it to the front, spreading the flower petals to her satisfaction.

  “I think it’s our turn,” Dominic said, offering Hannah his arm.

  “What a gentleman,” Josie said, flapping her hands at her face in what had to be an effort to cool down. “Have fun, you two.”

  Dominic would’ve been lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the feeling of having Hannah on his arm, her touch light but significant. He gave her a small squeeze as they separated.

  “What would you do if I made a run for it?” Harvey hissed as the song changed again. It was time for Josie and her father to walk down the aisle and really get this thing started.

  Dominic barely heard him, eyes unable to leave Hannah. “I’d tackle you.”

  “What? Seriously? That’s not best-man behavior. A real best man would help out.”

  “Do you really want to leave Josie at the altar?”

  “Um, pretty sure that would entail me not already being up here,” Harvey pointed out. “This would be a case of a runaway groom.”

  “Do you love her?”

  “Of course I do. I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “Then you don’t have to be nervous.”

  Harvey laughed quietly. “Who says I’m nervous?”

  “You babble when you’re nervous,” Dominic said, watching as Hannah’s face lit up. Josie had probably made her grand entrance, judging by the delighted gasps from other wedding guests, but Dominic only had eyes for Hannah. Hannah glowed. She was the most beautiful person at this wedding—in all of Tucson, even. “You and Hannah both babble when you’re nervous. Must be a Newell family habit.”

  “No real way of telling,” Harvey said. “Hello, beautiful.”

  “Hey, handsome,” Josie said, beaming at him. “Those tears for me, at how beautiful I am?”

  “Of course.
”

  “Yeah, right,” Josie said, grinning. “I know they’re from how hard you were laughing at Kira.”

  “Epic,” Harvey agreed. “She’s going to go viral.”

  The ceremony was lovely, from what Dominic was able to gather, but he was hardly giving it his full concentration. The sight of Hannah looking so beautiful, so real, was like water given to a man who’d previously been dying of thirst. He’d get control of himself, sooner or later. But, right now, it was important that he slaked his thirst.

  It wasn’t as if Dominic had gone through a literal drought during these last seven years. He’d had flings around the world. None of them, though, had lasted longer than the span of his mission. Often, they didn’t last longer than the span of a night. It was hard to be emotionally available to anyone when he was focused on his job.

  And it was nearly impossible when he could never shake Hannah from his mind.

  Arousal twined with regret. That’s what she felt like. Dominic was looking to try to exorcise some of the regret. He wanted to make things up to her.

  After Harvey and Josie kissed and made things official, Dominic and Hannah followed them out of the hall and into a side room that had been set up for the portrait session. Hannah held on to him tighter than she had before the ceremony, her body pressing closely against his.

  “You okay?” he asked her softly, then regretted it immediately as she stiffened and put a couple of inches of distance between them.

  “Fine,” she said. “These shoes aren’t the best. That’s all.”

  “Did you bring a spare pair to change into?”

  “Of course not.” She looked up at him. “Noticed you staring at me back there. Don’t tell me—I have lipstick on my teeth.”

  “No, no,” he said quickly. “You’re beautiful, Hannah. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  “If you say so…”

  “I do say so.” How could she not know how beautiful she was? Wasn’t there anyone here to tell her?

  The photographer took pictures of them together, apart, every possible combination of the bride and groom, best man and maid of honor, flower girl, parents of the bride, and random friends and relatives. Through it all, Dominic watched Hannah. The little mannerisms that had stayed the same, like her tendency to fidget and push her hair behind her ears even if it was pulled back from her face.