“Let me call for pizza while the girls bring you up to speed. It’s the only way we’ll be able to talk.”
“Sounds like a plan. Don’t forget the extra pepperoni.”
“Like I could,” she answered and rolled her eyes. As he tried to swat her butt, she ducked out of reach and laughed.
“Daddy, don’t spank mommy. She’s wasn’t bad.”
Logan grinned. “Okay, Bella. I won’t spank her. As long as she’s been good.”
“Except for the bad words. But Aunt Lily is worse,” Lexie chimed in, nodding her head towards the curse jar sitting on the counter. Of course, she’d have to tattle.
“I think that’s my cue to leave you, happy people. Have fun y’all. Call if you need anything,” Lily said as she headed toward the door. She whispered in Logan’s ear as she passed him, and then waved to Chloe and pulled the door closed behind her. For a few seconds, she wondered what Lily had said, but was distracted by the girl’s excited chatter as they dragged Logan into the living room.
Chloe ordered the pizza, cleaned up the broken glass that was still in the sink, and finished washing the rest of the dishes. She got done in time for the food to arrive. Instead of calling them in to eat, she decided an impromptu welcome home picnic was a better idea. As she juggled the pizza boxes, paper plates, juice boxes for the girls and a beer for Logan, the happiness at having her man home warmed her from the inside out. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice she wasn’t having a beer since she wasn’t quite ready to spill the beans. The only thing she needed or desired was to have his arms around her as they made love, and relearned all the parts of each other they’d forgotten.
***
The girls didn’t stop talking until the pizza came and only long enough to swallow. Logan had forgotten how wired they could be. They’d changed so much even in the short time since he’d been home at Christmas. His life on base might as well have been on another planet it was so different.
Chloe looked tired, and she was quiet, or maybe she just couldn’t get a word in between Bella and Lexie’s constant chattering. As if she knew he was thinking about her, their eyes met, and a beautiful smile spread across her face. There was his girl. Gorgeous. Damn, he’d missed her. Facetime wasn’t cutting it. Was he just getting old and sentimental? Maybe it was time to start rethinking his career choice.
“Daddy, did you hear me?” Chagrined at being caught by his five-year-old, he winked at Chloe and picked Bella up and hugged her.
“Sorry, princess. Daddy is tired from the trip. Can you tell me again?” He tried to concentrate he really did. Exhaustion permeated every fiber of his body, to the point that even lifting his arms to hold the girls was a chore, and he struggled to keep his eyes open. The stress of the last few months had been worse than usual and had taken its toll on him. Enemy combatants grew more and more hostile, and he knew from the briefings and catching the news that it wasn’t just in Afghanistan. The world was more dangerous than ever before.
His team had been talking about it, especially after Mac’s unit had taken the direct hit last year and they’d lost four men, and Tag lost his arm and leg, and Mac almost died too. It had a huge effect on all of them, and a lot his guys were thinking of not re-upping so they could be with their families. His tour was almost up, and he needed to decide what he was going to do. He and Alex had been discussing it, but he still had to talk to Chloe, but not this weekend. He was determined to make this all about her. To show her how much he loved and cherished her. His life wouldn’t be worth shit without her and the girls.
“I think Daddy needs a break. He’ll be here tomorrow, and you can talk to him then. Why don’t you go upstairs and get ready for bed?”
“Do we have to?” Bella whined.
“Yes, you do. You have school in the morning.”
“But mom, dad’s home. He’s never here, can’t we stay home?” Lexie begged, and Logan winced at the reminder of his constant absence. He was lucky the girls remembered him at all. He’d been gone most of their lives.
“Nope, you only have a few weeks left before summer vacation. Daddy will be here when you get home tomorrow.”
“Yes, I will,” Logan answered as they turned to him for confirmation. He wondered if they’d be upset when he took Chloe away for the weekend. He’d already arranged for them to spend the time with Lily, and he was sure they’d have a great time. At least he hoped so.
“Will you tuck us in, daddy?”
“Of course.”
“Read a story too?”
He couldn’t hold back his smile. Same old Lexie, always looking for a way to get more time before lights out. Definitely his daughter. “Yup. Pick out a book. I’ll be up as soon as I help Mom clean up.”
They trudged up the stairs, and Bella muttered under her breath but loud enough so everyone would know she wasn’t happy. Chloe covered her mouth to keep from laughing, and reminded them, “Don’t forget to brush your teeth. I’m going to make Daddy smell your breath, and he’ll tell me.”
“We will,” Lexie answered over Bella’s grumbling. Lexie acted more like a little adult than a seven-year-old. After seeing how she’d been all evening, he understood what Chloe had meant when she said Lexie tried to mother Bella all the time. They’d bickered back and forth at least three times over dinner, volleying for his attention. He knew it wore on Chloe, especially dealing with them on her own.
Chloe grabbed the dishes and glasses, and he followed her into the kitchen with the pizza boxes. Nothing like Genna’s New York Style Pizza to satisfy a pepperoni craving. Too bad he couldn’t bring some back with him.
“I see what you mean about Lexie.”
Chloe smiled. “I didn’t think it would take long. It’s gotten a lot worse over the last month, and I don’t know what triggered it, either. I think she’s just trying to help, but Bella definitely doesn’t appreciate it.”
“That’s obvious. So what do you do?”
“I had a talk with Lexie the other day, and it helped for about five minutes. I’m not sure what else to do. I guess they’ll work it out. I try to let them figure it out by themselves. It’s life experience, right?”
“Sounds good to me. As long as they don’t start actually fighting.”
“Well, no shit. Oops. Good thing Bella didn’t hear that.” They both laughed. Bella had explained over dinner how much Aunt Lily cursed all the time and soon they’d be able to go to Hawaii. Listening to her, he’d known it had come straight from Chloe. Too bad he couldn’t take her to Hawaii, but hopefully she’d love Barefoot Bay.
“Should I get the jar for you?”
“Umm, no that’s okay.” Chloe laughed as she finished putting away the leftover pizza. As she closed the refrigerator door, he grabbed her from behind and pulled her against him. Nuzzling his face in her hair, he inhaled lemon verbena. Her scent. One he carried with him through the gates of hell. It had saved him many times, pulling him back from the darkness that threatened to take over.
“I missed you, baby. Damn, you smell so good.” Sliding his fingers over her cheek and into her hair he lifted it away from her neck. As his lips touched the silky skin below her ear, Lexie called from upstairs. Would he ever have a chance to give his wife a proper hello? At his sigh, Chloe turned to face him.
“It’s okay. Go read to them, I’ll be up in a minute. Want me to bring you another beer?”
“You read my mind.” Taking her lips for what he’d intended to be a quick kiss, ignited his passion, and it was only Bella’s yelling that enabled him to pull away. “I love you, Chloe. I hope you know how much.”
“I love you too, with all my heart. I’m so glad you’re home.”
“Me too, and I can’t wait to share my surprise with you. But you’re going to have to wait until we get the girls to bed.” The smirk on her face told him she figured he was talking about sex. He grinned as he headed upstairs to read to his daughters.
Chapter Four
A surprise? Chloe laughed. He wouldn’t be
awake long enough to get out of his fatigues. They’d been through this routine many times, and he always had high hopes. But without fail, by the time she got into bed, he was out like a light, exhausted from the trip home and the time changes. It didn’t bother her—not really. Not that she didn’t crave his touch, his taste, as they made slow, passionate love. But snuggling against him meant the world, even if he was out cold and snoring loud enough to shake the walls. And she’d be fast asleep from his warmth and the pregnancy sapping her stamina before she could dwell on it anyway. Yawning wide enough to make her jaw crack, she giggled. Just thinking about sleep and she was yawning.
The pregnancy. She needed to tell him. When would be the best time? How long would he be home? He’d mentioned a special assignment and for all she knew, he might be gone by Saturday night. The fact he was home at all, even for a day or two, was a gift. Would he be happy about the baby? He’d seemed a little overwhelmed by the girls, especially during dinner with the non-stop chatter. It didn’t faze her since they did it constantly. It only got to her when they would pick on each other until one of them cried, usually Bella.
With one last check to make sure everything was put away, she grabbed her water and a beer for Logan and headed upstairs. Her first surprise was not finding him asleep in one of the girl’s beds. She’d figured they’d all fall asleep while he was reading. But he wasn’t in either of the girl’s rooms and the light was on in their bedroom. Okay, so maybe they would have a ‘surprise’ tonight after all.
Toeing open the bedroom door, she expected him to be in bed. Instead, he was in the shower, and steam poured through the open bathroom door into their room. She never understood how he didn’t scald himself with how hot he liked his showers. He said it made up for the crappy ones he had to deal with in the desert.
As she stood in the bathroom doorway, a blast of heat took her breath away. “Hey, dude. How about leaving some hot water for the rest of us?”
“How about you come in here with me? Then you won’t have to worry about it.”
“I don’t think so. My poor skin would never be the same. I know how hot that water is.”
“I’ll turn it down. C’mon baby, you know you want to.” He was right, she loved showering with him, or maybe it was she loved when he washed her hair. There was something so sensual in the way he massaged her scalp and feathered his fingers through her hair. It turned her into a big puddle of mush before he’d even touched any of her erogenous zones.
After about a moment’s hesitation, she figured, why not? It’s not like they had a lot of opportunities to shower together and it would be stupid to turn down a chance. As she undressed, she yelled through the damp fog, “You’d better turn it way down, or I’ll look like a lobster in no time.”
“Already done, baby.”
The pure sex in his voice sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine. Would he notice her little baby bump? Maybe he’d chalk it up to weight gain. Isn’t that what old married women did? At least according to her mother. The woman didn’t have an extra ounce on her so what she was basing that on Chloe had no idea.
Twenty minutes later the water had chilled and forced them out of their foggy cocoon. They dried off and climbed into bed. “I haven’t wanted to ask, but how long will you be home?”
A huge grin crossed his face and crinkled the corners of his eyes. “That’s part of the surprise.”
“You mean there’s really a surprise?”
“Yup. I know what you were thinking, but you’re wrong.” He kissed her, slid his tongue across her lips and then dipped inside her mouth. At his touch, a sizzle of electricity traveled along her nerve endings all the way to her toes. He pulled her against his chest, the slight dusting of hair tickled her skin. Sighing into his kiss, her breath quickened as desire heated her to her core.
“Damn.”
“What?”
“We need to talk, but you feel so damn good.”
“What’s wrong?” Hearing those fateful words, her happiness turned to worry.
“Nothing’s wrong. Fuck, I’m doing this all wrong. I had it all planned out, and I’m fucking it up.”
“Just tell me already.” He pulled her with him as he leaned back against a stack of pillows, and looked into her eyes.
“I have a briefing to do on Monday—at MacDill in Tampa.”
“Okay, no big deal, at least we have you until Sunday then, right?”
“Not exactly.” Starting to get frustrated, she smacked his chest. He’d said it was a surprise, that meant something good. She needed to hold on to that thought, or Jerky McJerkyface was going to get worse than the smack.
“Will you just freakin’ tell me before I get pissed off?”
“Okay, okay.” Mischief danced in his eyes, and she couldn’t imagine what he was up to. “I’m taking you with me. Alex and Lily got us a room in Barefoot Bay at the Casa Blanca Resort. We’re going to celebrate our anniversary—alone—thanks to them.”
“What?” She’d heard him. She really did. But the words weren’t connecting like they were a foreign language. She’d been so prepped for bad news her brain couldn’t keep up. “Lily and Alex got us a room at a resort?”
“Alex heard the captain talking about the briefing, and he suggested that I could do it. After telling the captain it was our anniversary, he was more than happy to push the trip off on me. It’s no secret he and the colonel don’t get along.”
“Holy crap! A weekend away. Alone with you? Really? Hell, I’d be happy if it was the Holiday Inn down the street.”
“Princess, you have no idea. Wait until you see this place, it’s freaking amazing.”
“When do we leave?”
“Saturday morning early. We can spend Friday night with the girls doing family stuff, then drop them off at Lily’s on our way out. It’s all been arranged. We’ll drive to Mimosa Key and then Monday morning I’ll go to Tampa early, but we’ll still have Monday night together before we check out on Tuesday.”
“Oh my God. I’m so excited. I should be mad at Lily but I can’t, it’s…oh my God wonderful. I can’t even…Wow!”
If the smile on Logan’s face had been any bigger, his cheeks would have cracked, and Chloe figured hers matched. They hadn’t been away together since before the girls were born. Full of excitement, the passion was overpowered by the choice of packing or doing the happy dance around the room. The last thing she wanted was to wake the girls. Logan took care of the choice when he pulled her against him and rolled her onto her back. His scorching kiss made everything evaporate except for the desire tingling along her nerve endings.
***
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee pulled Logan out of his nightmare. He’d been having the same one for months, and as usual, he woke up in a cold sweat. It took a minute for him to shake it off and remember he was home with the girls—all the girls—and things were fine. He was glad it wasn’t like the last time when he’d been yelling, and Alex came in and woke him. Determined not to let it tamp down his happiness at being home and his plans for a fantastic weekend with Chloe, he grabbed a quick shower and headed downstairs. Hearing the girls carrying on in the kitchen, he wondered what act of God it had taken to keep them from waking him up.
“Good morning. How are all my girlies today?”
“Daddy. Yay.” Bella jumped out of her chair and ran to him, knocking him hard enough he almost lost his balance. Good thing he’d seen her coming and braced himself. She couldn’t weigh more than forty pounds, but she packed a wallop.
“Bella, you need to finish your breakfast. Daddy needs his coffee.” Bella turned and made a face at her sister. He couldn’t see it, but he could guess what it might have been. Not that he blamed her, Lexie was in little mother mode again.
“Lex, what did I tell you about bossing your sister?”
“Sorry, mom.”
Chloe nodded and handed Logan a steaming cup of nirvana, known as coffee to most of the world. Inhaling the scent helped to shake off the
remnants of the dream. “Thanks, babe.”
Chloe smiled and gave him a kiss and a wink. “Good morning. I bet you’ve missed this, huh?”
“Actually, yes. Y’all are much better looking than the guys.” He waggled his eyebrows, and the girls laughed. It was funny, but also true. This was a much better view. Pulling out a chair, he sat at the table. “So what’s for breakfast?”
“I wanted pancakes, but mommy made me have Cheerios,” Bella answered, screwing her face into a frown. “And no sugar either.”
“Oh, mom’s a meany, huh?”
“Yes, she is.”
“Hey, don’t you start too. If she has too much sugar in the morning, I end up getting a call from her teacher that she’s disrupting the class.”
“Is that true, Bella?”
“Maybe.” Logan hid his smile behind his coffee cup. Before he could get up, Chloe refilled it, and that’s when he realized she didn’t have her usual mug in front of her. He was about to ask when Lexie interrupted his train of thought.
“Do you want some Cheerios, daddy?
“No thank you, honey. I’m good with the coffee. When do we have to leave for school?”
Chloe glanced at the clock on the stove before replying. “In about a half hour.”
“Did you tell them yet?”
Chloe shook her head as the words evaporated in the air and the girls zeroed in on him like a bullseye. He mouthed the words, ‘sorry’ and she shrugged.
“I figured we’d wait until after school, but go ahead and tell them. Or they won’t leave you alone.” She laughed.
“Tell us what?” Lexie asked.
“You know our anniversary is coming up, right? Remember we talked about it on Facetime the other night?” He waited for their nods before continuing. “Well, I’m going to take mommy away for the weekend to celebrate.”
“But what about us? Don’t we get to go?”
“Not this time, Lex, sorry sweetie. We’re not leaving until tomorrow, so we’ll have lots of fun tonight.”
Barefoot Bay: A Soldier's Surprise (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Beyond Valor Book 2) Page 3
