SEAL’s Redemption by Leslie North

6

Afew days later, Hope woke up to the delicious smells of bacon and eggs. She rubbed her eyes and rolled over to stare up at her ceiling. From down the hall, the sounds of food sizzling in pans meant Logan must be cooking.

For a minute there she’d thought maybe she’d been dreaming about him being back in her life, here in her house, but nope. Of course, on the heels of her stomach growling with hunger and her gratitude to him for making breakfast came the old wave of what-ifs. Did she walk away from him too soon?

He seemed to have his shit together now, which suggested maybe she had been wrong to think he was a lost cause. But then, if she hadn’t broken off their relationship, maybe he wouldn’t have realized he needed to fix his issues after all. Honestly, thinking about all of that this early in the morning was too much to bear. After a yawn and a stretch, she got up and hit the bathroom, taking care of necessities and running her fingers through her loose, messy hair before padding down the hall in her bare feet to see if he needed help, assuring herself that everything had worked out for the best.

“Morning,” she said, starting toward the fresh pot of coffee in the coffeemaker, then stopping herself and making a cup of herbal tea in the microwave instead. The doctor had warned her too much caffeine was bad for the baby. “Anything I can do?”

“Just have a seat and get ready to eat,” Logan said, gesturing with his chin over his shoulder at the plates and silverware laid out on the breakfast bar. “I’ve got everything else handled.”

She grabbed her tablet from the charger and slid onto a stool, watching him from beneath her lashes. Damn. It was so unfair for a man to be that sexy in an apron. Then again, those faded jeans of his cupped his taut butt just right, and she always had been drawn to competent men. And a guy who could cook was a rare treasure indeed.

While Logan dished up their food and grabbed toast from the toaster, she checked her emails. Surprisingly, there was one from Desmond Jones at the top of her list. After the cool reception from his wife earlier that week, Hope hadn’t expected to hear anything from either one of them, but there it was.

“Wow,” she said, sipping her tea.

“What?” Logan carried her plate and his over to the bar, then took the stool beside her. “Something in your email?”

“Yep. A message from Desmond Jones.”

“Really?” Logan said around a mouthful of eggs. “That was fast.”

“Right?” Hope bit off a chunk of bacon. Its salty goodness hit the spot. She swallowed before saying, “He says he wants to meet with me today at his office to discuss the disappearance case.”

“Hmm.” Logan seemed to consider that a second as he washed down his food with a gulp of coffee. He didn’t look at her as he said, “You gonna go?”

Her gut tightened a bit at his frown, and she ate the rest of her piece of bacon without tasting it.

She shrugged, preparing for a fight. “Thought I might. Why?”

“No reason.” He took a few more bites of his eggs before continuing. “I talked to the guys at Davis Security again this morning. One of them has a buddy on the police force. Apparently, the officer who took our reports carried through and got the word out to the Slayers that you dropped your story. That should hopefully stop any more attacks from them against you.” He looked over at her then, his dark eyes unreadable. “I mean, I’d probably still lie low and be cautious until the sting operation is over, but you should be safe enough for now.”

“Oh.” Stunned, Hope set her tablet aside. “Well, that’s good.”

“Yep.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin, then sighed. “Since you’re out of danger, they want me back at work at Davis Security today. I’m leaving after breakfast.”

Her stomach lurched a little, and she gripped her mug of tea tighter than necessary. Funny, that. Because when he’d first showed up on her doorstep, she’d been wondering when he was going to go. Now, all the sudden, she wasn’t ready yet. Her appetite evaporated. “Uh, what about Desmond?”

“What about him?” Logan swiveled slightly on his stool to face her, his expression an odd mix of determination and resignation. “Meeting him at his office would only be dangerous if it wasn’t safe for you to be out on the streets. But since the gangs aren’t after you anymore, you should be fine now. I mean, it’s smart to take precautions no matter what you’re working on, but it should be back to business as usual for you. I trust you to do what’s best.”

Damn. She bit her lip and nodded, flashing him what she hoped was a confident smile, because inside she felt anything but. Not that she wasn’t good at her job. She was. The best. And she did know what she was doing. She just figured they’d have a little longer to say goodbye again, that was all.

But she’d never been a needy person in her life and wasn’t about to start now, baby or not. With a decisive nod, she ate the rest of her breakfast without really tasting it, then cleaned up and got dressed while he finished packing up his stuff. Finally, it was time for Logan to go, and he slung his duffle over his shoulder and headed out of her house. Then he stopped on the threshold and turned back to her.

It was weird, like one of those sappy romance movies she watched sometimes after a really bad day on the job when the world felt all wrong and she just wanted to make it right, if only for a short while.

Logan’s warm gaze flicked from her eyes to her lips, then back again, and she clutched the door like she might crumple to the ground without its support. “Um…” he said. “Take care of yourself, okay? If you need anything, anything at all, you call me. You’ve got my number.”

“I do,” she said, breathier than she would’ve liked, but her heart ached and felt like it might burst through her rib cage the way it was pounding. “Logan, I…”

Whatever she’d been about to say was lost as he leaned in to kiss her. He was going for her cheek, but she turned quickly and their lips met. The same old spark, unchanged despite the months and the pain between them, shimmered through her nerve endings. Logan must’ve felt it too because his hand came up to cup her cheek, the kiss gentle and sweet, then heartbreakingly over.

“Hope…” he whispered, resting his forehead against hers.

Before she could stop herself, she said, “You could, uh, come with me to the interview with Desmond, if you want. I mean, it would save me Uber fare, since my car’s destroyed and all.”

He pulled back slightly, his confusion quickly transforming into a grin. “I could do that.”

“Good.” She stepped back inside and gestured for him to follow. “Let me just finish getting ready and we can go.”

“Good,” he repeated, looking about as dazed as she felt. He slumped down on her sofa, and she went down the hall to grab her purse from the bedroom.

That kiss had rocked her world, no doubt about it. The sensible part of her said that it was probably a good thing he wouldn’t be staying here anymore, so they didn’t get into even more trouble together, but deep in her heart, she knew she was definitely not ready to say goodbye to Logan. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

* * *

“So, since I’m leaving, I guess that means you’re back to being on your own for cooking. How are your cooking skills these days?” Logan asked as he drove the SUV down a quiet side street on the way to the interview with Desmond. Since the kiss, his blood had been thrumming with awareness of her, and he was trying to distract himself with humor. If her cooking was anything like it used to be, it ought to come with a public health warning. There was a reason he’d automatically taken over meal prep for the time he’d been staying at her house. She could be trusted to fix a bowl of cereal, but not much more. “Send anyone to the ER lately?”

“Funny.” She gave him some side-eye. “And no. I signed up for one of those meal delivery service things, and it works for me. I don’t have a lot of time for cooking anyway so with these meals, I just follow the directions and boom. Dinner. I put it on pause while you were here since I know you like cooking, but I’ll start it up again today.”

“Interesting,” he said, glancing at her before refocusing on the road. “What about after the kid comes?”

She held up her hands beside her boobs, drawing his attention there once more before he looked away fast. Seeing her all curvy and cute did weird things to his gut. “Ready to serve.”

Logan chuckled, then shook his head. “That’ll work for a few months, but eventually the baby’s going to want solid food.”

“Thanks for your insight, Mr. Mom,” she said, her sarcastic tone undercut by her wide grin. “And don’t worry. I’ve already checked out subscriptions for online, organic baby foods for when that time comes. Only the best for our kid.”

Our kid…

Damn if that didn’t make Logan grin himself. The words sounded good, if still a little disconcerting. He’d need to get over it soon enough though, with all the big changes ahead. He looked over at her again, and man. There was this glow about her now. She’d always been beautiful to him, but Hope pregnant was a sight to behold, especially when she was smiling and laughing like that…

“Look out!” Hope yelled a second before a black sedan came out of nowhere and T-boned them in the passenger side. For a second, everything went slo-mo—the spinning of the SUV in the middle of the intersection, the hiss of heat and steam from beneath the hood, the sound of Hope’s head slamming hard into the passenger side window, how the SUV rocked precariously on two wheels before thumping back down hard on the ground facing a good one-eighty from where they’d started.

In shock, Logan’s rapid breath sawed in an out through his mouth, eerie silence reverberating in his ears as he watched a bright crimson dot of blood slowly trickle down the side of Hope’s pale face. Her eyes were impossibly wide in her stricken face, and her lips were trembling.

Then reality rushed back in whiplash fast. There was a squeal of tires on the asphalt, and the sedan that had hit them screeched into reverse then peeled out in a cloud of smoke that filled the air with the stench of burning rubber.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Logan’s SEAL training demanded he get out of the SUV and chase after the perpetrator, even if there was no way he’d catch them on foot. Maybe he could at least get the license plate number. But the other part of him, the newly family man part, was solely and completely focused on Hope and their baby.

“Shit! Are you all right?” he asked, moving on autopilot to grab tissues from the box between the seats and press them gently to the cut on her head. Head wounds always bled like a son of a bitch. Even though he knew you couldn’t judge the severity of the injury by blood loss alone, he was shaken. Big time.

Hope raised a trembling hand to cover his own shaking fingers and then frowned. “I think so.”

Her voice sounded far steadier than she looked and did little to convince him she was okay. He pulled out his phone to call 911. As soon as he’d passed along the relevant information, he clicked it off and turned his attention back to Hope. “Help is on the way. I don’t know where the hell that car came from, but he damn sure ran that stop sign. Not that I can give the cops any more than a vague description of a black sedan.” He cursed under his breath as he ran his hands over her, examining for more injuries. “God, of all people, I should have done better.”

“Hey,” she said, placing her hand over his atop her gently rounded belly. “I’m okay, Logan. Really. Baby’s okay, too. No cramping, no pain. I’ll be all right. We’ll be all right.” He sat back with a sigh and she straightened in her seat, carefully avoiding bumping the spiderwebbed safety glass of the window. It had shattered, but because of the coating, none of the glass shards had sprayed anywhere. “And we’re lucky.”

“Lucky?” he snorted and narrowed his gaze. “I think you hit your head harder than I thought if you call this situation lucky.”

“Not what I meant, smartass.” She scooted in her seat, still pressing the tissues to her temple with one hand and said, “Get your phone out again.”

“Why?” He scowled. The wail of sirens in the distance was getting closer, thank goodness.

“Because you need to take down the license plate number from that sedan.”

He blinked at her a moment, confused. “I’m sorry?”

“The license plate number. While you were in a daze, I got a look at it before they sped away.”

Her grin finally broke through his disbelief, and Logan laughed. Damn. Hope had always been clever, and she never missed a thing. In fact, it was one of the things he loved most about her, but right now… Well, right now he could kiss her. So he did. When he finally pulled back, they were both smiling. “You’re incredible.”

“I know.” She winked at him just as two cop cars and an ambulance arrived, parking alongside the SUV. Logan got out his phone and typed in the number Hope rattled off to his notes, then sat back as the EMTs started jimmying the passenger side door to try to get her out.

By the time they’d given their reports to the police and the EMTs had gotten Hope’s head bandaged, Logan had sent the plate number off to his buddies at the security agency to run.

“Ma’am,” one of the EMTs said to Hope, “because of your pregnancy, we want to take you in to the hospital for tests.”

“Is something wrong?” Logan asked, shoving his phone back in his pocket.

“No, sir,” the second EMT said. “Just routine procedure after an MVA involving a pregnancy.”

“I’m fine,” Hope protested and started to sit up from the gurney they’d placed her on. “Seriously, there’s no need for an ER visit. We’ve got an appointment to get to and—”

“Uh, no.” Logan placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her in place. “We should go and get everything checked out, for the insurance company at least.” Not to mention he had a bad feeling about all this. Yes, the police had told them Hope was safe now, but this accident had him on edge—especially since it clearly hadn’t been an accident at all. Slamming into them at full speed, pulling out again immediately…no one did those things accidentally. It was morning on a bright, sunny day. There was no chance that the guy hadn’t seen them. No, this was a deliberate attack. He needed time to think and for the guys to run that plate. Going to the hospital to have her checked out would give him that. Besides, the SUV was undriveable, and it would take a while for the guys to arrange a replacement for them. “The interview with Desmond can wait. You and the baby are more important right now. Let’s go to the ER and just confirm everything’s all right, okay?”

Hope looked like she wanted to argue more, but finally she relented. “Fine. But you’re staying with me.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” he said, climbing into the back of the ambulance with her after they’d loaded her gurney in.