Garrek woke with a start.
His quick movement had Harper shifting in his arms, reminding him that he hadn’t been sleeping alone. Staring down at the top of her head, he remembered what she’d told him last night, the thought making him hug her closer. She had one leg twisted between his, her head on his chest, her arm around his waist. Garrek rubbed one hand over her back and the other down her hair as he kissed the top of her head. When she snuggled closer to him, guilt threatened to choke him.
He closed his eyes to the constricting sensation in the hope of some relief. It didn’t work. Closing his eyes only brought back the dream he’d just had. The one where he’d turned into his father.
His mother had sat in her favorite rocking chair on the back porch of their Pensacola Bay home. The house was an old Cape Cod–style dwelling surrounded by Spanish moss–laden oak trees. It had been built in 1928 and had four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The back porch was enclosed by a screen and looked directly out onto the bay. Olivia would often sit there with her cup of coffee just before dawn.
In his dream Garrek had been sitting there with her, a cup of coffee in hand, too. He’d sipped and smiled at the familiar taste.
“You need to tell her,” Olivia had said after they’d sat in silence for a few minutes.
Garrek had lowered his cup, still holding it in both hands as he stared out at the water. The first burnt-orange rays of impending sunlight had begun to shimmer over the horizon.
“If you plan to give her your heart, you need to start with honesty,” she continued.
“I didn’t plan any of this,” he replied.
“That’s how it is sometimes,” she said and took another sip from her cup. “We make plans and He changes them.” She chuckled.
Garrek felt his heart clench at the memory of the sound.
“I used to laugh when my grandmother told me that, but now I know. I didn’t plan for this, and yet I’ve been able to find some happiness here in Florida. Some peace. And me,” she said wistfully. “I found me down here, away from your father.”
“I don’t want what the two of you had.” Garrek said what had been on his mind for years.
He’d never wanted to fall in love with someone and give them the power to rip out his soul when they left. It wasn’t an option for him.
“We had six beautiful blessings,” Olivia told him. “For those reasons alone, I would do everything with Theodor over again without a second thought.”
Garrek did not speak.
“You’ll miss the bigger blessing if you keep trying to play it safe. You’re falling in love with this woman and she’s falling in love with you. She told you about her painful past. Now it’s time for you to tell her about yours.”
“Before it’s too late.” Theodor’s voice had interrupted the quiet morning on the porch with his mother.
When Garrek turned in his rocking chair, it was to see his father lying in his casket, hands folded over his chest, eyes wide-open.
“I waited too long to admit that I still loved your mother. I wanted to show her and prayed she would take me back when she saw the house. But I took too long and she left here without me ever telling her,” Theodor said.
Garrek stood from the rocking chair and moved closer to the casket. The warm summer morning that had accompanied his conversation with his mother changed to a cool breeze, and he turned back to see that Olivia and her prized view of the bay had disappeared. There was only this sterling-white room now, with the charcoal-gray casket where his father lay.
“Don’t make my mistakes,” Theodor said. “Be a better man than I could.”
“The money,” Garrek said. “Where did you get that money?”
Theodor hesitated, and Garrek moved closer until he could clench his fingers on the side of the casket.
“Tell me where you got the money!” he insisted.
“Tell her!” Theodor said. “Tell her that you love her and that the past will not predict your future. Tell her now!”
The white room went completely dark, and Garrek was instantly alone.
That’s when he’d awakened, fearing that he would always be alone.
The feeling of Harper’s hand moving over his lower abdomen yanked him firmly into the here and now, and he blinked to clear his thoughts.
Her hand moved farther down, pushing past the elastic band of his boxers. Sometime during the night he’d gotten up and taken off his clothes. Harper had cried for a while, and then they both must have dozed off while he’d been still dressed. Now, her bare leg was moving slowly down his and her hand... He sucked in a breath as her fingers closed over his awakening length.
She didn’t speak, and Garrek was rendered speechless as her ministrations continued. While one hand moved, bringing him completely back from his dream state, her other hand pushed his boxers farther down his thighs. He helped by lifting up and then kicking them off the rest of the way as she moved between his legs.
Garrek looked down at her tousled hair and ran his hands through the soft strands, pushing them back. He wanted to see her face. She looked up then, both her hands moving over him now. Her eyes were a gorgeous shade of brown, like a cold glass of root beer. She had long lashes and a pert little nose. She also had high cheekbones and freckles and a pretty tongue that was now snaking out from between her lips. She continued to watch him watching her as she lowered her face close to her hands, her tongue touching the tip of his erection.
Garrek sucked in a breath a moment before her tongue stroked him once more, and then her mouth opened to take him inside. She moved slowly, tentatively—expertly, in his opinion. His eyes closed involuntarily, and his fingers clenched in her hair.
What was she doing to him?
Killing him, that was what. Slowly but surely Harper Presley was killing the man Garrek once thought he was, and awakening someone he’d never dreamed he’d be.
With each up and down movement, each languid lick of her tongue, she was tearing him apart. He wanted her to stop, wanted this whirlwind that he felt his life had been to slow down and let him catch his breath. But it didn’t. She didn’t, and he did nothing to try to make her. In fact, his hands were now guiding her head, his hips pumping slowly in sync with her movements.
It was heaven. A glimpse of what sheer bliss could be. Her mouth was so hot, her hair so soft, face so pretty. This was a perfect beginning to a day. And if he didn’t stop her soon, it was going to be a perfect ending—for him at least.
Garrek gently nudged her head so that her mouth eventually released him. He rolled off the bed and fumbled with his pants to find his wallet and a condom, rolling it on faster than he ever recalled in his life. Harper was on her knees, watching and waiting, so that when he climbed back on the bed she quickly pushed him down on the mattress.
She was on top of him before he could speak, her legs straddling his waist. He reached up to touch her then, pushing her nightshirt up over her hips while she once again wrapped her fingers around his length. Garrek lowered her over his arousal, groaning as first his tip slipped in, and then every inch in the most excruciating pleasure he could have ever imagined.
Harper began moving immediately, riding him until dreams, confessions—hell, even his name—vanished from his mind. There was only her now. Her measured thrusts and slim fingers that scraped along his thighs and between his legs as she cupped his sac. Garrek gripped the sheets in an effort to hold on. It was futile, because the more she moved, the louder her little moans grew, and the instant her thighs clenched and her body began to tremble, he knew he was lost.
Done.
Complete.
Finished.
And dangerously close to admitting he was in love with this woman.
* * *
This was Harper’s first time showering with a man. Actually, this morning had been the first time she’d done a couple of things. The smile that ghosted her face as she stood beneath the shower spray said she wasn’t displeased by any of them. The way Garrek was slowly dragging the soaped cloth over her back, down and over the curve of her bottom and lower, said he was pretty pleased with her first endeavors as well.
“Now the front,” he said, and Harper turned to face him.
“I don’t know how we would get anything done if this was an every-morning ritual,” she joked.
His reaction was quick—the hesitation like a knife to her skin. To his credit, Garrek rebounded just as fast. He smiled at her and continued to move the cloth over her body. He took his time, not missing one inch of her, and soon she forgot to be hurt by his momentary rebuff.
It wasn’t until after their shower, when they returned to the room wrapped in towels, that her conscience insisted she press forward. She’d told Garrek a lot about herself last night. Things that she’d never told anyone before. In the light of a new day, she realized she needed to know a little about his past life as well.
“I know that Gray didn’t plan on staying in Temptation when he came back, but now he has a family there,” she started as she moved to her bag. “What are your plans, Garrek? Are you staying in Temptation?”
Straight to the point. That was the only route she could afford to take. She was invested in this relationship now. She’d given of herself physically and emotionally, and if she were going to take another step forward, she had to have full disclosure. Garrek was keeping something from her, and possibly from his family, too. She wanted to know what it was.
“That’s not why I came back” was his response.
When she turned, it was to see that he was once again staring down at his phone.
“You came back because your father left you a house,” she said. “You’ve decided to restore that house but don’t know if you’ll sell it or keep it. But you have to be thinking of what comes next. What about your career in the navy? How is that affected by your father’s gift to you?”
He looked up from the phone to stare at her.
The white hotel towel was wrapped around his waist. His chest was bare, muscled and mouthwatering. Harper gripped the clothes she’d pulled out of her bag and dragged her gaze back up to his face.
“I don’t know what comes next,” he replied. “Honestly, when I came to Temptation, it was with one thought in mind—to bury myself in the business of handling the things my father left for me.”
“And now?” she asked. “Are you still not thinking about what comes next?”
He reached down for his bag and lifted it. “If your real question is, am I thinking about what comes next with you, the answer is yes. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that.”
Now, that was what she wanted to hear. Wasn’t it? She wasn’t sure. Or rather, she was certain she felt relieved and excited by the fact that he was thinking of her with a future in mind. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was so much more going on with him than just the house and her. More that he apparently did not trust her enough to share.
“I’m gonna go get dressed so we can head out. We don’t want to be late and give that idiot at the tile shop any ammunition to stiff you on your product,” Garrek told her.
Without waiting for a response, he took his bag and headed back into the bathroom. Harper hurriedly slipped into her clothes and packed. She was heading back to the nightstand to get her phone and charger when a vibrating sound came from it before she could reach it.
As she came closer to the nightstand, she could see that it wasn’t her phone that was vibrating. Garrek’s was charging right beside hers, and the screen on his phone was lit up as the text message came through. She hadn’t meant to...it wasn’t something she would ever do—invading someone else’s privacy was a no-no. And especially since it was a man she was sleeping with. Hadn’t she just been thinking about how he couldn’t possibly trust her? Hadn’t she just been wondering...
Harper’s breath caught as she read the message, despite her resolutions not to.
The prenatal paternity test results are in. Call me ASAP. Rochelle
* * *
The moment Garrek stepped out of the bathroom, he knew something was very wrong.
As he’d closed himself in the bathroom minutes before, he’d known something was off. Harper had questions about him. Her family had questions about him. His family had questions. It was past time he started answering them and dealing with the repercussions as they came.
He was not prepared to find Harper gone.
But as he moved through the room looking for her purse or her overnight bag, he saw neither. Maybe she’d gone down to the truck to wait for him. They were running a little behind as a result of their early-morning lovemaking and the long, delightful shower. After making sure he had everything in his bag, he decided that was it; she was waiting in the truck. He would just give her a call to let her know he was on his way down.
His phone rang, and Garrek cursed as he answered it.
“Yes?” he yelled, as the feeling that something was wrong intensified.
“Where are you?” Gray asked, his voice sounding just as strained as Garrek’s.
“I’m in Richmond. Why? What’s wrong?”
“The navy masters-at-arms just left my house,” Gray said tightly. “Two of them knocked on the door at eight a.m., and when I let them in, they said they were looking for you.”
Garrek cursed and sat down heavily on the bed. “I can explain,” he said.
“I know you can, and I won’t waste time by saying you should have explained what the hell was going on the second you stepped foot in Temptation. No, you should have called me the moment you got into trouble. Dammit, Garrek!”
“I’m not in trouble!” Garrek yelled back. Then he clenched his teeth and shook his head. “I didn’t do anything to get into trouble with the MAs, but I should have known it was going to go down like this.”
“Like what? What’s going on? They said you’re AWOL.”
“No. I received an approved-leave chit from my commanding officer. Look, I gotta go find Harper. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.”
“Have you told Harper about this?”
Garrek was silent.
“Man, what are you doing? You’re sleeping with her and lying to her? You’re lying to your family. This isn’t like you, Garrek,” Gray said.
The disappointment in his voice was not only audible, but Garrek could swear he felt the waves of it flooding him at this very moment.
“I’m going to fix this. Just let me get to Harper. I just have to talk to her before—” Garrek paused because his call waiting was beeping.
He pulled the phone from his ear and looked at the screen. Cursing again, he put it back to his ear.
“Listen, I’ll be back in Temptation in a couple of hours. I’ll come straight to your house. Just wait for me there.”
“You need to get a lawyer, Garrek. Those MAs plan to stay in town until they pick you up.”
Yeah, that’s exactly what they would do.
“Meet me at the Adberry place. At one o’clock,” he told Gray. “I’ll be there at one and I’ll tell you everything.”
“I’ll be there,” Gray said. “Be careful on your way back, and Garrek?”
“Yeah?” he answered with a sigh.
“The time for secrets is over. If you care about Harper at all, the time to come clean is now. While you still have a chance.”
Garrek hung up with Gray and immediately answered the other call. Something told him he might already be too late for Harper.
“Yes, Rochelle?” he answered.
“I told you to call me ASAP. You don’t know what that means anymore?”
“When did you tell me that?” he asked, squeezing the bridge of his nose, because it seemed all the stress had piled up in that spot.
“I texted you about fifteen minutes ago.”
Again, Garrek pulled the phone away from his ear. He saw the text she was referring to, and then he knew.
Harper’s phone had been right next to his on the nightstand.
Harper wasn’t outside waiting in the truck. He knew that without even going downstairs.
“I can’t do this with you right now, Rochelle.”
“If not now, when? You’re the one who wanted this early paternity test and now you’ve got it,” she said.
He had wanted the test. He’d wanted to know as soon as possible if the one night he’d gotten so drunk he couldn’t see straight—let alone remind himself that sleeping with his captain’s daughter was a terrible idea—had cost him his career. And made him a father.
“What did the test say?” he asked her tersely.
She was silent.
“Not in the mood for this, Rochelle! You’ve been playing games for months now. First telling your father that we were engaged, then changing that story to say I refused to answer your calls once you told me you were pregnant. I could lose my career over this!” he yelled.
Then Garrek forced himself to calm down. He knew that he wasn’t innocent in this situation. Anger over the fact that Harper had probably seen that text message and run out on him was overruling his normally calm demeanor. Before coming to Temptation, he’d resigned himself to the fact that he was either going to be a father, or he was going to have to accept a reassignment because Captain Ainsley was never going to want him under his command after what had happened with Rochelle. And he wasn’t certain he’d be promoted to any command post of his own. He’d thought he was fine with either scenario. Until Harper.
“It’s not your baby, Garrek,” she snapped. “Is that what you wanted to hear? I’m not carrying your baby.”
Relief would have overwhelmed him if Garrek didn’t know that time was still of the essence.
“Then get your father to call off the MAs he sent after me,” he told her.
“He wouldn’t do that. He told you to take leave until we got this straightened out. I was there in his office when he said it.”
“So was I,” he told her. “But MAs just knocked on my brother’s door looking for me. Now you call your father and get this straight before I return to Washington.”
“Good,” she said with a sigh. “You’re coming home. When can I expect you?”
The hopefulness in her voice was annoying. Just as the phone calls at insane hours of the night that had commenced after their one night together and the day she’d camped out in front of his house on the base had been. He’d told her the morning he woke up naked in her bed that it was a mistake. He was very clear about not wanting any type of relationship with her. Garrek had thought that had been reinforced by him not returning her calls or texts in the following weeks.
He’d been mistaken. His night with Rochelle had definitely turned into a fatal attraction—one that was now threatening to have him arrested.