Stirred Up By a SEAL

Chapter 1-1

1

“What the hell is taking so long?” Jonah Ferguson paced another circuit of the hospital waiting room, no longer hearing the squeak of his dress shoes. He’d long since abandoned his tux jacket and tie, rolling up the sleeves of his button-down shirt as his only concession to comfort since he’d arrived straight from his best friend Brax’s wedding reception last night. His very pregnant baby sister, Samantha, had thrown everyone for a loop when her water broke right on the dance floor.

Cayla Steele, wife of his other best pal and business partner, Holt, offered a tired shrug. “First babies can take a while. I was in labor with Maddie for fourteen hours.”

Jonah fixed her with a frustrated glare. “It’s been nearly twenty-four. Something has to be wrong.”

His mother, Rebecca, pushed up from her chair and stepped into his path, forcing him to stop or run her over. She laid both hands on his considerably taller shoulders in a gesture she’d been using to soothe him since childhood. “Nothing’s wrong. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll go check on her again.”

He jerked a nod. She patted his cheek and strode back down the hall to the birthing suite. Jonah resumed his pacing.

Holt shoved to his feet, holding out a hand for his wife. “Brother, I hate to do this to you, but we really need to be getting on home to Maddie. Donna has work tomorrow and technically, so do we.”

Work. The bakery. Normal life. “Right. Of course.”

Holt clapped him on the shoulder. “Listen, you stay here as long as it takes. Rachel and I can cover everything.”

Rachel McCleary had completely rocked his world last night.

Jonah’s mind slid to the party he’d left hours ago. His friend and business partner, Brax, had renewed his vows with his once-estranged wife, Mia. That was definitely cause for celebration. Jonah had stood in the shadows with Rachel—his friend, Rachel—watching the dance floor as everybody else got their groove on. He’d wanted to dance with her, wanted her in his arms with her scent surrounding him. Wanted to feel her body moving against his.

And that was exactly why he didn’t ask her. He wished he hadn’t finished the one beer he’d allowed himself. It would give him something to do with the hands that wanted to touch her.

He tuned back into their conversation. “Do you want to date?” Jonah told himself the answer didn’t matter. He couldn’t let it matter.

“I don’t even know. John and I were high school sweethearts. I’ve never dated as an adult. And the whole idea of navigating that is… exhausting. I signed up for online dating and got so many d**k pics in twenty-four hours, I deleted my account.”

What the f**k is wrong with people? “Stay far, far away from the bottom feeders.”

“Believe me, I intend to.” Rachel spun the stem of her champagne flute between two fingers. “That said, I know John wouldn’t have wanted me to be alone and grieving him the rest of my life. I’m working my way around to doing something about it.” She took a bigger gulp of the sparkling wine and sucked in a deep breath. “I was hoping you could help me with that.”

Everything inside him revolted. He’d looked out for her. He’d keep looking out for her. Of course he would. She was his teacher, the master baker who’d given him the skills to make a life for himself after the SEALs. And she was his friend, who’d helped pull him to the other side of the trauma of separating from the life he’d known. But helping her find a new love life? He wasn’t sure he could do that. He worked to keep his face neutral. “You need me to screen some guys? Make sure they’re worth your time? That they’ll treat you right?”

“No, I’ve already done that. He is, and he does.”

Jonah set his jaw. Who the hell was she talking about, and why hadn’t she mentioned him before? Was this asshole good enough for her?

Rachel turned to him, blue eyes searching his face, her own full of something that looked an awful lot like hope and expectation. Except it couldn’t possibly be that.

“Then how can I help?”

Those lovely, smooth shoulders straightened. She tipped back the last of the champagne and set the glass aside with a thump. “Maybe this will help clarify.” And she curved those strong, slender fingers around his nape, closing the distance between them, to lay her lips over his.

Him. The asshole was him. Because apparently, in some past life, he’d done something incredible to deserve the attention of a woman like her.

On a sigh, he slid his arms around her, fitting that long, lean body to his as he angled his head to take the kiss deeper—

“Jonah?”

Blinking back to the present, he shoved aside the rest of the fantasy that had been playing on repeat for most of the last day and pulled Holt in for a back-thumping hug. “Thanks, man. I appreciate y’all sticking around this long.”

“No problem.”

When he stepped back, Cayla moved in, wrapping Jonah in a tight hug. “Sam’s going to be just fine. And as soon as that little bundle of joy gets here, y’all will all forget about this stress.”

“God, I hope so.” Jonah squeezed her back. “Y’all go on. I’ll keep you posted.”

The two of them gathered up their things and headed for the elevator.

And then Jonah had nothing and no one left to distract him from the white elephant of The Kiss.

Surely the incident deserved capital letters. It had shocked the ever lovin’ hell out of him. So much so that, in reality, he hadn’t kissed her back.

He hadn’t kissed her back.

It wasn’t like he didn’t want to. Hell, he’d been having fantasies about exactly that, almost from the day they’d met. But when she’d done it, he’d been struggling to analyze the ramifications of giving in to his own desires, when she might simply have been acting on a high of wedding nostalgia and too much champagne. A situation not at all helped by the reduced blood flow to his brain.

Then she’d pull back, and before he could do or say anything, his sister Sam had gone into labor.

Now here he was, almost a full day later, still at the hospital in Johnson City, waiting on the arrival of his new niece or nephew, and Jonah still didn’t know what to do about it.

He’d spent the past two years telling himself to keep his hands off her. His inconvenient attraction didn’t matter a damn. She’d been recovering from major emotional trauma, and he’d been working through his own trauma, physical and otherwise, along with coming to grips with the abrupt end of his career as a Navy SEAL. Neither of them had been in a place where anything more than friendship made sense. So it had been easy to tell himself that he wasn’t what she needed. But now?

What exactly did she want? To date him? That was entirely impractical. His tiny hometown of Eden’s Ridge was twelve hours from Syracuse. Rachel was only here for a few weeks.

Was she looking for a fling? Jonah couldn’t imagine that. By her own admission, she’d never been with anyone else. Everything about Rachel screamed forever girl. And yet…

The echo of quick footsteps had him swinging toward the hall. His mom nodded at the nurses who’d become familiar faces over the hours they’d been here.

“Is the baby here?”

“Not yet.”

“Damn, this kid is stubborn. Takes after both its parents.”

“It shouldn’t be too long now. She’s finally fully dilated.”

He really didn’t want to think about what that meant.

Rebecca looped an arm through his. “Why don’t you sit down before you wear a literal hole in the floor?” Without waiting for an answer, she tugged him toward a row of chairs.

“I’d rather swim fifteen miles than keep just sitting here.” At this point, it felt like a year since Sam had gone into labor. He couldn’t shake the knowledge that, despite modern medicine, women still died in childbirth. She was his sister. He’d spent his whole life protecting her. But this wasn’t a battle he could fight, and the sense of impotence didn’t sit well.

“You need a distraction.”

“Yeah.” He scrubbed a hand over his hair. “Yeah, I do.”

“Okay. Then how about you tell me what’s up with you and Rachel?”

It took all his considerable training not to tense at the question. “Nothing’s up with me and Rachel.”

“That wasn’t what it looked like to me.”

Jonah didn’t even need to look to know she wore that bland, faintly amused mom expression that said Busted.

So she’d seen the kiss.

It wasn’t like he had anything to be ashamed of. They were both single and unattached. But as he still had no idea what actually was going on with Rachel, he considered answering the question with his name, rank, and serial number.

Running footsteps from up the hall had Jonah shooting to his feet in time to see his brother-in-law, Griff Powell, racing into the waiting room, his face alight with joy, his dark red hair a wild halo around his head.

“It’s a girl! It’s a girl! Ten fingers, ten toes! I don’t know what she weighs yet. They’re putting her on the scale now. Come on!”

Relief loosened his limbs, and for a moment Jonah slumped against his mother, breathing a prayer of thanks. She squeezed his arm, then they both hurried after Griff. They arrived in time to see a tiny bundle swaddled in pink being laid in Sam’s arms. Tendrils of his sister’s dark hair were glued to her face with sweat, the rest of it pulled back into a messy braid. But despite the long hours, she looked wide awake and radiant.

“Eight pounds, twelve ounces. Eighteen inches long. And she got a full ten on the Apgar!” Sam announced the stats with all the pride she might’ve infused in saying the kid was valedictorian. Which she probably would be, with his sister as her mom. “You’re gonna be tall, like your daddy.”

Rebecca’s “Oh!” sounded a tad watery as she moved to the opposite side of the bed to take her first look at her new granddaughter. “She’s beautiful.”

Jonah’s own throat went thick as he studied the baby. She was so very tiny. How could she be so freaking tiny? He swallowed. “What’s her name?”

“Aurora Leigh.” Griff eased a hip onto the bed, wrapping his arm around them both. “We’re calling her Rory.”

Rory. His brand new niece.

Cautiously, Jonah moved over toward Griff, laying a hand on his shoulder. “You did good, man. She’s the prettiest little thing ever.”

Sam nudged the pink hat up a little. “She got his red hair!”

“Your eyes.” Griff pressed a kiss to her brow.

“Maybe. We’ll see how they settle out in a few months. Either way, she’s perfect.” She beamed up at her husband.

As if sensing they were talking about her, Rory opened her eyes and seemed to look straight at Jonah. Those deep dark eyes just about took him out at the knees. She was new family. A new part of his circle to protect. And he vowed then and there that he’d do anything he had to in order to make sure nothing harmed this child or his sister’s family.

Which meant that he had work to do.