Billy's Baby - Annie J. Rose Page 0,46
in unison to show that they knew who I was talking about. “She and I spent one night together. But the next day I was so distracted I fell and hurt my ankle on a hike. So I knew I was getting too serious about her, so I cancelled plans with her. Then when I was out taking a walk last night—"
“Feeling sorry for yourself,” Tommy corrected, and I glared at him.
“Taking a walk,” I repeated. “I ran into Karin, and we were talking, and I saw Morgan walking back to her hotel. Some guy was following her. He grabbed her arm, and I stopped him.”
“You started a fight,” Connor said.
“No, I finished one. He started it when he laid hands on a woman.”
“On your woman,” Connor corrected.
“No. On any woman. It had nothing to do with the fact I know her.”
“Know her? Biblically you mean,” Tommy snorted.
“Tom,” I warned him.
“Don’t,” Connor added. “Tommy, he’s spoiling for a fight. Go in the back and do inventory or something till he gets out of here. He doesn’t appreciate your humor right now.”
“Are you sending me to my room?” Tommy asked, rolling his eyes.
“No, I’m trying to stop you two from getting into it and breaking a bunch of shit in my pub,” Connor said.
Tommy shrugged. “Fine, but I think he’s being a pussy.”
“He is being a pussy,” Connor agreed. “That’s why he wants to start a fight. He wants to feel like a man instead of whatever the hell this is.”
“Excuse me?” I said. “Are you calling me a pussy? I’m a goddamn Navy SEAL.”
“No, you were a SEAL. Now you’re a retired military man who’s acting like an ass over a girl. Welcome to the club,” Connor said ruefully.
“If you like her, you need to talk to her!” Tommy’s voice bellowed from the stock room.
“He’s right, you know,” Connor said in low voice, “but I’ll never admit it to his face. If you like her that much that it’s messing with your head, you have to talk to her.”
“I tried to. She’s not answering my texts or my calls,” I said.
“Then go over there. If she’s ignoring your calls, she’s really pissed off.”
“You’re not making me wanna go over there,” I said.
“No, pissed off is good, trust me. If she didn’t give a shit, that’s bad. If she’s mad at you, you still have a shot with her,” Connor assured me.
“Is that some kind of big brother wisdom?” I asked dubiously.
“Yeah, and you’ll take my advice if you know what’s good for you. Don’t be a pussy. Tell her how you feel. I wasted months, Bill. Months that I could’ve been with Brandi. I’ll never forgive myself for that, for the fact she went through a chunk of her pregnancy with Lilly thinking I didn’t love her and didn’t want her.” The shadow that came across his face, the anguish in his eyes more than anything convinced me to go over there. I nodded and shoved off my stool.
The drive to her resort seemed to take forever and I noticed dark clouds looming. I thought maybe I should check the weather later on, but this came first. I parked and went up to her room. The last time I’d been there, we’d spent the night together. Things looked a hell of a lot worse in the light of day, it seemed.
It took more nerve to knock on her door than it did to run point on a mission to save a diplomat in El Salvador. That had been easy. It was just my life on the line back then, not my heart and my entire future.
I finally let myself breathe when Morgan swung the door open.
“Mind if I come in?” I asked, my voice sounding a little deeper than normal and strained.
Chapter 17
Morgan
After I ignored all his calls and messages, the last person I expected to see at my door was Billy. My stomach did a flip, and a tingle ran up my spine. The very fact that he had shown up at my hotel room showed how badly he wanted to talk to me. I deserved some answers, too, so I let him in.
“Do you want some coffee?” I asked lamely.
“No, thanks. I just want to talk to you if you have a minute.”
“I have a few minutes,” I said.
“Are you okay after last night? You took off so fast. I was concerned. I was going to walk you back here. I wanted to see for myself that you