Serving Trouble (Second Shot 1)
Page 58
“Noah, I’m more than what happened to me. I’ve been in love.”
He cast a glance at her. “Josh?”
“No.” He saw her shake her head out of the corner of his eye. “I can’t love him. Not now. But before I joined the marines, before everything, I had a boyfriend. The relationship didn’t survive the first deployment, but still . . . I know you should be focused on why keeping Josie safe comes first in your life,” Caroline said.
Noah stared at the empty two-lane road. “I can’t lose her. I let her go once and I spent five years wishing I was with her. And now . . . I don’t want to be a hero. But I need to save her.”
“From the madman with the gun?” Caroline asked softly.
“From everything. I just need her to be OK.”
“Impossible.”
“I know.” He turned onto his drive. “And it’s killing me.”
Because I love her.
He’d always loved her. But this time, he’d fallen hard for her. Yet, Caroline was right. If he loved her, he had to face that fact he couldn’t protect her from everything.
Except the madman hunting them. Please, God, let him keep her safe from whoever the hell was after them.
JOSIE STEERED THE Mini toward home, feeling as if her world had been turned upside down. The one person she’d thought she could trust, the one who had promised to always rush to her rescue, had pushed her away. For her safety! How had she ended up back here? Broken-hearted because Noah didn’t love her.
This time felt different. I saw the love in his eyes.
But if he did love her, it wasn’t enough to overcome
his need to focus on the things he could control—like her freaking safety.
She parked in front of her house but didn’t reach for the door. Should she go back and try to talk to Noah again? Even though he hadn’t said the words, she knew she wasn’t strong enough to face this pregnancy alone.
“Josephine?”
Her father stood outside the Mini, peering in the driver side window. She’d been so wrapped up in her questions—Go back? Move forward alone?—that she hadn’t heard her dad approach.
“I thought you were working today,” her father said. “Is everything all right?”
She opened the door and climbed out of the car. “No, Dad.” Closing the door, she met her father’s concerned gaze. “I fell in love with Noah. I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” He father’s eyes widened.
Her lower lip trembled. “And I’m scared. I can’t lose another baby. I can’t do this on my own. I can’t.”
“Josie.” Her father wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. “Another . . . another baby?”
She nodded, her cheek pressed against the stiff, starched surface of his police uniform as his hold tightened.
Then he released her and took her hand. “Come inside. I’ll make you some eggs.”
She allowed her father to lead her up the back porch steps and into the kitchen. She’d expected an interrogation right there in the driveway. But he didn’t look disappointed or disapproving. She glanced at his weathered face. The sadness etched into the deep lines on his forehead, into his grey-green eyes, nearly knocked her off her feet.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
He pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and held it for her. “I think I’m the one who should be apologizing. For your loss. For not being there.”
“I didn’t tell you.” She sank into the chair.
“I’m listening now,” he said. “Why don’t you start at the beginning and I’ll make the eggs?”