SEAL Baby Daddy

“This was really fun,” Ace said as we slowed to a stop outside my building. He reached up and brushed a lock of hair behind my ears, but when I thought that he was going to kiss me, he took a step away instead. “Do you want to do this again sometime? Just get drinks, whatever. Or dinner.”

I stared up at him, so tempted to tell him all the things I wanted from him. Much more than drinks or dinner, that was for sure. But I sighed and looked away. “I have a daughter,” I reminded him. “I’m not sure that dating is the best idea.”

It was blunt, but it was what needed to be said.

Ace looked taken aback, though. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he hurriedly said. “I just meant, I had fun, and I could use more friends in the city. Right now, my main friends are Stone, who’s my roommate and also pretty crazy, and the guys in my reintegration group. It would be nice to know someone who didn’t have ties to the military. That’s all.”

I looked up at him, wondering if that was really the reason. But I found myself nodding. “Okay,” I said softly. “You have my number.”

Ace smiled. “I’ll talk to you soon,” he promised.

I tried not to think about the last time we had spent a night together, where he had promised me that he would see me soon. That had been four years ago now. At least this time, he wasn’t about to disappear on some mystery mission.

And he really seemed to want to see me again.

He gave me a quick hug and then strode off, his footsteps quick and purposeful in the dark night. I turned and went inside.

Maisie was sitting on the couch when I came in, reading a book. She put her bookmark in and clucked her tongue like a mother hen when she saw me. “And here I almost thought you weren’t coming home tonight!” she teased, a playful spark in her eye.

I rolled my eyes. “I wouldn’t do that,” I said, shaking my head. “Ava would be so confused if I wasn’t here in the morning.”

“True,” Maisie agreed. “But I’m sure I could have come up with some sort of fib for her.”

“Probably, but you know I don’t like fibbing to her,” I said. I sighed as I flopped down on the other end of the couch.

“So things went well, but you’re still not happy with the night?” Maisie surmised.

I frowned. “It’s not that I’m not happy with things,” I said slowly. I shook my head. “He was great. Really great.” I turned my head to the side to face her. “Like, he was pretty much perfect. We had fun. He wasn’t mad at me for leaving early. And it just made me feel guiltier about all of that.”

“You have no reason to feel guilty,” Maisie said firmly. Then, she paused. “Well, except for the fact you still haven’t told him that Ava’s his. You still haven’t told him, have you?”

“No,” I admitted. “I’m just not sure yet.”

“You like him, though, don’t you?”

“I really like him,” I admitted. “It was never a question of liking him or not.” I paused, gnawing on my lower lip. “The thing is, he’s pretty much everything I could ever want in a man. He’s got good values. He makes me laugh. He’s damnably sexy. But he doesn’t want a family or kids. I’m still trying to figure out what he’s doing here. But I don’t know how to ask that without it sounding like I don’t want him here.”

“But you do want him here?” Maisie asked, peering at me.

I paused, picking at one of my fingernails. “Yeah,” I finally admitted. I shrugged. “This is going to sound really stupid, but he got to be a really good friend when I was in Kuwait. I’ve missed him. And it was good to see him again.”

“Is that all you want, to be his friend?” Maisie asked.

I sighed again. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “Or no, I think I’d like something more, but I just don’t know what he’s thinking.”

“Then you need to tell him the truth,” Maisie said. “Sorry to say it, but you know it’s true.”

“I know,” I said quietly. “And I will. I just have to figure out how. And maybe give him a little more time to come around to the idea that I have a kid at all.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Maisie teased. She stood up, leaning over to give me a quick hug. “Things are going to be okay,” she said. “I firmly believe he wouldn’t be back in your life if he wasn’t meant to be.”

“What if he’s just meant to break my heart again, though?” I asked, only partially joking.

Maisie latched on to that one nearly innocuous word. “Again?” she asked.

I looked away from her searching gaze and shrugged expansively. “It was hard, losing him last time. Even if it was my fault that I lost him. I don’t know if I can go through that again, cutting him out of my life.”

“Oh, honey,” Maisie said sadly. But she didn’t have a response to that.