The Bosun: A Military Romance (Love is Blind Book 3) by Harlow Layne (ebook reader play store txt) 📕

We continued to sit like that, watching the waves crash and people roaming about until her body relaxed into mine. It was then I remembered she’d mentioned she’d come for two reasons. What the other could be, I couldn’t imagine.

Rubbing my hands up and down her arms, I kissed the side of her head. “Are you okay now?”

“For the time being.” She sniffed.

“You came for something else. What is it?”

Tensing up, she extricated herself from my hold and moved to sit in front of me. A sense of foreboding filled me. Was she sick and came to tell me goodbye?

“I told you about Brock and me. The troubles we had. How I was unable to get pregnant and him subsequently cheating on me and getting someone pregnant from his office.”

Was she back with that douchebag? Had I driven her back into the arms of the man who’d broken her?

“Yesterday, I was doing a photoshoot with Lexie, and I wasn’t feeling well. Actually, I’ve felt off for at least a week. When I’m writing, days kind of blend together, so it’s hard to tell. Anyway, Lexie started to ask me questions about my symptoms, and then it all clicked.”

What all clicked? Seriously, I was going to feel like such an asshole if she was sick, and I’d left her, providing more stress for her.

“You never said what your thoughts on having children were. Maybe that was because you don’t want them or because you didn’t want me to feel bad because it wasn’t possible with me, or because you’re young and it hasn’t crossed your mind. I don’t know.” She looked down at her painted toes that were wiggling in the sand before her gaze lifted to mine. “I didn’t think it was possible, but I’m pregnant. You deserve to know that I’m planning on keeping the baby. Your part in his or her life is up to you.” She put her hand into a pocket I hadn’t realized was on her dress and pulled out a sheet of paper. “This is a plane ticket to California. Use it or don’t, but I hope you do.”

My mind was still reeling from finding out she was pregnant. Stella was pregnant with my baby, and I was going to be a father.

“I know this is a lot to take in, so I’ll give you time. I’m staying at an Airbnb for the night and then leaving tomorrow. If you want to talk, I’ll text you the address.”

Every word she was saying registered, but I couldn’t speak. Hell, I could barely blink. The reason I hadn’t used a condom wasn’t because I thought she couldn’t get pregnant. Not once had that thought gone through my mind. The problem was nothing penetrated through the thick veil of lust of how much I wanted her that ran through my veins. All I had wanted was to sink into her tight pussy and feel it suck me into its depths.

She stood, her hand hovering over my shoulder as if she was afraid to touch me. “I’m going to go. The heat is starting to get to me, so I’m going to get an Uber.”

“Don’t go,” I called out hoarsely. “I...can I come back to your place so we can talk?” She bit on her lower lip as she nodded down at me. “Thanks, let’s get you out of this heat. If I’d known, I never would have brought you here.”

“It’s okay. I’m learning new things about myself every day lately. What makes my stomach roll, and what makes me want to lose my breakfast. The other day the smell of coffee had me nauseous for hours, and I couldn’t figure out why. I guess I won’t be visiting my local coffee shop anytime in the near future.”

After helping her into my truck, I got inside and turned to her. “You said you took a test yesterday.” She nodded, wringing her hands together. “Have you been to the doctor to get it confirmed?”

“Not yet, but I plan to call Lexie’s doctor when I get back and make an appointment. If you want, I can send you the confirmation once I have it.”

Shifting my truck out of park, I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. Now that you told me, it makes sense why I thought your tits look bigger.”

Stella crossed her arms over her ample chest, trying to hide her tits, but all it did was enhance them.

“What’s the address of the place you’re staying?” I asked to get my attention back on the road and not thinking about how I wanted to devour her.

She rattled off an address that wasn’t too far from my dad’s house. My mind raced with a thousand questions, but none of them spilled from my lips as I drove us. The most pressing question was, did Stella only want me to be around for our unborn child, or did she want more from me.

The thought of being a father scared the living shit out of me, but the thing that scared me the most was losing Stella again and knowing I’d never have a chance to win her back.

“This is it up on the right,” she called when we were only a few houses away. “From what I’ve seen, you grew up in a nice town. It’s very peaceful and quaint.”

I wasn’t sure about quaint, but it was peaceful. At least most of the time. It saddened me to realize I could have come back here long ago. Maybe I would have sought the counseling I needed then and be the man I wished to be for Stella now, but I knew I couldn’t always be second-guessing my choices. If I had come back after leaving the military, I wouldn’t have been on Seas the Day, and I wouldn’t have met Stella on it. I was learning