Taking Chances (48 page)

“Yep.”

“I thought you
said he wouldn’t let you date Harper when you were in his unit, so why would he
help you follow her here?” Brandon asked calmly.

“Uh yeah he did,
but he was also the one to suggest the transfer.”

“What?” Who was
this guy Carter was talking about, and what did he do with my dad?

“I know,
shocked me too. I’d already been thinking of a way to move out here when he
called me into his office that Monday after you got your acceptance letter. He
said something like, ‘You know, Harper’s leaving for California soon, she’ll be
near Pendleton. If you were there, you wouldn’t be in my unit anymore.’ And
then he gave me that look, you know the one where he expects you to know what
he’s thinking? Then he said he’d start the paperwork if I was serious about
being with you, and that was that.”

“That just
seems…” I trailed off not knowing what word to use.

“So unlike
Sir?”

“Yeah.”

“Shocked me too
when it happened. So maybe you can understand why I was so miserable, and I
guess I wanted you to know how miserable I was. I know how stupid that was, but
I just couldn’t stop. And Ashley, well, that was a mistake.”

I shook my head
slightly, “I still can’t believe you did that, what were you thinking? Did you
not learn how bad of an idea that was from any of the other guys in the unit?
Like Ramos? You were there when he found out about his girl! You could have your
pick of girls that would love you and would be faithful to you while you’re
deployed, instead you went for one of those skanks? They sit around waiting in
the parking lots on base for a guy to come hit on them, when their guys go off
on a deployment, you know they’re waiting on base the very next weekend for
another guy.”

“I know Blaze,”
He snapped, “you think I don’t fucking know that?!”

“I would
strongly suggest you don’t talk to my wife that way.” Brandon said through
clenched teeth.

Carter took a
deep breath in to try to calm himself, “Sorry,” he said to both of us, “Harper
I know it was stupid, I knew what would most likely happen when I left, but she
looked like you and I couldn’t help myself.”

Oh that’s creepy.

Brandon’s face
hardened even more and he quickly turned his attention to our son. Thank God he
was holding him. From the way the muscles in his arms were flexing, I knew
Brandon was itching to hit something and Liam was the perfect thing to calm him
down. I flashed a small smile at them before looking back at Carter.

“And now? After
all that, what have you been doing this last year since you got back from
Afghanistan? You still drinking all the time?”

“No, other than
a beer or two with the guys every now and then, I don’t do much of anything. I
knew if I wanted any chance of getting you, I had to stop what I was doing. And
then of course, I find you again, and you’re married and have a baby.” He
leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and dropping his head in his
hands, “I can’t believe you have a freakin’ baby.” He whispered.

“I am sorry
that you spent all this time, and moved to California, thinking that we would
be together. I don’t want to hurt you, but Carter I never saw you as anything
more than my friend, and I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear enough back in North
Carolina. But I’m not going to be sorry for being with Brandon and having Liam,
I can honestly tell you I’ve never been happier than I am now.”

“Yeah, I’m
starting to understand that. Congratulations, by the way.” He said grimly, “How
old is he anyway?”

“He’ll be a
year in two weeks.” Brandon smiled down at him and bounced him up and down on
his knee.

“Wow.” Carter
looked at him for a long time before looking back at me, “Really cute kid.”

“We think so.”
I beamed. It got silent for a few awkward moments so I looked back at my old
friend and sighed, “Well Carter, I don’t know what you think about anything now
that we’ve talked, but if you think we could go back to being friends, or I
guess…what I thought was friends anyway, then I want that. But if that’s not
enough for you, then this is the last time I’m going to see you.”

He furrowed his
brow and leaned away slightly, “Blaze, I can’t – I hate not having you there. I
get that we’re never going to happen. I know it took me probably too long for
your liking to understand that, but I know now. I still want you around, or for
me to be around I guess. Brandon, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want that
though. I know I acted pretty shitty before, but I would never try anything now
that you’re married. I’m not that much of a douche.”

Bree and Konrad
walked in with wide eyes when they saw Carter with us. “Uh, we have the food?”
Bree said it like a question and mouthed
What the hell?
from behind
Carter’s back

I shook my head
at her and looked back at Brandon as he spoke again, “If you want, we’re having
some friends over for a barbecue next Saturday, you and your friends are more
than welcome. Harper can text you our address.”

My eyes
widened.

Um, what?

Carter took
that as his cue to leave and stood from the chair, “That’d be great, thanks
man.” He shook Brandon’s hand and brushed his knuckles against Liam’s arm.
“Thanks for this Blaze.” He hugged me tightly for a second and backed away,
probably trying not to push his luck further. “Guess I’ll see you next weekend?”

“Yeah, see you
then.”

With another
awkward glance at everyone in the room, and a nod in the direction of Konrad,
he walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

“Um, what just
happened?” Bree asked as she handed out the sandwiches.

“We talked it out.”
I put my sandwich on the desk and grabbed Liam so Brandon could eat, “Brandon,
why’d you invite them over? You really didn’t have to do that.”

He shrugged and
took a big bite, speaking around his food, “People mess up and make mistakes
all the time. Everyone deserves a second chance, right?”

It felt like
someone punched me in the stomach. How was I any better than Carter? I’d slept
with my boyfriend’s friend and gotten pregnant. I’m practically the queen of
getting second chances, especially from Brandon.

“Hey,” he
leaned over to whisper in my ear, “I didn’t mean anything by that. I love you.”

I nodded, “Love
you too.” I smiled when he pressed his full lips to my neck.

“So you guys
are just back to being okay again?” Bree started searching for an explanation.

“Not at all,
we’re going to try though. He said he’d stop pursuing me or whatever now that
he knows Brandon and I are married. So maybe eventually we will. I guess we’ll
see how everything goes next weekend.”

“That’s weird,
do you not re–”

“So what
wedding stuff are you girls doing today?” Konrad cut her off with a wink in my
direction.

Bree’s face lit
up and she went into a detailed checklist of all we were going to get done. Or
rather, what we’d already gotten done.

“Harper, if you
don’t want him to come over, he doesn’t have to. I was just trying to help.”
Brandon said softly so we wouldn’t interrupt Bree.

“No, I think
it’ll be good. Like I said, we’ll see how it goes. If it doesn’t seem like he’s
changed at all, then we don’t have to see him again.”

“Right. And if he
pisses me off again, I now have his address from the membership card.” He
smiled wickedly, “What time will you be home today?”

I caught Bree
smiling at me from the corner of my eye, “I’m not sure, late this afternoon,
you’ll probably make it home before I do, do you need me to pick something up
or do something for you?”

“My mom offered
to watch Liam for the night, she said she has enough things at her place that
you wouldn’t need to get a bag for him. You can drop him off on your way home.”

“Hmm…date
night? We haven’t had one of those in a few weeks.”

He leaned in
close enough that his lips brushed against my ear, causing goose bumps to cover
my body, “And it’s long overdue.”

Oh I definitely
agree. “Well then, I’ll get home as soon as I can.”

“That’s my
girl.” He picked Liam up and handed me my sandwich.

Bree and I
winked at each other, oh if Brandon only knew. Carrie, Bree and I had already
planned out this day, including the date night. Only Bree knew what was really
going on, but Carrie had been the one to suggest acting like it was her idea. The
only reason Carrie had enough things at her house was because we had Liam’s bag
already packed and ready for the night. We finished our food, and hung out with
the guys for another few minutes before finally taking off. I’m not sure who
was more anxious to leave, me or Breanna. But thankfully the guys picked up on
our bouncing legs and shifting eyes towards the clock and practically pushed us
out of the gym after hugs, kisses and a couple quick introductions to some of
the regulars.

***

“Harper, are
you already home?”

My stomach
erupted into a million butterflies when I heard his husky voice down the hall.
I couldn’t believe I was so nervous right now. Well not nervous, just really giddy.
Okay, maybe a little nervous. I checked my outfit, or lack thereof, to make
sure I looked okay. I was wearing black lace underwear and a blue silk
spaghetti strap that I knew he loved. Fluffing my long hair that I’d loosely
curled the bottoms of, I stood up straight at the end of the bed and waited. My
palms started sweating and I was biting the crap out of my bottom lip when he
walked in the bedroom door.

“God you’re
gorgeous.” He took two large steps toward me and picked me up in his arms,
since me standing on my tiptoes wasn’t enough for him. “I didn’t think you’d be
here yet.” He nuzzled against my neck.

“I could always
leave and come back later…?”

“Hell. No. I’ve
been thinking about tonight all day, I’m not putting it off any longer than it
takes for me to shower.”

I smiled, this
was exactly what I’d been planning on. “Well then hurry up,” I pressed my body
closer to his, “like you said earlier, this is long overdue.”

He trailed his
fingers lightly over my chest and down my waist before setting me down, “Three
minutes.” Capturing my bottom lip with his teeth, he tugged softly, then ran
his tongue over it as he pushed me down onto the bed and headed for the
bathroom.

I scooted up
the bed until I was sitting against the headboard, legs crossed Indian style,
and tried not to bounce up and down while I waited. Every second that passed
felt like an hour and I held my breath, trying to listen to what he was doing.
The water turned on and my heart sunk. Had he not noticed? I put it right next
to the basket of towels, and he always grabbed a towel to bring it closer to
the shower before he got in. I wrung my hands together and forced my bottom lip
out from my teeth, which in turn made me start biting on the inside of my
cheek. A few minutes passed, and then he was there, a towel wrapped around his
hips, water still falling down his toned body, with wide eyes, a dropped jaw
and clutching something in his hand.

“Harper, what
is this?”

I shakily
forced a smile onto my face. I didn’t know how he would react, and unfortunately,
I couldn’t tell exactly what he was thinking right now.

“Is this – Is
this?” He ran a hand over his buzzed head and huffed a short laugh, “Is this
what I think it is? Are you – sweetheart are we having a baby?”

I nodded and he
practically flew at me with the biggest smile on his face. Capturing my face in
his hands, he kissed me over and over, laughing in between each one.

“When did you
find out?” He asked breathlessly and kissed me again.

I scrunched my
nose and looked at him warily, “Two weeks ago?”

Thankfully he
couldn’t stop smiling, I had been worried he would be upset about that part,
“And you’re just now telling me?” He growled playfully and buried his face in
my neck.

My breathing
was getting ragged and I had to force myself to answer him, “Well I had my
first appointment today, and I wanted to wait until I had that to tell you.”

“Wait, today?”
He sat back to look at me, “I thought you and Bree were doing wedding stuff.”

“Yeah, we did
all that yesterday. The appointment was all we had today. I was pretty positive
I knew what the doctor was going to say, and I wanted to be alone with you when
you found out, so I called your mom, asked her if she would watch Liam after we
were done.”

“So that was
you? Not her?” He smiled and shook his head at me. “Wait, wait, wait. So Bree
already knows?”

I laughed, “She
was actually the one to make me take the test. I swear she has a built-in radar
for pregnant women. I had no idea and she just showed up with a test one day
and forced me into the bathroom.”

“She would. Who
else knows?”

“No one, and if
Bree hadn’t been literally waiting outside the door that day, you would have
been the first to know, I promise.”

“I can’t blame
you for Bree knowing, she’s kind of a force all her own. She gets her way with
everything.”

“Pretty much.”
I smiled and pulled his face back to mine.

Pulling away,
he lifted up the bottom of my silk shirt and placed soft kisses on my
barely-there-bump, skimming his nose across it he kissed it one last time and
made his way up my body. “When are you due?” He asked against my chest.

“May
twenty-sixth, I’m ten weeks.” I said breathlessly.

“I love you so
much Harper, and I can’t tell you how excited I am.”

“Yeah?”

Brandon looked
directly into my eyes, his brown eyes full of so much love, “Yeah.”

Smiling, I
kissed him once and let my head fall back onto the pillows while reaching for
his towel, “I love you too.”