Page 57 of My Fiancé's Brother 2

“I know you don’t feel the same way,” I blurted out. “I know that and I know I should leave but I can’t. Not unless you leave me first.”

He stiffened. “No one is leaving anyone.”

A long pause hung between us. I took a deep breath, “I’m sorry if my feelings make you uncomfortable.”

“Do I seem uncomfortable to you?”

“Sometimes.”

Now it was his turn to look out over the ocean. His expression preoccupied. He took another sip of his beer and looked back at me. “How’s your dinner?”

CHAPTER 20

The following week passed quickly.Jackson told me that he was on standby. He said they spent their days either working out or preparing their equipment for their next deployment. I spent my days unpacking the rest of the boxes and making our house look like a home.

Had anything been resolved or magically fixed? Not even close, but we fell into an easy rhythm that reminded me of our time in New York.

One night, he drove us into Newport, the local city, and we went out for dinner and a movie. He insisted we flip a coin to decide who got to pick the film. I won the coin toss, and we ended up in a theater full of women for a chick flick. Jackson ate most of the popcorn and about 20 minutes into the movie I looked over at him, and he was asleep.

“Want to go?” I whispered.

His eyes remained shut, but a smile played on his lips. “Nope. You enjoy.”

The movie, along with my pregnancy hormones, createdwaterworks. I only cried harder when his big hand slipped into mine and gave it a good squeeze.

When we walked out, I enthused, “I loved that movie. It was so good.”

He laughed.

“What?” I said, feigning indignation.

“Nothing.”

But I noted that he had a smile on his face as we walked back to the truck.

Another night,he took me for ice cream. On the way home, he stopped at the paint store.

“What are we painting?” I asked, clueless.

“Alien’s room.”

“But that’s months away.”

“I’ll probably be deployed then. We should do it before I leave.”

“Oh,” I said. His thoughtful gesture was doing wild things to my heart, squeezing it so tight, it almost hurt. “Good idea.”

“Which one do you like?” Jackson held up two blue chips.

“You think we’re having a boy?”

His head reared back in mock horror. “You think Alien is a girl?”

“There’s a fifty percent chance Alien is a girl.”

“No way.” He was confident.

“Hmm,” I had an idea. “What's your favorite childhood story?”

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