Page 26 of Unintended Love

“I’ve missed you, too,” she confessed. Then she remembered her commitment seconds before she jumped out of their chopper. “Please let me down. We need to talk.”

“No, I want to hold you right up until the minute you have to leave.”

She wiggled back and looked down into his eyes. “I’m serious, Clint. We need to talk.” She sucked in a ragged breath, steeling her resolve. She pushed back further, but he still hung on to her around her waist. “I want a divorce.”

Clint dropped her slowly to the tarmac, his eyes never leaving hers. “What do you mean you want a divorce? No!”

Ashlin stepped back. “Were you so drunk in Las Vegas that you forgot about your girlfriend back in Ethiopia?”

“What girlfriend?” He truly looked confused.

She punched her fists onto her hips. “The one that’s now very pregnant.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I don’t have a girlfriend and certainly not one that’s pregnant.”

Ashlin felt her entire face fall at the same time her heart plummeted to sit somewhere below her belly button. “She’s your wife?”

Clint’s eyebrows squeezed together as though he was trying to puzzle out a complicated mathematics problem. “Ashlin, you’re my wife. The only wife I’ve ever had.”

He instantly smiled and reached his long arms for her. Before she could step back, he grabbed her waist and pulled her to him once again. “And the only one I intend to have. Are you pregnant?” He stared down at her, hope in his eyes.

Ashlin clarified, “No, I’m not pregnant.” She pushed out of his arms once more. “But the woman who was in your bedroom when we talked earlier this evening and threw her arms around you at the end of our conversation was most definitely pregnant. She also gave you an ultrasound picture and said it was ‘our baby’.” Ashlin made air quotes around the last two words. “Who the fuck is she?”

Clint stared as though he was trying to remember, then smiled at her. “You’re jealous.”

He was possibly correct, but she wasn’t about to admit it before he explained that woman. “Answer my question. Who was the pregnant bitch in your bedroom?”

His smile softened. “That was Theodora Castillo.” He stepped toward her and put his hands on her hips. “Remember the last conversation we had before you left Washington about my friend who—” She watched as Clint visibly fought back emotions. He swallowed hard. “Who was killed while on a mission with me?”

Ashlin nodded slowly, remembering his tears from that night. She could feel Clint’s pain, still raw. She knew he was recalling every detail of his friend’s death.

“She’s the widow.” He glanced away and clenched his teeth. Ashlin could tell he was fighting to maintain control. Finally looked back at her. “As he took his dying breath, I promised Javier that I would take care of her and his baby. Yes, I went with her to the obstetrician yesterday. I had to go into the capital to pick up a special order, anyway. She said she wasn’t comfortable with the doctor and asked me to go in with her. They did the ultrasound.” He gave her a small smile. “That was really cool to be able to see the baby inside her.” He pulled her into him and touched her belly. “I can’t wait to see our baby growing inside you, someday.”

She shivered at the thought. The vision of a baby boy with his beautiful blue eyes running around the Riggs compound, causing havoc, made her smile. “Someday,” she repeated, and up on her toes, she pulled his head down to her and kissed him.

When they parted, she couldn’t help but ask, “That woman means nothing to you?”

“My little tiger, she is nothing more than a pain-in-the-ass responsibility to me. Just as soon as we have a plane headed back to the United States, she’s gone.” He cupped her face with both hands the way Ashlin loved. “I wouldn’t have married you if I didn’t have feelings for you before we met in Nevada. After we spent those two days” he grinned, “and nights in Las Vegas, I knew I wanted more of you in my life. When you agreed to marry me, it was the happiest moment ever. I sure as hell refuse to divorce you. We’ve just started to get to know each other. Having a beer or drink over a video call isn’t the same thing as dating. I promise you, I’m coming back to the United States as soon as I can. You and I are going out on a date. Just the two of us. None of my friends and none of yours. We’ll do things that couples do when first dating.”

She gave him a quick kiss, then leaned back. “I heard you say that you always keep your promises.” She gave him another quick kiss. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

A shrill whistle cut the air.

Ashlin’s shoulders fell, and she dropped her hands. “I’ve got to go.” In sign language, she begged for just another minute. What she got back was a reminder that she was expected to do the preflight check.

“I really have to go.”

He pulled her to him gently and held the back of her head as he kissed her slowly and thoroughly. He held her close and whispered, “I do love you.”

The doors on the helicopter opened as her team crawled in.

“I’m so, so sorry that I have to go.” She hauled him in for one last quick kiss. “I’m looking forward to our first date.” She trotted over to the door closest to him and climbed into the pilot’s seat. She kissed her fingers and placed them on the glass. He repeated the gesture.” Just before she pulled the stick back to make the helicopter rise, she glanced out her side window. Clint still stood there. She mouthed the words, I love you, too.

Chapter 10

“You need to spend less time at that computer and more time with Clint if you expect him to marry you,” Kimmy warned Theodora.

Theodora looked up from the logo she was designing for an accounting firm in Knoxville, Tennessee. Christopher, the certified public accountant who owned the company, had been very understanding about the delay in his project once she’d explained that her husband had been killed in combat. She had five other graphics jobs right behind his, which she’d put off for nearly a week.