Jaxon walked out of the cockpit and took the seat next to me. “Flight time back to the states is almost twelve hours. Captain Burke says he’ll have us there in eleven. It’s the best he can do.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “Right. Eleven is better than twelve, so I won’t bitch.”
Jaxon’s lips tipped up in a smile. “You know—”
The look on his face was the one he gave us before he came up with some whacked out motivational story to ‘help’ us somehow. “Sir, you’re not about to tell me some shit about Confucius, are you? Because, frankly, right now, Confucius can go blow it out of his ass.”
My Commander barked out a laugh. “I’m not a Confucius fan, Baker. Sun Tzu, on the other hand… The Art of War should be a mandatory read for every soldier, in my opinion. But, since you bring up Confucius, this reminds me of something he said. ‘It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.’ ”
I was pretty sure my left eye was starting to twitch in frustration. “With all due respect, sir, if you’re going to spend eleven hours quoting dead guys, I might duct tape your mouth shut and stuff you in the bathroom.”
“Don’t get your panties in a wad, Baker. I’m just trying to keep your mind off Belle and your baby since it’s such a long flight.”
I shook my head in disagreement. “Nothing is going to take my mind off them. My little girl is a month early, and I have no idea why. Right now, there’s nothing more important in this world than them. I won’t feel better until I can see for myself that everything is okay.”
Jaxon reached out, clamped a hand on my shoulder, and squeezed. “Have faith, Baker. It’ll be okay.”
“Faith got me through fifteen years without the love of my life. What faith did not get me is the time I lost with my son. I’ll always have faith, sir, but sometimes it’s up to us to make it happen. This is me making damn sure I don’t miss one more second with my family. I’m sure you can understand that.”
A sad look crossed his face. “More than you know, Baker. I understand more than you know.”
Chapter
3
I spent eleven hours repeating a mantra of steps in my head.
One: Make it through the long ass flight without killing anyone.
Two: Get off the fucking plane and to the hospital.
Three: Pray like my life depends on it that I have not missed my daughter’s birth.
Four: Give my woman a kiss.
Five, which was conditional on whether my little girl had arrived or not, and I was sure as hell hoping not: Watch the delivery of my second child.
I had silently dubbed it Mission Delivery.
It looked like I was going to successfully complete the first step of my mission by not killing anybody. The plane was on a descent, which was good news. However, if any of the boys cracked another joke about my fidgeting, I was going to give in to my growing annoyance and knock them the fuck out. Jaxon was not helping the situation, either. He kept trying to talk about famous dead guys I knew nothing about and giving advice. Although I thought the world of my commander, I was about to tell him where he could take that advice and shove it.
The second our plane’s wheels touched the runway, I was unbuckling my seat belt. My team members would be hard pressed to keep me from jumping out of the plane before it stopped so I could hurry up and get the hell out of there. If it were not for the knowledge that I would hurt myself, and therefore delay getting to Belle, then that was exactly what I would do. Eleven hours on a plane with nothing except thoughts about my family had me on edge.
I was waiting by the door when the plane finally rolled to a stop. It took me approximately thirty valuable seconds to open the door, and then I was sprinting down the stairs like a madman. I left my gun, my teammates, and my commander behind without a second thought. I was full steam ahead … until I saw who was standing before me.
My son Seth … and Sheriff Charlie Jenkins.
If I had a nemesis, it would be him. The man had warmed Belle’s bed periodically through several years of his friendship with her during the time we were apart. He had also been half in love with her and asked her several times for a committed relationship, which she had turned down every time. If his friends with benefits relationship with my woman was not bad enough, Jenkins had been the closest thing to a father figure my son had when I had not even known Seth existed. I had a million reasons to hate the asshole, but because of two reasons I was stuck with him on the proverbial edges of my life—Belle and Seth.