Page 50 of Maliea's Hero

And poor Reid just happened to be the first man to make her remember what it was like to fall in love.

She might as well get used to the idea that, when he left, he would have set a high bar for any other men. What were the chances of her, a woman with a small child, finding another man anywhere close to Reid’s caliber?

For the time being, she couldn’t resist his company and followed him down the grand staircase. She even giggled like a schoolgirl as they opened doors, searching the first floor until they found the kitchen. Wrapped in a blanket of care and concern, she would take all the scraps he was willing to throw her way until there were no more to throw. The man had awakened her to a world worth living in.

CHAPTER 11

Reid made sandwiches while Maliea found drinks.

She chose two bottles of beer, found a bottle opener and popped off the tops.

After he layered ham, cheese and lettuce on bread, he slathered a layer of mayonnaise over the top slice of bread and laid both sandwiches on a plate, garnished with a healthy portion of potato chips.

He carried the two plates, and Maliea had the beer bottles as they climbed the staircase to the second floor and back to the suite Kalea had assigned them.

The first thing Maliea did was check on Nani.

Her daughter slept soundly, still curled up on the bed.

Maliea would sleep with her daughter, and Reid would have the room on the other side of the suite.

He hadn’t stopped thinking about Maliea and how good it had felt to hold her and tell her she deserved to be loved. The kiss on her forehead had ignited a longing he’d thought long gone, never to return. When his wife had walked out on him and taken Abby, he’d sworn he would never trust another woman again.

Maliea threatened to break through his promise to himself and make him believe there was still a woman out there who would give more than she took. A woman who would care how he felt and embrace the love he had to give.

Lana had done nothing but take, take, take. When she’d been pregnant with Abby, she’d complained through the entire gestation period, blaming him for everything that didn’t feel right. He’d done his best to make her comfortable, but he couldn’t always be there.

She’d blamed him for deserting her when she’d needed him most. What she’d needed was someone to listen to her whine and complain. She’d had a relatively easy pregnancy with no major complications.

Reid had been helpful when he’d been home and sympathetic to her pain and needs.

Lana had played on his concern to the point she’d made unreasonable demands.

Reid had put up with it throughout, even when she’d gone into labor. He’d done everything she’d asked and more, so aware of the effort it took to bring a baby into the world.

Still, he’d belonged to the Navy and had to deploy shortly after Lana delivered Abby.

He’d hated being away from his wife and baby daughter. But that was the life of a Navy SEAL. Lana had married him after he’d become a SEAL. She’d said she knew and understood the sacrifices families had to make for their SEALs to serve their country.

Ha!

Lana resented the military, claiming it made unrealistic demands on Reid and his family. She never had help raising Abby. While he’d been gone on a particularly long deployment, she’d informed Reid that she was divorcing him over an email. The woman hadn’t had the decency to wait until he’d come back from a particularly difficult battle in which he’d lost half his team.

She hadn’t asked him how he was or how he felt about the loss of his friends and teammates. Instead, she’d launched into everything that was wrong with their car, their house, their gardener and their neighbors.

Lana blamed Reid for the damage done to her pre-pregnant body. She’d used his money to pay for membership to the local gym with daycare facilities. She’d dropped Abby in the daycare and worked out for two hours a day.

That’s where she’d met her next husband. A man who made a lot more money than a Navy SEAL. A man with a big bank account who could lavish gifts on his wife throughout the year and never deployed to foreign countries at a moment’s notice for months at a time.

Lana had hired a personal trainer to help her get her pre-pregnancy body back in less than four months. She’d been even more beautiful than when Reid had met her at McP’s bar in San Diego.

Of course, Martin Harrington, the CEO of a tech firm making a high six-figure annual salary, noticed her. And she’d noticed him. Reid would bet she’d targeted Martin as soon as she’d seen the Lamborghini he drove.

The man could give Lana everything her heart desired: a new, expensive car, a fancy house and unlimited spending power on his credit card.

She’d filed for divorce before she’d locked down Martin’s adoration. He’d been happy to take her and Abby into his home and give them everything Lana thought they deserved.

Because Reid had seen so many of his teammates go through divorces after deployments, he hadn’t been surprised when Lana had hit him with the papers as soon as he’d returned from a mission in Afghanistan. He’d been at a low point in his life, having lost half his team in an IED explosion.