Page 20 of Soaring and Steadfast

“Oh no…”

“Uh oh…”

“Why’s she need a towel?”

The room seemed to still for a heartbeat. Then?—

“Cause her water broke, you dolt. You fly an airplane – how do you not know stuff like this?”

“Because I’m not pregnant or getting anyone pregnant anytime soon.”

“Never say never…”

Louis barely heard the exchange, his body already tensing, instincts kicking in. But not for Stephanie—no, his focus was elsewhere. His gaze landed on her friend once more.

“Towel?” Stephanie’s face contorted, a sheen of pain breaking through the urgency. “I hate to cut this short, but we’re leaving.”

“Yup! I’m on it,” Trophy declared, scanning the room. But Louis barely noticed.

Becauseshemoved.

The beautiful woman who had caught his eye—who had captured something in him he couldn’t name—stepped forward, her presence commanding without effort.

“Go,” his blonde beauty instructed, her voice unwavering, calm in the storm. “We’ll handle this and meet you at the hospital in a bit. I’ll get a ride from someone who knows the direction.”

That confidence—sharp, effortless—shot through him like a lightning strike. His throat tightened as he swallowed hard, heart hammering against his ribs. Sexy. Oh man, this woman was incredibly sexy with all that strong confidence that seemed to grace her.

“Go. We’ll take care of everything and lock the door behind us. Take care of your wife,” Orion promised, his words shifting the energy in the room.

And just like that, everything changed.

The quiet pilot, usually so composed, touched his wife’s abdomen with a reverence that spoke louder than words. A silent, resounding declaration.

“Orion, your wife is pregnant?” Shellac blurted out, shattering the moment like glass.

The squadronerupted. The air thickened with cheers, laughter, bodies crashing into Orion like human bowling pins, a frenzied celebration of life, brotherhood, and the unstoppable tide of change.

“Me too, Uncle Shellac! Me too!”

“C’mon little man – everyone gets a little ‘bump and grind’ after your daddy has been obviously doing the ‘bump and grind’!” Shellac hollered.

Laughter. Wild. Raw. Real. The kind of moment that made a man feel like he belonged. But Louis felt nothing, but awareness of the woman standing a few feet away.

She smiled, extending her hand to the new mother-to-be, the edges of her blonde hair catching the light like a halo. She was laughing, speaking, but he barely heard her over the roaring pulse in his ears.

“I’m Lila Brooks, Stephanie’s friend from Louisville…”

Her name struck him like a punch to the gut—swift, devastating,final.

The world seemed to tilt, his breath stolen from his chest.

Stephaniehad given Lila his number.

HisLila.

The woman he had come to cherish through whispered confessions and midnight messages. The friend who had unknowingly burrowed into his soul with her pain, her resilience, her unguarded truths. The woman he had promised himself he’d never hurt, never betray. And now—heaven help him—she stood before him, flesh and blood, raw and breathtaking, fragile and unbreakable all at once.

And she would run.

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