Page 66 of The Seal's Promise

She took a few deep breaths and then told him everything.

“I have to agree with Declan, it sounds like the judge is giving Tyler the chance to screw up having Max even one day a week. And if Max says he wants you or Miles there, then you can be sure he’s safe.” Dalton continued to hold her.

“But Tyler isn’t a dad, he doesn’t want to be, and even if he does actually spend time with Max, it’s going to become very clear to Max that his dad isn’t interested in him. And that will crush Max.”

Dalton’s chest tightened. “Unfortunately Max is getting old enough to figure that out for himself whether Tyler spends time with him or not. I know you want to protect him, but maybe it will be better for him to find out.”

“How could it be better to break his heart?” she snapped, pulling back.

Her eyes were red and puffy and her lips were swollen, and he knew she’d already been crying over this. He didn’t want to make it worse.

“I think Max believes it’s his fault his dad is disinterested, but maybe by letting him truly get to know his father he’ll realize it’s Tyler who is the one lacking, not him.”

Her eyes welled with fresh tears, and he couldn’t do anything but hold her close. In that moment he would give anything to ease her pain, but what he really wanted to do was destroy Tyler Banks. He would do anything to protect Brooke and save her from pain. And in that moment, he was struck with total clarity. There was no way he was leaving Sandy Point; he was too attached to Brooke and Max to go anywhere. He was going to have to tell Wes why he left and hope that his brothers could forgive him one day.

Brooke let him hold her while they were both lost in their thoughts, then she suddenly looked up around the park. There weren’t a lot of people, but enough could see she was sitting on Dalton’s lap.

“I think we may have just ruined your reputation in town,” she said.

“As what? The guy who fell for Brooke Garcia and took fifteen years to figure it out?”

Her mouth opened in shock and he couldn’t help but kiss her. It was a needy, emotional kiss, and she didn’t stop him.

“You’re not going to lecture me about how this is still just casual and you don’t want anyone to know about us?” Dalton asked.

“No, I’m too exhausted and emotionally drained to worry about that now.”

He kissed her again, and from the way she kissed him back he could tell she wasn’t just feeling sad anymore.

“Okay, so I was right, this is a full-on thing between you two,” they heard May’s voice call out from nearby.

Brooke broke their kiss and jumped off Dalton’s lap so fast she almost tripped May.

“What are you doing here?”

May held up a bag of cookies and two iced coffees. “Well, you wouldn’t answer my calls or texts so I had to track you down. Looks like Dr. McHottie had the same plan. Now tell me who made you cry so I can go kick their ass. And then you can tell me all the hot details about you two.” She pointed at Dalton. “I knew it, for the record.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. As much as he wanted Brooke to himself, he was glad May was there to help cheer her up. He stood and kissed Brooke’s cheek. “I’m going to go see if the coach needs any help with the kids, but maybe we can all get dinner after the game?”

Brooke’s cheeks turned bright pink but she nodded.

Once he was down at the fence line Dalton’s mind was racing. If the child support issue was settled, maybe that meant Brooke wasn’t worried about hiding their relationship. Which meant he was overdue for his confession to Wes.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Brooke

When Trouble Finds You

After a nightwith Max, Brooke resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to play by the judge’s rules: she had to let Max spend some time with Tyler if he showed up for his visitation day. Then Declan called to tell her Tyler wanted to change his first visitation to Friday, which was the first day of the Summer Solstice.

The only good thing was that Max had school all day, so it limited the length of their visit. But when she told Max his dad wanted to take him to the Summer Solstice, Max was excited and said he didn’t need her or Miles to go with them. He wanted to spend time with his dad, and it crushed her to know that it was very likely Tyler was going to disappoint him. But there were still two more days for Tyler to change his mind and flake out.

Today was Wednesday, and even though she’d had one lapse of judgment with Dalton at the park, she wasn’t ready to parade around town with him. So, they had agreed to wait until tonight to spend time together, when Max was with her parents. Brooke felt a little guilty being so eager to get time away from Max to be with Dalton, and knew it was a limitation she was putting on their relationship. But she didn’t want to confuse Max or let him get even more attached to Dalton if he was still just leaving at the end of summer.

For tonight she was just excited to be with Dalton, so she didn’t think to check when there was a knock at her door. But her excitement died the moment she opened it and found Tyler on the other side of her screen.

His eyes roved over her and then narrowed as a grin pushed up one side of his mouth at the same time.

---