Second Chance Reunion Read online

  Second Chance Reunion

  Sunset SEALs Book 6

  Sharon Hamilton

  Sharon Hamilton’s Book List

  SEAL BROTHERHOOD BOOKS

  SEAL BROTHERHOOD SERIES

  Accidental SEAL Book 1

  Fallen SEAL Legacy Book 2

  SEAL Under Covers Book 3

  SEAL The Deal Book 4

  Cruisin’ For A SEAL Book 5

  SEAL My Destiny Book 6

  SEAL of My Heart Book 7

  Fredo’s Dream Book 8

  SEAL My Love Book 9

  SEAL Encounter Prequel to Book 1

  SEAL Endeavor Prequel to Book 2

  Ultimate SEAL Collection Vol. 1 Books 1-4 /2 Prequels

  Ultimate SEAL Collection Vol. 2 Books 5-7

  SEAL BROTHERHOOD LEGACY SERIES

  Watery Grave Book 1

  BAD BOYS OF SEAL TEAM 3 SERIES

  SEAL’s Promise Book 1

  SEAL My Home Book 2

  SEAL’s Code Book 3

  Big Bad Boys Bundle Books 1-3

  BAND OF BACHELORS SERIES

  Lucas Book 1

  Alex Book 2

  Jake Book 3

  Jake 2 Book 4

  Big Band of Bachelors Bundle

  BONE FROG BROTHERHOOD SERIES

  New Year’s SEAL Dream Book 1

  SEALed At The Altar Book 2

  SEALed Forever Book 3

  SEAL’s Rescue Book 4

  SEALed Protection Book 5

  Bone Frog Brotherhood Superbundle

  BONE FROG BACHELOR SERIES

  Bone Frog Bachelor Book 0.5

  Unleashed Book 1

  SUNSET SEALS SERIES

  SEALed at Sunset Book 1

  Second Chance SEAL Book 2

  Treasure Island SEAL Book 3

  Escape to Sunset Book 4

  The House at Sunset Beach Book 5

  Second Chance Reunion Book 6

  LOVE VIXEN

  Bone Frog Love

  SHADOW SEALS

  Shadow of the Heart

  SILVER SEALS SERIES

  SEAL Love’s Legacy

  SLEEPER SEALS SERIES

  Bachelor SEAL

  STAND ALONE BOOKS & SERIES

  SEAL’s Goal: The Beautiful Game

  Nashville SEAL: Jameson

  True Blue SEALS Zak

  Paradise: In Search of Love

  Love Me Tender, Love You Hard

  NOVELLAS

  SEAL You In My Dreams Magnolias and Moonshine

  PARANORMALS

  GOLDEN VAMPIRES OF TUSCANY SERIES

  Honeymoon Bite Book 1

  Mortal Bite Book 2

  Christmas Bite Book 3

  Midnight Bite Book 4

  THE GUARDIANS

  Heavenly Lover Book 1

  Underworld Lover Book 2

  Underworld Queen Book 3

  Redemption Book 4

  FALL FROM GRACE SERIES

  Gideon: Heavenly Fall

  NOVELLAS

  SEAL Of Time Trident Legacy

  All of Sharon’s books are available on Audible, narrated by the talented J.D. Hart.

  About the Book

  A baby given up for adoption…

  This second chance couple learns the true meaning of Family…

  Like the Brotherhood…no one gets left behind.

  As the daughter they gave up for adoption 12 years ago comes back into their lives, Damon and Martel plan their June wedding and Martel’s move to San Diego.

  But this new second chance has a rocky start with ST3’s disappointing mission to Mexico Damon is held responsible for.

  Martel struggles with giving up a job and house she loves at the beach in Florida for an unknown future in Coronado with her fiance’s career hanging in the balance.

  Do they have the grit to keep it tight when enemies keep springing up at every turn?

  Begin Reading

  Dedication

  About the Author

  Table of Contents

  Copyright © 2021 by Sharon Hamilton

  Kobo Edition

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. In many cases, liberties and intentional inaccuracies have been taken with rank, description of duties, locations and aspects of the SEAL community.

  License Notes

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Author’s Note

  I always dedicate my SEAL Brotherhood books to the brave men and women who defend our shores and keep us safe. Without their sacrifice, and that of their families—because a warrior’s fight always includes his or her family—I wouldn’t have the freedom and opportunity to make a living writing these stories. They sometimes pay the ultimate price so we can debate, argue, go have coffee with friends, raise our children and see them have children of their own.

  One of my favorite tributes to warriors resides on many memorials, including one I saw honoring the fallen of WWII on an island in the Pacific:

  “When you go home

  Tell them of us, and say

  For your tomorrow,

  We gave our today.”

  These are my stories created out of my own imagination. Anything that is inaccurately portrayed is either my mistake, or done intentionally to disguise something I might have overheard over a beer or in the corner of one of the hangouts along the Coronado Strand.

  I support two main charities. Navy SEAL/UDT Museum operates in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Please learn about this wonderful museum, all run by active and former SEALs and their friends and families, and who rely on public support, not that of the U.S. Government.

  www.navysealmuseum.org

  I also support Wounded Warriors, who tirelessly bring together the warrior as well as the family members who are just learning to deal with their soldier’s condition and have nowhere to turn. It is a long path to becoming well, but I’ve seen first-hand what this organization does for its warriors and the families who love them. Please give what your heart tells you is right. If you cannot give, volunteer at one of the many service centers all over the United States. Get involved. Do something meaningful for someone who gave so much of themselves, to families who have paid the price for your freedom. You’ll find a family there unlike any other on the planet.

  www.woundedwarriorproject.org

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Sharon Hamilton’s Book List

  About the Book

  Copyright Page

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

 
Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  About the Author

  Reviews

  SEAL Prayer

  Chapter 1

  Friday before Valentine’s Weekend

  Damon stewed over what to get Martel for Valentine’s Day. They’d been separated for a month, and she’d be flying in to visit with him for Valentine’s Day, but she’d only be here that one day. Engaged, planning on their June beach wedding, most of which she was handling, along with her finishing out the school year in Florida, saying good-bye to the parents and other teachers he knew she loved.

  But because she was going to come live with him in San Diego, she was giving up her little house at Sunset Beach. And he worried that it was perhaps asking too much.

  What did she have to do to convince him she was going to actually come live with him in San Diego? He wondered why he doubted things, all of a sudden. Maybe it was because the next day after their night of romance, she was going to visit their daughter in Palo Alto—the baby she’d given up for adoption while he was off being a Boy Scout on his SEAL Team 3—and even though he didn’t know about her until this year, he felt he should have known. He should have done a lot of things differently.

  He’d made so many mistakes. They’d made a lot of mistakes together. But he still knew that Ainsley, their daughter, wasn’t one of them. He would forever be grateful Martel decided to give her up for adoption rather than terminating the pregnancy—a decision she’d borne on her own. Strong and dedicated, thinking straight, he could always count on her to do the right thing. So, he shouldn’t worry or question her agreement to marry him, to give them a second chance to have that happily ever after, even though they’d blown the first part so badly.

  Maybe it worried him that he wasn’t worth what she trusted or saw in him. It was sort of imposter syndrome. Would she find out in time that he really wasn’t the honorable man she thought him to be? He had been so weak and uncaring, so selfish. Thinking the whole world revolved around him. He liked to tell himself it was because he had to focus on his demanding job—demanding emotionally as well as physically.

  But that was a lie, because it was that the job fit his limited capacity to be able to think emotionally and deeply. It was what made him wonder if he ever would deserve her.

  But she believed in him. That was for sure. He hoped to God he didn’t disappoint her. He’d hurt her enough. She wasn’t a fragile breakable doll—she’d proven that overwhelmingly. She was strong. She loved strong. She never gave up, even when he did.

  But she deserves more, doesn’t she?

  He couldn’t tell her that he wished she’d spend all her time with him. He couldn’t tell her he wished he could go with her to see their daughter. No, he had to earn that right. One thing at a time. What if the meeting caused her pain, so much pain that she didn’t want to see his face again because it reminded her of the heavy decision she’d made twelve years ago? He knew it was going to be good, and hard on her at the same time.

  And, God help him, he wouldn’t be there to hold her hand. He’d be a phone call away while she boarded the plane and would fly home to Florida and have to face the end of the school year all by herself. He should be there, but he couldn’t be. He’d be on deployment.

  Everything about his job had changed since he met her at that wedding in Florida. That second chance meeting where she just appeared, like magic, out of thin air, back into his life, and then soon back into his arms. He didn’t even recognize her at first.

  “What the fuck’s the matter with you?” Calvin “Coop” Cooper asked him, slapping him on the back.

  “I’m sorry?” He reared his head up to stare at the tall SEAL blocking the sun. The huge Adonis medic on their team had just taken one of his five-mile swims in the bay and he was just as ripped at thirty as he probably had been when he was a tadpole and nearly made the Olympic Swim Team.

  “You look like you either ate too many of the Scupper pancakes, or some bad seafood. Maybe something from the bottom of his chowder pot.”

  “That bad?” He sneered up at Coop.

  The tall operator, almost the fastest swimmer on the entire platoon, hands that could palm a basketball no problem, hunkered down beside him, shook his head, as if to say, “clean up that brain of yours,” and let him eat the consequences of being covered in droplets of salty bay water.

  Well, he had it coming.

  “I heard Martel was coming out tomorrow. You don’t look like a man who’s especially excited. I mean, if you were like Libby or one of the ladies, you’d be waxing yourself all over and getting a proper haircut and shave.”

  “Wouldn’t do any good. It would grow back before tomorrow, Coop. You’re the same way.”

  Coop rubbed the pelt on top of his head he called his hair, now beginning to thin. Soon, he’d have more hair on his chest and arms than on top. “That’s probably true.”

  One of the things he loved the best about his SEAL buds was that they didn’t have to talk much. There was this thing about syncing. Just sitting down next to a guy, and you could sort of tell what was going on. Lots of non-verbal communication.

  Or maybe it was all horseshit. Damon chuckled.

  “That’s what I was looking for. You must be thinking about all the things you’re going to do when she gets here. That’s more like it.”

  “As a matter of fact, I was.” He lied. But it was the game they played. It made no difference if it was bullshit or the truth. The rule was you don’t lie to the women, but to the men, well, they could handle it, as long as it didn’t put one of them in danger, or you were lying because you were a pussy or trying to get out of punishment you deserved. Only time you lied to the women is if one of the wives asked you if her husband was being unfaithful, and then no question, you had to lie. Every time. Not just sometimes, every time.

  “So, as an older man, married now nearly ten years, with three kids to chase around, and a pretty wife who still looks hot in a bathing suit, indulge me in your plans. Maybe I can learn something from you younger ones,” Coop said with a big grin. He was saying it not because he wanted to know, but because he wanted Damon to go there, hang around, and remember who he was and what he had to do, and to stop moping and worrying about everything in the world he had no control over.

  So, he’d take a stab at it.

  “I don’t know what to get her for Valentine’s Day.”

  “Roses are nice.”

  “Yeah. I thought about that.”

  “Hard to go wrong with those.”

  He wondered why the idea didn’t make him feel better. Maybe it was the romance he didn’t feel he deserved. Or was he looking for something special? A band-aid on the chasm he’d created and now was repairing. The truth was, he felt like he wanted to apologize to her all the time. He couldn’t help it.

  “You know it’s normal for engaged SEALs to go a little crazy from time to time. They start imagining things. It’s one thing to earn your Trident, and another altogether to step up to an altar and in front of everyone say, “I do.” Coop gave him a long look to make sure Damon got the message, like he’d stuck a pin with that note to his forehead.

  “I’m not having cold feet.” Fuck it. He was about to go deep, and he couldn’t help it. “I don’t think I deserve her. I’ve done so many shitty—”

  “You shut the fuck up, Damon or you’ll be single for your natural life, or until some round gets you when you’re thinking that. That doesn’t do any good for anybody. Besides, it ain’t up to you. It’s the woman who chooses.”

  That was true enough.

  “And Martel chose you, Damon. You’re it. Now is not the time to consider some other story. You should have thought about that before you—”

  “Don’t bring it up.” He really didn’t want to hear that part.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean—” Coop shook his head. “Fuck, I must be losing it. I didn’t mean the kid, Damon,
I meant before you let her fall in love with you again. You had a choice in that. But once you opened that door and let her in, she tagged you. There’s no getting around it. You’re it. You got no more rights, man. It’s chapel time, my friend. Has nothing to do with whether or not you deserve it. It’s what she wants. And knowing Martel, she’ll have it, too.”

  “So now you see my problem.”

  “Ain’t no problem, bro. You’re screwed. Lovingly screwed. Grin and enjoy the ride.”

  “But there’s a third person in our family I keep thinking about. I think about her all the time.”

  That shut him up. He cautiously continued. “Well, I haven’t had that to deal with, that I know of, anyway. You made the mistake, the both of you made the mistake, but she wasn’t one of them.”

  “That’s what Martel says too.”

  “And that’s the right way to look at it. You two should have been together, and you blew it. Now you do the rest of your life differently. You’re playing a different game.”

  “So back to my original thoughts. What the fuck to I get her for Valentine’s Day? Besides what I’ve already given her, I mean.”

  “You just give her everything you got. You let her know how special she is. Don’t go wallowing around in that self-pity crap, Damon. She doesn’t find that very sexy or attractive. I don’t have to tell you that.”

  Damon agreed. But he knew even if he plastered the road to his condo with rose petals a foot thick, it still wasn’t enough.

  “Do you write?” Coop asked.

  “Not really.”

  “Draw?”

  “Nope.”

  “Can you tell her a story?”

  “I don’t like to tell stories.”

  “So, read her something. Ever heard of Rumi? He wrote some classic love poems. Libby has several books with them. Want me to ask her?”

  “No, I can do the research. That’s a nice thought, though. Do you think I should get a nice room at the Hotel Del?”

  “Sure, if you can get one. Women like that. But it’s going to cost you, if it’s available. Valentine’s is pretty big there.”