Loch and Key by Shelli Stevens Read Free Book Online

yes? I’m already exhausted from being pregnant.”
    Sarah was so tiny that she’d begun showing pretty quickly into the pregnancy, now at six months she was already almost all belly. Emily was over the moon at the idea of being a big sister.
    Kenzie laughed and shook her head. “You doubt me? Of course I will. I adore my niece.”
    “You spoil her rotten.”
    “I believe that’s actually the definition of adore, isn’t it?”
    Sarah arched a brow.
    “Aye, well it should be then.” Kenzie sighed and leaned back in the chair.
    Her gaze drifted out over the handful of houses in the distance and the road that led down to the quaint town of Coupeville. It was rather pretty. One of the oldest towns on the island and still with that small-town feel.
    “You’ve been back here a year now, do you ever tire of island living?”
    “Not at all. I love Whidbey.” Sarah’s expression turned whimsical. “It’s beautiful and peaceful. When we moved to Japan for Dad’s orders, I didn’t just mourn leaving Ian, but the island too.”
    “But it must’ve been nice being able to travel.”
    “You really don’t have much choice if you’re in the Navy life. I’m not much for moving around since I did it so much as a kid.” Sarah grinned. “If you’re thinking about traveling, you should go and marry yourself a nice Navy man and—oh fuck .”
    Kenzie’s grimace deepened.
    “Shit, Kenz, I’m sorry. I forgot for just a minute and completely let that slip.”
    To hear her friend dropping swear words left and right almost erased the slight stab of sadness that had bloomed at Sarah’s Navy man remark.
    “No need to apologize. Seriously. We had one dinner together, and I’m not even sure I’d call it a date.” She forced a light shrug. “And it was seven months ago, so it’s water under the bridge.”
    Seven months. Shite, that was over half a year. Why did it still bother her this much?
    Sarah clenched her glass of wine in her hand, clearly distressed. “I know, but—”
    “You don’t need to tiptoe around the topic of the Navy or Navy men, for fuck’s sake. We live on an island where there’s a base nearby. They’re sewn into our lives by nature.”
    “They are. You’re absolutely right. But I try and be careful and not mention them, because you don’t need to be reminded of a certain asshole sailor.”
    Certain sailor meaning Brett. This was why you didn’t tell your friends all the little details about your love life. Or lack of a love life.
    The night after she’d had dinner with Brett, she’d met Sarah, Delonna and Hailey for breakfast. They’d all inhaled four-digit-calorie meals while scooping on all the details of Kenzie’s first date in a long-arse time.
    Real brilliant move there, because Sunday night Brett hadn’t shown up at the pub. Actually, he’d avoided coming to the pub every night for the past seven months. Radio silence. He didn’t have her number and she didn’t have his. Not that she would’ve called him.
    The ball had been in his court. He knew where she worked while she only knew he worked on a Navy base with about a zillion other people. Clearly, he’d dropped the ball. Then again, maybe he’d never wanted to have it in the first place.
    Yet she’d been quite a fool and had held out hope for the next couple of weeks that maybe something had simply come up. Maybe he’d been called back on the ship. Did that happen?
    Until she’d spotted him a few weeks later in the grocery, walking through an aisle with a pretty woman at his side. Kenzie had hightailed it out of the store in a heartbeat, leaving a cart full of groceries and the insensitive wanker behind.
    It had all become clear, including how naïve she’d been. Brett had been indulging her at dinner that night, but obviously his pressing need to get shagged had been more important than waiting to see how long it would be until she put out.
    “He’s not necessarily an asshole, Sarah.” Even as she said it, she