Epilogue

Five weeks later

When Kai pulled up in front of his building and saw none of the lights in his place were on, he frowned, surprised at how disappointed he was. “I thought the girls were supposed to meet us here when we got back?”

It was his birthday. The whole team had gone to grab a quick beer after their long day of meetings at headquarters before coming back here to Kai’s place for a barbecue.

In the weeks since returning home from Maui, Abby had already formed a bond with all the significant others. She had been cooking for two nights in a row to get everything ready for his party, and he’d helped as much as she would let him. Which hadn’t been much, but at least he’d been willing and made the effort.

“They were,” Colebrook said from the back seat of Kai’s truck. “Hang on. Let me text Piper and see where they are.”

“Maybe they’re watching a movie or something,” Kai muttered. He drove around the corner and turned into the gated underground parking garage.

“Yeah, she says they’re here,” Colebrook said.

“Jaliya’s here too,” Khan said from the back.

“And Charlie and Tess,” Prentiss added. “Rest of the guys are already on their way up the elevator.”

“So everybody’s here except Taylor. Where’s she at, Granger?” Kai said with a wry grin, already knowing the answer.

“Home with her cat and a pint of ice cream,” said Granger, also in the back. “She loves the other women and she’s getting better about coming out to social events, but this was way too many people in a confined space for her comfort level. Too ‘people-y’ for her, as she put it.”

Kai chuckled. “Gotta love her.”

“Yeah, you’d better,” Granger said. “Otherwise I’ll pound your smirking face in, birthday boy or not.”

Kai didn’t respond to the little jab, still grinning.

Abby’s car was parked in her usual spot next to Kai’s. He pulled in beside her and shut off the engine. They all climbed out, and the cab raised several inches without the burden of their combined weight.

Stepping out of the elevator on the top floor a minute later, Kai spotted his other four teammates standing outside his door, all grinning like idiots. “What?” he asked. “What’s going on?”

“Wait’ll you see this,” Rodriguez whispered with a laugh, his hand on the doorknob.

See what? Curious, Kai stepped up next to him, craned his neck to see as his teammate pushed the door open. It was almost pitch dark inside his loft, but the unmistakable sound of feminine giggling came from the back area where the master bedroom was located.

“Hello?” he called out, walking in. Smelled freaking amazing in here, all kinds of tantalizing aromas coming from the kitchen.

Along with a faint glow from there, too.

A half-smile curved his mouth when he rounded the corner and spotted what was on the kitchen island. The girls had been busy over the past couple hours. Half a dozen jack o’ lanterns carved out of pineapples sat there—he’d told her they carved those instead of pumpkins at Halloween, and she must have liked the idea. Their little triangular eyes, noses and grinning mouths glowed from the candles inside them, illuminating what looked like an equal number of wine bottles lined up on the counter.

“Anyone here?” he joked as the others came in behind him. It was way too quiet now. That spelled trouble. He put his hands on his hips. “Hey, if you guys are having a naked pillow fight back there, we want in on that action.”

A chorus of enthusiastic affirmations from his teammates backed up his statement.

The words had no sooner left his mouth when a barrage of foam darts streaked out of the darkness, pelting him from every angle. He threw up a hand to shield his face, took a stumbling step back and slammed into Prentiss. “Hey!”

Yells and war whoops erupted from the darkness as the unseen attackers rushed them, peppering them with a continuous barrage of foam ammo.

Stifling a laugh, Kai lunged over and hit the nearest light switch. The firing stopped.

When he turned around, what he saw made his eyes widen.

Abby, Charlie, Piper, Tess and Jaliya stood before them, fanned out in a semi-circle, all of them wearing helmets and NVGs. All of them pushed the NVGs up onto the mounts. The brim of Abby’s helmet dipped almost over her eyes. Her face was covered in camo paint.

“Hi,” she said with a saucy grin that told him she was adorably tipsy, and popped one more round at him. It hit him dead center in his chest and bounced off, and she looked so pleased with herself he had to smother a laugh. “Welcome home, birthday boy.”

“Hi. Been busy, I see.”

“Oh, yeah.” Another cocky grin, and she pushed the helmet up. “Your present’s ready. Wanna see it?”

“I dunno, do I?” Since he’d come home to a bunch of pineapple jack o’ lanterns and a barrage of foam darts, he wasn’t sure what kind of present she’d got him.

“Yeah, I think you do.” She laid his specialized Nerf gun over her shoulder and sauntered out of view, those sexy hips swaying.

Kai shared a grin with his teammates. As far as birthdays went, this one was pretty memorable already.

“Okay, here it is.”

He looked over as Abby emerged from around the corner with someone behind her. Shorter than her, dressed all in black, face covered by one of his black balaclavas. As Abby stepped aside, the smaller figure pulled off the balaclava.

The air rushed from Kai’s lungs. “Tutu.”

His grandmother broke into a wide smile and held her arms out. “Surprise.”

Kai rushed over to scoop her up in a hug that lifted her from the ground. She was so damn small, but she hugged him so hard with her frail little arms. He buried his nose in her hair, breathing in the sweet, familiar scent of her plumeria perfume. “When did you get here?”

“About two hours ago. Abby picked me up at the airport.”

Still holding her off the ground, he swung his gaze to Abby. She was watching him with such love, her expression soft, and damned if he didn’t fall in love with her all over again right then and there. “You set this up?” He already knew the answer. No one else would have done this for him.

“Yep. Happy birthday.”

Kai set his tutu down and carefully set her aside, his gaze on Abby. He stood there staring at her until her smile slipped, and a flicker of doubt entered her eyes.

Hiding a smile, Kai rushed her.

Her blue eyes, twice as vivid with the dark camo paint surrounding them, widened. She let out a squeak of alarm and whirled to flee, but she had no chance. He was on her in a heartbeat, grabbing her around the hips to hoist her over his shoulder. She laughed and grabbed the back of his shirt to hold on as he ran straight around the corner of the brick wall and into the master bedroom, where he kicked the door shut with one foot.

“Kai, are you serious? Your tutu just flew for like, fourteen hours straight to get here. Put me down.”

“I’ll put you down when I’m good and ready to put you down,” he answered.

Without slowing, he went straight to the bed and tossed her onto it. She landed on her back with a little “oof” and scrambled up onto her elbows, pushing the helmet up so she could see him. Kai pounced, caging her beneath him.

Her delighted giggle made his heart turn over, and it turned into a soft shriek when he buried his face in her throat and blew a big raspberry against the sensitive skin there, grazing her with his stubble. “Kai!” she warned, weak with laughter, her hands pushing at his shoulders.

Raising his head, he peered down at her. “This is a new look for you.”

She waggled her camouflaged eyebrows. “Yeah. You like?”

“I do.” Grinning, he kissed her. “You missed a spot though,” he said, nibbling on first her lower lip, then her upper one. She tasted like her favorite red wine.

“I know. I didn’t want to spoil the taste of the wine with camo paint.”

He shook his head at her. She was so adorable. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

She frowned, considering it. “No. Remind me.”

He glowered playfully and smacked her hip with his palm, earning a yelp of outrage. She knew damn good and well that she meant the whole world to him. “What the heck did you guys get up to while we were gone?”

“Training.”

“Training?” he echoed. She was a hell of a lot more than tipsy. If it wasn’t for his tutu being here, he would have told the others to go the hell away now so he could enjoy Abby’s current state to the fullest. “What kind of training?”

She traced his mouth with a fingertip, her teeth dug into her plump lower lip. “CQB.”

He laughed. Close quarters combat? “Really. And who was teaching you?”

“Charlie. She’s badass.”

Colebrook’s sister, who was also Rodriguez’s other half. “Yeah, she is.” Came from a whole family of Marines, and she could handle herself. “So…I’m confused. Why were you guys practicing CQB in my loft?”

“So we’d be ready to ambush you. And we totally did. You weren’t expecting it at all.”

So damn cute. “No, I wasn’t.” He rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. “What else did you do?”

“We practiced room clearing.”

His eyebrows went up. “Did you? With my Nerf guns?”

“Well, not at first. At first we used those.” She gestured lazily to the floor beside her.

He glanced over, smothered a snort at the objects strewn across the rug. “Those are coat hangers.”

She shrugged. “I can do a perfect buttonhook now. Wait ‘til I show you.”

A slow grin curved his mouth at the pride in her voice. “Can’t wait to see that later.”

She leaned up to nip at his lower lip, stroked her tongue across it. “I got some other moves you haven’t seen yet either.”

He swallowed a groan at her suggestive tone, the way she snaked one hand down the length of his back to grip his ass and squeeze. Damn, he still had to go out there and play host, because it was his damn birthday and everyone was here to spend time with him. If he didn’t love them all so much, he’d be damned annoyed right now. “You did this to torture me,” he accused.

“Mmmm. Would I do that?”

Yeah, she would. Because she loved pushing him until he reached his limit, then stripped her naked before pinning her to the nearest flat surface where he could have his way with her.

Her eyes sparkled naughtily up at him, her hips lifting to press against his erection. “So I guess the camo paint works for you then, huh?”

“On you it does.” He kissed her, pushing his tongue into her mouth to claim her in the only way he could for now. “I’ve got a surprise for you too,” he murmured.

She stilled, that seductive sparkle leaving her eyes, replaced by curiosity. “You do?”

“Mmhmm. In my pocket.” He nudged his hips into her, rubbing his erection against her.

She wedged a hand between them and turned it over to cup him through his jeans. He growled low in his throat. “That’s not my pocket.”

“No?” She squeezed him, adding to his torment, making him reconsider his decision to wait until later. “Just checking.” Her palm slid over him with firm pressure, dragging a groan out of him as her hand dipped into the front pocket of his jeans. She stopped when she grasped what he’d tucked in there, her eyes searching his in silent question.

“Pull it out,” he murmured.

She withdrew her hand, holding the blue satin ribbon tied to the Maui keychain he’d bought for her. It held a single key, decorated with palm trees. A knowing smile transformed her expression. “Are you asking me to move in with you, Agent Maka?”

“Yes, ma’am. As soon as fucking possible.” She stayed over a few times a week, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted her here permanently, so that he could always come home to her. And before he and the team deployed to Afghanistan in a couple months, he was putting a diamond ring on her finger.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, arching her sexy body beneath him. “Is tomorrow too soon?”

His heart turned to mush in his chest. “Tomorrow works perfectly for me. But you’re staying here tonight.”

“Only if you make it worth my while,” she teased.

“Oh, shortcake, you know I will.” Gripping her head in his hands, he kissed her with all the hunger burning inside him. Abby drove him out of his skull just by being near him. And the way she accepted and loved him made him feel like he could do anything.

“Hey!” A heavy fist pounded on the closed door just as things were escalating to the next level. “Maka, get your ass out here, brah. You promised us all food. It’s your birthday, for Chrissake. Get out here and do your hosting duties, asshole.”

Kai paused, his hands in the process of working Abby’s shirt up. “Get lost, Granger,” he called back. “There’s all kinds of food in there ready to be heated up. Figure it out.”

Muffled male laughter came from outside the door, and this time his tutu’s adorable voice spoke. “But I came all this way to see you. Abby promised me steak and a baked potato with all the fixings. And a pineapple cake. Pretty sure she mentioned my pineapple cake, too.”

Kai growled and lowered his forehead to Abby’s while she shook with silent laughter. “Damn, they stooped to using my own tutu against me.”

“Because everyone knows you can’t say no to her.”

He couldn’t say no to Abby either, but was smart enough not to tell her so.

Pushing up onto his knees, he grasped her hand and hauled her upright. “Come on, shortcake. The sooner we get out there and feed everybody, the sooner we can come back in here and finish this.”

“Oh, all right,” she grumbled, shooting a glare at him when he swatted her playfully on the butt as she climbed off the bed.

With his lady at his side, he walked out of the bedroom to spend the rest of the night with the people he loved the most, all of them gathered here to help him celebrate his birthday.

Because of Abby, his heart had never been so full.

—The End—