I roll my eyes as I pull my hand back. “That’s because you were giving me my third orgasm. I would’ve let you recite sonnets as long as you kept doing that thing with your tongue.”

“Good to know.”

“You infuriate me.”

He shrugs and then slaps my ass. “You’ve got two minutes or I’m tying you up and carrying you out.”

I think tonight Mr. Dixon will see what happens when you mess with the bull. He’s about to have the horns rammed right in his ass.

Mark

“Hey look! It’s the Fudge Packer!” I yell as I see Liam in the backyard. Of course, he likes the Green Bay Packers. He’s even got my goddaughter wearing that crap and yelling things about it. It’s fine, soon she’ll realize all the talent is with my G-Men.

“There are kids at this party, asshole. Watch your mouth.” Liam walks forward to greet me. We clap hands and hug.

“You should talk.”

“Who sent him an invitation?” he asks as Lee appears at his side.

She slaps his chest and peers at me with a smile. “Hey! I wasn’t sure you’d make it back.” I engulf her in my arms. She’s so freaking tiny, I’m afraid I’ll break her. “Maybe for the next party, you’ll show up on time.” Even though her attitude is anything but little.

“Lee . . .” I step to the side as Charlie walks forward. “Meet Charlie. Charlie, this is Natalie Gil—, I mean Dempsey.” I still can’t get that right.

“Nice to meet you, Charlie. I have a lot to thank you for.” Lee takes Charlie in for a hug, surprising us both. Even though I shouldn’t be shocked, that girl would hug a leper. “Sorry, I’m a hugger.”

Charlie smiles. “It’s really nice to meet you. Sorry Mark brought me along without an invite.”

She waves her hand, “Oh, please. You’re more than welcome. You know my husband, Liam, right?”

“Good to see you, Charlie.” Liam shakes her hand. I need to ease the tension clear in Charlie’s body language.

“Now!” I clap my hands loudly. “Where are the kids? Because really, they’re the fun ones here!”

“I’m glad you came,” Natalie says as we walk farther into the party area. “Aara has been asking for you.”

“I couldn’t miss our only child’s stepfather’s birthday. She’s my sparkly baby.”

Natalie shakes her head with a smile. “I swear to God.”

“Don’t do that. I command you to say some Hail Marys and a couple Our Fathers to atone for your sins.”

Liam laughs as his wife’s face colors. She wears her emotions so well. “I regret ever letting you talk me into marrying us.”

“Now you’re admitting you wanted to marry me too? Sorry, babe. The brother husband phenomenon isn’t really my thing. No guy should subject himself to having another cock in the hen house,” I joke and she slaps me.

“Oh, how you know all my secrets,” she deadpans. I love the easy sarcasm around this group. We’re all equal assholes and love nothing more than to make fun of each other. If Jackson were here, this would be complete. But with him coming to Virginia for his wedding in two weeks, he had to miss it.

I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed my friends until now. All of us are bonded and are more family to each other than our real families. I was there for Natalie when Liam couldn’t be. Hell, I’m the one who had to tell Lee that Aaron was dead. Aaron was there for me after we lost our three other teammates. While I didn’t mourn or have an emotional episode like the others . . . it wasn’t easy on me, either. I was close with Devon and Fernando. Sometimes I think my friendship with those two was tighter than Aaron and Jackson at the time. Devon lived with me when his wife left him. We surfed every day. Losing him was a very dark time in my life.

“Untle Mark!” Aarabelle runs with her arms open.

“Aara!”

I lift her in my arms and squeeze her tight. This little angel kept this broken, screwed-up bunch afloat and she doesn’t even realize it. We were all saved by her life. She brought us back to center and reminded us that we needed to band together. She also saved Aaron after he lost it all.

“Charlie, this is Aarabelle.” Charlie smiles and takes Aara’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Aarabelle.”

“Meet you, too!” she squeaks.

Charlie laughs. “I like your dress.”

“Tanks! I like pinkt.”

“Me, too!”

“Athair!” Aara yells at Liam. “Chartie likes my pwetty dwess.”

Liam laughs, as do I. “I’m sure she does. Why don’t you go make sure Shane is still sleeping?” Liam suggests.

She squirms out of my arms and rushes toward her brother who sits in his swing. Life goes by so fast, and if you blink, you’ll miss it. These kids are talking, walking, and soon they’ll be grown before we even have a chance to enjoy them. And here I am, in my thirties, unmarried and childless. It sure as fuck isn’t where I thought I’d be.

“One day.” Quinn Miller comes up behind me and places a beer in my hand.

“Quinn.” I nod. Dude’s on my shit list.

“One day I’ll understand why the hell he thought getting married was a good idea.”

“One day you will. Until then, you’ll keep being a dumbass who walks away from a girl who was willing to even consider looking at your ugly mug.” I take a swig and let him take that in. While Ashton and I never became anything, what he did to her is completely wrong. He’s lucky I don’t lay him out right here, but I respect Liam too much. So Quinn gets to live another day. Until I no longer feel charitable.

He huffs, “If you only knew.”

“I know more than you think.” This guy is something else. Ashton called me a few weeks ago in tears. She fell for Quinn, dated the moron, and then he dumped her.

“Yeah.” He shakes his head. “You only know what Ash told you. I’m sure she didn’t fill you in on what she did that caused it all.”

I lock our gazes so he understands I mean what I’m about to say. “Girls like that don’t come around daily. Girls who are willing to accept you for the dick you are, deal with deployments, and know that you may not come home again aren’t a dime a dozen. I’ve been through my share of women figuring this out. I’ve slept my way through Hot Tuna—and a host of the other bars in Virginia Beach—but those chicks are all after one thing, man, and it ain’t your heart.”

These young SEALs don’t understand it, and they need to learn. When we’re gone, we can’t worry about life at home. Our minds are focused on the job. There are some women who can take it, a lot who can’t. Ashton needs to cut off his balls.

“Whatever, man.” He turns his attention to Charlie. “Nice to see you again, Agent Awesome.”

She starts to chuckle. “I don’t even want to know, do I?”

I wrap my arm around her waist, clearly letting Quinn know she’s here with me. And with me as in more than just a guest. “It’s our name for what we think your ass looks like,” I explain.