Chapter 29
“And I got to hunt for eggs!” Violet told them. “Miss Rory said there’d be more in the morning, but there was one and I gots to get it! It was warm and brown.”
“Really? How exciting.” Paisley stroked her daughter’s hair, but Violet was too excited to stand still for it. She ran to where her crayons and paper were laying on the coffee table.
“I hafta draw the chickens. They clucked a lot, and they were scary at first, but Miss Rory held one and let me pet it.”
Emma and Blaze were standing in the living room, having delivered Violet, and smiling big as Violet described every moment of her time at the farm. They shared a knowing look as Emma cupped her stomach.
“Do y’all want to sit for a while?” Paisley asked. “Can I get you something to drink? Wine, beer, sweet tea or water? Lemonade?”
They shared a look again. “Sure, we can stay,” Blaze said. “Sassy will be okay for a while yet, but I gotta throw a ball for her before bed or she’ll keep us awake half the night.”
Emma laughed. “She’s still technically a kitten, though she’s pretty big now.”
Violet perked up. “You have a kitten?”
Emma sank onto the couch near Violet. “Yes, we do. She’s not very little anymore.”
“I want a kitten,” Violet said wistfully. “Mommy says we can’t have one.”
Paisley’s heart twisted. She simply couldn’t handle another small creature who needed her right now. “I said we can’t have one now,” Paisley said. “We’ve only been in this house a month, and we aren’t fully settled yet. We can talk about it again in a few months.”
“Okay,” Violet said, but she didn’t sound happy.
Emma patted her shoulder. “It’s okay, kiddo. When the time is right, a kitten will find you.”
Violet’s eyes were big. “It will?”
“Yes, it will.”
Paisley shot a look at Ethan. He was quiet, watching Violet, and her heart went out to him.
Everything they’d done over the past few hours was seared into her brain, but it was watching his reaction when she told him about Violet that she would never, ever forget.
In that moment, she’d thought he would be angry, that she’d lost him again.
She’d been so incredibly wrong that it shamed her she’d ever doubted him. Ethan was strong and honest, the kind of man who would always be there for her. He’d never left her. She’d just thought he had. Pain twisted deep that she’d ever believed Trey’s lies for a moment.
His gaze lifted and met hers. The pain in those eyes pierced her. But then he smiled, and she saw nothing but love. She had to tear her gaze away and back to her guests. Emma was smiling. Blaze looked like he was thinking hard about something, but he didn’t look upset so that was good.
“Can I get those drinks?” she asked.
“I’ll just have water,” Emma said. “Babe?”
Blaze seemed to shake himself. “Uh, yeah. I’ll have some of that sweet tea. Violet says you make sun tea.”
“Yes. And it’s not too sweet. I don’t like it so sweet it makes your teeth ache.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“I’ll help,” Ethan said. They went into the kitchen and got the drinks. Paisley was aware of his presence every second. Her body, so recently sated, wanted more of him. More alone time, more cuddling, and more of those earth-shattering orgasms.
He slid a hand over her ass and squeezed as she took tea from the refrigerator. She bit her lip to stop the moan that wanted to slip out.
“Are you okay?” she asked, turning to him when she’d poured tea and water from the pitchers she kept in the fridge.
“I’m good, babe. Happy. Still figuring it all out, I admit. Trying not to see myself in her, but seeing it anyway. I know what you said about Trey, but she’s mine.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “I think so too. But I want it to be true, so maybe I don’t see what I think I see.”
“Nah, that’s my kid out there. Yours and mine. Even if we’re wrong, she’s still ours.”
She liked the way that sounded. Trey had said it didn’t matter to him who was Violet’s father when he was trying to convince her to marry him, but he’d never talked about being a father. And she’d been too na?ve—and too heartbroken—to realize the difference.
When they returned to the living room and handed out drinks, Violet’s head was drooping onto the table. She clutched her crayon in one hand but it wasn’t moving across the paper anymore. She’d played herself out at the farm, apparently.
Paisley leaned over and held out a hand. “Come on, pumpkin. Let’s get you to bed before you fall asleep right here.”
“Not tired,” Violet said stubbornly. But her eyelids didn’t agree.
“Okay, so you aren’t tired. Let’s go get your pajamas on anyway. You can come back and color if you want to.”
Paisley knew for a fact her kid was about to go lights out for the night, so she wasn’t worried Violet would actually take her up on it. Violet stood and put her hand in Paisley’s.
“I’m sorry, y’all, but I’ll be back. Ten minutes.”
Emma waved a hand. “Take your time.”
By the time Paisley got Violet’s hands and face washed, put her into her pajamas, and tucked her into bed, fifteen minutes had elapsed.
One thing she had never been sorry for was how easily Violet went to sleep when it was time.
The kid was like an Energizer Bunny all day and then she simply ran out of steam.
Not that Paisley didn’t have to fight with her to take baths or go to bed on nights when she was still hopping, but the crash always came at a certain point.
Thank heavens.
Ethan stood the second she walked in. “Everything good? Does she need a bedtime story?”
God, she loved him. “Nope. Passed out cold. All the excitement and fresh air at the farm did her in.”
“Ah.” He seemed disappointed, and she loved him even more. Adorable man. Big, badass, lethal, adorable man.
He reached for her hand and tugged her down on his lap. “They know, babe. I told them about Violet.”
She was surprised at the relief that softened her limbs and made everything less tight inside.
“I’m so damned happy for you both,” Blaze said. “And sorry for everything that happened to keep you apart. But you found each other again.”
Paisley leaned into Ethan. She really should sit in her own chair like a lady, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to be with him. He had his arms looped around her and he showed no signs of letting go.
“It’s a miracle,” Ethan said, his voice rough with emotion. “Best thing that’s happened to me.”
Blaze and Emma twined fingers. “Totally understand that feeling,” he said. “Alex will adjust.”
Paisley blinked. “Adjust to what?”
“Being the last single guy in the group,” Ethan told her. “We started this business as six bachelors, intended to stay that way, yet here we are.”
“Last man standing.” Blaze chuckled. “He’s going to double down on staying single.”
Emma shook her head. “You guys. Don’t you realize by now that you can’t stop fate?”
“You’re a doctor,” Blaze teased. “You don’t do fate. You do science and facts.”
Emma didn’t hesitate. “The facts are that somewhere out there is a woman who’s going to knock Alex Bishop flat on his very fine ass. And he’s not going to be able to stop it when it happens. Neither did you, I might add.”
“No, and I’m glad about that. But did you just talk about another man’s ass to me?”
“Sorry, but it’s a fine ass. I’m in love with you, but I’m not dead. Alex is pretty hot. Am I right, Paisley?”
Paisley laughed. “You are correct. He’s easy on the eyes, that’s for sure. Not my type though. Too intense for me.”
Ethan nuzzled her ear. “Thanks, baby.”
“You’re intense, too, but I like your intensity. I get it. He makes me want to apologize for no reason.”
Blaze snorted. “Welcome to the club. That’s why he got as far as he did in the military. He commands attention and respect.”
“Maybe not from everyone,” Emma said. “I hear there’s a certain woman who pisses him off just by breathing. Wouldn’t it be funny if she’s the one who ends up knocking him on his very fine rear?”
“I pray you’re wrong.” Blaze shook his head. “That’d be a match made in hell rather than heaven.”
“You never know,” Emma said thoughtfully.
They told Paisley about the mystery woman, an FBI agent who came to the range from time to time. Apparently she and Alex were like oil and water. Or fire and ice. Whatever the case, they didn’t mix well.
Blaze and Emma stayed for another half hour before they said they needed to get home to Sassy the kitten.
“I really appreciate you taking Violet tonight,” Paisley told them.
“She’s a good kid,” Blaze said. “We’d be happy to take her whenever you need some alone time.”
A blush rose on her cheeks. She was positive they knew what she and Ethan had been doing for at least part of that time. “Thank you. I—we—might take you up on that.”
Ethan put his arm around her and squeezed. “We might. Appreciate it, brother.”
Blaze and Ethan shook hands. “Couldn’t be happier for you, man. I’m just down the street if you need backup at any point. You know that.”
“Yep. Know that and grateful for it.”
Blaze nodded, Emma hugged her, and then Blaze gave her hand a light squeeze. She stood in the doorway with Ethan and they watched his friends—their friends—walk to their truck and get in. With a wave and a promise to get together soon, they were gone.
Paisley went inside, feeling buoyant at the knowledge she not only had Ethan, but she also had friends.
It was something after so many years of feeling alone.
She and Trey didn’t have friends. He entertained business associates, but they were the kind of people who’d always made her feel like she was a goldfish among sharks.
Her mother sometimes came to visit between her travels.
Trey had always been on his best behavior, but it hadn’t been a joyful feeling at all.
Unfortunately, Bree had remained clueless to her daughter’s unhappiness and thought Trey was a hero.
Paisley shook off those unhappy thoughts and turned to Ethan. He was still standing in the door, looking up and down the street. Then he stepped inside, shut the door behind him, and twisted the locks. A moment later, he armed the system.
It was a stark reminder that for as much as her life had changed, parts of it hadn’t. Trey was still out there. And she was still terrified he was going to ruin everything.
Only this time he’d use far more than lies to divide her from Ethan.
Trey watched as Blaze “Shadow” Connolly and a woman got into a truck and drove away. Ethan stood on the porch, looking up and down the street like he owned the place before he went inside and shut the door.
Trey gulped Dr. Pepper and seethed. He could take them out.
All three of them. If he rushed in during the night, before Ethan could fully wake up, he could pop him and Paisley in bed.
He knew they were sleeping together. He’d watched through the window with binoculars when Paisley sat on Ethan’s lap and he’d put his arms around her.
No way they weren’t banging again if they were that comfortable in front of Shadow and his woman.
Trey knew where the main bedroom was. He could kick the window in, shoot them both, then pop the kid. Or leave without killing the brat. Who the fuck cared what happened to her so long as he eliminated the parents and got the fuck out?
“Not smart, buddy,” he muttered. “Not smart at all.”
Acting now—kicking in a window and killing his whore of a wife and her lover—was risky.
Too risky. Ethan wasn’t some ordinary guy he’d be attacking.
Dragon had every bit as much training as he did.
He was Hostile Operations Team, but Trey knew those guys were pussies deep down.
They choked when the job required decisiveness.
They were too focused on the idea of being some kind of hero to do what was required. To root out the enemy without mercy.
Not Trey. He’d built an empire because he wasn’t a fucking pussy.
Because he was willing to kill those who pretended they were innocent when what they really wanted was to put a knife in his back the moment it was turned. Or detonate a bomb. He took no chances and left no survivors because it was smart.
Because he was smart. So much smarter than those HOT motherfuckers.
There were six of them in town, running a damned shooting range and training facility.
Craziest damned thing, especially when one of them was—or had been—the Deputy Commander of HOT.
What the fuck was Colonel Bishop doing in this stupid place anyway?
Trey didn’t know, but he had connections.
It was strange there were six of them. All HOT, all career men—or so he’d believed.
Dragon, Ghost, and Shadow along with Seth “Phantom” King, Kane “Demon” Fox, and Chance “Wraith” Hughes.
Why would those six ever chuck it all and move to Bumfuck, Alabama, together?
He leaned back against the seat and dragged in air through his nose before forcing it out his mouth.
He needed to be calm, cool, and methodical about this.
He’d already deviated from the plan once.
He should have returned to Charlotte and boarded the plane to Dubai, but he’d assigned that job to another operator at the last minute.
If he charged into that shitty house and did what he craved because he was pissed, where was the satisfaction? Where was the suffering? The begging? The terror in his target’s eyes?
Stick to the plan, McCann.
Head back to Destin. Find out what a HOT team was really doing so close to Huntsville, a city with a high concentration of defense contractors and projects critical to national interests. Couldn’t be an accident they were here.
Gather information.
Make a foolproof plan.
Then return and take them all down.