Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Harper side-eyed Knox standing next to her on the terrace.
She set her hands on the railing and let go of a deep, champagne-infused breath as she looked out across the Potomac River to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, its twelve lanes busy with traffic even at this late hour.
She’d had a few too many glasses of the bubbly and needed some fresh air to counter the effects.
She didn’t want to say or do something she’d regret in front of a room full of three hundred people.
Like get caught having coat closet sex with Roman.
“I’m surprised my old man didn’t make me wear a chest plate or a flak jacket tonight.” Knox smoothed a hand over his shaved head a few times. “He wanted to be at the wedding, but Secret Service told him he’d be too out in the open.”
“Haven’t you been getting death threats lately? I’m surprised they even let you come.”
He tossed an annoyed look behind him at his two shadows, the Secret Service agents his dad had assigned to watch out for him. “It’s not like there aren’t two hundred guys here tonight that could drop a mother effer in three seconds flat.”
“Mother effer?” she asked with a laugh.
“Addy has me trying to work on my sailor’s mouth before we have kids.” A sheepish grin flashed across his face.
“I didn’t know you two were trying. That’s exciting.
” Even more reason for Knox to be careful.
Maybe he should stick to the tactical operations command center with her or Jessica instead of being on the front lines.
She wouldn’t suggest that now, though. Teamguys didn’t usually handle the “no longer operating” idea well.
“I mean, you don’t just get off the bench and start shooting threes, right?” Knox’s soulful, Atlanta-Southern voice always put her at ease.
“Fair point.” She set her focus back on the Potomac River, and they stared out at the water in silence, enjoying the peaceful moment.
Darkness draped the river, making the Capital Wheel pop that much more, its neon green and pinkish-purple lights glowing against the black sky as it rotated.
Yesterday, she and Roman had stolen a private moment in one of the gondolas that offered views of Virginia, D.C.
, and Maryland from the top of the Ferris wheel.
They’d snuck out of their personal suites at the Gaylord National Resort to go shopping at the MGM National Harbor, and then on impulse, Harper grabbed hold of his hand and directed him toward the Ferris wheel.
The gondola’s enclosed space was the perfect setting to kiss, one hundred and eighty feet above the Potomac without anyone on Bravo or Echo Team knowing.
Wyatt and Natasha’s rehearsal dinner had taken place last night, so the teams had stayed at the hotel. And three hours ago, the happy couple said I do as the sun set behind them on the river.
The wedding had been a stunning affair and packed with more men in uniform than she’d ever seen in one space outside of work. Natasha’s father, the admiral, had walked Natasha down the aisle to a teary-eyed Wyatt wearing his starched dress whites, looking handsome and dapper as ever.
Natasha had taken everyone’s breath away in her elegant A-line white dress with a mix of pearls and crystals beaded at the top with embroidered lace on a flowing net gown. The V-shape back with lace-trimmed train was the icing on the cake.
The American flag had waved proudly off to the left as the military chaplain officiated the ceremony, a soothing evening breeze giving the three hundred-plus guests a reprieve from the heat.
And Roman, one of the groomsmen, and Harper as a bridesmaid had barely taken their eyes off each other while the couple said their vows.
Wyatt and Natasha first met at another wedding years ago, and while Harper was thrilled to watch them take their vows, she also felt a touch guilty for imagining herself in a dress like that walking toward the man of her dreams during the ceremony.
That dream man was inside the reception right now with his best friends, and the poor guy’s jaw probably hurt from clenching it all evening as he watched from a distance while man after man attempted to dance with Harper. The ratio of men to women was about eight to two.
Even Natasha’s brother, Gray Chandler, had requested a dance but quickly retracted his offer at the sight of Roman’s possessive glare. Ah, sorry, I didn’t know you were taken, he’d said with an easy, dashing smile before leaving her to dance with Jessica and Eva.
Luke’s wife, Eva, was pregnant with their second child, a boy, due in the fall. It seemed Bravo Team had been pulling out all the stops in the baby-making department, and from the sounds of it, Knox was trying to join that game.
After dancing for twenty or so minutes, Harper had escaped to the terrace.
Knox had joined after noticing her frustrations at constantly rejecting the sweet and handsome servicemen without being able to offer them the truth, that Gray was right, and she was more than just taken—she was in love. Not that she’d told Roman.
“Hey, we need you! Shots,” Finn hollered, breaking the quiet. She and Knox turned to see him standing between the two open French doors, waving them into the reception area. “The both of you.”
“Duty calls.” Knox, wearing his dress whites as well, per the bride’s instructions since it was a summer wedding, hooked an arm around hers, and they went inside.
He grumbled under his breath at his two “shadows” following them.
But she understood the President’s concerns.
Knox was the son of one of the most powerful men in the world, after all.
The reception was about to end, but she had a feeling the guys would find somewhere else to continue the party afterward. Well, minus the bride and groom. They had to be itching to be alone. Maybe try for a baby. At least get in some “practice.”
Harper would be eager for her wedding night if she were marrying . . . Roman. Her stomach sank at the sight of that handsome man standing at the bar amidst the guys on Echo.
“Summers,” Knox called out when he spotted Jake Summers on their way to the bar. “You’re coming with us.” When Knox extended his other arm, offering to escort him, Jake laughed at the gesture and shook his head.
“Yeah, get myself stupid drunk and have my wife banish me to sleep on the couch?” Jake pointed to the bar where Echo was busy getting themselves into trouble with shots.
Jake was married to Alexa, and his sister, Emily, was Liam’s wife.
Alexa had been a close friend of Natasha’s before their connection through Bravo and Echo and was one of the bridesmaids as well.
She was also a former MI6 agent, and Harper and Alexa’s paths had crossed a few times when Harper worked for the CIA.
Jake had opted to wear a tux instead of his Marine uniform because he didn’t want to shave his beard, which had been the source of some contention with Bravo and Echo.
Dress blues or whites at a wedding meant a clean-shaven face needed to accompany the look, and Natasha politely pressed for Bravo and Echo to shave and wear their best. They looked about ten years younger without their beards.
Jessica had smoothed her hands over Asher’s face every chance she got throughout the day, and he’d grumbled it’d be the last time she saw him “so naked” again.
Roman would be sporting scruff by tomorrow, though. He grew a beard the quickest on the teams, which irritated the guys since he usually shaved every few weeks, anyway.
“You’re just worried a Marine can’t keep up with a bunch of Teamguys.” Knox unhooked his arm linked with Harper’s to cross his biceps over his chest in challenge, trying to bait Jake into acting like a frat boy. Good luck with that.
After he left the Marines, Jake joined the FBI and subsequently opted to enter private security work with some of his old Marine buddies.
The man had been through a lot in his life, including amnesia he’d sustained after an explosion, and it had been a race against time to get his memories back in order to stop a terrorist attack.
Harper couldn’t begin to imagine how horrible that must have been for him to forget so much of his life.
The countdown on his recovery hadn’t helped, either.
And because he’d been through so much, he was smart enough to pick and choose his battles, so pissing off his pregnant wife tonight by getting drunk wasn’t one of them.
“I’ll tell you what, you Frogmen go get your asses into trouble, and you just let the Marines over here,” he said while jerking his thumb toward another group of guys, “know when you need a little QRF to bail you Teamguys out like always.” Jake teasingly checked him in the side with his elbow.
“Yeah, and I recall we were the ones watching your backs so you could clear houses in Ramadi to make sure your asses didn’t get clipped by a sniper.
” Knox sent him a playful but cocky wink, typical friendly banter between the guys, then patted him on the shoulder twice before he started for the bar.
“Good call,” she mouthed to Jake before he went toward Alexa, who looked beautiful in a similar bridesmaid gown to the one Harper wore. Only Harper didn’t have the same cute baby bump that she and Eva sported.
Natasha had picked out dusty rose floor-length chiffon bridesmaid dresses with the same A-line as her gown. And the wives or fiancées of Bravo and Echo were also gifted a simple white gold trident pendant to wear.
“And this guy,” A.J. was in the middle of saying as she approached the bar, “almost did it. I kid you not. May Zeus strike me dead.”
“Zeus?” Ana’s eyes widened as she stood off to the side of A.J., and she twirled a finger by her head to let Harper know her husband and the rest of the guys were on their way to becoming shit-faced.