Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Later that evening, Roman leaned against the marble countertop in Liam and Emily’s kitchen and peered at Harper as she spoke to their hosts.
It was a chilly March night, and the entire team and their loved ones were crowded both in and outside of the house for the “Band is Back Together” party that A.J.
had insisted they have before everyone went their separate ways for the next sixty days.
Harper looked stunning in her dark skinny jeans tucked into tall brown boots, and because it was too cold for a tee tonight, she had on a soft black turtleneck that showcased her perfect breasts.
Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders, the lighter brown highlights she’d added when she, Rory, and Ana had gone to the spa the day before yesterday glinting in the overhead lights.
Yeah, he’d be taking those clothes off later tonight. Fisting that hair. Making love to her.
He’d kept with his regular look. A gray shirt, dark jeans, and boots. No more Louboutins for him. Screw that.
“Yeah, we do.” Emily agreed with a laugh, jolting Roman out of his daydreaming to realize he had no idea what the girls had been talking about. But when Emily handed Jackson over to Harper, Roman’s chest tightened at the sight of the woman he loved holding a baby.
“A good, strong name.” Harper leaned in and whispered to Jackson, “Same as my brother’s.” Jackson would turn one in June. It was crazy how fast time kept slipping by.
When Harper cradled Jackson’s blond head in her hand and began rocking him, the tightness in Roman’s chest turned into an ache. The good kind of ache.
Emily folded her arms and smiled, watching her. “You’re a natural.”
And did Emily know what Elaina had whispered to Liam before he’d left to join them in Afghanistan? Did she know her daughter had predicted Roman and Harper would have their own daughter next year?
A daughter. He let the thought sit with him, and then he became a little dizzy as he imagined all of the danger and . . .
“Roman.” Harper’s playfully stern voice cut off his thoughts. The woman was a mind reader.
“Yeah, yeah,” he responded with a sheepish grin, knowing he’d been caught spinning out with worry.
Poor Wyatt, though. His daughter, Gwen, was turning twenty-two this month, and he was proof of how hard it was to handle a daughter while she navigated the dating world.
And when Elaina was a bit older, Liam would have his hands full as well.
Speaking of Elaina, she skipped into the kitchen and strode over to stand before Harper. She was growing up fast, too. Twelve in the fall.
Elaina pushed her black hair from her face and pointed her dark, curious eyes on Harper. With a tiny smile, she announced, “I told you that you had nothing to worry about.”
Roman remembered she’d whispered something to Harper at Wyatt and Natasha’s wedding last summer, and he had to assume Elaina was referring to that now.
Yeah, if Elaina said there was nothing to worry about, then maybe Roman could finally calm down a bit. Toss back a few beers. Or maybe sip some tequila because the boys had broken out the good stuff, so why not?
It was time to move on. Move forward. To start another chapter.
No, scratch that. A new book. One in which Luciano and Will were not even side characters. No villains in their story at all. Nah, that’d be a stretch in their line of work.
“Thank you,” Harper told Elaina before handing Jackson back to Emily.
Elaina sent both Harper and Roman a cute, goofy smile, then called out for their Teamdog, Bear.
Bear came running into the room so fast he nearly knocked both Harper and Elaina over.
“Roman.”
Roman pulled his attention away from Elaina hugging Bear to find Liam tipping his head to the side, beckoning him to join him outside.
He glimpsed Harper as she began talking to Emily again, then followed Liam to find the rest of Bravo and Echo now surrounding the firepit, the flames crackling and shooting a bit higher than probably allowed by local regs.
“Whatcha doing with all the women inside?” Chris teased and handed him a beer as he joined the group around the fire sitting in camping chairs.
“Because it’s fucking cold out here,” Finn complained as he clinked his beer with Roman’s, then set his eyes back on the fire.
“Nah, our brother doesn’t want to let that woman out of his sight.” A.J. winked Roman’s way from across the fire.
“Sure, sure,” Roman joked, but yeah, definitely. Could they blame him? After years of wanting Harper, the obstacles he’d faced to get where they were at now . . . they’d do the same in his shoes.
“We were planning to talk about what Knox’s pops said yesterday,” A.J. went on as Roman settled into one of the camping chairs and took a sip of his beer.
The sky was so clear you could see every star overhead.
“Yeah, you mean about bringing on new recruits?” he finally spoke up and reset his focus on the guys.
“We’re not actually considering it, right?
” The pit of his stomach hollowed out at the idea that one day he would be replaced as Echo Four.
It was inevitable. He couldn’t operate forever, but he wasn’t ready to hang his hat up anytime soon.
“We’re not seriously considering bringing some new guys in, are we?” Finn sat taller alongside Roman, setting his beer into the cup holder of his chair.
“POTUS said to consider it.” Luke shrugged and cracked open a new beer. “So, here’s to us keeping our word and doing that.” He grinned and checked his watch. “Yeah, I think we’re done now, what do you think?”
“Amen to that.” Asher lifted his beer in the air, and they all did the same and chugged one back together, forgetting that most of them were pushing forty or already there. No longer twentysomething-year-olds.
“Buuuut,” Chris began once they’d all caught their breath after pounding back their drinks. “Maybe if we had a few new guys down the road, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Think of all the fun we’d have and—”
“Our man does have a point,” Knox noted, his lips drawing into a serious line.
Owen whistled for his Husky, Ollie, who came flying from where he’d been sitting to go to his side.
“What do you say, boy?” he asked, pitching his voice as if he were talking to a baby.
“Should we bring in some newbies to boss around? Have them buy all the drinks for the next year?” He shook his head. “No?” He shrugged. “Roger that, buddy.”
Roman laughed. “I agree with Ollie.”
“Maybe next year. I don’t know.” Wyatt peered toward the house, and Roman followed his line of sight to see Natasha through the window chatting with Wyatt’s daughter, Gwen. “She wants to join us one day. Be the next Jess or Harper.” He brought a palm to his face. “How will I handle that?”
Liam smiled. “This parenting thing is as hard as operating.”
“Nah, man, it’s harder,” Wyatt responded.
“Great, thanks,” Knox said with a laugh. “I have a baby on the way.” He focused on A.J. “And you too, brother.”
“Ah, what’s a diaper change compared to getting shot at while reloading a mag in the middle of a war?” A.J. popped open a new beer, and Liam grinned.
“Oh, just you wait.” Liam’s smile stretched. “Just. You. Wait.”
Roman sucked in a deep breath of the fresh, crisp air . . . he didn’t want to wait much longer. He wanted to be a father. To make Harper his wife. To have a family. Hell, he wanted that more than anything.
“Where are the tunes, brother?” Knox asked their resident DJ, and a few seconds later, A.J. set his phone on his thigh and, This is How We Roll by Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line began to play.
Not long after, the women began filtering outside as if knowing the guys had completed their “New Guy Chat” and were ready to switch from business-mode to party-mode.
Roman approached Harper and circled his arms around her waist, the neck of his bottle hanging from his hand as she stared up at him.
“This is how we roll, huh?” A smile teased her lips as he peered at the woman he loved.
“Oh yeah, it is.” He leaned in and set a scorching hot kiss to her mouth.
Whistles and applause echoed around them, and he lifted his hand with the beer and waved them off, but they only got louder. Even Bear and Ollie joined in and began howling.
Well, if they wanted a show . . . then we’ll put on a show.
He dipped Harper in one fluid motion, stealthily maintaining hold of his beer before bending down to kiss her.
“Yup, this is how we roll,” he faintly heard one of the guys say.
When Roman righted Harper and saw the huge grin on her face, well, he knew exactly what he’d soon be doing. No doubt in his mind.
“I am lucky,” he whispered what he’d said to her earlier. “So, so lucky.” He pulled her back into his arms for another kiss.
“Okay, okay. Ladies’ choice now,” Rory, Chris’s fiancée, exclaimed.
“No, no,” Asher called out, then grumbled, “Last time you all chose a song, we were doing the Git Up.”
Roman turned to see Rory on her tippy-toes trying to snatch the phone from A.J., whom she’d grown up with back in Alabama, as he held it over his head.
“Ana, I need reinforcements,” Rory called out to A.J.’s wife, and when Ana sauntered toward her husband, the guys knew A.J. was toast.
Ana had that phone in a second. “What will it be, ladies?”
“How about something different this time?” Harper suggested. “Jason Derulo. Love Not War.”
And how could he forget that song? Harper had wanted to dance with him in that nightclub last April, and he’d bailed on her. Asshole, he thought to himself for that. But they had made love for the first time right after that.
“Love over war, huh?” Luke reached for his wife’s hand and twirled her around. “I could get down with that.” The man was in good shape for what happened to him only four days ago. And when Roman spied Jessica dancing to the beats with her husband, he was relieved to see she was fine as well.
Harper began dancing seductively in front of Roman, drawing his eyes to her moving before him. He set his beer down, held her hips, and began dancing with her, getting lost in the rhythm.
Yeah, we’ll be fine.
Because the band is back.