Epilogue #2
Finn bowed his head for a second, then shifted his attention to his mom, and Julia noticed his mother staring intently at the band with a hand over her heart. “Dance with her. She needs that,” she said, tears filling her eyes as she spoke.
“Are you sure?” He looked her way, his gaze narrowing. “I want to dance with my wife.”
She reached for his arm and lightly squeezed. “And the great thing about marriage is that I’ll still be your wife for the next song. But your mom needs you. And I have a feeling Jaden is looking down at us right now.” Her stomach squeezed as emotion nearly robbed her of her ability to talk.
“I love you so much,” he rasped and cupped her cheeks to kiss her, then she urged him to get to his mom before it was too late.
Michael sidled up next to her as she stood on the deck and watched her husband dance with his mom. And in that moment, it was as if little pieces of her heart she hadn’t known were broken suddenly mended themselves. “How are you?”
“Amazing.” She’d whispered the only word that felt right. Because she did feel amazing. “I’m married. Can you believe that?” How many times would she repeat that line so she’d know she wasn’t living in a dream?
She’d pinched herself quite a few times in the last three months, struggling to believe she’d been so lucky to find love as well as rekindle her passion for photography.
All the while continuing her work with her brother to support veterans.
She’d never known it was possible to have everything until that very moment.
“That’s all I wanted for you. To have an amazing life.” Michael stepped before her and kissed her on the forehead. “Proud of you, sis. You’re going to make a great mom, too.”
She smiled. “Slow down there, Superman. One step at a time.”
“At the rate you’re going, you’ll have more little ones than me soon.”
The idea of a yard full of kids had her heart racing. “I might start with a dog first. We’ll see how it goes from there,” she teased. But of course, she and Finn had opted to no longer use birth control and see which way the wind blew—whatever was meant to be would be, they’d decided.
“You’ll have a few little hurricanes running around, no doubt.”
“Hurricanes, huh?” She couldn’t help but smile at her brother’s choice of words.
“I’m going to go dance with my gorgeous wife now.” Michael set his hand on her forearm, looked her in the eyes with a big smile, then left her to find Kate.
Julia walked down the steps to head toward the makeshift dance floor in the backyard with the band off to the side and the peaceful sounds of the ocean muted by the music. She searched out Mya, finding her dancing with . . . well, Oliver. Hm. Okay.
She glimpsed Harper and Roman dancing there as well. Her baby bump wasn’t quite showing yet, but she was about seventeen weeks from what the doctor guessed. They’d be finding out the gender soon. According to Liam and Emily’s daughter, they were having a girl.
And A.J. . . . well, he said he wasn’t naming his son after him, but he was having a boy.
“How’s your leg?” Julia asked Wyatt when she joined him and his wife to look at the dance area.
“Doc says a few more months until I can operate again.” Wyatt looked at Julia, then off to where his daughter, Gwen, was dancing with some guy Julia didn’t recognize.
The man was probably a good ten years older than her.
“Excuse me.” He’d lost his crutches, and he didn’t move like a man who’d had his leg broken three months ago, but he was also a dad and apparently didn’t like whoever his daughter was dancing with enough to have him fast-tracking to them without a care about his injured leg.
Natasha sighed. “He forgets his daughter is twenty-two, not two.” She set a hand to her growing abdomen.
She was only six weeks ahead of Harper, but she knew they were having a daughter, which would most likely make Wyatt crazier.
Two daughters to freak out about when it came to the opposite sex.
“Tonight was perfect, by the way. I’m so happy for you.
And well, for Finn. But hey, all of Echo knew you’d end up together before you two knew it.
They totally set him up for the short-straw drawing.
Matchmaking is now their side hobby, so it would seem. ”
Julia chuckled. “Unless it comes to Gwen.”
“Yup.” Natasha swiped her hand through her blonde hair and pointed her gaze on her husband, and Julia looked over at him to see Wyatt, who had some Tom Hardy look going for him, folding his arms and staring down at the man who was no longer dancing with his daughter but eyeing Wyatt like a deer in the headlights. Poor guy.
The song stopped a beat later, and both Finn and Oliver left the dance floor and started their way. Wyatt seemed to reluctantly let Gwen’s dance partner flee, and Gwen tossed her hand in the air like Julia imagined a pissed-off daughter would do.
She could picture Finn down the road with their own kids being all overprotective and growly and . . . Oh, I guess I do want a big family. Still want a dog, though.
And with all the sex they’d been having, it’d probably happen soon. The man had an insatiable appetite for making love, and his alpha attitude in the bedroom had woken an inner sex goddess she hadn’t known existed before him.
“Hi, my wife,” Finn said with a smile, the strings of lights strewn about all over the yard, alongside tiki lights, making his face glow as he joined her.
“Hi, my husband.” When she reached for his hand, he gave her a quick twirl, which lifted her dress a little and made her think about Marilyn Monroe’s famous movie scene. Maybe I should keep the Warhol? “Everything okay?”
Finn looked back at his mom, who now danced with her boyfriend to a new song, then returned his attention to Julia and nodded. “Better than ever, thanks to you.”
“Well, that makes my heart happy.”
He slid his hands to her hips and held on to her. “If your heart’s happy, then so is mine.”
“You two need a room and stat,” Oliver teased, and she’d nearly forgotten they had an audience.
“So, who are you going with?” Finn turned to the side but kept his arm around Julia’s waist. “Carter or Gray?”
Oliver looked out to where Gray and Carter were now on approach. “I guess we’re about to find out,” Oliver answered.
Wyatt strode their way as well, and he reached for his wife and whispered something into her ear that had her laughing.
“So, who won the epic battle?” Julia asked once Carter and Gray were there.
The two men exchanged a quick and curious look . . . Oh no, another tie?
“Neither,” Gray said under his breath. “We have a different idea.”
Julia lifted her brows, waiting for them to drop the “idea,” curious what the hell it was. Oliver was her friend, and she needed to look out for him.
“It’s crazy, but,” Gray began while shaking his head, peering at his sister as if he were worried she might not approve, “we may join forces. He’s got a fuck ton of money and toys.”
“And he’ll keep me a bit more in line with legal shit . . . maybe,” Carter said as if the words were painful to digest.
“Wait, what?” Natasha untangled herself from her husband to step closer to her brother. “You’re going to work for Carter?”
“No,” both Carter and Gray hissed at the same time.
“Fifty-fifty. Partners,” Gray said.
“Maybe like forty-sixty,” Carter spoke up. “I do have the money and the toys.”
Finn started laughing, breaking any possible tension, but before they knew it, Carter and Gray moved off to the side of everyone and began arguing over the details of the insane agreement.
“They for real?” Oliver jerked his thumb toward Carter and Gray.
Natasha smiled. “I honestly don’t know.”
“I’m kind of disappointed. I was at least hoping for some more Fast and Furious action to settle this. A race, maybe, but this time with me behind the wheel,” Oliver teased. Well, knowing her friend, maybe he wasn’t joking.
“I’m sure there will be plenty of face-offs considering these two are going at it like two little—”
“Don’t you dare say girls,” Natasha interrupted her husband and held a finger between them, and Wyatt tightened his mouth to keep out of trouble.
Finn secured his arm around Julia’s waist again, and she settled into his embrace, feeling safe and secure. “Why do I feel like it’s the end of an era for us?” he suddenly asked. “Charlie Team and now these two joining forces? What happens to us?”
“Nah, it’s not the end at all.” A deep voice flowed behind them, and the hair on Julia’s arms stood as the President, who actually did look a lot like Denzel Washington, husky tone of voice included, circled them.
“No?” Finn asked, tightening his grip around Julia, and thoughts of their vacation swam in her head from his touch alone.
Naked . . . on a bed, inside a bungalow open to the ocean as they made love and . . .
She blinked her focus back to the fact the President was talking, but well, it was her wedding night, so she shouldn’t feel guilty for fantasizing, right?
“Not an end of an era, at all.” And now Liam was there. Where had he been, and how had he heard them?
Before Julia knew it, all of Finn’s teammates were surrounding them as if they’d heard some silent whistle demanding their attention. Had Rory been training them instead of Bear?
They were a family. She felt it in her bones. And she was part of that family now, too.
Luke stepped alongside the President, and Knox stood next to his father on the other side.
“So, what is it?” Finn asked, and everyone put their eyes on the President.
President Bennett flashed his white teeth, opened his palms, and smiled.
“New adventures.” He nodded and looked from teammate to teammate, making eye contact with everyone.
“And I know you SEALs say ‘the only easy day was yesterday,’ but maybe we focus on having an easy night since we’re at a wedding, and we worry about tomorrow tomorrow. ”
A.J. clapped his hands together and stepped forward.
“Amen to that, sir. And I know exactly what we need. But you have to participate, sir,” he added, and when Knox set his hand to his stomach, already laughing at whatever was about to happen, Julia couldn’t help but smile. She was clueless, but still.
“Nothing like a little two-step to Blanco Brown’s The Git Up to lose your worries and have a good time,” A.J. said, and like that, he was off to talk to the band.
“The Git Up?” The President angled his head.
Knox threw an arm around his father’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Pops, I got you. Just follow my lead.”
President Bennett smiled. “I always do, Son.”
The guys all dispersed, and Julia glanced at Oliver now caught up in the middle of the Carter–Gray showdown to discuss the who, what, when, where, and how of this new plan of theirs.
“That’s going to all work out, right?” Julia asked Finn, and he pulled her into his arms and hugged her.
“Absolutely.” He gently kissed her lips and then stepped back to hold her hands. “You know how to dance to this song?”
Julia grinned. “You forget I grew up in the South, and two-stepping is basically encoded into my DNA?”
Finn closed one eye. “How could I ever forget that?” He quickly pulled her back into his arms and lightly swatted her ass before squeezing it. “These, ugh, angles are gonna get me into trouble with your dad and brother here tonight.”
“If there were ever a night for them to look the other way, it’d be our wedding,” she whispered into his ear before setting her mouth to his neck and lightly sucking, not caring who might see them.
“Maybe we forget the dance and sneak away?” he murmured a second later, and she felt his cock growing hard against her.
“Hell no.” She eased out of his reach, loving how much this would torture him to have to wait. “We’re dancing.” She pointed to the sky when the lyrics to the song began to play over the speakers instead of being sung by the band. “Ready to dance with me?”
A beautiful smile played across his lips as he held her hands inside his. And the President was right, wasn’t he? There were only new adventures waiting for them. “Tonight,” Finn said in a deep voice while holding her eyes. “And every night after.”