27. Hayden
27
HAYDEN
D eclan led us into a house that would’ve held two of the one I grew up in. My eyes darted from surface to surface, trying to take it all in. The place was just as luxurious and expansive as the hotel suite in Vegas but in a different way. That was sleek and austere. This place felt… elegant and classy.
Stark, white walls surrounded us, and blond hardwood floors the color of sand laid under our feet, stretching throughout the house. In the living room, there were two ginormous full-sized couches and two massive armchairs. A television that could rival a movie screen hung above the mantle on the huge fireplace that scaled the wall to the cathedral ceiling soaring above our heads.
A dining table that seated ten stretched from the front of the house to the back between the living room and kitchen. And holy fuck, the kitchen looked like something from that home improvement show with the husband and wife who aren’t married anymore that Lucia loves to watch. Thick marble counters, a gas stove that had to be four feet wide, and cabinets so tall I’d need a ladder to reach the top shelf.
As impressive as all that was, it fell invisible when you caught sight of the view out the back of the house.
The Pacific, in all her glory, filled the room, overpowering everything else. Once you dragged your gaze away, you got lost in the manicured yard and the fancy in-ground swimming pool.
Who paid all that money for a pool when the ocean is just steps away?
“Hey, guys, look who finally made it home?” Declan yelled as we walked out the door.
I’m not sure if what I was doing could be called walking. It was more like being dragged like a dog at the end of a leash with a choker chain. I looked at the gunny when he stepped out onto the patio next to me. At least there was another jarhead with me. Although I still didn’t understand how he and Declan knew each other or what he was doing here, far be it from me to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Ooh-rah!” was yelled from the corner of the yard, and moments later, Walker Holt stepped out of a throng of people.
He walked toward me, and I snapped to attention, our hands drawn up in a salute. He was retired and not in uniform, but the man was a colonel and deserved our respect. A glance out of the corner of my eye told me the gunny felt the same way as he also stood at attention with a salute locked in place.
Walker paused, his eyes dancing across the ribbon rack on my chest before he nodded, returned the salute, and shook my hand. “Welcome home, Hayden. I’ll be happy to hand Declan’s worrywart ass back over to you now that you’re here.”
“Hey!” Declan cried out in offense, but I noticed he didn’t correct the man.
Walker turned to Gunny, saluted the man, and said, “Goddamn, you got old.”
“Well, I had to put up with your sorry ass for how many years?”
Walker laughed, grabbed the gunny’s hand, pulling him into a back-slapping hug. “You’re a sight for sore fucking eyes, Gunny.”
A beautiful, leggy older woman approached, hugging the gunny. “Taz… It’s so good to see you.”
“Ma’am. If anyone is a sight for sore eyes, it’s you. How’re them babies?”
“All grown up, unfortunately. Livvy met a young man and is head over heels in love, and Jackie is…”
“Tomcatting around the country while trying to get himself killed,” Walker muttered.
Someone yelled, “Come and get it!” from across the yard.
Declan leaned into me and whispered, “Let’s go grab some food before we’re subjected to Walker grumbling about his son not following in his father’s footsteps.”
“Please.”
He pulled me away, and I nodded at Walker, Gunny, and the woman with them, who I’m assuming was the colonel’s wife.
“That was Walker’s wife, Lillian. They have twins not much younger than you—a boy and a girl. The girl is Walker’s princess and can do no wrong, but their son is a wild buck like all the men in our family. We’ve all been involved in stupid hobbies and sports, but Jackie wrecked recently, and it scared the shit out of Walker, so he’s being extra tough on the kid.”
I nodded. Something about the names seemed familiar, but the thought vanished as we rounded the pool—again, who has a pool when the ocean is right there—and were surrounded by people converging on the counters of the outdoor kitchen laden with food.
As we stood in line, I tried my best to keep the gawking to a minimum, but who the fuck lived like this? This outdoor kitchen was bigger and nicer than most people had inside their houses. A U-shaped bar with six barstools shoved under it made up the side where all the food sat. The remaining L-shape included a sink, a fridge, a dishwasher, and a four-foot-wide built-in grill complete with a smoker.
“I was sure you’d be starved. I remember the homecomings we did for Walker after a float, and he could always eat the ass end out of a dead rhino,” Declan said, pulling my attention from the grandiose surroundings I found myself.
Lincoln groaned, “Gross, Deckie. I’ve not been home in ages, don’t put me off my feed.”
“Watching you eat is enough to put a hog off slop, so don’t even go there about what he said, especially since I’ve heard you use the same expression a thousand times,” Heidi said.
I leaned over and whispered in Declan’s ear, “Deckie?”
He groaned under his breath, “Please don’t.”
“Oh, Deckie, you’ve not told him?”
“Told me what?” I asked, curious as I watched Declan’s face flame.
“I don’t know which kid it was, but one of the younger cousins couldn’t say Declan, so they called him Dickie for ages. Our grandmother, realizing how much Declan hated it and that it was starting to stick, switched it to Deckie and worked with all the kids to make sure if they couldn’t get Declan out right, they at least could say Deckie.”
“Thank God for small favors and Nana.”
A commotion came from the other side of the yard near the house as a man who looked a whole lot like my husband joined the gathering with a beautiful woman and several boys in their teens. They were followed by another man and a gorgeous teenage girl who yelled, “Adam!”
One of the men at the grill turned as she yelled, his face stoic and unapproachable, until he caught sight of who called out. He took off toward the newcomers, and the girl flew across the yard, jumping into his arms, wrapping herself around him like a spider monkey. I didn’t know either of them, but I’d never had anyone that excited to see me.
Declan cleared his throat and said, “That’s Adam. His husband, Brock, is the other guy manning the grill. They work for Holt, too. Well, for the private military sector, anyway. The girl is Margot and the younger man of the group who just came in is her dad, Roman. Adam and Brock were SEALs. They served with Roman’s husband Carson, who I’m guessing is not with them because he doesn’t let Roman or Margot out of his sight when he’s at home. The couple who came in right before them are my cousin Foster, his wife Julie, and their brood. Foster was Adam, Brock, and Carson’s commanding officer before he left the teams to head up the PMC division of Holt.”
I looked down at him, and after being separated from Declan for so long, even though we hadn’t known each other but a handful of days before I deployed, I could understand why the man wouldn’t want to let his loved ones out of his sight.
“I just realized how that sounded…”
“No, don’t justify it. I didn’t take it that way at all. I was thinking I could see the appeal.”
Declan’s face blossomed, which sounded stupid but was the only way I could describe the look that came over his face. He set the tongs he was holding down and turned to me, pressing himself against me. His eye turned to bluish-green fire as he whispered, “You just earned yourself a treat.”
My cock, which had been half hard since I laid eyes on him, surged to life, sliding down the leg of my uniform pants. I groaned under my breath, dipped my head, and whispered, “Fuck, vato. You trying to kill me? All the blood in my body just rushed to my dick.”
The fucker smirked at me and turned back to continue filling his plate while rubbing his ass against my throbbing hard-on.
“You keep that up, and I’m going to turn you over my knee, chico.”
He didn’t respond. Not verbally, anyway. Instead, he pressed his ass into my crotch more. I thrust into him and shivered when he moaned.
“Forget the hose. I’m going to push you into the pool if you don’t stop that shit.”
I looked up, and Heidi stood there, looking at us with tongs in her hand, twitching them back and forth to point at the two of us. I hoped the expression on my face was as innocent as I was going for, but the guy manning the grill just laughed.
“Hide, they’re newly married and spent close to two months apart. I’m shocked they’re still dressed.”
“Right? We’re being good,” Declan said.
I pressed a kiss to his head and moved away from the food line now that I’d filled my plate. Everything looked delicious. My mouth watered at the smell, and I couldn’t wait to dig in. I turned back to look for Declan, and his face had gone white.
“Carin?, what is it?” I asked, taking his plate and setting them both down on one of the tables near the outdoor kitchen.
“My parents are here.”
“What?”
“My parents just walked in.”
I followed his gaze, and sure enough, another couple had walked in. Older than Walker but with features similar to all the Holt men who stood around the backyard, and even the boys darting between adults who Declan said belonged to his cousin Foster.
“Don’t they live in Texas?”
Declan nodded. “Yeah, Daddy’s the ranch manager. He rarely leaves the place. Very rarely. Like fucking never. I’ve been in Cali for years, and he’s never come out here before. Mama has a couple of times with Aunt Viv and Uncle Matthew, but Daddy never has.”
“So, you didn’t know they were coming?”
His gaze swung from his parents to me, his eyes stretching so wide I feared his eyes would pop out of his head.
“Oh, God, no. I wouldn’t do that to you. I planned to see if you had some leave time so I could take you back to Texas and introduce you to them, but I wouldn’t have done this. I wouldn’t have just popped them up on you like this.”
I swallowed, glancing back at them as I asked, “And they won’t mind their son-in-law is a Marine, an enlisted Marine, with nothing but…”
“Stop right there. No one gives a fuck about that.”
I glanced around the backyard, my gaze wandering to the house and beach. “I have a hard time believing that.”
“Believe it. I promise you, no one here gives a shit or judges. And if you are, you let me know, and I’ll wipe the floor with their ass.”
I smiled at him. “You gonna protect me, vato.”
“Always, Papi. Always.”
“And…”
“Declan, darlin’, how are you?”
He spun toward the woman and man who’d sneaked up on us. I glanced around for the gunny, sure I was going to get shit for it. Luckily, he was on the other side of the yard.
He leaned down and kissed his mother’s cheek as he said, “Mama, I’m doing well. I’ve gotta say this is a surprise.”
“I finally put my foot down and told your Daddy if he didn’t take a vacation, I was going to have the hands move his stuff to the bunkhouse.”
His father looked at me for a long moment, then said to Declan, “She ain’t joking.”
“It’s good to see you, Daddy.”
Declan held out his hand, but his father used it to pull Declan into his arms for a moment, then pushed him back, holding him at arm’s length.
“You look good, son.”
“Thanks, sir. You do as well. Let me introduce you. Hayden, these are my parents, Ellen and Marcus. Mama, Daddy, this is Hayden Marin.”
I looked at him, thankful he’d waited to tell them we were married. I felt like enough of a sideshow as it was. Fingers crossed, we could wait to say anything when it was just the four of us, but with a crowd this size, I wasn’t all that hopeful.
Before I could greet them, his mother grabbed my shoulders, pulled me into a hug, and kissed my cheek, and his father had my hand in his the minute she let me go.
“Sergeant, I hear you’re in a recon unit.”
He shocked me by knowing my rank since Declan said he didn’t leave the ranch much. “Yes, sir. I am. My MEU just came home today.”
“I loved my time in the corps.”
“Yes, sir. It’s all I know. All I ever wanted to do.”
“I knew many guys like that. I wasn’t active duty for long. I broke my leg during a training op. Landed wrong after a jump, and that was that, back home to the ranch. Which was fine with me, but still, you never like being taken out before you’re ready to be taken out.”
I winced. I’d seen some nasty injuries during my time, but I’d been lucky enough to avoid them myself. When you jumped out of planes regularly, injuries were a given.
“Those can be some nasty injuries, sir.”
“Oh, his was awful. The man was a bear to deal with until he got back on his feet.”
“I’ve been injured once and I wasn’t a fan either.”
“Mama, Daddy, we were just sitting down to eat. Would you like to join us?”
“With Walker, Adam, and Brock cooking, I don’t mind if I do.”
His parents moved off as I picked up our plates. “Find us a table, vato.”