Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Colt nodded toward the lobby, and nobody really had time to process or react before Greer followed him and Ty out of the club.
I released a breath and spotted Archie and Sloan in the doorway to the patio.
I knew exactly what was running through their minds. I’d been there. Every goddamn time Colt had deployed.
I didn’t miss those days. But at least I could be a decent support system for what came next.
Greer Finlay
Fucking finally.
I hadn’t felt this energized in over two weeks.
I was sure Cullen felt the same.
Ironically, we’d both waited for someone to fucking call us, and then it happened at the same time. Reese had reached out to me, and Ryan Quinn had reached out to Cullen.
We had shit to do now.
I dragged the towel over my face one last time before I left it in the laundry basket and walked out of our tiny bathroom. Archie was in the middle of preparing snacks for my drive up to New York, and Corey sat on the couch—
“Oh my God,” Archie uttered, staring at me.
Corey dropped his jaw. “Holy crap.”
I lifted my brows. What was happening?
Sloan reentered our cabin and blinked when he spotted me.
“What?” I demanded.
“It’s just so wrong, Dominus.” Corey eyed me as if I were a display in a museum. “I love you with all my heart, but shaving off your beard makes you more naked than when you rock out with your cock out. If you know what I mean.”
Oh, for the love of—
Archie and Sloan cracked up at that.
Fucking hellions, the lot of them.
“I’m hot without the beard too, fuckers,” I said.
“Of course, Master!” Archie hurried over to me and brushed his fingers over my jaw. “You’re always sexy.”
But…?
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He smiled and inched away. “That’s all. I’m leaving it at that. You’re always sexy.”
Hmpf.
They should be all over me. I’d put on utility pants and a matching green tee. I looked like the jarhead I’d been for so many years. Just…maybe add some grays and approximately ten pounds. A few wrinkles too.
Sloan smiled at me. “I’m surprised you didn’t give yourself a high and tight.”
Even I had limits. Besides, back in the day, I’d usually just shaved my head altogether, at least if I was going overseas.
“Do you miss those days?” I smirked.
He chuckled and walked over to me. “Not one bit, but it has nothing to do with your hair.”
I knew what he meant. Neither of us had much to look back on in terms of personal happiness and good relationships. Even so, it was in the past he and I had become best friends, it was in the past he had waited for me to come home from deployments, and it was in the past I had waited for him to get divorced.
He touched my jaw and kissed me. “Thank fuck you can pull this off, though.”
I chuckled quietly and rested my forehead to his.
The humor faded when he threaded our fingers together and brought our hands between us.
“You better be safe over there,” he said quietly. “I’m trying to remind myself it’s LA, not Fallujah, but I’m guessing there’s a big risk you’ll end up south of the border.”
I couldn’t deny that. After what I’d learned about my nephew and a few others I knew ending up in Europe, I’d stopped thinking this was a domestic issue. And of course, there was that voice in the back of my head, reminding me where coke came from. South America.
“I’ll be careful.” I withdrew my hands from his and took off his glasses, and I placed them on the coffee table. “Keep in mind, I’m better in the field than sitting on the sidelines.”
“Boredom won’t kill you.”
“What Daddy said,” Corey chimed in.
I smiled faintly and brushed my lips to Sloan’s. “We can’t know that for sure.”
“Yes, we fucking can, Shepherd.” He kissed me back, but not before he’d given me a look. “Swear to me you won’t try to be a hero.”
Corey piped up again. “Yeah. Swear to him.”
Okay—Christ. “How about you two trust me to know what I’m doing? This is what I’m good at.”
“You’re good at a lot of things, Greer.” Archie’s use of my name always caught my attention, because he did it so rarely when we were alone. But even when the kids were around, I was Daddy, Dad, Shep, sweetheart, darling, and love most of the time.
Sloan gripped my chin loosely. “You know we support you, baby. Every step of the way, we’re there, rooting for you, waiting for you to come home. We do trust you. But don’t think for a second that being a grunt is the only place you shine.”
That was sweet of him, but he was doing that thing where he made me uncomfortable. Like back in the day when he force-hugged me and I tried to joke it off.