Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Remi sat in Aces surrounded by all her new friends. Two SEAL teams and all the SEAL wives. Marley. Even her parents and grandmother had wanted to come. The get-together was an impromptu celebration—a celebration of life for Remi, and for the fact that Vincent and his team had arrived home safely from another mission.

It hadn’t been fun when he’d had to leave just a few days after her kidnapping, but Remi had sucked it up. This was her new life. Being a Navy SEAL girlfriend wasn’t easy. But she’d quickly realized that just because Vincent was gone, it didn’t mean she was alone.

Blink was a constant in her life now. She’d stayed in Vincent’s apartment while he was deployed—he felt better leaving her, knowing Blink was right downstairs. And she’d do anything to ease his mind, so he could concentrate on work. Blink had come up to visit them both before the mission, and while the team was gone, he came up every night. They’d watched TV. Talked. She’d sketched some Pecky the Traveling Taco cartoons while he read books. Being around him was very calming, and despite what Marley had feared, spending time with Blink didn’t bring back any bad memories for Remi.

He’d been cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation, which was a huge relief for both of them. She’d been ready to hire one of the best lawyers in the state if there had been even a hint of Blink being charged with anything.

Tex had called one night and apologized for not being able to discover Howler was behind what happened in Hawaii. He seriously doubted the police’s assumption that the boat captain had died from an accidental overdose. He also managed to learn Howler had bought a dozen burner phones, with cash, and he’d obviously sent one to Hawaii, because the police confiscated it in the boat captain’s apartment when they found his body. It had been bagged as evidence, just in case.

How he learned any of those things—let alone accessed a phone that was still in some evidence locker—Remi had no idea, but Vincent told her not to even bother asking. Tex was almost scary with the information he could find.

Marley had hovered since her kidnapping, insisting Remi call or text her every hour, until she’d put her foot down and refused. They’d had a pretty big fight about it, actually, but like the best friends they were, they’d made up within minutes of hanging up on each other.

And while Vincent and the rest of his team had been gone, she’d had lunch with one or more of the SEAL ladies almost every day. Caroline and Fiona one day, Summer and Cheyenne the next. Alabama another day, and Jessyka had invited her to Aces to try her hand behind the bar…which had been a hilarious disaster.

All-in-all, Remi reflected, as she looked around her and saw all the people who’d become very important to her in such a short time, she was blessed. Yes, bad things had happened to her, but she’d gotten through them with the help of her friends, and come out stronger on the other side.

Her gaze went over to the pool tables, where her dad had teamed up with Dude and Preacher, and they were currently beating the pants off Benny, Cookie, and Flash. She never thought she’d see the day her rich, refined father hung out in a military bar with a bunch of rough and tumble SEALs, but she loved that for him.

Loud laughter had her attention turning back to the table, and she found her grandmother and Cheyenne both cracking up. Probably because of something inappropriate her grandmother had said. The older woman wasn’t afraid to say whatever came to her mind, and she’d been welcomed into Remi’s new group of friends without hesitation.

Her gaze roamed over to the bar, and she saw Blink standing there with Vincent. For a moment, she worried that Blink had reverted to his old habits, sitting alone, shutting himself off from others, but then she smiled when Vincent reached out and gave Blink one of those weird man-hug things that guys did. Both of them were smiling, which made her relax.

Vincent had told her before they’d left for the bar that he’d gotten word from his commander—Blink passed his psych eval and he’d been added to Vincent’s team. It warmed her heart that none of the other guys held what had happened against Blink. Yes, he’d scared her, had held her against her will, but they understood as well as she did that if he hadn’t, if he hadn’t gotten into that truck, the outcome of that day would’ve been much different.

So the man-hug must’ve been because Vincent told Blink that it was official. He was part of a team again. Relieved that Blink looked as satisfied as her man, Remi slid off her chair and headed toward the bar.

She hooked her arm in Vincent’s as she snuggled against him. “You told him?” she asked.

“He told me,” Blink said with a small smile and nod.

“And you’re happy?” she pressed.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Me too.”

“I have no doubt if the paperwork didn’t go through, you would’ve stomped into the commander’s office and demanded he bend to your will,” Vincent said with a chuckle.

“Me? I’m an angel. I never would’ve done that!” Remi protested. “I would’ve sent my grandmother. Or maybe Dad’s goons.”

Both Blink and Vincent burst out laughing.

“Fernando doesn’t have goons,” Vincent said with a shake of his head.

“I think he does,” Remi said with a shrug. “But I’m glad we didn’t have to use them. Now I can shred that cartoon I drew where Pecky and his friends snuck onto base one night and burned the SEAL headquarters to the ground in protest.”

She smiled as, once again, Blink and Vincent laughed. She squeezed Vincent’s waist with happiness. Her life felt…complete. Full.

“I’m gonna go see if MacGyver and Mozart need a third on their team,” Blink said. He nodded at Vincent, then leaned in and kissed Remi’s temple before sauntering toward the pool tables with his beer.

She loved how affectionate Blink was with her after their shared ordeal. He was still grumpy. Still prone to disappear into his head. But they’d forged a bond that could never be broken. Even better, her boyfriend didn’t seem the least bit jealous over her relationship with his fellow SEAL.

“I’m going to marry you, you know,” Vincent said nonchalantly.

Remi’s gaze flew up to his. “What?” she asked.

“I’m going to put my ring on your finger, my baby in your belly, and glower at anyone who dares to even look twice at my beautiful wife.”

Butterflies swam in Remi’s stomach at his words.

“But before I ask, I want to make absolutely certain you know what you’re getting into if you tie yourself to me. It’s not easy being with a military guy. You’ve been through hell, twice, all because of me. And you’ve only been through one deployment. I want to make sure this is what you want. I’m who you want, before I make things official.”

“You’re what I want,” she told him firmly. “I don’t need to go through any more missions. And what happened to me wasn’t your fault. It was his.” Remi didn’t say Howler’s name out loud. No matter how much Vincent swore he wasn’t upset over his friend and teammate’s death, she had a feeling it was painful for him to think about the man. “And you know what? If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be together.”

But Vincent was shaking his head even before she was finished speaking. “I don’t believe that for a second. We practically live in the same town. Our paths would’ve crossed at some point…at the library, sitting in our cars next to each other at a stoplight, something. I would’ve known you were it for me even if we hadn’t spent that time in the ocean.”

“Vincent, that’s sweet,” Remi said, feeling overwhelmed.

“That’s me, Mr. Sweet,” Vincent said sarcastically, with a small chuckle.

He was right. Vincent was a little rough around the edges, got irritated with people fairly easily, but he was hers. And she wasn’t giving him back. “For the record,” she told him. “When you ask, I’m going to say yes. To it all. The ring, the baby, and even though no one looks at me any kind of way except to wonder what the gorgeous military guy is doing with a frizzy-haired nerd like me, I’ll let you glower at anyone you want.”

The look on his face made her lady parts sit up and take notice. Their love life was good. More than good. Vincent was the most attentive and unselfish man she’d ever been with. He always made sure she came before he did. And the night he returned from his mission?

She still blushed just thinking about it.

Looking around, Vincent muttered, “I wonder if there’s a closet around here we could use.”

Remi giggled. “I’m not having sex in a closet in a bar,” she told him firmly. “What was it Meg Ryan said in Top Gun? Hey, Kevlar, you big stud, take me to bed or lose me forever,” she said with a huge smile.

“Show me the way home, honey,” he returned with a look so full of lust, it was all Remi could do not to spontaneously combust right then and there.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Marley called out.

“Home!” Remi returned without stopping.

She heard laughter all around them, but she ignored it. She didn’t care what anyone else thought. She needed her man. Now.

“Remember, we’ve got PT at oh-six-hundred!” Safe yelled.

Remi had no idea what kind of response Vincent gave his friend to that, but assumed he’d flipped him the bird. Still smiling, she got them out of the bar and into the parking lot before Vincent took over. He tugged on her hand, stopping her in her tracks, then he spun her toward him and bent over, throwing her over his shoulder and continuing toward his car.

Remi snort-laughed and propped herself up with her hands on his back. She stared at his perfect ass as he walked and smiled to herself. She, Remi Stephenson, had landed a SEAL. Growing up in the area, it was something all the girls in her high school class talked about when they were younger. About how sexy they were, how awesome it would be to sleep with one.

And she was not only sleeping with one, she was with the best of the bunch. And he wanted to marry her. It was a dream come true. And while she’d marry Vincent tomorrow, she understood his need for her to be sure. His ex had done a number on him, and after what happened with Howler, he was still feeling raw over everything they’d been through.

But that was all right. Because Remi wasn’t going anywhere.

The second he got them to the condo—after he’d returned from his mission, they’d ultimately decided to live there, since it was bigger—he picked her up again and headed straight to the stairs and up to their bedroom.

He carried her as if she weighed nothing, then threw her onto their bed. Remi kissed him with all the love she had in her heart. She hadn’t said a word to Vincent, but the truth was, his missions scared her. She had to trust he and his teammates knew what they were doing. She felt better just knowing that Blink would also have her man’s back. But she’d never tell Vincent how scared she was for him when he left. She’d be the strong woman he needed. She was as proud of him as she could be. He was her hero.

After undoing the zipper and button on her jeans, he grabbed the material at her ankles and yanked. Remi snort-laughed again. Once she was naked, Vincent crawled over her and stared down into her eyes with a look of such love, it made Remi’s heart lurch in her chest.

“I love you,” he told her.

“And I love you too.”

He lifted a hand and brushed a piece of hair off her face. But he didn’t otherwise move.

“Vincent?”

“Just memorizing this moment. You. Here, under me. Seeing the love in your eyes.”

Remi smiled. “Get used to it. The love, that is. Because it’s all yours. I’m all yours.”

His nostrils flared, and he eased down her body. “Hold on, sweetheart, because I’m thinking I want to take my time tonight.”

Remi moaned as the man she loved made himself comfortable between her thighs. “Do your best, honey,” she goaded.

“No, I’ll do my worst,” he said with a grin before lowering his head.

Wren sighed. She’d hoped the bar wouldn’t be busy tonight. She’d chosen to meet her date at Aces because it was usually a pretty mellow and quiet place. She could talk to the man, get to know him, without feeling as if she was in the middle of some damn frat party. But tonight, there were a ton of people laughing, smiling, playing pool, making it almost impossible to have a normal conversation with the guy sitting next to her.

From what she could figure out after overhearing the toasts and speeches people had made, one of the women had actually almost died, and one of the other guys at the bar had saved her. But it was confusing, because the guy who saved her clearly wasn’t the man she was dating. She was snuggled up to some other hot SEAL.

She knew they were SEALs by eavesdropping on other conversations around her. But the thing that made her heart twinge was seeing how close everyone seemed to be. They weren’t all the same age, but it didn’t matter. They were having a great time. Hell, there was even an elderly woman who seemed to be having the time or her life. Apparently the grandmother of the woman being celebrated.

It made her smile. Ache to be a part of something like that. But Wren led a solitary life.

She’d had to scrape and claw for everything she’d ever had. Why would love, acceptance, and family be any different?

“Are you listening to me?”

Wren internally winced at her date’s question, because she hadn’t been. She’d been too engrossed in the conversations going on around her. The festive vibe. The men at the pool tables seemed to be having a blast. No hard feelings when one team won a game over another.

“I’m sorry, it’s really loud in here,” Wren told her date.

In response, he scooted his chair closer to hers, so he was practically sitting in her lap. It made her uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to upset him by telling the guy to back off. That’s how she’d spent her entire life…being compliant. Not rocking the boat. It was a hard habit to break.

“We could get out of here. Go back to my place,” he suggested, putting his hand on her thigh.

Wren stared at him in disbelief. Where had the polite, almost nerdy accountant gone? When she’d first spotted him, she’d sighed in relief because he’d looked exactly like the picture on his online profile. She’d been half afraid he was catfishing her or something. But he seemed to be exactly what he’d portrayed on the dating app. A mild-mannered math geek who wanted to get to know her, rather than someone simply looking for a quick hookup.

But now, with his hand on her thigh, she was beginning to think there weren’t any good men left out there. Anyone who wasn’t just looking for sex.

“I’m not comfortable with that,” she told him, moving her leg as far away from him as she could.

“Right, sorry,” he said with a small smile as he leaned away from her.

Wren mentally sighed in relief that he’d taken the hint.

“You want something else from the bar? I’m going to get a refill,” he told her.

“Um, sure. Maybe a lemonade?”

“A lemonade? You don’t want another glass of wine?”

Wren shook her head. “I’m driving, so I can’t.”

“All right, one lemonade, coming up.”

Her date smiled again, then headed toward the bar. It was busy. He’d have a bit of a wait, so Wren closed her eyes for a moment.

This night was a bust. She should’ve realized that online dating wasn’t for her. But it wasn’t as if she was meeting potential partners in any other aspect of her life. She’d just moved to Southern California for her new job, and even though she worked mostly with men, she’d always had a no-dating-coworkers rule. Besides, none of the men she saw on a daily basis appealed to her. Which was why she’d turned to the Internet.

Way before she was ready, Wren saw her date coming back toward her with a bottle of beer in one hand and a glass in the other.

“Here you go,” he said, sliding the glass over. “What were we talking about before I so rudely left your side?” he asked with kind of a slimy smile.

Wren wasn’t sure, because she’d been paying more attention to whatever celebration was going on around them than anything he was saying.

She took a large swallow of her lemonade as he launched into some boring story about the people he worked with.

She wasn’t sure how much time had gone by, but it wasn’t long before Wren began to feel strange. The room had gotten extremely hot all of a sudden, and she felt dizzy.

Fucking hell…The asshole had drugged her!

She knew without a doubt—because it had happened before.

Wren shoved at her date’s hand, which had found her leg again. But now his fingers were on her inner thigh, coming way too damn close to touching her completely inappropriately for someone she’d just met.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the bathroom,” she told her date, as she pushed at the hand that was already latched onto her leg once more.

“You feel okay? You don’t look that good. Let me take you home.”

Sure, asshole, she thought. You’ll get me in your car and won’t fucking take me home. You’ll rape me, slit my throat, then leave me in some damn alley to be found like the piece of trash you think I am.

Wren shook her head, hating how that made the room spin even more. She just had to get to the bathroom. Lock herself in a stall, then beg for help from the first woman who came in. Another reason she’d come to Aces was because she’d read a story about the owner, a woman who said she was determined to make her bar a place where ladies could be safe when they wanted a night out.

She must’ve surprised the man, because when she shoved at him again, he scooted his chair back.

“Okay. I’ll watch your purse,” he said.

Wren didn’t want to leave her things with him, but by doing so, it seemed to make the guy relax. Like anyone else, he thought she wouldn’t leave without her belongings. He probably thought she’d splash some water on her face, then come back to the table to get her purse before he “helped” her leave.

Well, she wasn’t that much of an idiot.

She stumbled across the room, knowing she was weaving like a drunk chick who couldn’t hold her alcohol.

Changing her mind, Wren decided to go down the hallway where the bathrooms were located, then keep going—right out the back door, if she could find one. Her phone was in her pocket and she could call for a ride once she was outside and safe.

But as soon as she walked into the hallway, Wren knew she was already in trouble. She could barely keep her eyes open, and it was only a matter of time before she was out cold. Whatever the asshole had put in her drink was strong. And fast-acting. He’d been cocky. So sure she’d agree to let him help her. Well, fuck him.

As her vision doubled, Wren saw someone walking toward her. He was tall and good-looking. Had a closely cropped beard and mustache. She recognized him. He was one of the SEALs in the bar. He’d been playing pool with the others. But the thing that made him stand out in her eyes was his freckles. They were all over his face. So close together, if you didn’t look closely, you’d think it was just a blotchy tan or something.

Something about those freckles made him seem safe. She didn’t know why; it was probably the drugs messing with her mind.

“Help me!” The words were out before she could think twice.

“Excuse me?” the man asked.

“My date put something in my drink. Wants to take me home. I’m about to…pass out… Please help…”

Wren felt herself falling—but she didn’t hit the floor. The man caught her.

The last thought she had before her world went dark was that she hoped like hell she hadn’t jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

“What the hell?” Bo “Safe” Cyders exclaimed as the slender—no, downright skinny woman in the hallway passed out in his arms.

His gut instinct was to carry her into the bar, to get help. But he instantly remembered what she’d said. About her date drugging her.

The very thought made his blood boil.

His sister had been drugged and raped when she was in college, and when Safe learned about it, he’d felt completely helpless. He’d always protected Susie, but he hadn’t been able to protect her when she’d needed him most. It had eaten at him for years.

Turning, Safe acted without thought. He needed to get this woman out of here. Glancing at her, he recognized her as the woman sitting in the farthest corner from the pool tables, with a buttoned-up, shifty-looking asshole at her side. He’d pegged them as being on a first date with one glance. He hadn’t liked the way the man was ogling the woman when she wasn’t looking.

She had on a pair of slacks and a short-sleeve, scoop-neck blouse. She was dressed fairly conservatively, in his opinion, but that hadn’t kept her date’s eyes from locking onto her cleavage. The guy was practically drooling.

While Safe agreed that the woman was pretty, she definitely wasn’t his type. She looked as if she’d blow away in a small breeze. He preferred his women tall and curvy. Not petite and skinny.

But as he easily held the woman while pushing the back door open, Safe couldn’t deny the lady intrigued him. Not every person was astute enough to realize when they’d been drugged…or strong enough to get away from their attacker.

Shaking his head, he focused on the task at hand. She was extremely lucky. She hadn’t come to him for help; they’d simply been in the hallway at the same time. He could’ve been anyone. Hell, he could be stealing her out of the bar to have his perverted way with her, just like her so-called date had probably planned.

But luckily for the woman, it had been him in that hallway. And he wasn’t going to hurt her. No way in hell. He hadn’t gotten his nickname because he was a danger to women.

Making a mental note to call Jessyka and tell her what was happening—she’d be pissed off, since she prided herself on running an establishment where women didn’t have to worry about date-rape or any of that shit—Safe carried the woman to his Jeep.

He managed to open the passenger door without dropping her…not that it was all that hard. The woman didn’t even weigh as much as the pack he carried on missions. He got her buckled into the seat, and her head lolled to the side awkwardly as Safe ran around the vehicle.

He questioned what the hell he was doing even as he started the engine.

As he drove out of Aces’ parking lot, he pressed his lips together. He should turn around. Bring her back to the bar. Caroline, Jessyka, and the others would take care of her while he and the guys called the cops and forced her date to fess up to what he’d done.

But instead, Safe headed for his house. It was tiny, in a kind of rundown neighborhood. But it was his. Paid for by money he’d earned with his blood, sweat, and tears.

The mystery woman would be fine. He’d watch over her, make sure she didn’t have any adverse effects from whatever drug she’d ingested. When she woke up…

Well, he’d deal with the repercussions of his choices then.

For now, every instinct was screaming at him to get the woman somewhere safe. And the safest place he knew of was his own humble home.

Not the best way to “meet” someone, but of course Safe is going to do whatever he can to help Wren. Get the next book in the SEAL of Protection: Alliance series, Protecting Wren, now!

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