Chapter 31

Lucy loved him.

Sawyer woke the next morning on the beach with her curled up by his side, and he knew with absolute certainty that he wanted to wake up like this every morning for the rest of his life.

As the sun rose and warmed their bodies, he slipped his hand between her thighs and woke her up with a lazy morning orgasm that she eagerly reciprocated.

His phone alerted with a message from Zak, but he was moving inside his woman, breathing her in, listening to her cries as she came, and couldn't care less about the outside world. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling the scent of her skin mixed with the salty tang of the ocean air.

The phone rang.

"Ignore it," she panted, wrapping her legs around his waist to pull him deeper inside her. Her nails dug into his shoulder blades as she met him thrust for thrust, urging him on. "Don't stop."

He had no intention of stopping. Not when Lucy's heated walls were squeezing him so deliciously, and her fingers were touching where they were connected, furiously strumming herself to another climax.

She came hard, her body arching off the blanket, a choked cry leaving her lips. Her inner walls contracted around him, and with a few more frantic thrusts, he followed her over the edge, his body shuddering as he poured himself into her.

Sawyer slid out of her with a groan, collapsing onto the blanket next to her. Lucy curled into his side with a happy sigh and trailed a hand down his body, tracing the lines of his muscles with gentle fingers.

"God," she whispered. "You're still one big bruise."

He held her tighter. "Don't get scared and run off again. I'm fine."

"I know."

"And even if I wasn't, you agreed to marry me."

"Oh, did I?"

"Yeah, somewhere between orgasms three and four. So you're stuck with me now, Future Mrs. Murphy."

She sank her teeth lightly into his shoulder. "Who says I'm going to take your name?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but his phone alerted again.

"Incoming call," the phone said. "Zak Hendricks."

"Fucking Zak," he muttered.

Lucy laughed and sat up. "You should answer it."

He groped around until he found the vibrating phone in his discarded jeans pocket. "What?"

"Good morning to you too, lover boy," Zak said sarcastically. "I figured you'd be in a better mood this morning. Donovan said when he left last night, things were looking up for you and Lucy."

"I am in a good mood."

"Yeah? Doesn't sound it."

"Because your timing sucks."

"Ah." Zak laughed. "Well, sorry, but you'll have to put the lovefest on hold for a bit. Team meeting, half hour. Donovan's already on his way to pick you guys up."

The command center was buzzing with anxious energy when Sawyer and Lucy entered with Donovan twenty minutes later. Men, women, dogs. It was chaos.

"Hey!" When Anna spotted them, she launched herself into Lucy's arms. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Lucy said, awkwardly patting her back.

"Better than good." Sawyer's arm snaked around her and pulled her possessively into his side. He raised his voice. "We're getting married."

A stunned silence hung for a moment before the room erupted in cheers and happy barks.

Anna squealed with delight, her eyes shining as she hugged Lucy again. "Oh my God! Congratulations! Welcome to the family!"

Family.

Lucy had never really had one of those, but as she looked around the crowded room filled with beaming faces, raucous laughter, and the soft, occasional whine of excited dogs, she felt warm. Safe. The kind of feeling she imagined people often associated with family.

"All right, all right," Zak finally called over the noise. "We're all happy for them, and we'll definitely celebrate later. But right now, we need to settle down and focus. We have a lead on Pierce."

A grainy still from a video popped up on the main screen as everyone found their seats. It showed a man with a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, filling up his gas tank. In the corner of the image was one furry paw hanging out the side window.

"Pierce and Raszta were spotted at a gas station in Eureka the day of the quake." Zak paused and met each gaze for a moment before continuing. "So let's go find our boys and bring them home."