Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Welker kept hold of Moira’s hand as he pushed through the door. Cisco called him from across the room.

“Hey, Welk. Glad you could make it.” A smirk appeared on his face. “Who’s the arm-ca—” Cisco’s eyes got very wide and the whole room went quiet.

“Bliss?” Cisco finally squeaked out.

Welker tamped down his growl. He knew his friend hadn’t meant anything by his near-mention of arm-candy, so he wouldn’t entirely rip his head off. It was actually the fact that it had taken Cisco a few seconds to recognize Moira that had Welk ticked.

Hilly, Cisco’s girlfriend, immediately elbowed the man to shut him up.

“You have a problem, Cisco?” Welker didn’t normally get combative, but he was ready to stand up for Moira.

“Leave him alone, Welker,” Moira cut in, scowling. “Look at everyone’s faces. They’re all thinking the same thing. You can’t blame them for being shocked. This is the first time…” She stopped and regrouped. “I’m sure most of them had no clue there was a woman under my uniform.”

Welker didn’t like it, but he honored Moira’s wishes, and muttering to himself, bit his tongue.

A few of his teammates grinned.

“You look fantastic, Moira.” Everlee spoke up first, designating herself as spokesperson. She was the team’s shrink, and always knew how to keep the peace. “You just knocked us all back for a second. I’m also certain that a lot of our male teammates are jealous you came in on Welker’s arm. They’re pissed they didn’t open their eyes soon enough to see who was directly in front of them all these months.”

“Right,” Moira scoffed, but Welker could tell she was secretly pleased, due to the slight coloring up of her cheeks. She hadn’t worn any make-up, so he was up close and personal to her natural reaction, and he liked it a lot.

“You okay with this?” he whispered anyway, wanting nothing more than to bury his nose in her neck as he leaned close.

“Of course.”

She threw back her shoulders, accentuating her already stellar chest, and Welker had all he could do not to pop a boner that all his friends would surely notice.

He cleared his throat and spoke to the table at large. “Okay, you morons. Show’s over. Who’s paying for beers?”

“You,” Kyle grinned from his leaned-back chair. “And you can forget about worming your way out of it. We’ve already started a tab in your name.”

Welker rolled his eyes. Amongst his core group of five, it was his turn to buy, but there were at least… Geeze. Were there thirty or more SWAT members scattered about the room? He tried not to look distressed, but there went the money he had earmarked for his insulation.

“Nope,” Moira announced loudly to the laughter that had broken out at Kyle’s pronouncement. “The drinks are actually on me, in honor of me coming out of the closet tonight.”

The ambient noise died abruptly, with bewildered looks being exchanged all around.

“What,” Moira posited into the silence, cheekily. “You have a problem that I’m finally identifying myself as a woman?” She glanced around with a raised brow. “I’m sure all of you have wondered about my gender since the minute I joined the team.”

Sin was the first to laugh. “Never, Moira. You may have tried to hide it, but we all knew you were too smart to be a man.”

Everyone cracked up, with the men jeering amusedly, and Moira joined right in.

Welker’s heart swelled as she held her own. They both took seats at the large round table where Mason and Everlee, Mike and Joelle, Kyle and Rowan, Doug and Pixie, Talia and Fleet, and Cisco and Hilly already sat.

Satisfaction welled up in Welker’s chest. This is how things should have been with Moira from the get-go; their teammates including her. Drawing her out. It had been a shame that only a few people, like Sin, had been able to get past Moira’s manly clothing and diffident interactions, to see the engaging woman she hid, beneath.

Welker wondered only one thing. Why now? What had changed to set Moira’s true spirit free? Was it the team coming to her aid when the Sheriff’s Department had dropped the ball? Was it the effort everyone had put in to clean up her house? Was it the new, feminine clothing she’d been forced to wear since hers had been ruined? Or was it…?

Welker held out a fantasy that it had something to do with him, but he wouldn’t assume anything. Hopefully, he’d be able to find out later if he were part of the new Moira-equation.

He had a plan, and not surprisingly, it involved Moira’s very pretty, naturally pink lips. Ever since this morning, when the kiss which had seemed inevitable had been snatched away by the entrance of Callie and Sabira, Welk had wanted nothing more than to claim Moira’s mouth. Yeah, he’d managed to give her a quick brush at Margaret’s, but as Margaret had so aptly put it at the time, he had a lot more than that in him.

Now he just needed to see if Moira was onboard with exploring the depth of the desire that he imagined was percolating between them.

Small talk went on, with he and Moira telling everyone about Margaret. They all agreed that they’d adopt the older woman, making sure she had not only everything she needed, but a slew of new friends, as well.

Still, after the subject of Margaret had been exhausted, Welker grew distracted, looking around at his friends. How did they do it? They all had partners now, to whom they were clearly and crazily attracted, yet here they sat, chatting, as if the only thing on their minds wasn’t getting home to tear off their significant others’ clothes.

He knew these men and women. They all lived life to its fullest, and that lust for living—one-hundred percent—included sex.

He brought his mind back to the conversation, and even threw in a witty line every now and again, earning shy smiles from Moira, who… Nope . No way. He just remembered that she’d declared she was paying. Just because she was finally letting loose and having fun, she wasn’t going to get stuck with the bar bill.

During a lull in the conversation, Welker leaned over and spoke quietly to Moira. “I’m not letting you pay for drinks tonight,” he told her.

She quirked up one corner of her mouth. “Says who? You’re not the boss of me, Vestore. And don’t think I didn’t see the color leave your face when Cisco said the tab was on you. I know why you were worried.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond as she picked it up all on her own. “How many building-material-dollars would that have set you back?”

Damn. The woman was astute.

“Some,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t matter. As Cisco said, it’s my turn.”

“Oh really?” She postured, letting him know she meant business. “How about this? Am I part of this group, now?”

Shit. Welker could see where she was going.

“Of course,” he grumbled.

“Right. And I’ve never paid before. So, I’d say it’s my turn.”

“But—”

Moira laid a finger across his lips, and Welker wanted nothing more than to suck it into his mouth. He settled for giving it a light kiss instead…which made Moira grin.

“No more arguments, Vestore,” she ordered. “Paying for this won’t hurt my wallet at all. And if…,” she took a deep breath, “you meant what you said about exploring things between us, I’ll tell you right now, I won’t have you going all, ‘ Me, man. Me pay for everything ,’ on my ass every time we go out.”

“Every time…” That boded well, but Welker was having a hard time getting past the “exploring” part of her rebuttal. All he could do was nod as his head filled with pictures of exactly what he wanted to explore. He pictured himself untying those provocative little strings that held up the bodice of her dress; lowering it to see what she wore beneath, then whisking it all away so he could suck on her?—

Dammit. Cock-stand. A hard, insistent one.

It was a good thing the table hid his lust, because there was no way he was getting his randy-pants-partner to subside any time soon.

“Okay,” Welker finally choked out, nearly forgetting that Moira had just issued an edict to which he hadn’t yet responded.

“Okay?” Moira repeated. She leaned in close enough that he could smell the lavender soap she’d used at Margaret’s, and spoke softly.

If he licked her throat, would anyone call him on it?

She gave a small cough to recenter him, as if sensing that his mind had wandered. “The Welker I know would at least be putting up a fight, unless…” Moira had the audacity to lean back in her chair and look down. She chuckled tightly. “…you’re not thinking with your big brain right now.”

Was it actual interest flowing from her mouth right now? If so, he’d be a fool to miss this opportunity. Welker decided to be honest.

His voice emerged, raspy. “I’m having a hard time thinking of anything right now, besides what you are or aren’t wearing under that sexy-as-hell dress.”

Moira blushed prettily, but snorted. “A very hard time, if I’m not mistaken.”

Welker blinked. This was a Moira with whom he was unfamiliar. He thought he knew all her iterations, but this suggestive, teasing one certainly hadn’t been on his bingo-card.

“It’s all your fault,” he informed her hoarsely. “I was interested before…” he brought his fingertips up and let them play over her bare shoulder, “…all this,” he completed, loving the goosebumps that broke out on Moira’s arms. “But now you’ve ramped up the temperature, and I feel like I’m boiling over.” He lowered his head and dared kiss the skin his digits had just traced.

He knew he couldn’t get away with his actions for long, and sure enough, Kyle elbowed him from his other side. “Uh, we won’t hold it against you two if want to leave,” he said with a grin.

Welker glanced up from his wanton perusal of Moira and noticed that all his tablemates were giving him the side-eye while not-so-convincingly pretending not to notice his unbridled behavior.

He looked at Moira. She looked back, and…

“I’ll just give the bartender my credit card,” she stated.

She stood, shook out her pretty skirt, and sashayed her fine ass across the room while he followed its every move.

“Oh, man. You’ve got it bad,” Cisco teased.

His girlfriend, Hilly, groaned and smacked him on the shoulder. “And you don’t? I see you need a reminder of how you were acting only a few weeks ago.” She raised her voice. “Guys? What did Cisco’s face look like when he was falling for me?”

Immediately, a hilarious bunch of moon-eyes were made, along with a lot of lash-fluttering and maybe a little mouth-drool added in for effect. Cisco put up both hands in surrender and smirked at Hilly. “Can I help it if I’m a sucker for my woman? I’ll show you just how much I love you.” He attacked her mouth, clearly kissing the stuffing out of her.

“Aww,” Rowan mugged, faking disappointment as she looked sadly at her husband. “Now that we’re married, I think Kyle’s kind of dropped that ball.”

The man in question glowered, then lowered his head to Rowan’s ear where he nipped it and let out a snarl. “I’ll show you dropped balls, sweetheart.”

As if some kind of Pavlovian bell had been rung, Mike arose and drew his keys from his pocket, eyeing Joelle like his next meal. “Time to go, honey.”

There was shuffling from all the mated couples as they got to their feet, clearly following Mike’s lead. Welker rose, too, after surreptitiously untucking his shirt to cover up…things.

“Hey?” Moira asked as she rejoined the company, her demeanor puzzled. “Where’s everybody going? We haven’t even played skee-ball yet.”

Mason, ever the boss, took over. “It seems we’ve lost interest.” He cleared his throat. “You and Welker have inadvertently reminded everyone that this is Saturday night, and if we…happen to stay up a little late, we can all sleep in tomorrow morning.” He waggled his brows, and got a snort from Everlee, who was leaning against him, heavily.

Welker marveled that the third trimester hadn’t slowed the couple down.

“So, we’re calling it,” Mason finished.

He raised his voice to be heard at all the other tables. “Moira has kindly paid the current tab, but just so you know, you’re on your own for any more.”

“Thanks, Moira!” Glasses were raised in her direction, and Welker could tell she was inordinately pleased. Feeling like part of the gang—when she wasn’t being part of an active team—had been a long time coming for her, and Welker felt nothing but joy on her behalf, knowing it would only get better from here.

And while she was mellow…

“You ready to go?” Welker asked, daring to take her elbow.

She licked her lips.

“Yes,” she answered breathily. “I believe I am.”