Wet For Her Warriors (Book 5 of the WILD -- Warriors Intense in Love & Domination -- Boys of Special Forces) (36 page)

“Tait?” she
finally murmured. “Talk to me…please. What’s going on? Do you know Shane?”

Tait lowered to the
sand next to her. His gaze was still fixed at the darkness that had swallowed
up Shane. “Yeah,” he stated. “I do know him. But his name’s not Shane. It’s
Shay. Shay Bommer. He’s my brother.”

“I never thought
six weeks could feel like six years.”

Though Lani
meant every woeful note of it, all she got in the way of sympathy from Franz
was a snort and a long eye roll. “Heaven help us,” he muttered, keeping half an
eye on the baseball game playing on his new widescreen TV. “Little sister’s
gotten herself some regular kissin’ on the
kahakai
, and now we all have
to deal with the moony-faced fallout.”

“
Psshh
.”
Leo flopped onto the couch next to him. “You’ve only been here a few days. Try
living with the
wahine
. And no, the new kitchen remodel
isn’t
keeping her occupied enough.”

Franzen chuffed.
“Better you than me, little broheim.”

“Hey.” She
locked hands to her hips and flashed an accusing glare. “Who’s made all the
Johnny Franzen favorites for dinner tonight?”

Franz rolled his
eyes the other way. “Only because they happen to be Bommer and Rush’s
favorites, as well.”

“
Bah
.”
Lani tossed a dish towel at them as she moved through the living room but was
unable to prevent a playful smile from breaking through.

“There she goes
again,” Leo mumbled.

“Yeah,” Franz
concurred. He cocked his head at her. “And it’s always worse when she walks this
way.” His eyes widened. “Heeyyy…the three of you didn’t do anything crazy on my
couch back in July, did you?”

“Crazy like
what?” Leo scowled and took a sip of his soda—before choking on the liquid and
leaping to his feet again. “Oh
yeezuss
, no! I do
not
need a
visual on that shit.”

Lani snapped her
fingers. “
Language
.”

“Seriously?
After what
you
did on this couch?”

She was saved
from the downward spiral of the conversation by a crunch of tires in the drive.
“They’re here.” She didn’t intend it to sound like a teenybopper squeal, but
she wasn’t going to waste time on an apology, either. “They’re here, they’re
here, they’re—”

She was cut off
first by Tait, who swept her up into his arms and mashed her lips in a
tongue-twister of a kiss. Kellan barely gave her a moment to breathe before he
swept in, repeating the assault with fierce hunger. She finally pulled back to
stare at them both, a little stunned to see them still wearing their BDUs,
complete with boots, dog tags, and regulation caps.

“Errr—wow. I
didn’t realize your side trip to Honolulu meant you’d be working.”

When they’d last
been on Skype together, the guys told her that they’d be returning to the
island a few days after Franzen, due to a “necessary stopover” they had to take
in the state’s capital. She’d been giddy with the news, thinking they’d gotten
word from Kellan’s buddy at the permits office that at last cleared Hale Anelas
for B and B status. Her pleas to Franz for information had been met with the
man’s smirking silence. He only revealed that the guys had a damn great surprise
for her, an offering that went a long way toward earning his approval on their
“unique” situation. He’d stopped short of confessing they’d won his complete sanction
but Lani deduced that story would be the same if she brought home the Dalai
Lama on one arm and the Pope on the other.

By noon today,
she’d been
very
ready for her surprise.

The BDUs were
not
what she’d expected.

“Sorry about the
work threads,” Tait murmured.

“We didn’t want
to waste the time on changing them,” Kellan added.

“We had more
pressing reasons to get home.”

“Well, one.”

Silver lights of
mischief danced in Kell’s eyes. Tait countered that with a mocking scowl,
twisting his lips into extremely kissable angles. “And technically, we’re not
‘home.’”

Lani forced
herself to ignore his lips in favor of a chastising glare. “That’s because you
guys told me to meet you
here,
remember? And if you tell me it’s because
you want to spend the evening watching Johnny’s new widescreen, you can even forget
dinner.”

“We don’t give a
shit about the TV, starshine.”

Kellan
emphasized it by leaning and nuzzling her neck. When he pulled back, they
traded a fast version of the broheim-sneaky-spidey look, resulting in their
matched set of devious grins. Tait explained, “We asked you to meet us here
because we wanted to see your face when you walk back home…with this.”

Lani followed
the direction of his nodding head, to the sheet of paper now in Kellan’s grasp.
The Hawaii state seal gleamed on top.

Lani gasped then
screamed. She brushed back tears, hardly believing the sheet was real. Their
grins grew as she took it with both hands, reading every boring word as if they
were a magical incantation.

“State of
Hawaii…official permit…recognition of historical bed and breakfast…” She hopped
up and down then tried to jump them both. Neither man complained, since the awkward
lunges gave them chances to “steady” her with their hands all over her anatomy.
“Thank you,” she sobbed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She looked up to
see her brother strolling out the lanai, pretending to barf all over Franz
because of their open affection. “
Kaikaina
! Look; look! It’s finally
happening!”

Her brother
kicked up his chin at Tait then Kell. “Congratulations, Sergeants,” he drawled.
“You’ve turned my sister into a squee’ing ball of joy, and you haven’t even
gotten to the good part yet.”

As wonderful as
their chests felt under her hands, she pushed off and planted herself between
them. “The ‘good part?’” she charged. Sure enough, they answered with indulgent
but secretive smirks. “Assuring I can keep my home
isn’t
the good part?”

Kellan took one
of her hands. “What if we could make it
our
home?”

She gave back a
perplexed frown. “It’s already our home, my Sirs. You know that. I’m well aware
of the demands that your job carries, and that’s okay. This miracle that the
gods have given us…it’s worth it. Whenever you two can make it back here, Hale
Anelas will be waiting for you.
I’ll
be waiting for you.” Tears stung
her eyes anew. She didn’t try to hide them. “In the two of you, the gods have
given me my
Mau Loa
…my forever love. My home is yours, my bed is yours,
and my heart is yours…always.”

Kellan lifted
her hand to his mouth and captured her knuckles beneath his lips. “Thank you,
my love.” As he did that, Tait tilted her face up gave her his thanks with a languorous
kiss that had her head swirling and her body swaying.

“
Bleggghh
.”
Leo’s exclamation coincided with a low roll of thunder from overhead. “Can we
get past the sucking face part
please
?”

“Hold onto your
panties.” Kellan chuckled. “We’re getting there.”

“Right.” Lani
bounced on her toes, throwing a curious stare between the two of them. “‘The
good part.’ You’re ‘getting there.’ Wherever ‘there’ is.”

Her grin dropped
a little when Franzen came out and joined Leo. There was a fresh beer in his
hand yet he looked a little sad. Maybe more than a little.

Tait slipped one
of his hands into hers now, too. “The reason we’re in work gear is because we
were at the base at Pearl Harbor. For…job interviews.”

She squeezed his
hand without thinking. Kellan’s, too. No matter how many times she flashed her
disbelieving gawk between the two of them, neither cut loose with a single teasing
snicker. “What the hell do you mean?”

“This latest
episode with Tan fleshed out a big concern on the part of the Joint Operations
Special Command,” Tait went on. “Hawaii’s viability as an insertion point to
the country, by
any
terrorist state or organization, can’t be ignored
anymore. Think about the famous attack on Pearl Harbor. If the Japanese
decimated us that thoroughly using nineteen forties equipment, think about the
possibilities our enemies have today, with modern technology at their
disposal.”

What he said
made sense. Lani nodded her understanding.

Kellan continued
the explanation. “After our debrief in Pearl Harbor about the episode with Tan,
JSOC approached us about a new elite team that they’re putting together here,
based out of Pearl Harbor. It’s going to be a composite crew under JSOC’s
direct command, ‘the best of the best’ from all the branches: Marine Spec Ops,
Navy SEALs, Rangers, and…” He cracked a lopsided smile. “Us.”

Lani probed him
with a long stare. “You…how?”

“Doing what we
do best,” Tait filled in. “The bullet ninjas sniper team. At first it’ll be just
training and development but we’ll also be assigned to protect Hawaii as if
we’ve been deployed here.” His lips looked even more delectable as he curled
them into a shit-eating smirk. “Our job will be, quite literally, to protect
your
ass.”

“Along with a
million and a half others,” Kell muttered.

“Yeah, but hers
is the most important.”

“Duh.”

Though Tait
maintained his grin, the corners of his eyes tightened. “In an even crazier
twist of coincidence, part of our job will be to help the FBI in following up
on Stock’s whereabouts. Hopefully, we’ll land the puzzle pieces behind Shay’s
shenanigans.”

Kellan winced.
“Did you really just say ‘shenanigans?’”

“You want me to
use something else? ‘Sleeping with the enemy,’ perhaps? While on paper, he’s
still deployed in South America somewhere?”

“Fine. Use
‘shenanigans.’ Just not anymore tonight.”

The clouds
brought a few scattered rain drops, plopping on the ground around them in the
same way that understanding began to splash in her mind…and her heart.
“So—you’re telling me that—”

“We’re going to
be around a little more.” Tait’s eyes gleamed with golden joy again. “As in,
hanging around on most weekends, and maybe a few weeknights when we can catch a
lift over to Barking Sands.”

“Don’t forget
the bed part.” Kellan’s features smoldered as he leaned in to assert it. “You
did
mention the bed, starshine.”

“Yeah, I did.” The
last of it got lost beneath a soft sob. As she expected, the two of them
bunched over her, one on each side.

“Shit,” Tait
gritted. “We made her cry.”

“I told you not
to bring up Shay.”

“Like that had
anything to do with it, asshat.”

“Shut up.” It
tumbled from her on a giggle, which made her tears come even harder.

“Sweetheart,
we’re sorry. It was too much to dump on you all at once.”

“We can ease
into things. We’ll keep most of our stuff at the base. We don’t have to have
drawers in the dresser or anything.”

“Well…we’ll need
one
drawer.”

“Why?”

“Toy storage?”
Kell’s voice dipped, conscious of the fifteen year-old standing ten feet away.
“Floggers? Lube? Rope?”

That snapped her
head
way
up. She grinned at Kellan. “Yes, please!” she whispered
eagerly. Neither of them had put their Dominant hat back on since the night
they’d taken such beautiful control of her in the cottage at Barking Sands. She
was crawling out of her skin with need for their hands—and their lips, and
other body parts—all over her like that once more.

Tait’s features
were still cautious. “We can take it slow, baby.” He ran a hand through her
hair. “We have our whole lives to pleasure you, to love you. This doesn’t have
to happen to—”

She jammed all
four of her main fingers over his lips. “Shut. Up. Right. Now.” She swung her
head around, including Kellan in her glower. “Listen to me.
Both
of you.
I haven’t just been waiting six weeks for you two. I’ve been waiting my whole
life for you. I’ve been seeing my therapist regularly since the shit went down
with Tan. My mind is good. My body is healed. The only thing I need right is
now is you—
and
you—in my bed, in my body, in as many drawers as you want
and need…

“But most of
all, in my life. Forever.”

“And ever.”
Kellan lifted her face for a kiss as silken as his voice.

“And ever.”
Tait’s echo possessed more gravel, weighted by the gratitude that shined from his
eyes. As he claimed her lips, a palpable breeze glided over Lani’s spirit. A
smile washed over her soul as she felt Luna dance to her lips, transforming her
breath into a sigh of connection and joy. The answering sound from Tait’s
chest, resonant and rough with his deep emotion, conveyed how he’d felt it,
too. When they pulled apart, he worked his lips, trying to form words. Lani shook
her head. Sometimes miracles were best without labels.

“Are you three
going to stand there in the rain playing smoochy hoochey all night?”

As they laughed
at Leo’s charge, the sprinkles turned into a steady downfall. Lani tilted an
impish smile at her brother. “Maybe we will,” she teased.

“In that case,
I’m staying with Franz tonight.”