“Thanks, Uncle Jett.” She shoved the money in the pocket of her cute capri pants. “Pleasure as always,” she sassed before walking off.
My husband chuckled loud, and the sound had my brand-new panties dampening with desire. When his eyes caught mine, they darkened as if he knew exactly what he’d done, but then Dusty spoke, breaking the connection.
“Somebody want to tell me what just happened?”
Earlier, when I thought about the four ladies who were sassy and a load of trouble, I had forgotten about the one that was going to trump them all.
Looking at Dusty, I told her, “I’m pretty sure you just got taken to the cleaners by a kid.” Then I looked back at Jett. “Or I should say, he did,” pointing at my guy.
Jurnee jumped in and began telling Dusty all about her daughter’s swear jar, and as the story went on, it became clear that the young girl probably had more money than us all.
“I want to be her when I grow up,” Dusty said, cracking up.
After that, we refilled our drinks and watched the kids play as we sat at the tables set up in the backyard. Grampswas by us, his eyes alight with warmth, taking it all in. He and Dusty had bonded like nobody’s business, him ever so grateful that she had been there with Jett during their capture.
“I’m so glad he wasn’t alone.” When Gramps’s eyes shimmered with tears, all the ladies almost lost it.
Dusty swiped at her own eyes. “I was the lucky one. He truly saved me.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d said it, but every time she made a remark like that, my heart filled with pride. Jett was my savior years ago, still is to this day, but he was hers too. I saw it in her eyes.
Then she did what my husband liked to do; she changed the subject. “So you guys never finished telling me about how you all met.” She looked around the yard before turning back to us, leaning in and whispering, “You were fucking with me, right?”
Everyone snickered as we all shook our heads.
“Nope. It’s all true,” River told her. “I couldn’t believe my ears either when I met everyone.”
When Dusty wanted to hear about us all, we launched into our crazy stories of how we met our spouses and how we all came together.
All told together in one swoop, it was quite enthralling and a bit hard to believe. You had stalkers, killers, crazy exes, deranged family members, and disgruntled strangers all coming after the ladies at some point. But then you also had the best love stories that were like the romance books Alley wrote.
The couples were like all the tropes readers loved but were real; your best friend's brother, grumpy sunshine, second chance, single mom and single dad romance, woman on the run, and such.
Then add in our hot men, most ex-military, but now, lawyers, cops, firemen, and the guys ofNo Surrender.And thewomen’s backstories and lives before all the crazy just added more to their stories.
Everyone got their happily-ever-after too—even Huntley’s mother was on her way to one with a hot doctor she’d met recently when we all were at the hospital waiting for Lake to have her baby.
Mine was still to be determined.
Please let me get one with Jett.
Dusty scanned every woman in the group, taking in Jurnee, Summer, Alley, Teal, Brinley, Ruby, Gemma, Capri, Lake, London, and River, then even glanced at me.
The other ladies had been through so much more. Sure, I had a child alone—okay, that’s totally not true, I had always had Jett and his family—and now Chaz was trying to steal him away, but I was safe.
Dusty had been pissed in the car when she’d learned of the prick during our conversation about how Jett and I had ended up hitched.
“You all amaze me. That is some crazy sh—” She paused and looked around for Embry. “Stuffyou all just told me.” She shook her head in wonder. “Your lives are nuttier than active duty.”
We all knew that wasn’t true after what happened to her, Jett, Gyth, and the stories the other guys told, along with the losses they’d experienced. But she wasn’t entirely wrong either.
As the conversations went on and the sun began to set, I found myself sad that the evening would end. It had been a great day. Images of Jett holding me up against the door flashed through my mind.
“I know that look,” Teal teased, causing everyone to turn in my direction. “Maybe Griffin should stay here tonight so you and your man can finish what you started upstairs.”
Oh my God.Kill me now.
I looked over at Gramps, who was so kindly pretending he didn’t hear a word of what she’d just said, but I could see he was trying to hold back a smirk.
