“Yes,” just barely breaches her lips before my mouth crashes into hers.
EPILOGUE
Ensign Jacob Wyatt Triplett
Graduate, United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, Maryland
Twelve Years Later
It doesn’t take long for me to find my family in the crowd. All of them and then some. Mom and Miles are the first ones I see—two of my little sisters tucked in tight between them, I’m sure. Gramps and Nonna smile and chat with Grandma and Grandpa Triplett. Well, mostly, Nonna does the smiling and chatting. Gramps is standing tall, proud as fuck after witnessing his only grandson graduate from a service academy.
That’s the limit of my seating allotment for the ceremony. It’s actually over, but I wouldn’t put it past Miles to smuggle the littlest of my sisters in.
I owe him.
Big.
The lessons I learned from him on life, love, and what it means to be a man are what got me here. Not just here as inmy appointment to and graduation from the naval academy, but here as in who I am.
I glance toward the sky, the sun strong on my face, and say a silent thanks to my dad. He’d be proud as fuck too, though I have no doubt that since his blood ran army green, he’d give me hell for choosing the navy.
And like my dad is sitting on a cloud in heaven, dropping people where he wants them for maximum personal entertainment, Uncle Jack’s gruff voice sounds behind me. “Jesus Christ, the last place I ever thought I’d piss away a perfectly good Saturday in May is surrounded by a bunch of newly minted ensigns.”
I spin on my heel and nod crisply. “Sir. Aunt Kate. Thank you for being here today. It means the world to me.”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re old enough for this.” Aunt Kate pulls me into an over-the-top hug, and I stiffen, trying uselessly to pull away.
“Jake’s still on a short leash until he’s out of uniform, Kate. Don’t get him reprimanded the minute he graduates. Give him a minute.” Uncle Jack looks around and nods to where my mom is struggling to make her way through the throng of people without losing everybody. “Besides, he’s probably got a much younger model than you he’d rather get in trouble for.”
I huff out a laugh. “No, sir, I do not.”
I could have a girl. In fact, I’ve had several. This uniform is like catnip, and pussy tends to be ripe for the taking. But that’s not a conversation I plan on having with them.
“Will you be joining us for lunch?” I ask. Anything to direct the subject away from the action I’ve been getting.
Uncle Jack nods and glances behind him, a huge grin sliding across his face. “Absolutely. Now that the stragglers have decided to show up. You find what you need, sugar?”
He reaches past Aunt Kate and wraps his arm around his daughter, protectively pulling her into his side. And it’s a damn good thing he does because, at seventeen, Hays Margaret Jackson is most definitely the younger, hotter—much hotter—version of her mother.
For the love of fucks, when did that happen?
“Hays,” I say, nodding my head. “Mason. Dix,” I greet her older brothers with a handshake. “Where are the littles?”
“Hotel pool with Mom’s parents. Dad could only sneak so many of us in,” Mason replies.
Hays smiles, her big brown eyes taking in the sea of crisp navy-and-white uniforms around her. “Hey.”
My family and all the grands finally make it down onto the field and fall into easy conversation, catching up and relaying plans. And I just want to get out of my hot uniform and suck down a beer with a lunchnotfrom the mess hall.
A hard slap lands on my shoulder, and Ben Levy—my first friend in Virginia and roommate for my final semester—slides into our not-so-little circle.
“Ben, congratulations, sweetie,” Mom says. “Were your parents able to make it back stateside?”
For all four years we were at the academy, Ben’s parents were stationed overseas. With us two being close and Mom and Miles being who they are, Ben has spent a lot amount of time with my family. Holidays, breaks. Football games. He just fits right in.
“No, ma’am. They were delayed leaving and won’t be in until sometime tomorrow,” he says.
