Obsession (A Bad Boy's Secret Baby)(30)

“Hey, Ness,” Mal said, with officer Winter's knee on his back. His hair was matted, his face was stained with black streaks and sweat, but his smile was pearly and glowing and incredibly sincere. “This might not be the best way to do this, but... Will you marry me?”

“For fuck's sake, Long,” Winter complained, but we ignored him.

“Yes.” I nodded, crying again. I laid on the charred grass next to Mal and kissed him. It was an awkward angle and he tasted like barbeque, but it was the single best kiss of my life. “A thousand times yes!”

“Let him up,” Captain Demoe declared, ending his call with the fire chief and gesturing toward Mal. “You too, Kait. This is still an active crime scene, come on.”

“Sir?” Winter whined.

“Are you going to make me repeat myself, Winter?” Demoe gave the man a glare that lit a fire under the officer's ass. Then he extended a hand to help me off the ground. I smiled and apologized for the display. When the old man had me back on my feet he even congratulated me on the engagement, in his own gruff way.

Mal was released and swept me into another monster hug.

“Thank you for saving my brother,” I whispered into his ear. “But don't you ever do anything so risky again. You're going to be a father, remember that. I need you. We need you.”

His embrace became a vice, and I knew, he needed us too.





Epilogue


Kait

“Have you unpacked yet?” I asked, repositioning my four-month old, Sean, in my arms.

Mal had suggested that we name our boy after my father's memory. I absolutely loved the idea.

It was hard to believe that it had already been just over a year since Brendan's wedding and Mal's return. Life was moving so fast, now.

I had become a wife, a mother, and I was about to buy my first home as well. It was all so adult. Too adult sometimes, but I had Mal. He kept me grounded in so many ways. After what we had been through to be together, nothing felt overwhelming anymore. Life's problems were just challenges that we hadn't overcome yet.

“I like to do it gradually. It's like Christmas every day.” Brendan loaded coals into the grill and lit it. He had on this ridiculous hat and apron that made him look the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show.

Brendan and I had sold my father's house. It was hard, but it was also time to bury the past and start our own lives. Brendan used his share from the sale for a deposit on a nice raised ranch with a big backyard.

Mal and I were still in an apartment across town, but yesterday we started the paperwork on an incredible Dutch colonial nearby. House shopping was a very married thing to do.

Our wedding had been smaller than Brendan's, but that was fine by me. I had gotten my big wedding fix helping Mariela and wanted something more intimate for my own.

Mal's brother, Kyle, had finished boot camp and had flown out for the ceremony as a surprise.

It made my heart swell to see Mal that excited. Kyle couldn't stay long, unfortunately, because he was being deployed shortly thereafter, but it was really nice to see him as a grown man.

Kyle had mentioned that Tonya was arrested for something, but he didn't care to know any of the details. Neither of them had any contact with their mother anymore, and that was fine by them.

“Too gradually,” Mariela corrected, giving her husband a knowing look. It had been a cold, wet Spring so far this year, but seeing Mariela's yellow rose print sundress–which complemented her olive skin wonderfully—made me feel like warmer weather was right around the corner.

“Oh, he's so big now!” Mariela kissed my cheek, then kissed Sean's as well. She eagerly held her hands out to take the baby. “May I, Mamá?”

“Absolutely!” I handed my son to his aunt, who immediately began rocking him in her arms. Mariela could always make Sean smile and that, of course, made me smile. She was great with children.

“Where's that deadbeat husband of yours?” Brendan asked, setting up the patio chairs for us.

“Sorry I'm late,” Mal said as he came in with groceries and a bottle of wine. “I had to let the station know you were grilling. I told them to have the water truck ready.” He placed everything on the table, kissed Mariela on the cheek, then did the handshake-into-a-hug thing with Brendan that guys do with each other.

Mal had been hired on full time at the firehouse and was something of a local celebrity after news of his daring rescue swept across the community. He downplayed the whole thing, like he always did, but the experience rekindled his and Brendan's brotherly bond.

If you saw Brendan and Mal together now, you'd never know that there had ever been bad blood between them. They had defied nearly a decade of hostilities. I was originally so worried that their history would divide my family, but now it was difficult to pry them apart sometimes.