His Saint (Forever Wilde 5)

A pack of three dogs had greeted me noisily at the front door and accompanied me with bouncing yips to the back of the house.

“Who’s that?” Doc called out.

“Saint,” I said, almost tripping over Grump the coonhound.

When I entered the big open space, I saw Doc at the island dumping muffins out of a tin and onto a cooling rack. MJ and Neckie were both snuggled on one of the sofas under a blanket, and a fire was going in the stone fireplace. Neckie looked pale and tired, but she had a soft smile on her face when she looked toward my sister.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, making my way over to give each of the women a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Like I gave birth to a fat Wilde,” Neckie teased. “You people have big heads. Be glad you’re not a woman. When I have my own kids, my wife is going to have to do the hard part while I watch from a safe distance.”

She shot a wink at MJ, which caused my normally nonplussed sister to blush and look down at her lap.

Neckie leaned over and pressed a kiss on MJ’s jaw, murmuring she was just teasing. MJ glanced up at me with the most contented look on her face. It opened something inside of me that made me feel like I could suddenly breathe more deeply for the first time in my life. MJ was in love. She was being adored. My twin would be okay.

“How’d the kickboxing go?” Doc asked. “Neckie told us the rumor is you’re getting better at it.”

“Yeah, actually I really like that one. And I did a spin class earlier this morning too. A few of the guys from the firehouse stopped by to ask me if you offered some of the CrossFit-type classes. I said I’d ask you about it,” I said, turning to Neckie.

“God, Saint,” Neckie said. “It would be a dream come true if you’d come in halfs with me and run the hard-core stuff while I did the yoga and stretching part. Twist has grown so much, it’s hard to manage with just one person now.”

I tilted my head and studied her, wondering if she truly did want a business partner.

MJ cut in. “She means it, Saint. She never intended to work around the clock like this. She does classes at five in the morning and eight at night some days.”

“I already have a job,” I told them. “But I can certainly ask around. I know a ton of former SEALs who’d be great at it.”

The idea of someone else in there taking my place at Twist kind of didn’t feel right. I’d enjoyed joking around with the clients before kicking their asses. When the guys from the station had asked about tougher workouts, I’d already started thinking about putting together some of the stuff my team had done as part of our routine daily PT. Building lung capacity and endurance was just as important for a firefighter as it was for a SEAL. I could talk about that stuff for hours.

“He’s thinking about it,” Grandpa said quietly to Neckie. I looked up in time to catch him shooting her a wink.

“I… well, I can’t say I’d mind living back here in Hobie,” I admitted.

The room went quiet.

“I feel the same way,” MJ admitted.

Our eyes met across the room. “Are you thinking about making a big move, sis?”

Neckie looked down where her fingers were tangled with MJ’s over the blanket. The corner of her lip was turned up, but she stayed quiet.

MJ raised both eyebrows. “Seth told me Honovi Baptiste is looking for a law partner now that the real estate side of his firm has exploded. He wants to hand off litigation.”

“Hon is a good man,” I said with a nod. “I could see you thriving in that situation.”

The room crackled with change.

“I’m not sure how I feel about living in a different city from my other half,” MJ said. Everyone in the room knew she meant me. “It sure would be amazing if you were here too.”

I thought about going back to Dallas and away from Augie. My brain couldn’t even wrap around moving forward without him.

Not to mention being sent back on the road to protect someone else like Gemma. Or being sent to northern Africa again to protect wealthy oil executives. Neither job sounded nearly as fun as teaching people how to be healthy and fit and then seeing my family every day.

“I’ll think about it,” I said. “I hadn’t ever really thought living in Hobie was an option, but then again, I never thought I’d actually make it through BUD/S training either.”

Doc and Grandpa chuckled. “You were the only one, then,” Grandpa explained. “The rest of us knew you were stubborn enough to make it happen.”