“Yep, you are, and you need to get going. Don’t worry about a thing here, just enjoy.”
After he’d followed Matt into the house, she hurried back to her own house next door and called Grizz’s wife. “They’re leaving now,” she hissed. “Operation Surprise Reception is a go.”
Half an hour later, armed with her spare key, Lani let an excited group of team wives into Matt and Shane’s house, and left them to decorate while she hurried home to cook. By the time the team guys started to show up with kegs of beer and the other assorted liquor needed for any good SEAL event, the counters were groaning with all of the grooms’ favorite foods.
Geo burst in not long after. “Aidan’s with the sitter,” he said breathlessly. “She’ll drop him off in the morning.”
With nothing critical to come out of the oven, she wandered into the bathroom where he stood shaving at the sink, and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.
“Love you,” she whispered, kissing his shoulder.
His eyes met hers in the mirror. “I can’t wait to have you all to myself tonight,” he murmured, and heat sparked down low, making her squirm.
Splaying her palms over his ridged abs, she pressed closer, letting him feel the way her nipples jutted through the thin fabric of her blouse. “Can’t wait to be yours tonight,” she whispered back. When he groaned, she let go of him and sauntered away, his sigh of longing echoing in her ears.
Next door, it was a boisterous group both inside and outside the house. The gate was thrown open between the two yards in preparation, some music was turned on, and half-drunk, giggling team guys roamed the neighborhood doing Matt and Shane “recon.”
At last one of them checked his phone and hollered, “One minute out!”
A couple of snickering dudes arrayed themselves on either side of the gate between the houses, each shaking what looked to be bottles of champagne. The music was lowered just in time for her to hear a deep voice on the other side of the fence say, “I thought you said Lani and Geo invited us for cake at their house...”
A murmured reply, and then Matt and Shane walked into the backyard from Lani’s side. Matt’s eyes widened. “What’s this...?” Before he could finish getting the words out, a blast of champagne caught him right in the face.
“Congratulations!”
Loud cheers echoed in the waning light as champagne continued to drench both of them. Matt sputtered and coughed while Shane laughed, a steadying arm going around Matt’s waist.
Using his hands as a megaphone, Grizz shouted, “Hey, fellas. Did you do it?”
“Yeah, did you do it? Did you do it?” Everyone else took up the chant, the volume escalating, until Shane raised his left hand to display a black ring encircling his finger.
“We did it!”
Immediately they were surrounded by their friends, who pounded their backs and grabbed them up in gigantic hugs, one laughing Black dude named Smudge refusing to let go as he walked around with Matt, whose feet dangled helplessly off the ground.
“Um, I’d like my husband back, please,” Shane requested politely, the grin he was sporting threatening to split his face in two. With a grunt, Smudge dropped Matt like a bag of rocks, but then pulled him close one more time and scrubbed his knuckles over his hair.
“So happy for you, man,” Lani could hear him say. “It’s about time.”
More champagne was opened and poured—with sparkling cider for anyone who didn’t drink, including Matt—and the toasts commenced. Some were irreverent, some were bawdy and inappropriate, which left the whole group in stitches. Finally Shane raised his glass.
“Thanks, everyone, for being here tonight. I know this day has been a long time coming, but we did it. We finally did it!”
Laughter and cheers all around, and then Matt lifted his glass. “Y’all punked me,” he said fiercely. “I thought I’d gotten my way with the city hall thing, and then I come home to find this shit.” He paused. “Thank you.”
Some scattered applause, some insults, before Matt shouted above the din. “I want to say something else, something I don’t say nearly often enough.” He put his glass down and turned to Shane. “I love you.”
His eyes shining, Shane leaned down for a kiss, but Matt wasn’t done. “From the first moment I met you, clown, you got under my skin. You pissed me off. There were days I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to kiss you, or punch you, or both.”
“Oh, you definitely wanted to punch me.” Shane slid his arm around Matt’s waist. “Repeatedly.”
“I tried so fucking hard not to want you,” Matt went on. “I kept pushing you away, pushing you away, convinced there was no room for you in my life.” Reaching out, he took Shane’s left hand in his, and lifted it to his lips. “Thanks for not letting me,” he whispered against his ring. “For not giving up on me. I’m so lucky—and so goddamn happy—to be yours.”
With a choked exclamation, Shane cupped his chin with gentle fingers and kissed him. “I love you.” Then he grinned. “Mushy Matt.”
“Annnd of course you had to go and ruin it,” Matt grunted in mock disgust, even as he twined his arms around Shane’s neck. “Fuckin’ clown.”
After that, the music was turned back up to a deafening level, beer cups were filled to the brim, and the SEALs settled in to party.
Devon slipped over to Lani at one point and pressed a folded ten-dollar bill into her hand. “He didn’t cry,” she said, her tone dripping with disgust. “Cool as a damn cucumber.”
Before she could saunter off, Lani grabbed her arm and hissed in her ear, “You’re next, lady.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Devon towed her into the shadows next to the garage. “Well, we, uh, actually got married three months ago. In Vegas.”
“What?”
“Don’t be mad,” Devon pleaded. “We were there, and we’d wandered into this cheesy little chapel. All of a sudden Rhys pulls a ring box from his backpack and says something like, ‘I’m tired of carrying this around, waiting for the perfect moment. Here.’”
Lani gasped. “He didn’t. Tell me he didn’t say ‘Here’ and shove your engagement ring in your face.” She looked wildly around for Rhys. “Where is he? I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind—”
“Simmer down, tiger.” With a laugh, Devon pulled her into a hug. “It wasn’t as bad as I’m making it sound, but Lani, it was just so us. Lots of laughter, a few snafus, and me marrying the love of my life. It was perfect.”