“Which brings us to the next point of the debrief. Hull’s mother. We got an update on her. She died this morning when the police went to see her with to tell her that her son had died.”
Nick arched an eyebrow. “Broken heart?”
Shane shook his head as Emme winced. “No, she jumped out of her bed to attack the cops, but her heart shut down because of the effort. That was the end of her.”
The general silence around the table was both impressed and shocked.
Shane continued by giving an update on Ian, but Mercy had already spoken to her former partner over the phone. He was well and had made Mercy promise to come to spend a weekend with his family soon.
“Now, the most important part of this meeting. It’s a roundtable on how to save the Alliance Agency.”
Everyone froze as Shane shook his head and continued. “Yeah, we need to think about ways to get money, maybe a bake sale or a bikini car wash, so we can pay for that fucking boat James blew up and swore to replace.”
The entire room boomed with laughter, and James relaxed a bit and shook his head. “Come on, Shane. You know there wasn’t any other option. And I said I’d take out a loan for that.”
Emme winked at him, clearly not wanting to stretch the joke too much. “Easy, James. We’re only teasing you. In fact, someone here may have a solution for you.”
Imari swerved in her chair, a smile on her face. “When I saw the price of that thing, I knew I couldn’t let you cash in your 401(k), and I realized that Hull wouldn’t really need his anymore.”
The agency’s hacker placed a file on the table and slid it to James. “Not that Hull had a 401(k), but he had money stashed away. It’s a bit of a gray area, but I guessed it was for a good cause, and I want you to spoil your niece as much as you can.”
James opened the file to see the picture of a white boat. “I put the boat in your name and made sure everything was legit so you can do the transfer to Ray.”
This team had his back like no other. “Expect to have a chocolate overdose delivered to your office, Imari. Thank you.”
As the meeting was dismissed and everybody walked out, Nick slapped his shoulder, his usual show of support before leaving the room.
Mercy stood, running her fingers through his hair, before cupping his cheek. “Well, Uncle James, I think you should be proud of yourself. You saved your sister and niece. That was great work you did.”
His hand went to her hip until he grabbed her ass, pulling her forward. “I think it was great teamwork, and we were incredibly lucky. Me, most of all, to have you by my side this whole time.”
Mercy smiled before settling on his lap. Her beautiful mouth took his as his hands caressed her back. This delightful woman ended the kiss way too soon for his liking.
“Let’s agree that all those answers are right and that even if we redid the entire mission, we couldn’t have done it better. In fact, I wouldn’t change a single thing, because if I did, we might never have found each other.”
James’s heart softened and he leaned forward for a kiss but was blocked by Mercy dangling a key between them.
“What’s that? The key to your heart?”
With a laugh, she swatted him, amused. “It’s a given with you. No, that’s the key to your new boat.”
“Okay. You want to go give it to him? We can go now.”
He gazes turned sultry when she shook her head. “Maybe we could test it out first? You know, me, you, alone in the boat in the middle of the ocean. Preferably naked.”
His skin felt too tight as his hands roamed her curves. “Oh, baby, I love your brilliant mind. And I love you, Mercy.”
The words felt so right when he spoke them, he knew he was the luckiest man on earth.
His woman, his love, his partner, leaned forward for a last whisper on his lips. “And you are the love of my life, James. Never forget that.”
Epilogue
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. What was I thinking?” Mercy sighed as she shot her husband an exasperated look and dove for her son’s diapered butt as he climbed up the port side hull of the Mercy.
James leaned down, a grin playing on his lips as he held their daughter in his arms and touched his mouth to hers. The kiss still managed to give her that sharp edge of desire every single time. Even after five years, a wedding, and the birth of their twins Ben and Paige, two years ago.
The days after Abbie had brought them together had been the best of her life. She’d even reconciled with her parents, although she recognized they’d always be poles apart. Which was why, when they got married, Ian had walked her down the aisle. He was more a father to her than her own had ever been. Mercy had no problem bucking tradition, and Ian was the father she should’ve had.
As her husband lifted his head, a sexy promise in his eye, she shivered. “You were thinking about how much you love to see me in swimming trunks.”
Mercy snorted. “I do love your arrogance.”
“I love you.”
“Yeah, I know, and for some crazy reason, I love you too.”
Moving Ben to her other hip, she rubbed his nose with her own as her son stuck his thumb in his mouth and laid his head on her shoulder. Getting to this place hadn’t been easy; fertility treatments were heartbreaking each time they failed. James had held her as she cried after each one and decreed that if the third attempt didn’t work, they’d find another way to become parents.
His love for her was in everything he did, and he proved time and again that she was the only woman for him. Thankfully, at the third and final try at IVF, she’d caught with these two angels. Her heart felt so full of love for the man at her side and her children, that she frequently pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
James lowered Paige, and Mercy bent and let her son go after his sister toward their Aunt Beth and Uncle Miles as they climbed on board the boat where they were docked. But it was their older cousin Abbie who held the twin’s attention. Abbie smiled and bent to the babies, and Mercy knew she’d always have a special place in her heart for that child. Much as she loved all her nieces and nephews, including the one Beth carried, it would always be because of Abbie that she got her own happily ever after.
Warm, strong arms slipped around her waist from behind, and she leaned back into the strong, familiar body that made her feel so safe and loved.
“Can you believe she starts school soon?” His lips at her ear made her shiver and being the devil he was he chuckled, knowing he could play her body with such ease.
“It seems like yesterday that you held her in your arms and we both had no clue what to do.”
“Worst time of my life, yet it brought us together, so I’ll always see the positive in what happened.”
“I was thinking the same thing earlier, and Beth met Miles too.”
“Good always comes out of evil, Merc.” He kissed the shell of her ear, and she sighed in contentment.
Soon after, King and Sydney arrived with their brood, then Mason and Cleo, followed by Frida, Malco, and their son. Alex, Imari, Cain, Wolf, Caitlin, Nick, and his family arrived together, and lastly Shane and Emme with their latest addition joined them.
Raymond had left them the boat when he’d suddenly died from a heart attack, and it was full of the family they’d chosen as well as that of blood. With everyone on board, they set sail for the cove they’d found, where they’d celebrate the twin’s second birthday.