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“Nope.”
“Ohhh, weird. Okaaaay,” she drawled and looked at Austin again just as the ‘Fasten Seatbelt’ sign illuminated overhead and the announcements came on that they were landing in Tyler within the next twenty minutes.
“Soooo,” Austin drawled in embarrassment, “It turns out Iwasactually young and incredibly stupid.”
“Why?”
“Well, the guy had a hammer… and a bullet.”
“Oh nooo,” Giselle whispered in horrified understanding of what he was about to explain. “You didn’t?”
“I did,” he admitted and winced. “Left a nasty little scar on my shin – and everyone started calling me ‘Sparky’ because of the sparks that went flying the moment I nearly killed myself because of a stupid dare. I had no idea how badly it would go – or how much trouble I would get into.”
Giselle laughed softly, meeting his warm eyes as he laced his fingers with hers.
“One of the officers at the Academy saw the whole thing, said that sparks went flying as the cap of the bullet exploded like a small firecracker.”
“Geezzzz, Austin,” she chuckled and heard the other guys laughing.
“I know. I never claimed to be a genius,” he admitted, grinning at her. “And you are stuck with me.”
“Happily so,” she smiled, leaning to put her head on his shoulder.
“Who’s picking us up at the airport?” Riptide asked.
“My wife,” Reaper answered, grinning.
* * *
Not twenty minutes later,Giselle was gawking at the man that obviously had zero shame when it came to his wife. As they all walked down to the baggage claim together, the dark-haired man began to sprint… grabbing Sophie in the distance, who threw herself bodily into his arms.
Giselle sighed openly, seeing the sweet reunion as the man kissed her happily, lifting her off the ground, and spinning her around for a second, before scooping up the child in the stroller, nuzzling and kissing his son, openly affectionate.
Just seeing the small family before them, she turned to look at Austin and already saw his eyes on her.
“I love you,” he breathed, holding her hand.
“I can’t wait until we are alone,” she whispered.
“And I feel like a third…,” Riptide muttered from nearby – and froze, stopping mid-sentence before completing it – weakly.
“… Wheel?”
Giselle and Austin both stopped walking, looking at the man’s shocked expression as he stood there, staring off into the distance near where Sophie and Reaper were holding each other and talking… only to see a woman waiting there – with a rose.
“Budddyyyyy…” Austin drawled pointedly, chuckling. She laughed softly at the tone of his voice and the lack of response from Riptide as it didn’t even get a rise out of the other man. “You stud?! Keepin’ secrets, eh, Riptide?”
Instead, Riptide walked forward towards the woman… and drew her into his arms, hugging her.
“Awww,” Giselle smiled, touched at the unexpected greeting that obviously meant a lot to him.
Riptide moved to hold the woman’s hand and they walked out of the airport into the parking lot, without a word to anyone else. It was obvious they wanted to be alone, and she was there only for him.
“That’s so sweet. I’m happy for them.”
Giselle met Sophie’s tearful smile and saw Reaper watching the other man leave curiously, as they finally caught up with them.
“Ryan, are we ready to head out?” Sophie asked.
