Page 142 of Snow

There were whistles from somewhere behind them, followed almost immediately by Nails yelling something Nova couldn’t understand because Bear told him to shut the hell up.

Nova smiled against Snow’s mouth.

When he pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers.

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

Nova looked around the gym once more, at the people who had somehow become part of her life, before her gaze returned to the man holding her.

For years, she had believed having a plan meant she was in control. Now she knew better.

Sometimes the best things in life were the ones she never could have planned for, like meeting the man who stole her heart during an undercover mission on an offshore oil rig.

After everything, she ended up exactly where she belonged—in Snow’s arms.

◆◆◆

As laughter and conversation filled the gym, Jay Bird stood near the far wall with a beer loosely gripped in his hand, one shoulder resting against a support beam as he quietly observed the chaos around him the same way he always did. Most people assumed he stayed off to the side because he didn’t like socializing. The truth was he just preferred watching over participating. Years in the teams had hardwired him that way. While everyone else relaxed, Jay Bird automatically cataloged exits, movements, unfamiliar faces, shifts in behavior, and potential problems without even realizing he was doing it anymore.

Not that there was much danger inside the gym today. For the first time in a long time, things actually felt good.

Nova stood across the room laughing at something Snow whispered into her ear while his arm remained draped possessively around her waist. She looked happier than Jay Bird had ever seen her.

“Jesus, you look thrilled to be here.”

Jay Bird glanced sideways as Riley stepped up beside him, holding a bottle of water. He snorted quietly before taking another sip of his beer.

“I am thrilled,” he deadpanned. “Can’t you tell?”

Riley laughed softly and leaned against the wall beside him. “You know, most people at parties actually mingle.”

“Sounds exhausting.”

“That’s because you’re basically eighty years old trapped in a SEAL’s body.”

He smirked faintly at that, but his attention drifted back toward the room automatically. He watched as all of his teammates doted on their wives and girlfriends or interacted with their kids. Hell, even Derek looked relaxed for once, sitting near the office talking with his wife Juliette.

It was strange sometimes looking around at all of them now. One by one, every guy on the team had somehow found someone who grounded them. Someone who gave them a reason to come home.

All except him. Not that he minded. Relationships had never been his thing. Neither was settling down. He liked quiet, solitude, and freedom. And after spending years watching the ugly side of humanity up close, he’d learned a long time ago that caring about people usually came with consequences.

“You’re thinking again,” Riley said knowingly beside him.

“That sounds accusatory.”

“It is accusatory.”

Before Jay Bird could answer, movement outside the front windows caught his attention.

His eyes narrowed slightly. Across the parking lot, partially hidden near the sidewalk, stood a woman holding a small child against her hip.

At first glance, nothing about it should’ve stood out. Plenty of people had walked by the gym all afternoon since the grand opening started. But this woman wasn’t just looking inside curiously. She looked terrified.

Jay Bird straightened slightly away from the wall as his gaze locked onto hers through the glass. Even from this distance, he could see the panic in her expression. The exhaustion. Her dark hair looked tangled like she’d been running her hands through it for hours, and her clothes were wrinkled and dirty like she’d been sleeping in them. But it was the way she kept glancing over her shoulder toward the street every few seconds that immediately put him on alert.

It was the look of fear.

Beside him, Riley followed his line of vision toward the window.