Walker (In the Company of Snipers #21) - Irish Winters Page 0,122
moment he showed his face.
“You’re up?” Persia asked with a surprised smile.
You’re gorgeous, he thought. But he asked, “What’s cooking?”
“The guys out back are grilling steaks, and Izza’s making enchiladas and homemade tortillas.”
His stomach growled. “She can cook, too?”
“I heard that,” Izza called from the kitchen.
“You’re a rock star!” Walker yelled back at her.
“Too little, too late, buddy. No salsa for you.”
Damn, he would’ve begged for salsa now, but not in front of Stewart.
Persia, Murphy, Stewart, Quinn, Trevor, Brimley, and Ryder were seated in chairs and on couches around a massive wooden coffee table in the center of the room. The rest of Walker’s men sat cross-legged on the floor between the chairs, all with brown bottles of Guinness in hand. Hans sat beside Persia, a scuffed-up satchel at his foot. Smoke Montoya sat cross-legged with Rover sprawled across his lap. The dog jumped up and bounced over Nguyen Li’s legs on his way to meet and greet Walker.
“Hey, boy, how ya doing?” he asked as he stroked the happy, tail-wagging boy. “You missed me?”
Rover whined and wiggled like a big furry kid.
“No, he misses the shark we’ve been eating,” Brimley announced, saluting Walker with his bottle raised high. “Come on in, son. Have a seat. We’ve been talking about you.”
“I’ll bet,” Walker said as he looked to Stewart, who nodded sideways at the vacant chair next to him. Stepping over Amerigo Torres and Urban Sweeney, Walker made his way. Might as well get it over with.
“About time,” Stewart grumbled the second Walker’s ass hit the cushion.
“Yeah, well…” He yawned just to tweak the uptight guy. “You know how us SEALs are.”
Those laser blues could’ve sliced titanium, but Walker wasn’t up to taking crap from anyone. Especially not some jarhead with attitude. “What’d I miss?” he asked brightly.
Persia beamed from her place across the circle.
“Him,” Stewart growled, his arrogant chin now stuck at the two men who’d just come from the kitchen. One as big, shaggy, and dark as a bear, the other—
“Adam!” Walker called out, back on his feet again, damned if he was going to sit like a weak-kneed pansy in front of his SEAL brother.
Adam cut through the circle with long strides. “You’re looking good,” he said as he pulled Walker into a manly chest bump, then gently cuffed his good shoulder. “Shit, it’s been—”
“Three years,” Walker said as he eased out of Adam’s rugged embrace. “I hear you’re married. You got a kid?” Man, this blond behemoth looked good. Tan. Broad across the chest and shoulders. Still grinning as if he were on top of the world.
“We do, yes. Stop by and visit once you’re back in the States. I’ve been telling Squeaks and Shannon about you. They’re dying to meet the man behind the myth.”
Walker blinked. There it was again, the same brotherhood as the last time he’d worked with Adam. Front and center. Always faithful. Always ready to take a guy in. Feed him. Make him part of his family. “What the hell kind of name is Squeaks?”
A dimple dented the center of Adam’s big square chin. “That’s what he said when he was born. He squeaked, so—”
“Bullshit,” Izza interrupted. “Shannon didn’t even know she was pregnant when that plane crashed. But when her water broke, me and Connor were on the other side of the island. Adam was the only one there, so he delivered her baby. All by himself. Bet Squeaks wasn’t the only one squeaking then.”
Both Adam’s shoulders lifted. “Nothing to it. Like catching a home run.”
“Ha!” Izza barked. “That sweet little guy was just what we needed back then. Squeaks shouldn’t have lived. He came two months early, and we were worried we’d never—”
“Ahem,” Stewart growled impatiently.
He sure had a way of dominating—and ruining—a perfectly great reunion. Walker wanted to laugh in his face. Instead, he cuffed Adam’s bicep and promised, “Later, bro. Drinks for sure.”
“At my place,” Adam added, his joy at being a husband and father so obvious, it stabbed Walker’s heart. Man, he wanted what Adam had. That undefinable something that made this flyboy seem—grounded. Maybe anchored. As if he’d found something that mattered more than those risky HALO jumps and the adrenaline rush that came with them.
Persia had the funniest glow on her face. Her eyes sparkled. Light. That’s what she was, an unexpected light in the middle of a very bleak year.
Stewart growled again. Walker turned on him with a great big grin. Apparently, he was part of Stewart’s TEAM now, and his new boss