Susan Mallery - In Bed With The Devil

“Wanna bet? I have a surprise for you,” she said, wrapping her arms around his middle and staring up into his eyes. “And I think today is the perfect day for this announcement.”

“Yeah?” He looked at her and thought about the coming night, when he could hold her close in their bed, lose himself in the wonder of loving and being loved. “I love a good surprise.”

“We’re going to have a baby.”

“We’re what?”

“You’re going to be a daddy.”

“When?” His heart jolted, then kicked into a gallop. “How? What?”

“Surprise!”

She looked so happy. So beautiful. And she’d given him everything.

“I love you,” he said, cupping her face between his palms. “Thanks for loving me back.”

“My pleasure. Believe me.”

He did. He believed her. Just as he believed that his life, his world, was only going to get better and better. Holding on to his wife, he tipped his head back, looked to heaven and said again, “Thanks, Hunter. I really owe you for this.”

Hunter touched his friend’s shoulder and moved on…to Luke.

It was just the kind of event Hunter would have enjoyed, Luke thought. Plenty of cold beer, good food and beautiful girls.

Make that beautiful women. Their time in the house had brought each of the remaining Samurai a lover with whom the men intended to spend the rest of their lives. Hunter couldn’t have known that would happen…or could he?

Luke grinned at his fanciful thought, then caught Lauren’s eye. “Hey, do you think we’ll have time later for a round or two at the Game Palace?”

“Pool during the reunion?” She twisted one of her blond curls around her finger.

“Why not? We’ll invite Matt and Kendall along and we can kick their butts. How much do you want to bet she’s never played?”

Lauren frowned. “I thought you were giving up your competitive ways.”

Luke snagged her in one arm and drew her close. “You know that won’t happen. I’ve just learned to temper them with a little perspective. And with a lotta love from you, honey.”

“And from Matt.”

Luke gazed over the top of her head at his twin brother, who looked equally relaxed and equally loved by his Kendall. He and Matt had spent a lot of their lives as each other’s enemies, but their time at Hunter’s House had resolved their conflicts and returned them to a brotherhood that Luke appreciated more each day.

From across the room Matt looked up as if he’d heard Luke’s thoughts. Like many twins, they could communicate without a sound. His brother lifted his sweating beer in a little toast, and Luke returned it. Then he directed another toast heavenward.

Thank you, Hunter. I vow to live a better, fuller life.

Then he looked back down at the woman who owned his heart. “Speaking of vows…”

She tilted her head. “What?”

“A little birdie told me that a couple in this room is planning on sneaking off to Reno on Sunday to tie the knot.”

“Really?”

He nodded, then captured her left hand so he could rub his thumb over the engagement ring he’d placed there. Yes, he was living a better, fuller life, but oh, how he still enjoyed winning. “Now, if we make a quick dash tonight, my sweet, sweet Lauren, we could just beat them to the altar…”

Hunter laughed quietly as he moved away. Luke would never change. Of course, Lauren didn’t want him to, which was why they were so happy together.

He looked around the room and saw Devlin Campbell looking uncharacteristically worried.

As happy as Devlin was to see his old friends, he was more anxious to get home. Nicole’s obstetrician had forbidden her to travel by plane with the baby so close to being born, and he missed her.

Ryan wandered over, Devlin’s best man and the same guy who had declared he was swearing off women for the month he was to be at the lodge. But the Love Shack had weaved its magic on Ryan as it had the rest of them. He’d found true love, too.

“What’s right with this picture?” Devlin asked Ryan as they glanced around the room.

Ryan smiled. “Yeah. Amazing. And you’re missing Nicole, I’ll bet.”

“As much as I’ve liked getting together with all the Samurai, I want to be home.”

“Think we’ll do this again sometime? A gathering of the clan?”

“We should. Maybe a golf weekend somewhere once a year.”

“It would take some doing, coordinating our schedules.”

“One thing I’ve learned, Ryan-you have to make time for what’s important. My wife, the Samurai. You’re important.”

“Let’s go propose the idea while the wives are around to hear. They’ll force the issue. Women like that kind of bonding stuff.”

As if on cue, Devlin’s cell phone rang. Panic struck him full force when he saw it was Nicole. Had she gone into labor without him?

“You okay?” he asked.

“I love you. I miss you. That’s all.”

He relaxed. She loved him and missed him. That’s all. Such an elemental part of his life now. His beautiful wife, her love and devotion. But that’s all?

On second thought, maybe it was that simple. Maybe that was the secret of life. The best things weren’t complicated.

Hunter nodded. He touched Devlin’s arm to ease his worry. Nicole would be fine. Then he followed Ryan across the room.

His arm draped around Kelly’s shoulders, Ryan looked around at the Seven Samurai who’d finally gathered together again. He said seven because he knew Hunter was here in spirit. In fact, Hunter had brought about this reunion, thanks to his will.

Hunter had always been the glue that had bound them together, and now they were his legacy.

Ryan looked down at Kelly. They’d been married just weeks, but they’d been the best damn weeks he’d had in a long time. Since before his mother and Hunter had died, in fact. He felt alive again.

They’d gotten married in an intimate ceremony in California’s Napa Valley. Erica and Greg had served as the matron of honor and best man. Because it was summer break, he’d been able to fly them in, along with their kids, for a family vacation. He grinned thinking about how thrilled Kelly’s friends had been to get away to a romantic place, even if it was with the kids in tow.

He and Kelly would be in the same situation in a few years, especially if they kept having the same steamy nights they’d been having the past few weeks.

Kelly glanced up at him. “Why are you grinning?”

He bent and murmured something sinful in her ear.

She went still, looked embarrassed, then swatted him playfully. “Behave.”

He laughed as he straightened because she’d given him exactly the reaction he would have predicted.

“Impossible with you, Venus,” he responded irrepressibly.

Hunter chuckled, patted his friend on the back, then walked toward Luke’s twin.

It was strange, Matthias thought, seeing all six of them together again after so many years. Even stranger that they were here without Hunter. Though, in a way, maybe Hunter was here with them. Maybe he’d been with them all along. And it was fitting that Hunter had been the one to bring them all together again, since he’d been the one who’d united them in college. They were still the Seven Samurai, Matthias supposed, but now one was missing. And somehow the Six Samurai just didn’t seem right.

Then he realized they weren’t six anymore. They were twelve. And they weren’t Samurai anymore, either. Samurai were warriors, always prepared for death. Matthias, Luke, Ryan, Jack, Nathan and Devlin were family men now, focused on their lives ahead with the women who had made them complete.

That was what Kendall had done for him, anyway. Completed him. Filled in all the empty places that he hadn’t wanted to admit were empty.