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I’d found out the first time that I’d welcomed him home at the airport that he hated a fuss.
And I’d made it my life’s mission to do that for him every single time that I saw him after he’d been gone for a while.
This being one of those times.
Though, this time, things were a bit different.
I watched him as he walked toward me across the tarmac.
It being a military plane he’d been on, it wasn’t like the usual airport coming home thing.
No, this was him walking in camo toward me with a sea of a hundred other men dressed exactly like him.
I would know that man anywhere, though.
That silvering hair. Those gray eyes. That big, jacked body.
God, I couldn’t wait to get him home and use him until he had nothing left to give…
His eyes were already rolling when he read the sign.
When I was sure I had his attention, I flipped the poster board over.
He came to a jarring halt.
One of the soldiers behind him narrowly missed running into him.
His eyes were huge when he read the lettering.
Then he was moving.
I wasn’t sure who started running first, but then I was in his arms, and he was wrapped so tightly around me that I could barely inhale.
“Can’t. Breathe,” I wheezed.
He let up. Barely.
“Are you fuckin’ serious right now?” he asked.
I pulled back so I could look down into his eyes. “Deadly.”
His lips drew up, and then he was shouting out a laugh.
“Holy fuck, babe!” he said. “I’m going to be a father?”
I nodded.
“You’re sure?”
I nodded again. “Had the wand up my vagina to prove it.”
He was already shaking his head, alarmed eyes taking me in. “That’s…are you okay?”
His serious tone had me nodding. “I’m fine.”
“You’re sure?”
God, I loved this man.
“I’m sure.”
He spun me around then, making me giggle.
“Thank you for your service,” an elderly gentleman wearing a WWII Veteran cap said, holding out his hand to Hannibal. “And congratulations.”
My feet met the ground.
Hannibal took his hand, and very gently shook it. “Thank you for yours.”
The two parted ways, and Hannibal’s eyes focused back on me. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
I shrugged. “I mean…how else was I supposed to do it?”
“Possibly at home, where I can cry in relative peace?” he suggested.
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t cry, Hannibal. You didn’t cry when we got married. You didn’t cry when I was in that reception hall and that gun exploded. And you didn’t cry when we watched Pirates of the Caribbean and we thought Jack Sparrow died. If you’re not going to cry for those things, then why would you cry for this?”
He shrugged and pulled me toward him. I let the poster board drop, and then his mouth was on mine.
I twined my arms around his neck and groaned as he leaned into the kiss.
Hannibal’s kisses were always the best.
But his kisses after we’d been away from each other for a while? Those were so much sweeter.
He’d never stop doing what he loved. He was just too good at his job, and the world needed him.
But that didn’t stop the longing of wanting him with me always to go away.
He pulled back and stared down into my eyes and said, “I missed the hell out of you, Hay.”
Hay.
“I missed you, too,” I said.
He caught up my sign, and we were off.
“My family called me over for lunch,” I said as we started toward the exit. “Is that okay?”
Zip’s idea of a permanent home for Singh Circus had been a hard pill for them to swallow at first. Though nowhere in Dad’s will did it expressly prohibit them docking the circus permanently, everyone knew that finding a permanent home for it was going to be rather lackluster at first.
But the thought of permanent employees, and seeing how Crew’s circus ran, had been a very interesting possibility. And frankly, too enticing to turn down.
So over the year after it’d been introduced, they’d hashed out where it would be best to house such an event permanently.
In the end, Dallas, Texas had been the chosen city that would permanently house the circus.
And it’d turned into one of the greatest decisions ever.
“I caught a good nap on the plane,” he paused. “Though I’d fuckin’ love a hot shower.”
I smiled. “I brought a change of clean clothes and your shower stuff. You can use Tony’s shower.”
He nodded once. “All right. Let’s go.”
When we got outside and he saw his bike, he narrowed his eyes and whipped his head around to stare at me accusingly.
“What the hell?” he asked.
There were a lot of things that Hannibal would tolerate with me, but one of those things was not me driving his bike.
A peal of laughter escaped me, and I doubled over, partially bending the poster board I still held in my hand.
“Don’t worry.” I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t drive it. Leo helped me by trailering it over here.”
