Page 78 of Fast Fury

“Yeah, you’d better,” Granger said. “Otherwise I’ll pound your smirking face in, birthday boy or not.”

Kai didn’t respond to the little jab, still grinning.

Abby’s car was parked in her usual spot next to Kai’s. He pulled in beside her and shut off the engine. They all climbed out, and the cab raised several inches without the burden of their combined weight.

Stepping out of the elevator on the top floor a minute later, Kai spotted his other four teammates standing outside his door, all grinning like idiots. “What?” he asked. “What’s going on?”

“Wait’ll you see this,” Rodriguez whispered with a laugh, his hand on the doorknob.

See what? Curious, Kai stepped up next to him, craned his neck to see as his teammate pushed the door open. It was almost pitch dark inside his loft, but the unmistakable sound of feminine giggling came from the back area where the master bedroom was located.

“Hello?” he called out, walking in. Smelled freaking amazing in here, all kinds of tantalizing aromas coming from the kitchen.

Along with a faint glow from there, too.

A half-smile curved his mouth when he rounded the corner and spotted what was on the kitchen island. The girls had been busy over the past couple hours. Half a dozen jack o’ lanterns carved out of pineapples sat there—he’d told her they carved those instead of pumpkins at Halloween, and she must have liked the idea. Their little triangular eyes, noses and grinning mouths glowed from the candles inside them, illuminating what looked like an equal number of wine bottles lined up on the counter.

“Anyone here?” he joked as the others came in behind him. It was way too quiet now. That spelled trouble. He put his hands on his hips. “Hey, if you guys are having a naked pillow fight back there, we want in on that action.”

A chorus of enthusiastic affirmations from his teammates backed up his statement.

The words had no sooner left his mouth when a barrage of foam darts streaked out of the darkness, pelting him from every angle. He threw up a hand to shield his face, took a stumbling step back and slammed into Prentiss. “Hey!”

Yells and war whoops erupted from the darkness as the unseen attackers rushed them, peppering them with a continuous barrage of foam ammo.

Stifling a laugh, Kai lunged over and hit the nearest light switch. The firing stopped.

When he turned around, what he saw made his eyes widen.

Abby, Charlie, Piper, Tess and Jaliya stood before them, fanned out in a semi-circle, all of them wearing helmets and NVGs. All of them pushed the NVGs up onto the mounts. The brim of Abby’s helmet dipped almost over her eyes. Her face was covered in camo paint.

“Hi,” she said with a saucy grin that told him she was adorably tipsy, and popped one more round at him. It hit him dead center in his chest and bounced off, and she looked so pleased with herself he had to smother a laugh. “Welcome home, birthday boy.”

“Hi. Been busy, I see.”

“Oh, yeah.” Another cocky grin, and she pushed the helmet up. “Your present’s ready. Wanna see it?”

“I dunno, do I?” Since he’d come home to a bunch of pineapple jack o’ lanterns and a barrage of foam darts, he wasn’t sure what kind of present she’d got him.

“Yeah, I think you do.” She laid his specialized Nerf gun over her shoulder and sauntered out of view, those sexy hips swaying.

Kai shared a grin with his teammates. As far as birthdays went, this one was pretty memorable already.

“Okay, here it is.”

He looked over as Abby emerged from around the corner with someone behind her. Shorter than her, dressed all in black, face covered by one of his black balaclavas. As Abby stepped aside, the smaller figure pulled off the balaclava.

The air rushed from Kai’s lungs. “Tutu.”

His grandmother broke into a wide smile and held her arms out. “Surprise.”

Kai rushed over to scoop her up in a hug that lifted her from the ground. She was so damn small, but she hugged him so hard with her frail little arms. He buried his nose in her hair, breathing in the sweet, familiar scent of her plumeria perfume. “When did you get here?”

“About two hours ago. Abby picked me up at the airport.”

Still holding her off the ground, he swung his gaze to Abby. She was watching him with such love, her expression soft, and damned if he didn’t fall in love with her all over again right then and there. “You set this up?” He already knew the answer. No one else would have done this for him.

“Yep. Happy birthday.”

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