Page 37 of Fatal Love
Chapter Eleven
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BEATRICE HAD NEVERbeen so utterly exhausted in her whole life.
Or so extremely happy.
Baby Reese was making the rounds with the entire group gathered in her office, while Cal stewed and kept passing the hand sanitizer around. As Connor and Sabrina entered, a cheer went up from the rest of the operatives and Beatrice thought Connor might be blushing.
“Come in,” she said, waving a hand at them. “It’s good to see you up and around, Connor.”
Extra chairs had been brought in, along with the baby’s cradle and a changing table. Near the fireplace, Savanna and Trace had set up a table and decorated it with ribbons and balloons. In the center was a sheet cake, and a cooler filled with assorted beverages sat on the floor next to the table. Maggie eyed all of it, waiting for a piece of cake it seemed.
Emit handed Connor a drink after their newest field operative confirmed he wasn’t taking any of the narcotics the doctors had prescribed. Sabrina accepted a bottle of iced tea and Zeb and Henley gave up their chairs for the two of them.
Baby Reese had gone halfway around the circle of operatives and their girlfriends and was currently being ogled over by Miles and Charlotte. “Have you named her yet?” Charlotte asked, her British accent light and bubbly.
“That’s why we called you all here.” There were several Rock Stars who couldn’t leave their charges, and a small team of Shadow Force men wrapping up a search and rescue mission in Nicaragua, but most of the rest had made it in. Even Jaxon had flown in from Chicago, bringing the CIA operative, Ruby McIntyre, with him. She was still as banged up as Cal and Connor, but she seemed happy to be invited to this little impromptu party. “But first,” Beatrice added, “Cal and I would like to take a moment to thank Connor and Sabrina for coming to our aid. You’re both receiving generous bonuses in your next paychecks.”
Connor stopped with the beer halfway to his mouth, then lowered it as his teammates clapped, whistled, and made catcalls. Trace patted him on the back and Sabrina grinned from ear to ear. Maggie made her way over to Connor and laid at his feet, wagging her tail.
Several of the men got up and gave Sabrina fist bumps and slaps on the back, like she was one of them. Her green eyes kept darting to Connor.
“It was nothing, boss,” Connor said, once the hoopla died down.
But itwas, Beatrice knew, as did Cal, Emit, and the others. Connor had overcome the demons that lived in his head in order to help rescue them. There weren’t many men in his situation who could throw together an emergency rescue mission and execute it so flawlessly.
Sabrina raised her bottle of tea in salute. “To Connor. He’s the real hero here.”
“To Connor,” the others echoed, following suit and lifting their drinks. Beatrice lifted her fruit smoothie.
“I didn’t defuse a bomb,” Connor argued. He was definitely embarrassed, his neck flushed and his gaze drinking in Sabrina like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “None of us in that house would be here right now if it weren’t for you, Red.”
Sabrina leaned over and kissed his cheek and another round of catcalls and whistles went off.
“By the way,” Sabrina said, settling back into her chair. “Why does the cake say ‘Happy Retirement?’”
Colton, leaning against the fireplace, scratched his jawline. “It was the best I could do on short notice. It was either that or ‘Happy Sweet 16.’”
The baby stirred, arms waving and legs kicking. Her tiny voice cut through the noise as she let out a heartfelt “mew” and everyone started making over her again.
Cal stepped in and took her from Charlotte, holding the baby close to his chest as he hobbled over to Beatrice. His bullet wounds would add a few more scars to his collection, but he wore his injuries like medals. “We wanted to wait until Jax got here to announce we have a name for our girl.”
Beatrice took her baby and looked down into her face. So small. So sweet. So not a boy like she’d predicted.
She was never wrong about anything, but she had the unwavering notion that this child was going to prove her wrong on many, many things.
Jaxon leaned forward, setting his elbows on his knees. “What do I have to do with this?”
Jax. He was much like Cal in many ways and out of all of her SFI warriors, he’d always been completely honest with her, whether she wanted to hear it or not.
“All of you are special to me,” she said, and had to stop for a moment because her throat grew tight. “If I could, I would name this baby after every one of you.”
All eyes swung to Jaxon and understanding dawned across his face. He sat back and looked completely gobsmacked. “You’re naming the baby Jaxon? You sure about that? I don’t know if that’s so great for a girl.”
“Actually,” Cal said, grinning, “we’re naming her Sloane. Your last name with an e on the end. Sloane Tracia Kenzie Reese. Sloane after you, Tracia after Hunter, and Kenzie after McKenzie.”
