Page 61 of Operation K-9 Brothers

His heart plummeted to his stomach.

“But for you, I’d like to give it another try.”

His heart righted itself.

“Great.That’s great.”That the best you can do, slick?In his defense, he was still struggling to recover from the freefall when he’d thought she was going to refuse the girlfriend label.

He lowered his head until his lips were a breath from hers.“Really great,” he murmured, then claimed her mouth in a kiss that extinguished the world around them, and the only thing that mattered was her.

“Get a room,” said a voice he recognized.

Jack chuckled against Nichole’s lips.“Tell him to go away.”He reluctantly let go of her, sat back in his chair, and eyed Deke before turning a smile on Heather.“You pick this bum up on the street?I thought you were more discerning than that.”

She laughed as she sat in the chair Deke pulled out for her.“He started following me, and when I couldn’t ditch him, I decided to feed the poor bastard.”

“Hey,” Deke said, sitting next to her.“I’m the best thing that ever happened to this woman.”

“True, that.”Heather softly smiled at her husband.“Hi, Nichole,” she said, waving.

Nichole fluttered her fingers.“Hi, you two.Nice to see you both again.”

“Still wondering why you’re hanging with this scoundrel.”Deke lifted his chin toward Jack.“No accounting for taste, I guess.”

She chuckled.“Yeah, apparently not.”

When he got his own soft smile from his girlfriend, contentment settled in Jack’s soul.She put her hand on his leg, and he put his over hers.It was an intimate act, something couples did, and his insides melted into a soppy mess.But it was a mess he was good with, something that was still taking him by surprise.

When the waiter arrived to take Deke and Heather’s drink order, she asked for an iced tea and Deke ordered a beer.After he left to get their drinks, Heather looked wistfully at Nichole’s wine.

“That’s one thing I’m definitely going to miss,” she said.

Nichole’s eyes widened, and then she grinned.“Congratulations!”

“For what?”Jack asked.

Deke rolled his eyes.“Dude, are you really that dense?”

“Apparently.”Then it hit him.“You’re pregnant?”

“We are,” Deke said with a shit-eating grin on his face.

And who could blame him?Suddenly Jack wanted it all, too.The wife who looked at him as if he hung the moon, one he loved to pieces, the babies...all of it.He’d even erect a white picket fence around his house if that was what it took to make the dream a reality.And he wanted it with the beautiful, sweet woman sitting alongside him.

Dinner was excellent, and the company fun.Jack really liked Deke and Heather and hoped they would continue to deepen their friendship.He could tell Nichole liked them, too, and they her.The girls had even exchanged phone numbers so they could make plans to meet for lunch one day.

When they returned to his place tonight, he would ask her if she would wait for him when it was time to return to his team.He felt fairly confident that she would give him a yes, but there was a sliver of doubt there.Maybe waiting around for a man who might never make it home wasn’t her thing.