Forever Never

With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Brick walked in the door after seven to a full house and salsa music. Mega trotted toward him with a welcoming ruff, the cat slinking along on his heels.

He shucked off his coat and bent to pet the welcoming committee. “What’s all this?” Neither the dog nor the cat had answers.

The table was set with his grandmother’s china, and someone had brought her card table out of the basement to handle overflow seating.

The noise of people, of family, came from upstairs and down the hall. The smells of homecoming wafted toward him, and out of the noise, he zeroed in on Remington’s laugh.

And there she was. The flash of red hair. The smile that could thaw the coldest of hearts. She didn’t walk to him, she ran. Jumping into his open arms like it had been days rather than hours since she’d last seen him. This was the fantasy. Coming home to her. Opening his arms to her. Loving her.

She kissed him on the mouth, and when it was over too soon for his liking, he fisted a hand in all of that fiery hair and made her kiss him again until he was hard and she was breathless. His. The fierce possessiveness nearly choked him.

“I missed you,” she said, squeezing his hips with her thighs. “Busy day?”

He stroked a hand down her back to her buttocks, gave them a squeeze. He’d spent all the hours since Camille’s interview with the feds, setting up patrols and coordinating the arrival of a dozen more federal agents. They’d be on the island by morning. In the meantime, Mackinac officers were scheduled to patrol past his place, Remi’s parents’, and Kimber’s house every half hour.

“A bit.” With regret, he let her slide down his body to the floor. “How was yours?” he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Good, considering. I declared it family dinner night to welcome Camille. Mom will be here soon. Kyle’s coming, too,” she said with a wiggle of eyebrow.

“Do we smell a reconciliation?”

“From what I eavesdropped on Kimber’s very private conversation today, it sounds like Kyle is changing jobs so he can be home every night, and Kimber is starting her own business. Agnes Sopp hired her to rehab her property by the marina.”

“Good for them,” Brick said. “I’m going to miss having the kids here though.”

Remi smiled coyly and ran her hands down his chest to his belt. “I’m so glad to hear you say that because I volunteered us to take them for the whole weekend next week while Kyle and Kimber go away for a sexcation.”

“When can we take one of those?” He skimmed a palm up her side to cup her breast under the jewel-toned cropped sweater she wore. A week away with nothing to do but make Remington Ford come. He’d move any mountain to make that happen.

“I was thinking. It’s been a while since I had a vacation. And it’s been such a long winter.”

“Very long,” he agreed, thumbing her nipple into a point.

“What would you say to a Caribbean vacation? Maybe a quiet villa with a private pool so I can sunbathe topless?”

He let out a pained breath as his dick throbbed behind his zipper.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said, cupping his erection in her hand.

There was an outburst of laughter coming from the living room, and he heard the oven timer go off. Too many people in the house for him to carry her upstairs and make her scream out his name. “That’s a definite yes,” he growled. With great reluctance, he removed her hand from his crotch and pressed a kiss to her palm.

“Good. If you hit the shower now, dinner will be ready by the time you get back down.”

A shower sounded good.

“I don’t suppose you can join me?” he asked wolfishly.

She bit her lip, gaze zeroing in on his hard-on. His cock twitched at the attention.

“Remi, come look at this meat,” Gilbert Ford called from the kitchen.

Brick winced.

“Mood killer,” she whispered. “Go shower. Oh, and Spence wants to talk to you. I can’t imagine about what.” She winked.

He paused long enough to dig a small box out of his coat pocket before floating up the stairs, counting his lucky fucking stars.

When he came out of the bathroom in a towel, he found his brother lounging on the bed, looking at his phone.

“What’s up?” Brick asked, grabbing underwear and sweats out of the dresser.

“I need to talk to you,” Spencer said, jumping off the bed with nervous energy.

“Okay. Talk.”

“Well. I wanted to talk to you before something happened. But then something happened and—” He dropped his phone and bent to pick it up, smacking his head off the nightstand. “Ow.”

He took pity on his little brother. “You and Audrey,” he said.

Spence looked up, rubbing his forehead. “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Remi saw you sneaking into her room two nights ago.”

His brother winced. “I really wanted to talk to you about it before I did any kind of sneaking. Preferably so sneaking wouldn’t be required. I’ve had feelings for her for a long time but I couldn’t tell if you were still torn up over the divorce and I didn’t want to do anything that would hurt—”

Brick held up his hand. “Spence. Stop. You have my blessing even though neither of you need it.”

“Seriously?”

“I think the four of us have wasted enough time, don’t you?”

Spencer grinned at him and brought him in for a back-slapping hug. “I love you, man.”

“Yeah, yeah. I love you, too. Now stop pretending like you’re sleeping on the couch.”

His brother paused in the door, still smiling. “This thing with you and Remi. It looks pretty serious from the outside.”

With an eye on the hallway, Brick opened his sock drawer and tossed Spencer the small velvet jeweler’s box.

“No shit?” Spencer asked, opening it. “She’s gonna fucking love it.”

“Yeah?” Brick paused to admire the brushed gold band with its scattering of inset diamonds and jewels. He’d known it was hers the second he’d seen it in the shop that afternoon.

“Yeah. It’s artsy. It’s a little chaotic. A lot cool. Just like your girl. Congratulations, man.”

“Thanks.” Brick tucked the box back in the drawer.

“Know when you’re doing it?”

As soon as he could get her father’s blessing and then her alone.

“Soon,” he said. “She’s a snooper. She’ll find it sooner rather than later.”

Spencer grinned and paused in the doorway again. “Hey, thanks for letting Dad be here. It means a lot to him. And me.”

Brick cleared his throat and nodded.

“And just because I’ve never said it, and Audrey opened a couple of bottles of wine before dinner, and I’ve got a happy buzz going, I’ve always looked up to you, and that’s never once changed. You’re a hell of a guy, Brick. I hope I’m just like you when I grow up.”

His throat tight, Brick grabbed his brother in an affectionate headlock and ruffled his hair. “You’re the best guy I know, Spence. Now get the fuck out.”

It took him ten minutes to get Gilbert’s attention and wrangle the man out onto the front porch away from the pre-dinner chaos unfolding inside.

“If this is about my bar back performance the other night—” Gil began.

Brick hid his smile. “It’s not. You were great, and Darius and I are happy to have you aboard.”

Gilbert perked up. “Thank God. I thought you were firing me!”

“No. But I do need to ask you something. Something not bar related.” Brick felt the words get stuck in his throat. This man had been more of a father to him than his own. How could he ask him to trust him with his daughter’s future?

“I’m all ears,” the man said, straightening his sweater vest and picking up a nearly overflowing glass of wine.

“What’s all this?” Darlene Ford, still in uniform, demanded as she trudged up the porch steps. “Ooh! Wine.” She took the glass from her husband and drank deeply.

Gilbert slung an arm around his wife’s waist. “Well, it’s Family Dinner Night. Kimber and Kyle are reconciling. It looks like Spencer and Audrey are finally hooking up. And Brick here is trying to work up the nerve to ask for my blessing to marry Remi.”

Chief Ford paused, mid-swallow, to eye Brick over the rim of the glass.

Brick was hot and cold all over. It was like a spotlight was on him, and he’d forgotten all his lines.

Darlene handed the wine back to her husband. She looked Brick up and down and nodded briskly.

“It’s about fucking time,” she said.

Then she grabbed his face and gave him a smacking kiss right on the mouth. “Welcome to the family.” With that, she opened the front door and went inside yelling, “What’s for dinner?”

Brick stared after her open-mouthed. “Uh…I…”

Gilbert clapped him on the shoulder. “I don’t have much more to add besides I can’t imagine a better man for our girl. You’ve loved her through the bright spots and the dark. You’ve never once not been there for her. Never once not protected her even from herself. A father can’t ask for anything more than that. And I know I’ve had a lot of wine, but I would be honored to call you son.”

Brick’s throat felt like it was on fire. His eyes watered, blurring everything in front of him. He swallowed hard, barely managing to rasp a “Thank you.”

Gilbert gave his shoulder a squeeze. Brick couldn’t tell through the blur, but Gilbert’s eyes looked a little shiny, too. “Thank you for loving my wild child exactly as she is.”

He didn’t even flinch when Gilbert planted a kiss on him, then slapped his cheek a little too hard. “Congratulations. Now let’s eat before we’re all shit-faced.”