About That Kiss Bonus Epilogue

ALTERNATE ENDING: If Joe had never gotten his head out of his own ass in the last chapter of About That Kiss…

Joe walked into his place and tossed his keys aside. He stripped out of his weapons one by one but kept his phone in case he was needed, and then took his first deep breath in hours.

What a FUBAR night.

It was eleven o’clock, which meant there was only one hour left of Valentine’s Day.

Probably for the best.

He’d like to say he’d had plans for tonight but ever since he’d screwed everything up with Kylie, he’d had no personal plans. Nor a personal life at all.

But he knew how he’d have liked to celebrate. A friend of his was a helicopter pilot and the guy owed him a favor. Kylie had never been on one and Joe would’ve loved to show her San Francisco from the air. After which, he’d get a swank hotel room that included a private rooftop hot tub, where he’d seduce her until dawn.

Or the rest of her life, if she’d let him.

Instead, he and Lucas had been lent by their boss Archer Hunt as part of a joint task force involving several ABC government agencies. It’d been twelve long hours on a tight, tense surveillance and he had a headache.

At least he’d been with Lucas and not Archer. Archer could barely make it ten minutes these days without trying to stifle a grin whenever he thought about Elle.

The man was seriously whipped.

He was also a lucky asshole.

You could be lucky, a little voice in the back of Joe’s head said, but he pushed it aside. He wasn’t going to go there, especially not on Valentine’s Day.  Being alone was his choice and he had to live with it every day, not just holidays.

He looked around his place. It was utterly void of any sign of Valentine’s Day. At the office, his sister Molly had been allowed to hang exactly one heart at the reception desk, but the guys had drawn the line on anything more and Joe had flat out refused to let her decorate in here. She’d go insane and he wasn’t about to chance it.

He moved to the kitchen, where he knew he wouldn’t find any food. He’d been too busy to get to the store. And what did it matter? It’d been years since any holiday had held meaning for him. Overseas Special Forces did that to a guy, made it hard to believe in hearts and rainbows. Actually it was hard to believe in anything when you’d been in the trenches and had life warped before your very eyes.

He opened the fridge. His food choices seemed to be a hunk of green cheese, some sour milk, or a beer.  He grabbed that, sank to his couch and laid his head back against the cushion, staring up at the ceiling. Only one thing came to mind

Kylie.

Shaking that off, he cracked the beer and drank, wondering if it was possible to fix things with her. And how he might manage that…

And like always when his mind went a little dark and grim, he yearned and ached to the bone. He’d most definitely missed his opportunity to make her his and he had regrets. So many regrets.

He had no idea how long he sat there in his dark duplex thinking of all his mistakes involving Kylie when his cell phone rang. And as if he’d conjured her up, he stared at his screen in shock.

Kylie.

“Hey,” he said, having answered so quickly he hadn’t had the time to temper his surprise.

Or pleasure.

“Hey yourself,” she said.

And then nothing. The ensuing silence was heavy with longing and need. Hunger.

All his, of course. Because he was the idiot who’d let her slip right through his fingers. “Why aren’t you over indulging on Finn’s and Sean’s special Valentine’s drinks at the pub with everyone else?” he asked.

“Been there, done that. Finn makes the most amazing drinks…”

He smiled. “You a little tipsy, Kylie?”

“Maybe a little.” She paused. “You up for some company?”

He could feel a very Archer-like grin break out on his face. “If it’s you, always.”

“Then open your door.”

With the phone still to his ear, he rose to his feet and practically ran across the room. He opened the front door and there she was, standing on his doorstep in a dazzling, smoking red-hot dress that showed legs for days and black, spikey FMPs.

She stole his breath.

“Gonna invite me in?” she asked.

He slid his gaze past her to the car parked on the street in front of his duplex. Inside the car sat Pru, Willa, Elle and Colbie.

They all waved.

Joe waved back and then looked at Kylie.

She shrugged. “My entourage. Pru drove. Since she’s preggers, she’s sober.” With that, she squeezed in past him and stood in his living room, hands on hips.

“Thought so,” she muttered beneath her breath. She set down her large bag and opened the thing up. Out came a small faux “tree”, the leaves all little red paper hearts. She set that on his mantel, having to go up on tiptoe to fix the branches the way she wanted. Her dress stretched tight over the best ass in the county. Next from the bag came a streamer of more hearts, which she strung across his living room.

Twice.

Each time her dress slid further north on her thighs.

Then she pulled out strands of small round lights, which she hung along his kitchen cabinets, again having to reach to do so. Her dress gave up the fight and he caught a quick peek-a-boo hint at the black lace beneath.

He stopped breathing.

Then she turned on the lights, much in the same way she’d just turned him on, and beamed at him.

He stood there, completely off his axis. She was humming something that he couldn’t quite place because she was tone-deaf as hell. Not that this stopped her, which made his smile wider. She was amazing. Sweet. Kind. Sexy as hell, and truly the most beautiful soul he’d ever met.

And he’d let her walk away.

In the next beat she had A Crazy Little Thing Called Love playing at high decibels and the air was as violated as the rest of his place. She walked back toward her purse, pausing to send him a dazzling smile.

He couldn’t have stopped the answering smile on his face if he’d tried.

She produced a thermos and raised an eyebrow. She sauntered into his kitchen and came back with two glasses. She poured from the thermos something red and frothy.

“Pomegranate Martini,” she said and pulled out a little paper umbrella, which she put into only her glass. “Don’t worry,” she said, teasing him. “I knew you wouldn’t want something so girlie.”

Apparently that last little bit of thoughtfulness was the final straw for his poor, strained heart because he felt emotion break over him in waves at all she’d done. She’d known he’d be alone, maybe brooding, and she’d come over here with no hidden motives.

God, he loved this woman. Setting down his glass, he took hers and did the same thing.

“You don’t like the drink?” she asked.

“Love it.” He wrapped his arms around her. She was tall in those sexy heels and fit perfectly against him, and when he buried his face in her hair he felt himself panic at the thought of letting her get away from him.

Again.

She slid her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his throat, like maybe she needed the scent of him every bit as much as he’d needed hers.  He tightened his grip and simply held her, hoping she wouldn’t pull away, because standing there with her against him was all he was capable of at the moment. “Kylie,” he whispered with all the love he felt. “You undo me.”

A soft hum of pleasure escaped her throat and she stroked her hands up and down his back while he worked hard at getting himself together, hoping she hadn’t noticed. When she finally pulled back, she didn’t go far, just enough to tip her face up to his. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Joe.”

He cupped her face and she closed her eyes as he pressed his lips to her forehead.

“I have something for you,” she said softly. She actually seemed a little embarrassed. “It’s not much. In fact, now that I think of it, it might be stupid—“

“Kylie.” It was all he could manage. He was having trouble forming words.

She stepped out of his arms and he wanted to grab her back, but she once again dug into her mystery bag and withdrew a small package.

He took her hand and led her to the couch. The Valentine’s Day tree and strings of lights twinkled merrily, giving the room a sense of cheer that hadn’t been here before she’d walked into the door. She turned to him and held the package clutched to her chest for a long moment before finally handing it over.

He took it without breaking eye contact. “Kylie. About us—“

“--It’s a key to my apartment,” she said.

He stopped. Blinked. And then opened the box to indeed find a key. “You know I don’t need this to get in.”

“I know, but strangers break in. Keys are for people who are welcome anytime,” she said and then seemed to hold her breath on his answer.

But he didn’t have words. Nor could he take his gaze off her. She was watching him with her eyes larger than usual and he nearly came undone for the second time in ten minutes. She was his walking daydream come true and he’d let her slip through his fingers.  Good thing he tended to learn from his mistakes. He closed his eyes and took a few breaths for calm before pulling out his keychain to work her key onto it.

“Joe, you don’t have to—“

“I want to.” He stared down at her key now nestled against his. “It’s good to know I’m welcome.”

“You always will be.”

Standing up, he walked into his bedroom and grabbed the present he’d wrapped for her awhile back. He returned to the couch and her eyes lit up at the sight of the gift.

“Don’t get too excited,” he warned, “this isn’t much -- unlike yours, which was everything.”

She looked embarrassed again.

“No, I’m serious,” he said. “The key means the world to me and—“

“You talk too much.” She held out her hands. “Gimme.”

With a laugh – something he hadn’t done since he’d screwed things up between them – he handed her the present.

She tore into the paper to a very worn copy of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. She looked at it for a long moment, running her fingers gently over the battered cover, clearly not knowing exactly what it meant but that it meant something.  She gently thumbed her way through it, noting the dog-eared pages.

“When I was in the military, I spent a lot of time in a lot of really shitty places.” His voice was low and gruff, but his heart was pounding in his ears now and he just needed to get this out. “We didn’t get to have a lot of personal items with us. This was it for me, the one thing I had that my mom had given me. She used to read it to me at night before I could do it myself, and even after I could, she’d still read it to me. The words in her voice got me through some pretty rough days.”

“Why would you give this to me when it means so much to you?”

He took a moment to answer. “This book spent most of its years being my greatest comfort. But I have you now. You’re all I need. I love you, Kylie. Very much.”

She just kept staring down at the book, reverently running her fingers over the spine. He couldn’t stand the distance any longer so he dragged her closer and then onto his lap. When she lifted her head, her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

“Don’t cry,” he whispered and cupped her face. “You’re it for me, Kylie. I know I’ve been an idiot, and I’m so sorry for that but I’ve got it now. I want you in my life. For the long haul.”

“How long is the long haul?”

“As long as you’ll give me.”

She stared at him. “That might be awhile. A long while.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.” He tugged her even closer and pressed his forehead to hers. “In fact, I hope it’s forever.”

Her breath caught.

“Too much?” he asked quietly.

“No. It’s perfect.” Then she kissed him with so much love and acceptance he could hardly breathe. He ran his hands up into her hair to hold her to him as for the first time in too long he felt peace wash over him. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Kylie.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Joe.”