I giggled as his breath tickled the side of my face.

“Okay, let’s go,” I agreed. I got up, taking his hand as I rose. We walked slowly down the beach towards the water.

I smiled at the attention we were getting. Even though Hunter wasn’t fighting anymore, he still stayed in very good shape. On top of that, he was a lot more tan. I guess I was too. Hunter was coaching at a popular MMA gym downtown. He had been able to use his experience working for Clint to get the job. Sometimes I went to see him, and he always had a smile for me when I came in.

The progression of Hunter’ MS had been managed pretty well too. He was really taking good care of himself, watching his diet and stress levels, and being prompt with his treatment regimen.

Hunter slapped me playfully on the butt. I tiptoed up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Aw, thanks. What was that for?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just because.”

He kissed me on the cheek in return and I grinned so hard my face hurt.

Looking up at the sun beaming down on us, I hoped that Daniela was having as good of a time as I was. She had gone off to join the Peace Corps with Kyle. Now they were both serving their two years in Peru before Kyle went off to med school and she went to get her Ph.D. in Psychology.

I didn’t talk to Aunt Caroline nearly as much as I used to, but I still checked in from time to time. Bones and Frida were fully grown now and getting into all sorts of mischief. My cousins had been really happy that they were able to keep two of the cats.

As for the rest of the litter, we gave Iceman to Gary―who had since apologized to me for some of things he’d said at Hunter’s last fight. It was harder to be forgiving towards Ada, but even I realized that she did care about Hunter, in her own way. She did seem to be a lot friendlier to me after we gave Georgia to her. Maybe cute kittens were the solution to many of life’s problems.

And then there was Taylor and Rampage. They were at home in the small one bedroom apartment I shared with Hunter. Hopefully they were only scratching at their new cat castle, and not the furniture. The four of us made our own weird little family.

Cool water lapped at my toes, and I realized that we had reached the shore.

“Tag, you’re it,” Hunter said, tapping me on the shoulder and sticking his tongue out at me. Then he ran into the water all the while doing his best impression of a maniacal evil genius laugh.

I laughed and chased after him. When the water was too deep to keep running, I started swimming after him, taking long slow strokes. The temperature of the water was just perfect and it felt refreshing against my skin.

When Hunter finally slowed down, I was able to reach him. We both tread water about fifty feet away from the shore. I stared into his gray eyes and gave him my best bedroom stare. He gave me a goofy grin, and I brought my face closer to his. Leaning in, I left him a sensual wet kiss on the lips.

“Now you’re it,” I whispered into his ear.

Then I ducked my head under and dove deeper into the water, letting air slowly out my nose. When I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, I took a few strokes back up towards the light and broke through the surface.