Chapter 59
My neck is still a little tender from Ralph choking me which is a scary reminder of the attack. But other tender places only remind me of the good stuff.
I yawn and grin. A deep sense of peace fills my bones.
My case is wrapped up. I have Lucas.
I don’t know what’s ahead, but I know it’s going to be wild and full of this protective man’s love.
Lucas drags me up from the bed. “Let’s go.”
“I can barely move.”
He chuckles. “I know, but we need to debrief Nighthawk, and meet with the team.”
I rub my eyes. “So early?”
“It’s two. Not a.m.”
I blink at him. “We’ve been in bed for ten hours?”
He grins, slyly. “Yes, we have.” With rough, sexy hands, he drags me to him. “We have a lot to talk about. Let’s start in the shower.”
I’m seriously delirious or groggy or something, but a shower with my hero sounds divine.
He flips on the water and drags me below the stream.
I expect it to be cold, so I don’t scream this time.
He’s smiling, even chuckles at me. That’s all the warmth I need.
Then he dives right into this important conversation. “So, are you moving in with me?”
I blink away the water. “Wait, you just start with that?”
He nods.
“Where?”
“I have a rental in Utah. But that’s only for the next few years. Then I’m building that cabin. Would you be down with that?”
“You aren’t the only one with questions. You said the B word.”
His left brow ticks up. “B word?”
“Bride.”
His smile gets even bigger.
Oh my god. Is that a dimple?
His voice is a husky rumble. “That’s right. Does it scare you?”
I boggle. “It scares me a lot.”
His eyes soften, he leans close. Brushing his knuckles over my cheek. “I’m going to give you all of me. I want all of you.”
The last of my heart was just stolen.
I melt from head to toe. “I want that too.”
“I’m in love with you, Camile.”
An explosion of butterflies takes flight inside of me. “I was scared to put a name on what I feel when I’m with you, Lucas. But I know it’s love. I’m in love with you.”
He leans down and presses his forehead against mine. “When the time is right, I want you to be my wife. I’ll make my proposal special—I want to do it right. But not here. Not today.”
My heart gives a huge squeeze. This man… He wants to do something romantic.
I smile as I try to catch my breath.
“Then everything is settled.” His voice is a warm rasp against my cheek.
Settled. A future with Lucas.
The world somehow feels very right. Even with all we’ve gone through. Then I remember… work.
“Wait! Honey, not everything is settled. What about me working for PCI?”
Before he answers, he kisses me. It’s a slow, mind-melting kiss that makes me wonder what the hell PCI even stands for.
My word.The man can kiss. And I didn’t think those kisses could get even more passionate, but the connection between us feels vastly deeper now.
He searches my face when he pulls back. “How would you feel about me finding you a nice gig with a boss that’s not an asshole?”
“You don’t like him? I thought?—”
“I respect him as a warrior, but I hate the way he talks to you. And because of that, I’d just as soon never talk to him again. Especially talk to him about you.”
I scrunch my nose. “Nighthawk is a pain.”
“He’s more than a pain, and I want you close…”
I slide my hands up and over his shoulders, my attention drifting to the wet butterfly bandages on his arm. Beneath them is the wound from the fight. My heart twinges.
He could have been killed.
My voice comes out rough. “How close do you want me?”
When he lifts me with his incredibly strong arms, I wrap my legs around him.
He nips at my neck and buries his nose against my ear as I cling to his massive shoulders. “So close that I can do this every morning.”
I laugh. My arousal is very clear in the throaty sound. “It’s afternoon.”
“That too.”
His warm, strong hands mold to my breasts as he presses me against the shower wall.
I’m arching into his touch when he speaks against my ear. “You can travel with our team.”
I pull back and gape at him. “What?”
“You want to do covert work. You want to use that education. Marshall needs someone like you. I need someone like you.”
He nibbles my ear, sending a wave of heat through me.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure, sweetheart. Agile has several husband-and-wife pairs on their teams.”
I melt into him. “But you understand I want a job, I want to…”
He tips my chin up. Holds my gaze with his. “I know what it’s like to feel that need.”
When he kisses me this time, it’s full of understanding.
Lucas gets me.
I get him.
For the first time in my life, I feel like I belong.
He looks down at me with incredible intensity in his warm brown eyes. “We won’t work forever. But I need to do this for a while longer. Then we’ll be free. You can keep working if you want. The choice is yours. You can quit tomorrow, or when we settle down somewhere in the mountains. But I’ll give us a home, and a place to bury our demons once and for all.”
My throat tightens, my mouth is achingly dry. But my heart is flooded with a river of love for this man. “Okay.”
He frowns. “Okay? No argument?”
“Nope. Now please give me your cock and after that, feed me tamales. I’ll be the happiest I’ve ever been.”
He dissolves into laughter. It’s warm, and deep, rumbling through him as he pushes into me.
The laughter trails off into his soft groan. “Fuck, Camile. You’re mine. Home, that’s what you are.”
Home.
Something I never thought I’d have. Now I know all it took was one man to change everything.