Bonus Epilogue #2
I turn in his arms, loving the feel of his skin against mine, warm from the sun and smooth from the water. “Is that so?”
“Mmm.” His hands skim down my sides. “Especially when you pull off surprises like this.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it. I love you. I love that you bought the place where I fell in love with you.”
“Where we fell in love with each other,” I correct.
“True.” He shifts so he’s looking down at me, propped up on one elbow. “Though I think I was a goner the second you jumped off that rock.”
“You were not.”
“I was. You were so…” He searches for the word. “Fearless. Beautiful. Completely yourself.”
“I was terrified I was going to hit the bottom. Feared it would be a slimy, muddy mess.”
“But you jumped anyway.”
“Sometimes the best things happen when you jump.”
“Is that your philosophy now?”
I think about everything that’s led us here—the mission that brought us together, the lies that became truth, the careful distance that became love so deep it sometimes takes my breath away.
“With you? Always.”
The sun has shifted, and without the warmth, the chill in the air is more noticeable. Rhodes reaches for his flannel and drapes it over both of us.
“We should probably head back soon,” he says, but makes no move to get up.
“Probably.”
Neither of us moves. This place, our place, holds us like it did that first day. But now instead of the uncertain tension of new attraction, there’s the deep contentment of coming home.
“Thank you,” Rhodes says quietly. “For this. For knowing exactly what would matter to me.”
“We’re partners,” I tell him, the word carrying all the weight of what we’ve built together. “In everything.”
“In everything,” he agrees.
And then the chill in the air is forgotten with his kiss. We make love slowly, out in the open, cushioned by the blankets I packed. When he shudders above me, my legs wrapped around his waist, holding him close, his dark eyes meet mine. “I swear, I think that gets better every time.”
I smile, knowing he says that often, but loving how true it feels.
Later, as we’re getting dressed, Rhodes suddenly stops with one sock halfway on.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I just realized something.”
“What?”
“We own a swimming hole.”
“We do.”
“That’s possibly the coolest thing anyone’s ever said.”
I burst out laughing. “You own a tech company worth billions of dollars.”
“Yeah, but that’s just business. This?” He gestures at the clear water, the surrounding trees, the boulder where we first jumped together. “This is ours. This is our origin story.”
As we pack up to leave, I look back at the swimming hole one more time. The late afternoon light glimmers over the water, and I can almost see us as we were that first day—uncertain, attracted, teetering on the edge of something that would change everything.
Now we’re standing on solid ground, sure of each other and the life we’re building together. But this place, our place, will always be here to remind us of how we started. Sure, there was deception and distrust, but we worked through it. No matter what comes, we’ll work through it.
“Ready?” Rhodes asks, shouldering his pack.
I take his outstretched hand. “Ready.”
As we walk back through the forest toward the trailhead, Rhodes suddenly stops and pulls me close.
“What now?” I ask, teasing.
“I’m just thinking about all the times we’ll come back here. All the anniversaries, all the summers, maybe someday with…”
“With what?”
“Kids,” he says softly. “Little ones learning to jump off that rock.”
The image makes my heart skip. “Getting ahead of yourself there, MacMillan.”
“Maybe. But when you know, you know.”
“And you know?”
“I know I want everything with you, Syd. Every anniversary, every season, every adventure.”
“Even the scary ones?”
“Especially the scary ones.”
I stand on my toes to kiss him, tasting the promise of all those tomorrows.
“Then let’s go home,” I say. “The day’s not over. I’ve got more planned.”
“Have you now?”
“You know me…something wicked.” I grin, wiggling my eyebrows while tugging on his hand.
He slaps my ass and I squeal as he pulls me back against his chest. “You’re a temptress, Mrs. MacMillan.”
As we emerge from the forest, the sun is setting behind the mountains, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold. Rhodes helps me into the Scout, but before closing my door, he leans in.
“Best surprise ever,” he says again.
“Just wait until you see what I have in store for you.”
His eyes widen. “There’s more? You were serious?”
“There’s always more with us, isn’t there?”
“God, I hope so.”
As we drive home through the mountains, past the apple orchard we never made it to, with the windows down and the cool autumn air flowing through the car, I think about how far we’ve come from that first uncertain hike. Back then, everything was a question mark. Now, everything is true.
The land papers are tucked safely in my desk drawer at home, but the real gift isn’t the deed or the swimming hole or even this perfect day.
The real gift is having someone who understands that some places are sacred, that some moments are worth preserving, that some love stories deserve their own piece of the world to call home.
Rhodes reaches over and takes my hand as we wind through the mountain curves, and I think about all the anniversaries still to come, all the times we’ll drive this same road back to our swimming hole, our story, our beginning.
Our love story started with a lie. But here, we shed the pretenses. Out there in the real world, those pretenses still exist—the walls, the machinations, the world’s wicked ways. But when we’re together, the shadows subside, giving way to light.
Read Jake and Daisy’s story in Only The Devil …
I've survived combat zones and classified missions.
But watching her walk into danger? That might kill me.
The assignment seemed straightforward: pose as a dutiful boyfriend while she infiltrates a finance mogul’s operation. Keep her safe. Keep my distance. Get the evidence and get out.
Simple, until the mogul hired me as his personal security.
Now I have a front-row seat to his empire of greed—and his predatory interest in the brilliant woman I'm supposed to be pretending to love. Every day I watch him dangle millions in front of her like bait, testing her limits, pushing her boundaries.
The problem? My feelings for Daisy stopped being pretend early on. It didn’t take me long to fall hard for the stubborn woman on a mission.
She thinks she can handle Sterling's world. She thinks she can resist the temptation of life-changing money. But I don’t trust wealth and power. And when bodies start dropping and cryptocurrency millions vanish overnight, I realize we're not just hunting a white-collar criminal.
We're trapped in his web.
Daisy's got secrets she won't share and a past that makes her desperate enough to risk everything for justice.
Sterling's got enough money to buy loyalty, silence, and alibis.
And me? I've got a heart condition that ended my military career and feelings for a woman who might be playing a deeper game than either of us signed up for.
In a world where everyone has their price, I've found the one thing I won't sell: her safety.
Even if it costs me everything.