Challenging Love
Page 11
In that moment, Katlin realized she couldn’t hold anything back from Alex. Only when she was with him, was she whole. She was his. Completely. Not just temporarily, not just for now…but forever. And his love was the most precious thing in her life to have and to care for, in sickness and in health, until death…he was hers.
“Katlin, I need you.” Jack’s insistence broke through Katlin’s revelation. “I want you in my life, in my bed, again.”
“No, Jack, what you want is the male version of the America dream…a woman to welcome you at the door with a hot meal and even hotter sex—which I’d like to remind you that you never got the latter from me, even though you tried.” She took a deep breath to wipe away the memories of the night he’d tried to rape her under the guise of sex being necessary for the mission. What the man needed was hope. “You can find someone, fall in love and have that life.”
She swept her hand in front of her. “You have to get out of that office and away from your work. It’s not easy, but you need to open yourself to the possibility that your perfect woman, your future wife, is out there waiting for you.”
“Humph,” he said on a short exhale. “You really believe that kind of life is possible for people like you and me?”
“Not only do I believe it, I’m living it.” She couldn’t withhold the smile when she thought about Alex. She warmed from the inside out.
“Good luck with that.” His computer dinged. “I have an appointment on the Hill. If you’ll excuse me, I believe we’re finished.”
“Are we?” she hoped.
“Enjoy the next four days off.” His hand appeared on the keyboard. “I’ll see you in the Monday morning briefing. Operations out.”
Her computer screen went black.
Had she made him understand or was it a ploy to appease her? Katlin wasn’t sure.
With Jack hopefully handled, she was on to apologizing to Alex.
Three days later, Katlin and Alex walked hand-in-hand down the secluded Costa Rican beach she and her brother owned just beyond the Callahan compound. Enjoying the sunset together had become a ritual during their sequestered month, which now seemed like a lifetime ago for Katlin.
“These last few days alone with you, here, have been so much better than touring Chicago.” Alex squeezed her hand.
“I’m sorry, but I just wanted to get out of there,” Kat confessed. “We needed this time alone.” She’d given the compound staff four days paid vacation so they’d been completely by themselves. Katlin had cooked for Alex, thoroughly enjoying the commercial kitchen. They’d shopped together in the small village for fresh fish and fruit and swam naked in the Caribbean Sea. They’d made love anywhere they wanted, anytime they felt the urge.
In Katlin’s opinion, life had been damn perfect for three days. Unfortunately, the private jet she’d scheduled would be there in the morning to whisk them back to D.C.
Alex had seemed anxious that afternoon, often distracted for a moment before he turned his attention back to her. Maybe it was because their hours together were now numbered. She certainly wasn’t looking forward to returning to work on Monday.
He might have been concerned about work, although he hadn’t mentioned anything recently. Perhaps he felt targeted, but she hadn’t gotten that prickly feeling as though she was in someone’s crosshairs.
Maybe he was reconsidering their relationship. If he wanted a hot meal and a hot woman to come home to every night, that definitely wasn’t her. She could only fill the bill when she was in the country, and even then there was no guarantee. Her team trained a lot, day and night. Oh, fuck. What if he was going to break up with her?
Worried, Katlin finally tested the churning water, “Are you worried that Jack is going to pull some more of his shit as soon as we’re back in D.C.?”
He chuckled. “I expect Jack will continue to try to break us apart.” He pulled her to face him. “But he’s not going to succeed…is he?”
“No. I trust you, Alex, with all my heart.” She looked away and blinked hard, fighting down the pain of Ty’s multiple betrayals before returning her gaze to Alex. “I’m sorry I doubted you, even for a minute. Old mem—”
He placed his finger over her lips. “He has no place in our lives. From now on, it’s just you and me.”
And that’s the way she wanted it to be, too.
“Forever,” Alex added.
She nodded, and managed to get out, “Forever.”
Alex sighed, clearly relieved. He gave her a quick kiss. “Then I have a gift for you.” He pulled a large square box from his cargo shorts pocket and handed it to her.
“What’s this?” She suddenly felt guilty for not buying him something so he’d always remember these special days together.
“Just open it,” he said with a smile.
Inside, a sturdy silver-colored chain, about twenty-four inches long, laying on a black leather pillow. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
“It’s titanium.” Alex removed it from the box and looped it over her head. It fell between her breasts, down to her heart.
She ran the smooth links through her fingers. “I love it. Thank you.” She had several outfits she could wear this with and started selecting the perfect dress for a dinner out.
Alex stuffed the box back into his side pocket. He pulled out a small black box this time and dropped to one knee. “The necklace is to hold this when you can’t wear it on your finger. Katlin Callahan, will you marry me?”
She never looked at the ring.
Katlin fell to her knees and threw her arms around the man she loved with all her heart and soul. “Of course I’ll marry you. I love you, Alex. I think I always have.”
Hours later, Katlin watched dots of rainbows flash across their bedroom walls as she held the ring up to the light.
“It’s absolutely gorgeous. You know how much I like sapphires, and the diamonds on each side are just perfect.” It was the ring she would have selected for herself, if given the choice. Simple, yet beautiful.
Alex leaned up on an elbow and grabbed her hand, pulling the ring in close to her face. “That’s not a sapphire. It’s a blue diamond. It was your mother’s.”
A fist grabbed her heart and the back of her eyes burned. “Mom never had a ring like this.” After her mother’s death, she and Daniel had divided her mom’s jewelry, so Kat knew every piece.
“No, I had the ring custom made.” He went on to explain, “Daniel gave me one of your mother’s pins with the stone in it. I had it set in titanium because you’re so hard on your hands, I didn’t want you to lose the diamond.”
She stared at the two-carat stone and remembered the fight she’d had with Daniel the day they’d separated the jewelry. She’d insisted the pin with the largest blue diamond go to him because he was only living Callahan male to carry on the name. Since Uncle Francis was a priest and their Uncle Tom was pushing sixty, neither would have children.
Her brother had given the special jewel back to her in the most generous way possible, one she couldn’t refuse. “I think I’m going to hurt Daniel when I see him next.” Then it dawned on her, “Did you ask him for my hand in marriage?”
Alex shrugged. “No, I told him I was going to ask you. That’s when he gave me the pin. He said you’d love it even more because it came from your mom.”
“I do.” She leaned over to kiss him but he stopped her.
“You don’t have to say those words, yet, but I don’t want to wait long to make you mine forever,” he warned.
“I’m already yours forever,” she promised.
* * *
The end.
About the Author
KaLyn Cooper writes romantic suspense based in fact. Twenty seven years as a military wife has shown her the world and the men and women who protect it every day. Thirty years in PR taught her fact can be stranger than fiction, but she leaves it up to the reader to separate truth from imagination. She and her husband live in Tennessee on their micro-plantation filled w
ith gardens, cattle, quail, and a bird dog. When she’s not writing, she’s at the shooting range or paddling on the river.
Contact KaLyn
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