by Julie Miller
Michael felt a tug on his sleeve and bent down to hear Mike whisper, “Now go give her the same speech. Mom would like her. I like her. Don’t screw it up.”
With a nod and a wave, Mike rolled past her and joined Troy under the awning of the PT clinic’s entrance, where Trip and Delgado were regaling the boys with stories that earned them lots of high fives and laughs. A weight had lifted from his heart tonight, and Michael decided to take his son’s advice.
He reached inside the back of the van and pulled out his black KCPD jacket as Jillian approached.
She smiled. “Mike’s my hero tonight, finding a way to get you inside the gym so you could save me. He’s a good kid.”
“He’s a great kid.” Michael draped the jacket around her shoulders and all kinds of primitive, possessive, perfect feelings started drumming through his blood.
“I was scared I was going to lose both of you tonight.”
“I love you.”
He said it bluntly, startling her. As those beautiful green eyes returned to their normal size, he startled her again by fisting his hands around the collar of the jacket and pulling her up into his kiss. He took his own sweet time easing the surprise from her lips, then tracing the seam with his tongue and urging them to part so that he could slip inside and taste the essence of Jillian herself. He was pretty well kissed himself by the time he came up for air and rested his forehead against hers with a contented sigh.
“I feel young and strong when I’m with you. You gave me back my son.” He covered her hands where they clung to the collar of his uniform with his own. “You make me give a damn about living again.”
“I love you, Michael.” The words sounded right. Felt right. Were right. “I love your son. And I’m damn lucky that you feel something for me, too.”
“Not just ‘something,’ sweetheart. Love. I feel love.”
“So what are we going to do?” She wound her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer. “Do you think we can make a relationship work?”
He slipped his hands beneath the jacket she wore and sealed the embrace. “Are you still going to go on your crusades to save kids who’ve been through hell?”
“After I take a bit of a break to rest up, yes. Are you still going to be a SWAT cop?”
“Yeah. I think I may have the knack for it.” She smiled and the moment was complete. “I’m still going to be a father and I’m hoping I’m going to be a husband again, as well.”
“A husband?”
“Yeah. To you.” He was dead serious now. In that controlled, I’m-the-boss way that he normally did so well. “Mike told me not to screw this up, so I thought I’d better put it out there before you get away from me—or I lose you to some other man.”
But Jillian saw right through the tough guy facade to the man who would forever be vulnerable to a tall, leggy woman with sweet green eyes and coffee-colored hair. She gently cupped his jaw. “You are never going to lose me, Michael Cutler. I love you. And it would be the greatest honor of my life to be your wife.”
“And that’s a firm yes?”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet, Captain? I didn’t slow my steps because of your age. I was just waiting for you to catch me.”
“When did you ever slow down for me?”
Her lips curved into a sly grin. “Just kiss me.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5244-2
TAKEDOWN
Copyright © 2010 by Julie Miller
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