by Amy Gamet
“Go home. Take the day off tomorrow. You’ve earned it.”
Just like that, he knew what he needed to do. “I’m not going home, I’m going to Houston.” He stood up wearily. “Maybe that is going home. I don’t know.”
“When will you be back?”
“I don’t know. Depends if she’ll marry me or not.” He stumbled down the hall and out the door, the corridors and elevator barely registering. Saving that girl had been like saving his own family, which was just as real and just as tangible as the real Molly Esposito somewhere across the ocean.
He didn’t go back to his apartment.
He didn’t pack.
He didn’t even buy a ticket before getting to the airport, disheveled and drawn. He did get a hotel room in Houston for the night, because he needed to sleep and to shower, and there was something important he needed to do before going to Davina and begging for her forgiveness.
He needed to go to a jewelry store. The woman he loved deserved a ring when he asked her to be his wife.
31
When Wyatt was out of the house, Davina sang along to the radio. Loudly. “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” blared on the stereo as she hollered over the vacuum cleaner, getting down with her bad self as she cleaned.
Piggy started barking and ran to the door. She shut off the vacuum and turned down the music, already missing her alone time and wondering who the hell was here. She opened the door. “Zach.”
“Can I come in?”
“Sure.” He hadn’t told her he was coming. She didn’t have time to prepare, to put on her I don’t care armor and busy herself with plans. “Wyatt isn’t here. He went camping with a friend.”
“I didn’t come to see Wyatt. I came to show you something. Will you come for a drive with me?”
She didn’t feel like playing this game. No matter what he had in mind, none of it ended well for her. “Where?”
“Please, will you just come?”
She shrugged, unable to think of a way out of this one and not wanting to make it into a big deal. “Okay.” She stopped short when she saw the minivan in the driveway. “Is that yours?”
“It’s a rental.”
“Yeah, but wasn’t the sports car a rental, too? I mean, didn’t they have anything else?”
“This had more room for all of us. The sports car wasn’t very practical. Get in.”
He backed out of the driveway, and she had the fleeting thought that this wasn’t Zach at all but an alien sent in his place, like the guy impersonating Nick Fury in that Marvel movie. Damn, she’d been watching too much TV. “So, what brings you to town?”
“I told you, I want to show you something.”
“What, you came all the way to Texas to show me something?”
He grinned. “That’s right.”
“This better be good. Is it pirate booty?”
“No.”
“Other forms of hidden treasure?”
“No.”
“A haunted mansion?”
He shot her an amused look. “No.”
“A mythical animal?”
“No.”
“I give up.” He drove along a country road, past farms and fields of cattle. “How far are we going?”
“Not too far.”
She settled into the rhythm of the drive, her anxiety about the trip fading away. She was a grown woman. She could go for a ride with the father of her child without it being a big deal. Maybe he was involved in a business venture or wanted her opinion on something. Maybe he was taking her to a nudist colony for the day. Maybe she had a very overactive imagination.
He pulled off the main road and onto a dirt one. “It’s right up here.”
“If you leave my body in the woods, I will never forgive you.”
He burst out laughing. “I’d never leave you, Davina.” He squeezed her hand on the seat between them, and she all but stopped breathing. He turned down a smaller road that led to a forested area, her hand still resting in his.
She saw the river first, a wide, majestic view with rolling hills in the distance. Then she saw the house, the framing nearly finished but none of the walls yet hung. “Is this your place?” she asked, getting out. Wyatt had been here, she knew, but she’d turned down every invitation to do the same, and for good reason. From that very first moment, she loved it with all her heart.
“It is. It’s not finished yet, of course. Contractor says another couple of months.”
She walked through what was clearly the front door. “It’s lovely.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He crossed in front of her and leaned on a post. “Do you know what I did yesterday? I saved a little girl who’d been kidnapped halfway around the world. And the whole time I was doing it, the only things I could think of were Wyatt and you.”
He pushed off the post and closed the distance between them. “That day I left here… the day with the wine, I didn’t understand what you were trying to tell me. You wanted me to leave and I didn’t know why. Do you remember?”
She nodded, her body paralyzed by his words, afraid of what he might say next.
“I think I get it now. You were upset because I was getting ready to leave, and you would never have left me like that. Would you?”
She bit her bottom lip and shook her head.
“Because you already knew what it took me three months to figure out. That we had something you don’t ever walk away from.” He took her hand and got down on one knee.
She gasped, her hand quickly covering her mouth.
“Davina Murphy, will you marry me? Will you live in this house with me and be my wife? You’ve already given me a son. Now I want us to be a family.”
She nodded furiously. “Yes!”
He stood and kissed her lips, the feel of his strong arms around her anchoring her to the earth. She leaned back and laughed, unable to stop the giddy feeling that filled her. Nothing in the world could ever be as right as Zach Sato proposing to her by this gorgeous river, in the house of her dreams. “Wyatt’s going to flip.”
He nuzzled her neck. “You ever made love in a house with no walls?”
“Really? Here? Right now?”
“We can go to the bedroom if you want.” He pulled her ten steps to her right. “There, is that better?”
She laughed out loud and sank down to the concrete floor with the man she loved more than anything.
32
“Piggy, get out of that river!” Davina shouted, the dog barely raising its head. He was chasing fish, one of his favorite pastimes, biting at the water and barking with glee. “Damn animal’s going to be covered in mud.”
She rounded the walkway to the deck overlooking the water, her arms laden with food. There was a tray of deviled eggs, a cold jug of sweet tea, and a charcuterie board full of all Wyatt’s favorites.
Ben and Laney shared the porch swing, their arms around each other, while Wyatt and Zach played chess on the picnic table. “It’s all about anticipation. You have to see the moves your opponent will play before you move your own pieces,” said Wyatt.
Zach shook his head. “I still don’t understand.”
“It’s okay. When I first joined chess club, I didn’t get it, either. You’ll learn.”
Laney’s three-year-old daughter splashed in a kiddie pool full of bubbles on the deck. “More bubbles, Ben?”
“No more bubbles, sweetie, but I’ll get some toys to play with.”
“I’ll help,” said her slightly older son, who followed Ben around like a shadow.
Davina smiled at Laney. “It’s good to see Ben so happy.”
“I’m happy, too. I tell him every day, it’s a good thing you almost went down for murder, or we might never have gotten back together.” The women laughed.
Zach popped a deviled egg in his mouth and crossed to Davina. “What’s so funny, you two?”
“Oh, just girl talk. You should probably start up the grill.”
“I can do that.” His cell phone vi
brated on the table, and he shot a guilty glance at Davina. “I’ll get rid of whoever it is.” He looked at the caller ID and frowned. “Honey, I’ve got to take this. It’s Mac.”
He stepped off the porch toward the river and answered it. “Hey, Mac. What’s going on?”
“I heard you got married. Congratulations.”
“Thanks, old man. It was a long time coming, but I couldn’t be happier.”
“A good woman will make you, and a bad one will break you just as fast. That’s why I’m calling. It’s my wife, Ellie. I found her, but I could really use your help. Can you come out to Denver for a few days?”
He was working remotely for HERO Force, but if anyone would accommodate a time-off request to help Mac, it was Razorback. “Of course. When do you want me there?”
“As soon as you can. I think she’s in trouble, Moto. Real trouble.”
“Let me talk to Davina. I’ll call you back tonight with my flight information.”
“Thank you, Moto. You’re a true friend.”
He hung up and stared at the river. Mac didn’t sound like himself, and Moto wondered if he might be drinking again. Whatever he needed and whatever shape he was in, Moto would be there for him.
After all, they were brothers, as surely as kin.
Thank you for reading Engaging his Enemy by Amy Gamet! Read the fifth and final book in the series, (Mac & Ellie’s story) Reclaiming his Honor.
Also by Amy Gamet
Including More books in this series
HERO Force
HERO Force: Shattered SEALs
Love and Danger
Love on the Lake
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About the Author
Amy Gamet is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in upstate New York with her husband, children, too many pets and the occasional foster animal or litter. She likes to swim in the sunshine, make jewelry, and lobbies professionally for household remodeling projects. She owns an unusual number of brightly colored T-shirts and black yoga pants, and her children always ask who’s coming to visit when she runs the vacuum cleaner.
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