by Jill Sanders
“I’ll do that. Later,” he agreed.
It did his heart good making plans with her for their future. At least she’d stopped hinting and talking about moving away from him.
The fact that she believed that any of what had happened was her fault had him growing even angrier. Not at her, but at the Dixons.
For the next two hours, he chatted with everyone he knew from the campground. Some employees came and went quickly, while others lingered longer.
Shortly before dark, Elle, Hannah, and Scarlett helped clean up the mess and did all the dishes while he talked to Levi and Aiden on the back porch.
Lea was lying on the sofa, watching a movie and trying desperately not to fall asleep.
“So.” Aiden glanced around the large backyard. “You want a covered patio?” he asked. “Lea mentioned it.”
Brett smiled. “We’re thinking about it.”
“Does that mean the two of you are going to make things final like the rest of us are?” Levi asked.
Brett smiled. “We’re thinking about it.”
“Oh?” Aiden said, sounding surprised.
“Not that I’ve mentioned it to Lea, but…” He shrugged. “You don’t go through something like that without reevaluating your relationship.”
“The two of you have known each other forever,” Levi said.
“Kind of like you and Scar,” Aiden added.
“Yeah,” Levi said with a smile.
“Did you hear anything more about the Dixons?” Aiden asked.
Brett’s smile fell away.
“No. Last we heard, the judge is denying everything his son is saying. The son even tried to deny that he’d known what his son had planned, but when the pair of them were caught on a security camera parking Senior’s truck in the parking lot where they would stash my car, he finally admitted that they had planned to kidnap her. They’d followed Lea to the camp and waited for us to drive away. They drove around town with the damn boar in the bed of their truck for hours. They figured I, being the good cop I was, would stop and try to move it from the road.” He took another sip of his beer to get rid of the sour taste in his mouth at the thought of it. “Junior jumped in my car and knocked Lea out while Senior waited at the judge’s new place. They carried Lea upstairs together, and she took a chunk out of Senior’s hand,”
“Way to go,” Levi said with a smile.
“Yeah, thanks to the self-defense moves she learned from Aubrey. Anyway, they knocked her out, kicked her, and Senior went to dump my car at the pier and retrieve his.”
“What was their plan? To kill her?” Aiden asked.
“Not clear. She said they mentioned teaching her a lesson. But in my mind, two grown men don’t go to such lengths to kidnap a woman without that being a possibility.” He set his empty beer can down.
“Right,” Aiden said with a sigh. “It’s a lucky thing you left your phone in the car. Lea mentioned that she hadn’t enabled the find-my-phone app on her phone.”
“It is now,” Brett said dryly.
“Same for all of ours,” Aiden added. “I think we all enabled it after that night.”
“Yup.” Levi nodded. “Who would have thought.” He shook his head. “You got lucky.”
“Yeah.” He nodded and turned to look back in the house at Lea, fast asleep on his sofa.
“She’s tired. You both probably are. We’ll get out of your hair,” Aiden said, shaking his hand.
“Thanks. I don’t know if I said it before, but… thanks,” Brett said and then let his best friend pull him in for a hug.
“Any time,” Aiden said.
After quietly walking the rest of the group out, he locked the door and then moved over to look down at Lea.
She was still covered in bruises all over her body and her forehead. She complained that her ribs hurt every time she laughed or sneezed. He thought about picking her up and carrying her into their bedroom, but instead, he lay down beside her on the sofa and pulled her into his arms. He hit the mute button on the remote and fell asleep right there with his arms tightly around her.
When he woke, sunlight was blinding him, and Lea was nowhere to be found.
When he walked into their room, he could hear the shower shut off.
“There you are,” he said, stepping into the bathroom. “Why are you up so early?” he asked, wondering if it was early. He hadn’t even looked at the time yet.
“I thought we’d head in and see how Aiden is doing at the clinic. He mentioned they had some of the walls in already.”
“Okay, if you feel up to it.”
“I do. Just as long as we move slow.” She smiled and then leaned up on her toes to kiss him.
“I can do slow.” He wrapped his arms around her and brushed his lips across hers. “Or fast. Whatever you want.”
She smiled. “Well, I might want some fast…” She brushed her lips across his. “Before we do the slow.”
He backed her up until her knees hit the side of the bed, then he smiled when her towel fell to the floor.
“This will never get old,” he said as he dipped his head and ran his mouth over her skin. “Tell me if I hurt you,” he said before lifting her and laying her gently on the bed.
A little over an hour later, they walked hand in hand into her new clinic. She was correct. Aiden and his men had pretty much completed all the interior walls. They walked through what would be the reception area down a hallway past several smaller examining rooms and back into a larger office area.
“This one is mine,” Lea said with a smile.
“Nice,” he said, looking around. “It appears as if the workers are done for the day.”
“I sent Aiden a text telling him we were coming,” Lea said.
“Oh?” He glanced over at her and realized that she looked a little sick. “Is everything okay? You look…”
“I’m okay,” she said quickly and then shook her head. “I, um, wanted this to be… I don’t know how…” She took a deep breath and shook her head. “I almost lost you,” she blurted out.
He walked over and wrapped his arms around her. “We got lucky,” he agreed.
“When I was tied up and alone, I wished for several things,” she said, meeting his eyes.
“Okay,” he said with a smile, figuring she’d continue talking when she was ready.
“I wished that my parents would never have to be told that I’d been murdered by some backwoods…” She shook her head again. “I digress. I wished that I would be able to see you again.” She cupped his face. “I wished that you’d move in with me, that we’d live together.”
He smiled. “Done and done.” He chuckled and got a smile from her as well.
“And…” She paused for a heartbeat. “I wished that we’d have a full happy life together.”
“Sounds good to me,” he agreed.
“As husband and wife,” she added.
“Okay,” he said smoothly.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You…” She shook her head. “I’m asking you…”
“I know what you’re asking.” He pulled her closer. “You beat me to it though since you’re so impatient.” He joked. “I had an entire dinner planned for us.” He tilted his head as if he were thinking. “Maybe on a private beach somewhere, surrounded by flowers…” She slapped him on the shoulder and laughed. “Okay, how about this.” He glanced around, then stood back and got down on one knee, his bare knee landing in a pile of sawdust. Taking her hand in his, he asked. “Lea Val, love of my life, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
She chuckled. “Is that all you’ve got?”
His smile fell away slightly. “I’ve already proven to you that I’d risk my own life to save you once. I can promise you that for the rest of our lives together, I will continue to do so. You’re the smartest woman I know, the kindest and”—he wiggled his eyebrows—“the sexiest. I want to spend the rest of my life making you laugh, making you groan with pleasure.” She chuckled. “Making you
r every wish come true. Marry me?”
“Yes.” She smiled down at him.
He stood back up and kissed her slowly.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to work in this office without seeing you kneeling in a pile of sawdust,” she joked.
He laughed. “Good. Then it’s one of the happiest places I know.” He kissed her again. “Is this everything you ever wished for?” he asked, glancing around the room.
She looked into his eyes. “Yes,” she said. “Everything and more.”
Also by Jill Sanders
The Pride Series
Finding Pride
Discovering Pride
Returning Pride
Lasting Pride
Serving Pride
Red Hot Christmas
My Sweet Valentine
Return To Me
Rescue Me
A Pride Christmas
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The Secret Series
Secret Seduction
Secret Pleasure
Secret Guardian
Secret Passions
Secret Identity
Secret Sauce
* * *
The West Series
Loving Lauren
Taming Alex
Holding Haley
Missy’s Moment
Breaking Travis
Roping Ryan
Wild Bride
Corey’s Catch
Tessa’s Turn
Saving Trace
Christmas Holly
* * *
The Grayton Series
Last Resort
Someday Beach
Rip Current
In Too Deep
Swept Away
High Tide
Sunset Dreams
* * *
Lucky Series
Unlucky In Love
Sweet Resolve
Best of Luck
A Little Luck
Christmas Wish
* * *
Silver Cove Series
Silver Lining
French Kiss
Happy Accident
Hidden Charm
A Silver Cove Christmas
Sweet Surrender
Second Chances
* * *
Entangled Series – Paranormal Romance
The Awakening
The Beckoning
The Ascension
The Presence
The Calling
The Chosen
* * *
Haven, Montana Series
Closer to You
Never Let Go
Holding On
Coming Home
The Hard Way
* * *
Pride Oregon Series
A Dash of Love
My Kind of Love
Season of Love
Tis the Season
Dare to Love
Where I Belong
Because of Love
A Thing Called Love
First Comes Love
Someone to Love
* * *
Wildflowers Series
Summer Nights
Summer Heat
Summer Secrets
Summer Fling
Summer’s End
Summer’s Wish
* * *
Distracted Series
Wake Me
Tame Me
* * *
Stand Alone Books
Twisted Rock
Hope Harbor
Raven Falls
* * *
For a complete list of books:
http://JillSanders.com
About the Author
Jill Sanders is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of Sweet Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Western Romance, and Paranormal Romance novels. With over 75 books in eleven series, translations into several different languages, and audiobooks there’s plenty to choose from. Look for Jill’s bestselling stories wherever romance books are sold or visit her at jillsanders.com
* * *
Jill comes from a large family with six siblings, including an identical twin. She was raised in the Pacific Northwest and later relocated to Colorado for college and a successful IT career before discovering her talent for writing sweet and sexy page-turners. After Colorado, she decided to move south, living in Texas and now making her home along the Emerald Coast of Florida. You will find that the settings of several of her series are inspired by her time spent living in these areas. She has two sons and off-set the testosterone in her house by adopting three furry little ladies that provide her company while she’s locked in her writing cave. She enjoys heading to the beach, hiking, swimming, wine-tasting, and pickleball with her husband, and of course writing. If you have read any of her books, you may also notice that there is a love of food, especially sweets! She has been blamed for a few added pounds by her assistant, editor, and fans… donuts or pie anyone?
