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A life that included him.
If she’d have him.
“When this is over,” he said, the words slow and cautious. “Do you want to stay? Keep working on the rez?”
She raised her tear-streaked face. He saw the answer in her eyes before she spoke.
“I love it here, Caleb. I feel needed in a way I never have before.”
His heart thundered in his ears, his throat dry as a desert. “What if I stayed? I’d still need to travel for assignments, of course, but what if I decided to make this my home? At least for a little while.”
Surprise lit her face. Hope, too. Something that settled the last of his nerves.
“I’d love that. And your family would, too. They love you.” She rose on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. Her eyes softened.
“Ilove you.”
The words hit Caleb like a grenade. Joy detonated in his chest.
“I love you, too.”
Pleasure bloomed in her eyes and on her cheeks. “You do?”
He laughed. “Yeah, I do.”
On impulse, he gave in to a bit of whimsy and swung her around the tiny living room.
So this was what it felt like to walk on the moon. His body felt so light, his boots barely touched the ground.
A shadow chased across her beautiful face.
Heart stuttering, he stilled and set her down, searching her face. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m so happy.” She caressed his cheek. “And that scares me. I don’t want to lose you now that I’ve found you.”
The shimmer inher eyes sliced through him like a blade.
“You won’t lose me.”
He kissed her, deep and sure, sealing the promise with everything he had.
But even as he held her close, a chill crept down his spine.
Life had just served him a bright future with an amazing woman.
With one giant caveat.
They had to survive.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Change of plans. We meet today. This afternoon.
Calebstoodatthesliding glass door of the safe house, phone in hand. He tugged the tarp aside, letting winter sunlight flood the room. Sixty degrees already—false spring, the kind that teased warmth before the temperature plummeted again.
Vincente Lopez’s text had arrived an hour ago.
Clever bastard.