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Paige let go of one of his hands to nudge his arm in reprimand. “Ha ha,” she muttered. “Not funny.”

He smiled. “So I guess that ends three years of misery.” His blue eyes searched hers. “And begins who-knows-how-many more years of recovering from this.”

Paige closed her eyes. “So many people died today. Too many people. I can’t believe he did it.”

Bringing her hand to his lips, Logan kissed her fingers. “Hey, try not to think about that right now. We’ll have plenty of time to deal with it all later.”

She snorted. “So what do you suggest I think about?”

A sudden grin split his lips wide. “You could always think about me.”

Paige rolled her eyes. “I always think about you anyway.”

Lifting his eyebrows, Logan looked suddenly interested. “Always?”

“Since the first day I came to Granton and saw you across a crowded classroom,” she said, “you’ve never been far from the forefront of my mind.”

“I couldn’t get you out of my head either,” he confessed. “Even though I knew you hated me, there was something about you. Which makes me wonder, is this poor bed-ridden guy going to get his happy ending and snag the girl, or what?”

Paige gaped at him, unable to believe she saw uncertainty on his face. “Uh…” For a moment, she was too bewildered to speak. “Let’s see. I raced toward a bloody massacre to make sure you were okay and defied my own father to stay here with you. Not to mention, you swept in like a total hero, literally stepping in front of a speeding bullet to save my life. Um, yeah, I’d say you snagged the girl.”

He closed his eyes, looking satisfied. “Good. That’s all I needed to hear.”

“Is that so?” she teased, hitching up one eyebrow. “So you didn’t need to hear that your entire family was here to see you?”

He opened his eyes. “Okay, that was pretty amazing too. I couldn’t believe it when Mom told me you’d gone to talk to them, though. She said you got them thinking so much they’d actually hired a private investigator to find me.”

Paige’s mouth dropped open. “They didn’t know where you were? Goodness, that hadn’t even occurred to me. I could’ve told them that.”

He grinned, looking amused by her surprise. “I love you so much.”

“And that’s what I needed to hear.” With a grin, Paige squeezed his hand and immediately loosened her grip when she brushed her thumb over his IV. She tried to pull away, afraid she’d hurt him, but he wouldn’t let her go.

Eyes losing their cheerful gleam, he grew serious. “Will you marry me?” When her mouth fell open, he rushed to add, “I mean, someday. Maybe after we both graduate.”

“Or sooner.” Paige’s chest filled with hope.

His breath caught. “Or sooner,” he repeated. A grin exploding across his face, he said, “Wow. That right there was all I needed to hear.”

“Hey.” She fake pouted. “We’ve both already used that line. You can’t get a twofer from it.”

He scoffed. “A twofer?”

She nodded astutely.

He grinned, his eyes dazzling to a brilliant azure, the deep shadows under them looking momentarily clear. “Twofer has to be worse than bad-thing magnet and forthwith. As soon as you get me my thesaurus, I’m letting you borrow it. Besides.” Placing a hand over his heart, he gave a bad imitation of a groan. “I should get my twofer. I’m wounded and drugged.”

Narrowing her eyes, she scowled. “Oh, so we’re pulling out the wounded card already, are we? I hope you don’t think you can get whatever you want for the next few months just because of a little bullet wound to the chest.”

He laughed. A second later, the color fled his face, and he clutched the bandaging over the bullet wound in his chest as his chuckle turned into a real life gasp of pain. “Ouch.”

“Oh my God. Are you okay? Don’t laugh.”

“Sorry,” he choked out, breathing heavily.

“Okay, okay. You can use the wounded card whenever you want. Just don’t pull your stitches, or staples, or whatever they are.”

He chuckled again only to end the laughter on a groan.