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I laughed at the ridiculous surprise.

Then she gestured to her right. “Let me introduce to you the innovative new dental equipment series called Bullseye. Check out this dental handpiece.” She pressed the button, and all I heard was barely a whisper.

“Wow. You did it.” A thrill rushed through me, followed by pride.

“I made this for you.” She kissed me lightly on the lips. “But these inventions will also help others.”

She created a novel tool to counter my fear. If that wasn’t love, what was? Emotions overflowed as I studied her showing off the devices.

“Check out the high vac suction and the bendable saliva ejector. You can hardly hear anything. These are just prototypes right now. I’m trying to remove the sound altogether. As I use them, I’ll give feedback for improvements.” She placed everything back in its proper place and looked at me. “What do you think?”

“I think you’reextraordinary.” I rose from the chair and embraced her. “Thank you for thinking of me, about my fears, and wanting to help me conquer them. Just so you know, my phobia has diminished tremendously because of you.” The last cleaning I had with her was a breeze. “I love you so much.”

“Ditto.”

My heart raced as my nerves intensified. But there was a good reason. I was about to change our lives forever. Despite the joy on her face, she might say no. A memory surfaced of her first rejection of a date with me, but I shoved it away.

I inhaled a breath and dropped to my knees.

Her mouth dropped open. “What are you doing?”

I reached into my pants pocket and pulled out a black box with a brilliant cut diamond ring. “Will you marry me?”

Vivian

My heart galloped, leaped, twirled, and did all kinds of strange things in my chest as I stared at him. My gorgeous lover, protector, and strategist. This man was mine, and I was so grateful he never walked away from my initial rejection. Because of him, I could enjoy life and live it without fear or pain from the past.

We were each other’s medicine. Tears filled my eyes. “Yes!”

He slipped the ring onto my finger, stood up, and watched me shift my hand around under the light. “It’s stunning. You did an excellent job.”

“Kaylee helped me pick it out.”

“I love it even more.” I couldn’t stop staring at the ring on my finger. It made my hand look different.

“I already asked your father.”

“When?” I blinked.

“The California visit when we brought Aimee back.”

That had been months ago. “You planned this back then?”

I yanked her to me. “I guess you can say you’ve been my target from the very beginning. And I had a detailed plan to make you mine.”

“You’re a dangerous man.” I looped my arms around his neck. “I can’t wait to be your wife.”

“And you’re a dangerous woman now that you’re working part-time making equipment for government spies.”

I’d taken the offer from the government to work with their special ops team regarding crowns, dentures, braces, and other dental options that could be converted into weapons when necessary. I figured this job would benefit my fiancé and his friends in their fight against The Trogyn. More importantly, I had the support from the government to create dental tools for my patients at a fraction of the cost to me. So we both won in this collaboration.

On top of that, Arrow and I were opening clinics in remote areas in Vietnam and China to offer free dental care. We’d also hire local dentists to join our organization. My partner in crime had made my dream come true.

“That just means you can’t hide anything from me. I will find out one way or another.”

“I’m an open book to you, Tulip. How about we share the good news with Kaylee? She’d be thrilled.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “Aimee is due to arrive in three hours with her parents.”

“Excellent idea.”