Yet she’d hoped to see him.

Try not to get kidnapped again, and you won’t need me.

Danger was a part of her life. A part that she wouldn’t push into his world. Not anymore.

She attempted to smile because she didn’t want him to see just how much this was hurting her.

“No.” His hard growl had her smile freezing.

Then vanishing.

“You aren’t leaving me,” Brodie told her as he rose up from the bed.

She grabbed for the sheet and held it carefully to her breasts as she suddenly felt far too vulnerable next to him.

“I had to watch you walk away before. I had to wonder about you for years.” His head came toward hers. “That’s not happening again. I can’t go through that hell again.”

“Brodie—”

“Do you even remember what I said to you? When I was carrying you out of that damn blood-filled garage?”

No, she didn’t. Things had been kind of foggy then, what with the blood loss and the panic and the shock.

“I. Love. You.”

She shook her head. Was she still in shock? Because Jennifer thought she’d heard him say—

“I love you,” he said again, the words softer but the expression in his eyes just as hard.

“You can’t,” Jennifer whispered back as she tightened her hold on that sheet. “You don’t...you don’t know me.” No one did. Jennifer Wesley wasn’t real. She—

“I love Jennifer Wesley. I love Jenny Belmont. I love the woman who goes wild in my arms. I love the woman who risks her life for my family. I love the woman that I hold in the night. The woman who makes me smile even when I want to explode. I love you.”

“I’m not safe.” Her words seemed far too soft. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Stephen found me. What if others do, too? What if—”

“If anyone ever comes after you again, I will be right there, standing at your side.”

He wasn’t listening to her. I love you. And his words were all she could hear. “I don’t want you put at risk.”

“I can handle risk.”

“Your family—”

He had her caged between the headboard and his body. “What do you think I’ll do without you?”

She didn’t want to think about her life without him. So much had changed for her in just a few short days. No, he’d changed everything.

“You came to me because you thought you could trust me. You thought I’d help keep you safe.”

Jennifer nodded.

“Sweetheart, I will spend the rest of my life loving you and keeping you safe. Making you happy. Doing anything you want.” His gaze searched hers. “I can’t watch you walk away again. I told you that before, in that damn police station.”

He didn’t understand. She was trying to do what was right. “I never should have brought my danger to your door. If Sullivan had been killed, if Davis had—”

“They weren’t, and we can do what-ifs all day long, but they don’t change anything. The fact is...I love you, and I’d take any risk to be with you.”

But would he really risk his family? No, that just wasn’t Brodie. For him, family always came first.

He swore, obviously reading her fears on her face. “If you leave, then I’m just going to come with you.”

And leave his family? “No!”

“I can vanish with you, or you can stay here and build a life with me. Those are the choices.”

He would really give up everything for her?

“Unless...” Now she saw a flash of vulnerability in his eyes. She’d never seen him look vulnerable before. Not Brodie. “Unless you don’t love me. Unless you don’t want to be with me—”

She put her hands on his cheeks and she kissed him. Deeply. Wildly. The same way she loved him. “I love you,” Jennifer whispered against his lips. “More than anything.”

His shoulders slumped. “Then stay with me. We can make it work. We can make anything work if we’re together.”

“If something else happened to your family because of me...” With the past already between them, with his parents’ death... “Brodie, I couldn’t handle that. You couldn’t handle it.”

He pulled back just a little and stared down at her with blazing eyes. “You didn’t do it. You weren’t responsible for what happened to my parents.”

“But I brought Stephen—”

“My brother asked Shayne if he killed my parents. In his final moments, he said he didn’t.”

Jennifer’s breath caught in her throat.

“Then Davis asked him...he asked him if he knew who had killed them...”

Pain came then, flashing over his face.

“Brodie?”

“The last thing Shayne said was...Montgomery.”

She started to shake her head—

“The Montgomery ranch is right next door. Mark Montgomery’s father...he killed himself two months after my parents died. The puzzle pieces are all there. We just have to figure them out.” His hands tightened on her arms. “We will figure them out.”

Her heart ached as she stared at him.

“We know Brushard had a man in the area back then—the same man who was watching you. We will track him down. We’ll get all of his photos, learn everything he saw. Every day, we will get closer to finding out what really happened to my parents.”

She wanted closure for him because every time he mentioned his parents, she could see the pain in his eyes.

“I can face anything,” Brodie told her, “any damn thing, as long as I have you. Please, Jennifer, don’t leave again. Stay with me. If danger comes, then we’ll be ready for it. Hell, sweetheart, I’m a SEAL. I’m the best man you can have at your side when hell comes calling.”

He was the only man she wanted at her side, and in her bed, for the rest of her life.

The only man in her heart.

“Stay?” he asked softly, his mouth just inches from her own.

She thought about the past six years. About the times she’d caught herself looking over her shoulder, looking for him.

Life wasn’t about fear. It wasn’t about regret.

So she stared into his eyes, she saw the love there, and Jennifer whispered, “Yes.”

Because he was right. They would face any danger coming their way. Together. He would fight for her, she knew it, and Jennifer would do anything to protect him and his family.

Her SEAL had given her a second chance. She was going to take that chance, and they’d see where the future led them.

This time, her love was stronger than her fear.

This time...she held him tightly. She didn’t let go.

And she knew that finally, finally, with Brodie...she was home.

Epilogue

Mark Montgomery had been Davis McGuire’s friend for as long as Davis could remember.

Davis trusted him just as much as he trusted his brothers.

But then...he’d trusted Shayne Townsend, too.

Davis stood back. His brothers were at his side, his sister close by. They all watched as Shayne Townsend was laid to rest. He turned his head and glanced over at Brodie. His twin’s face was hard, tense. Jennifer was at Brodie’s side, her arms around him.

Jennifer Wesley. She’d come into their lives like a cyclone, and she’d changed Brodie’s world. There would be no going back for Brodie, not now.

I want to marry her. Brodie had told him that the night before. But Jennifer’s scared... She worries her past might hurt me.

Brodie wasn’t going to let anyone or anything hurt his lady.

Davis’s gaze slid to the right. To Mark Montgomery. Mark was staring at the grave site with an expression much like Brodie’s. Hard. Tense. Angry.

But then Mark moved...shifted...and his stare locked on Davis’s sister, Ava.

Davis saw the flash of longing there. Davis had seen that same longing in Mark’s gaze before, but Mark had never made a move to touch Ava.

And I’m damned glad of that fact.

Because after Shayne’s dying words, Davis didn’t know if he was looking at a friend...

Or at a killer.

The service ended. The crowd started to slip away. But Mark...Mark closed in on Ava.