Anna pressed the phone to her ear. “Thank you so much, Mac. Seriously, I can’t say thank you enough for taking my call so late at night. It’s a bit of . . . extenuating circumstances.” She laughed awkwardly. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

Did anyone ever expect to receive a phone call from their deadbeat ex-boyfriend from jail? A man she hadn’t heard from in fourteen years?

Extenuating circumstances didn’t even cover it.

Her attorney echoed her laugh, sounding tired. “No worries,” Mac said, “I’ll look into everything first thing in the morning. Don’t worry about it.”

Anna thanked him one more time before hanging up the phone. She tipped her head back, glancing up at the ceiling. Today had been . . . long. Between the interview from hell to the miscommunication with Luke, to having sex with Luke, to everything else. Well, she wouldn’t be surprised if she slept for the next five days.

Or if she found another gray hair down there.

It was days like this, when shit hit the fan, that she was thankful her natural blonde hair hid the majority of her aging.

Hauling herself off the kitchen chair, she headed for the stairs and for Luke and Julian. Her mind’s eye brought forth the image of her son launching himself at Luke’s chest, as though what he needed right then was the strength that only a man, a man old enough to be his father, could provide.

Even as her heart warmed at the thought, it chilled with the reminder of what Luke had suffered through during his childhood.

Sometimes it felt like the two of them were mirror images of each other: similar experiences, just at different times in their lives.

Another reason his soul called to hers, she just knew it.

“Jules?” She hit the top rung of the stairs, expecting to find her son and boyfriend (was he her boyfriend?) still in his bedroom. She stopped short, her gaze darting around. “Where’s Luke?”

“I called Brady.”

She blinked. “What?”

Julian stared down at his phone. “I didn’t know what else to do. He’s going over there and he’s already hurt. Mom, I don’t want anything to happen to—”

Anna grabbed her son by the shoulders. “Jules, what are you talking about? Why did you call Brady? And where did Luke go?”

“To Mr. Ajax’s house.”

Startled, Anna reared back. “Why would he go to . . .” Oh, no. Oh, no. She pointed at her son. “Call Danvers, too, Jules. Stay right here. Don’t move.”

“Mom, I already did!”

She heard her son’s shout as her bare feet pummeled the staircase. She’d kicked off her heels the minute she’d stepped foot inside earlier, but right now, she didn’t have time to worry about shoes.

Her gaze snagged on Julian’s baseball bat by the front door.

Screw it.

She grabbed it, threw open the door, and rushed outside.

* * *

“Tell your kids to go upstairs, Ajax.”

“So you can beat the shit out of me? No thanks.” Anna’s neighbor reclined back in his kitchen chair, throwing a glance to his two sons. “Stay there, y’all. Don’t move.”

Luke had definitely felt inclined to come over here and beat Ajax to hell—but he’d seen too many young faces be traumatized by the sight of violence over the years. Violence that he, himself, had often delivered.

He wasn’t about to pull that sort of stunt in front of Ajax’s kids. One was Julian’s age, the other one much younger.

“Dad,” said the older one, “should we call the police?”

“Don’t worry about it, Toby. We’re good—aren’t we, Mr. O’Connor?”

Luke grit his teeth, his hands fisting at his sides. “Sure are.”

Ajax grinned brightly, showing off straight white teeth, and folded his arms across his chest. “Plus, Toby, Mr. O’Connor is a cripple. Not much he can do to me when he’s likely to be on his ass in seconds.”

How wrong would it be if he just clocked the guy in the face—just one more time. Once was all he’d need. Enough to get his point across: mess with the Bryce family another time and Luke would purposely see his ass in jail for conspiracy to blackmail.

The military might not be city law enforcement, but Luke was well aware of state laws. By helping out Anthony Mardeaux, Ajax had drawn a fat, red X on his back.

The moment Luke had nearly busted down the front door, Ajax had known what was up. He’d opened the door, accepted Luke’s fist to his face, and then offered Luke a beer like the smooth sweet talker he no doubt pretended to be every day of his life.

“How do you know Mardeaux?” he demanded, watching Ajax’s hands. As long as he could see his hands, he was good.

“Old college friends. I knew Anna, too, back at Tulane. Doubt she remembers me. She was too wrapped up in my roommate to notice when anyone else was around.” Ajax tipped his beer up to his mouth, a knowing smile playing at his lips. “Only time I ever saw her naked, Mardeaux was deep inside her. I came back early from class sometimes, just to see if I could catch a glimpse of what she wore beneath her classy clothes.” He looked to his boys. “Go upstairs.”

“Dad,” Toby started, but was soundly cut off.

“Go upstairs, you hear me?”

The boys fled the kitchen, leaving Ajax and Luke alone.

The douchebag at the table took another pull of his beer. “Where were we? Oh yeah, I was talking about how hard I used to get for your girlfriend. Imagine my surprise when I just so happened to move in next door to her. It was like all my college fantasies were about to come true.”

Luke didn’t register his feet moving, but then his hands were around Ajax’s throat, squeezing just hard enough to inspire fear in the other man.

Except that Ajax appeared to be a lunatic because all he did was grin. “You going to kill me, Mr. O’Connor? Be just like your father? Don’t think I haven’t heard the rumors about dear Sean O’Connor. Total asshole, am I right? How do you think people would react to finding out that his son is just like him?”

“I’m nothing like him,” Luke growled, planting his knee into Ajax’s stomach to keep him in place. “You got a place for your kids to stay once you end up in jail? Because that’s where you’re going to go, fucker.” He leaned in, meeting the man’s gaze. “I hope you and Mardeaux are real tight after all, because his face will be the best thing you see for the next five to seven years.”

Luke didn’t expect it.

The searing heat in his left thigh.

His bad leg crumpling beneath him.

His vision swimming as he heard a familiar feminine shout.

Bone crunching.

A body landing next to his.

Holy fuck, was that Anna wielding a baseball bat?

Shitty vision or not, blinding pain in his leg or not, he watched as the love of his life came to his rescue.

And, maybe, if it had been under any other circumstance, he would have laughed because this was the first time he could ever remember that someone had been there for him, willing to go all the way to make sure he was safe.

Except, shit.

No.

She had to stop.

“Blondie!” He heard her half-sob, half-warrior-queen shout, saw her hazy shadow move to the side. “Anna, stop.”

“He stabbed you,” she said.

Huh. So that’s what the burning fire in his leg was all about.

Ajax let out a groan beside him, and then there was the sound of feet tromping into the house.

“Oh, Jesus Christ.” Brady. Luke almost laughed with relief. “Is that a kitchen knife sticking out of his leg?”

Another male voice. “A butter knife, I think.” Danvers. Of course. “Who knew that shit could draw so much blood?”

“Are you assholes going to help me or just let me bleed out?” Luke seized air into his lungs, drawing in deep breaths. “Also, please tell me Ajax isn’t dead.”

“He’s not dead.” Anna’s familiar perfume swirled around him as he felt her kneel by his side. Her gentle hands went to this chest, and her breath caressed his face as she kissed his forehead. He felt something wet fall—a teardrop, he realized.

She was crying.

Over him.

“I love you.” The words were torn from his soul, and even though he couldn’t quite see her—his vision was still so bleary—he heard her sharp intake of air. “I love you, Anna Bryce.”

“Wanna wait until the knife is out of your leg before you start confessing?” Brady asked, even as more people entered the kitchen. “EMS is here and they’re ready to make you feel pretty again.”

Luke choked on a laugh. “Fuck you, Brady.”

“We talking about Taylor’s fake snake again?” Danvers piped up, and then Ajax was groaning again. “Good swing, Anna. I think you’ve successfully managed to break his pelvic bone.”

“I was going for his dick.”

“With a baseball bat?” Danvers said, whistling low. “Remind me to never let you alone with Jade again. I have no intention of losing the goods, now or ever.”

Luke grasped Anna’s hand. “The kids are upstairs.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Brady said.

And then Luke was biting back a curse as his body was lifted onto a stretcher. But still, he needed to share what he’d learned. “He admitted to everything,” he ground out. “Grab my phone. Front pocket.”

“Looks like O’Connor wants to get in with the fake snake action.”

“Danvers, shut up.” Luke tried to lift his hand to reach into his pocket himself. “I recorded the whole conversation. Everything. He’s been feeding Mardeaux information about Anna for months now, all so that Mardeaux could blackmail her when the time was right.”

Ajax groaned again.

“Looks like you’ll be going to jail, buddy.” A hand clapped down on Luke’s shoulder, and then Brady added, “If you ever stop managing to get your leg trampled or stabbed, you’d probably do well on the NOPD.”

Luke grimaced. “That’s the plan.”

“Figured so.”

The stretcher jolted into motion, rolling out of the house and down the front lawn. He heard Julian’s voice in the night, calling his name, and then Brady telling the kid that Luke would be all right.

And then he blinked, and his vision cleared as if someone had snapped their fingers, and Anna’s beautiful face was there. Tears stained her cheeks as she glared at him, but then the ruse broke, and she threw her arms around his neck. He inhaled her perfume, the very scent of her.

“I’m okay, Blondie.”

Her hold tightened, even as a few of the EMS technicians tried to pull her off so they could boost him up into the ambulance. She didn’t let go.

“I love you,” she whispered into his ear. “I love you so much, Luke, and if you die, I’m going to personally make sure that I kill you all over again.”

His heart felt ready to burst. “Pretty sure that’s scientifically impossible, sweetheart.”

“If you’re in our career enough, you see some pretty strange stuff,” one of the technicians said. “People coming back to life is one of them.”

“I stand corrected.”

Anna ignored his teasing, choosing instead to cup his face. Luke stilled at her staid expression. “I love you,” she repeated, louder this time. “I don’t know if I’ve loved you since that first night at Tuck’s when you told me that you weren’t interested, but I definitely wanted to jump your bones that night.”

“Who doesn’t?”

“Shut up, Danvers,” Anna said, but she did so with a grin and a light laugh. She turned back to Luke. “I don’t know how you managed it, but you’ve become my very best friend, Luke O’Connor. My best friend and my lover and the only man I want to spend the rest of my life with. Seeing you almost die”—she sucked down a moan, and his heart twisted at the sound—“I lost it. I lost it right then and there, and I will never stop fighting for you. You’ve fought alone for so long, but we’re a pack, Luke, we’re a pack, you, Julian, and me, and I will never let you forget it.”

“What am I, then? Yesterday’s chopped liver? Luke, I thought we had something going.”

“DANVERS!”

This time it came from both Anna and Luke, and Danvers doubled over in laughter. “God, it’s too easy.”

“I hate him,” Luke muttered.

“I love you, Lukey!”

“Someone, please take the knife out of my leg and put it straight through his heart.”

“Jade would be upset.”

“Someone has to make a sacrifice. She’s had you for almost a year.”

Chuckling, Danvers patted Luke’s good leg and moved off to the side, allowing Luke the chance to stare up at the woman with hair as soft as moonlight and eyes the color of the Mediterranean Sea. “I know what you were looking for that day, when we first ran into each other.”

Even in the dark, he saw her cheeks turn pink. “Yeah?”

“I sucked it up and asked my mother. Turns out that a lot of women in the area have heard a rumor that lavender promotes love, or the chance to fall in love, anyway.”

She bit her lip. “Um . . .”

“I’m here to tell you that it worked.”

“I never bought the oil.”

Luke reached for her hand, and pulled her close. Her lips closed over his, and he released a sigh. “It brought you to me, Blondie, and for that reason alone, it worked. It brought me my best friend, the one woman who never lets me back out of a dare, who refuses to accept nothing less than a man who loves her.”

She squeaked when he palmed her butt, and made a move to punch him in the arm before letting her hand fall to her side. “Is that so?”

“Yeah. But I’ve got something else to tell you.”

Her lips lifted in a hopeful smile. “Yeah?”

“You got your wish.”

She eyed his body, biting her lower lip seductively. “That I did, knife and all, Luke O’Connor.”

He chuckled. “Nah, sweetheart. It’s just that you’ve been looking for Mr. Right and never found him . . .”

“Because Mr. All Wrong was perfect for me, all he had to do was see that his Miss All Wrong was waiting for him.”

“Mrs.”

“What?”

“Just wanted to test it out,” Luke murmured, enjoying the way Anna’s eyes lit up. “Mr. and Mrs. All Wrong—has a good ring to it, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

“Oh, my God, will someone tell them to kiss already?” someone shouted from the back. “We’ve been trying to be patient, but the man is bleeding and I’m missing my favorite TV show right now. Get on with it, already!”

Luke grinned. “Want to give them a show?”

Anna didn’t answer. She bent down, closed her lips over his, and reminded Luke that his life had come full circle.

A game of football had launched him out of the army, and into the arms of a woman who was both his downfall, his weakness, and also his biggest source of strength.

Hooah.