TWO MONTHS LATER...

Alex propped his chin on his folded arm, watching Jenna’s peaceful, sleeping face.

They were one sleep short of two weeks without nightmares. For the both of them. It would be a new record, and a reason to celebrate.

Piece by piece, they were not only reclaiming bits of themselves they’d each given up, Jenna to her stalker and him to the demons of his past, but they were also building a future.

Genghis whined at the door, but didn’t cross the threshold. The old dog had learned the perils of waking Jenna before her alarm went off...which should be just about any—

BEEP!

Jenna groaned and her face creased in sleepy complaint. She rolled away from him, slapping blindly at her bedside clock.

“You’re already awake, aren’t you?” she mumbled into her pillow.

“I woke up maybe ten minutes ago.”

She rolled back toward him, her hair strewn over the bed and the blankets tucked up under her arms.

“Excited about today?” she asked.

“Trying to not think about it.” But now that she’d mentioned it, the anxious nerves burrowed into every limb.

He threw the covers back and stood, stretching his arms up to the ceiling.

There was one more, very important thing to do before he could be bothered to think about the rest of the day.

“You shower first,” Jenna said.

Genghis trotted to Jenna’s side of the bed and stuck his nose under her hand.

“I showered last night.”

“Damn. That means I need to get up now.”

“Probably.”

He opened the closet and stared at the uniform hanging inside. They were just pants and a shirt, but they were also the opportunity for more. For things he’d stopped hoping for.

The bed shifted behind him and the wooden floor creaked as Jenna rose. He listened to the sound of her footsteps coming nearer until she was close enough he could feel her breath on his back. She slid her arms around his waist and squeezed.

“It’s going to go great,” she said.

He hoped so.

The hiring process with Ft Worth had taken a hell of a lot longer than he’d expected. Being sidelined for that long from SWAT was bad enough, but having to send Jenna off the last two weeks with the other guys was worse. It ate him up inside knowing he wasn’t going to be the one watching her back, but at least she was in good hands.

“I want to see it on you.” Jenna reached past him and pulled the shirt off the hanger.

He put on an undershirt from the dresser then slid his arms into the dress uniform sleeves. She circled to stand in front of him in nothing but one of his old t-shirts, her eyes still heavy with a good night’s rest.

“You going to swing by and see Sterling today?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She slid the first button through the hole, one side of her mouth kicked up.

“She liking your old place?”

“I think the independence is a good move for her.”

After Jenna’s abduction, she’d pretty much moved the few belongings that hadn’t been destroyed to Alex’s house, leaving her rental nearly empty. Sterling moving in was more of an accident. The former MP had needed a bolt hole, which turned into a regular residence. Sterling was fast becoming a regular fixture in their lives. Both Jenna and Sterling seemed to benefit from each other’s support, and as one improved so did the other.

“This is it.” Jenna looked up at him, her green eyes sad. She finished buttoning his shirt and smoothed the wrinkles out over his chest. “We’re never going to do another operation together. I’m going to miss having you there, but I wouldn’t want you to come back. Not if we couldn’t be together. Besides, Ft Worth SWAT Captain is way cool.”

“I’m going to miss having you there to patch me up.” He wrapped his arms around her waist.

“You’ll just have to come home for that.” She jabbed him in the chest, a slow grin spreading across her face.

She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Even fresh out of bed and unshowered, she was exquisite.

“Hey, remember to keep me in the loop on your SWAT schedule. I don’t want them to send me out if you’re already active.”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “They don’t do that for people who are dating.”

She was right. That was a courtesy reserved for married couples.

Which meant there was only one, logical solution.

Alex reached into the shoe cubby behind the closet door. Tucked inside one of his seldom worn dress shoes was a soft, velvet box. He wrapped his hand around it and pulled it to his chest. Jenna watched him, still too groggy to be curious.

She was going to hate him for this, but he hadn’t come up with a better time or place, and now it was too late to do it anywhere but in the closet with neither of them wearing pants.

“We can fix that.” He opened the jewelers box, watching her face.

It took Jenna a full two seconds to react.

She blinked several times, then glanced at his face—then back to the box. He saw the moment realization hit her. Her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide.

He should have gone down on one knee that was what men were supposed to do. Then again, he should have planned some sort of romantic evening. There were a hundred things he could do better with Jenna, a thousand ways he could show her how much he loved her better than he already was. And yet, she hadn’t kicked him to the curb yet.

“Say something.” He swallowed.

“I—don’t know what I’m supposed to say.” She lifted her gaze to his face. “Do you want to ask me something?”

“Oh—right.” He plucked the ring out of the box and let it drop to the ground. Sweat slicked his palms all of a sudden, making the silver, antique band slippery. “I should have planned something, but—”

“Alex.”

He’d made a study of the way she said his name. How she moaned it when they made love. When she used it as a curse. The way she said it now meant hurry the fuck up.

“Right.” He swiped at his brow. Maybe he needed to rethink that shower. “Jenna—will you marry me?”

“Oh my God.” Her brows rose and her mouth formed a little ‘o’.

“It’s not a fancy ring. It was my mother’s...I just...I mean, I had it and if you don’t like it—”

“It’s beautiful.” She glanced from the ring to him. “Are you serious?”

“Jenna, we already agree we’ve lost too much time not being together to not be together. I’m serious. And not just because they’ll make exceptions for our schedules, but because I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He’d never told her about the flashes of their future he’d imagined when he thought she might have died, but he wanted a chance to make those a reality.

“Are you sure you’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my—” She covered her mouth, staring at the ring. “Yes. Oh my God, yes.”

“Really?” He reached for her left hand.

“Yes.”

He slid the heirloom ring onto her finger. It was a little loose, but then she had more petite hands than his mother or grandmother had.

“I should have asked you in a better way.” What would they tell their kids about this?

Jenna laughed and hugged him tight.

“What’s better than this? Life is better lived in the moment than on a schedule.”

She was right. About so many things. And they would have a lifetime of moments to make memorable. To drive the nightmares out of their lives and fill with happiness.

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