We went home and climbed in bed. The moment wasn’t sexual. That could only come later, after I’d apologized at least a dozen more times. I’d been programmed to think the worst of people, to fight for everything, and it would take time to break those habits.

While Ana slept curled against my body, I counted my blessings instead of my curses. None of our lives had been easy, but we’d made it this far, and we would continue to move forward. Only this time it would be different because the journey wouldn’t be traveled alone.

Several hours later, we dressed and went to the hospital where Grace and a recently discharged Mona sat in the waiting room. Nate had made it through his second surgery, and it looked like he’d make a full recovery.

When the nurse told us he was awake, I asked for a minute alone with him.

He looked like shit, but his bruised skin was beautiful because Nate was alive, and it was good to be alive.

“God, man, you really did a number on yourself. Do you remember what happened?”

He took a deep breath and winced. “Every damn minute of it. I was cruising at eighty with the wind in my hair when I saw the sheriff up ahead.” He leaned forward and tried to adjust his pillow. I reached behind him and helped. When he leaned back, he continued with his story. “I tried to downshift, and the clutch got stuck. Next thing I knew, I was on the sheriff’s ass. I whipped around him but hit the soft shoulder, and that was it. I remember seeing a tree race toward me, but that’s all I recall.”

I didn’t want to tire him out before the rest of the gang had a chance to see him, so I saved the story about Ana being Sparrow for later. Nate’s eyes were already drooping, and I rushed out to shuffle the rest of the group inside before he fell asleep. Mona limped along while Ana and Grace raced ahead.

“You were right, Mona. Ana is Sparrow.” I slid my hand through Mona’s arm and helped her shuffle forward.

She looked up at me with her silvery blue eyes. “Don’t you know I’m always right?”

I laughed because it was the truth. I’d never known Mona to be wrong. “You’re right again, you’ve never been wrong.”

Softness settled in her hauntingly light eyes. “She’s risen from the ashes. Don’t let her get away.”

“I won’t.” I cupped the face of the woman who had been there for me when no one else was around. “I love you, Mona.”

A tear slipped from her eye. “I love you too, Ryker, but I still can’t have your babies, so get that girl home and get on with it, will you?” She picked up her pace and limped into Nate’s room.

It didn’t take long for Nate to tire, and when his eyes drooped and finally closed, we all left. Grace went home with Mona to make sure she didn’t need anything. That meant Ana and I would be alone for the night.

Back at the house, my car sat in the driveway with my keys tucked under the floor mat. It was the first of many olive branches I hoped to exchange with Sam.

Right away I ran Ana a bath and poured her a glass of wine. I’d done a lot of things with her, but I’d never romanced her. Wasn’t it time? She soaked in the bath while I changed the sheets and lit candles in the bedroom.

When she emerged, I was waiting on the bed with the sheet pulled to my waist.

“You look like a sacrifice waiting to be claimed.” She dropped her towel and walked her beautiful nakedness toward me.

“Will you claim me?”

She crawled like a cat from the end of the bed to my lap. “I will always claim you, Ryker. You’re mine. You have been since that day I gave you a daisy and asked you to marry me.”

“You remember.” It was one of my favorite memories too.

I flipped her to her back and pressed my body on top of hers. Her skin was velvet smooth. She smelled so sweet. I traced my tongue from her neck to her core and swiped it between the folds of her sex. Ana was mine today, tomorrow, and forever.

I spent a lifetime between her thighs making sure she was happy. She writhed and wriggled beneath my tongue, and when she tensed, I pulled away. “I’m going to make you scream my name, Ana, and when I do, I want you to call me Hawk.”

Her smile lit up the room. Her body lifted as she sought more. I flattened my tongue and ran it through her sex until I reached the swollen button that would make her soar. When I pulled it past my lips, she took flight, and the name Hawk echoed through the quiet house. The heat of my tongue stroked every last quiver from her body, and when she lay sated and happy, I climbed between her legs and claimed her as mine forever.

Stroke after stroke, I promised myself to this woman who had risen from the dead to bring me life. When the beginnings of my climax tightened my stomach, I stilled inside her and said, “You are my Phoenix, and I’ll love you until my dying breath,” before emptying myself in her. All of me. I gave her my mind, my soul, and my body, but most importantly, I gave her my full beating heart.