Kyle took off slowly, being careful with Kennedy on the back. Her arms tightened around his waist, and he wouldn’t lie. It was so nice to feel her behind him, pressed up against his back.

“You okay?” he asked, turning to her.

“Fine. My foot is fine too,” she said again. Just a minute ago, as he went over the basics of safety on a motorcycle, he’d been asking about her foot, and he could tell she was getting tired of it.

The woman had grit. That was for sure.

Kyle pressed on the speed and felt the bike roar to life beneath him. One of his favorite things about Jackson was being able to ride his motorcycle up into the mountains. He knew just the spot he was going to take her to.

Getting to the end of his street, he turned onto the highway and gunned it.

“Whoo!” she yelled from behind him.

Wishing he could turn and see her, he was sure her blonde hair was flying, and he could clearly feel her slim body pressed against him. Dang, how had this woman gotten into his head so quickly?

He thought about telling her about his childhood, and remembered how she’d wanted to hug him and soothe him. When was the last time he’d felt that way?

Cassidy popped into his mind. Cassidy was the last person he’d told about his childhood. Told about everything, really.

Russell—well, yeah, he knew. Of course he did. All the guys who’d been captured with him knew about everything. How many hours did they have to spill their guts to each other? Too many.

But Cassidy had been the woman he trusted.

He laughed softly. It was insane what happened with Cassidy yesterday. The fact he’d gotten to belt Anthony had been nice, but when he’d discovered that she’d been having dreams about him and her father recently passing, he could understand why Anthony had been defensive.

It all felt different now that he had Kennedy, new and fun. He thought of when she’d wrapped him into her arms and held him and cried about his childhood, how he’d felt like he was home.

Yes, that was it. For so long, he’d been without a home. The truth was, it scared him to think he might have another shot at love. But did she want him like that? Did she want to make a home with him?

She was young. Sure, he didn’t think of her being young until he thought of their ages, but he had to take it slow with this woman. She said she was falling for him, but there was no way she could understand he was already long gone.

Twenty minutes later, they got to the top of the mountain that he’d wanted to bring her to. He slowed the bike and stopped, taking care to get off and then help her. She was babying her foot, but he noted she could put some weight on it.

The falls pummeled down the mountains. Kennedy drank in the cascade with wide eyes. “This place is awesome!”

Kyle grinned at her and helped her to the bench. “I found this place a couple of months ago on a ride.” He stopped by the bench and pointed to the words engraved on it.

Kennedy read them: “‘To the woman who stole my heart fifty years ago. I miss you, but I always find you here.’” She put her hand to her mouth. “Aw.”

Kyle knew she would like that. “Let’s sit, and you can prop your ankle on my lap.” He positioned her on one end and sat at the other, gingerly taking her leg and putting her ankle on his lap.

For a while, she watched him.

“What?” he asked, gently caressing her leg. She’d worn shorts, and he couldn’t help tracing his hand over her bare legs.

She closed her eyes. “How come when you touch me, I can’t seem to focus on anything else?”

Of course, he loved hearing this, because the woman drove him to distraction. Surrendering his hands, he pointed to the falls. “Let’s focus on the scenery.”

She grinned and leaned back, seeming to relax. “This place is unreal.”

Kyle gently put his hands back down on her legs, but he didn’t caress them. He turned to her. “Yeah, it is unreal.”

Their eyes met, and he knew that she knew what he was talking about.

She reached her hand out to him, and he took it. “How did I end up sitting on a bench above a beautiful waterfall with Kyle Bones?” She said his name like a radio announcer would. “Ex-Navy SEAL, owner of Bones Gyms, and the guy who is starting up the Sparring for Vets program in Miami.”

He smiled, thinking of Ray Ray. “The guy is funny, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that what you really want to do, work at the radio station?” he asked.

“Yes. Sure. I mean …” She shrugged and looked at the falls. “I would love to buy out my surf shop and use it as a landing spot to give surf lessons full time to kids with injuries like mine—” She held up her missing hand. “—or other injuries. I was lucky to meet little Ben and have his mom ask me if I would teach him. That would be my dream. But I gotta finish this last year of school and then get a job, buy a life, ya know? I need the money.”

Kyle nodded, thinking things he never would have thought before about her and the future. They lapsed back into peaceful silence.

She squeezed his hand. “Kyle.”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to know I’ve been thinking about what you said about God yesterday. That maybe he does have a plan.”

“Really?”

“Maybe we were supposed to meet.”

There was vulnerability in her voice, and he wanted to reassure her. He squeezed her hand. “Of course we were.”

“How come you always sound so certain about things?”

Carefully, he held up her leg and scooted closer to her, letting her ankle fall on the bench beside him. “Why wouldn’t God have wanted us to meet?”

She let out a sigh. “Never mind.”

Her lemony fragrance encircled him. He brushed a stray hair out of her eyes. “What do you want to say, surf girl?”

She smiled at him and searched his eyes, then put her leg down and scooted closer to him. “I don’t know. I just feel like maybe you and I—maybe everything in our lives somehow led us to this moment. Do you think that’s right?”

Kyle reminded himself to take it slow. “All I know about God is that sometimes you can’t see the plan.” He cleared his throat. “It’s like any mission. Sometimes you get sent on one mission and stuff happens and crap goes down, but usually, through the muck of it all, if you’re trying to see the good that came out of the bad, it’s there. It’s always there.”

She ran her hand gently across his face. “Is that the official word from Prince Charming? There’s always a silver lining to any dark cloud?”

It made him smile that she called him that, especially since she’d had such severe opinions about those Disney characters. “That’s the official word.”

They smiled at each other. Then her bottom lip pushed out. “I have another confession.”

“Alright.” Kyle watched her, apprehensive.

“I don’t want to go back to Florida by myself tomorrow.”

He hugged her to him and held tight. “I know. I …”

“You said Russell said you ran away by working. Are you going to do that to me?”

Wow, it had just gotten real. “I have the next month scheduled for work, but then I’m coming back and …”

“Then what?”

“I want to get to know you better.”

Their lips touched, and she pulled back, smiling. “I like it.”

He kissed her again and tickled her beneath the chin.

She giggled, but kept her lips against his.

“Oh, and also, the girl that calls said guy Prince Charming becomes his princess, you know.”

Their eyes held, and a nice blush washed over her features. “Oh really?”

Warmth filled him. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her into his chest. “Yep, because one day, after fifty years, I might have to replace this bench with a bench for us.”

Dreamily, she stared up into his eyes. “You’re the first man I’ve ever thought I could be a princess for.”