Lisa collapsed onto the white leather love seat in the sunken den of her mother and third stepfather’s house in River Oaks. The hum of chattering guests and ice clinking in glasses drifted from the rest of the house. With the anniversary cocktail party still in full swing, Lisa needed a break from all the hot gossip.

Especially since she was Topic Number One.

After she’d made her statement about what she’d witnessed at the hospital, an investigation had been launched. Senator Ruiz and Dan Block had both been questioned and the hospital’s computerized records seized. Unfortunately, she no longer had the original files since they’d been stolen from Finn’s guesthouse. But she’d handed over her flash drive. A forensic accountant and a computer expert were examining everything now. The truth would come out.

In the meantime, her role in the drama was done.

Almost.

She opened the binder she’d stashed in the den when she’d first arrived at the party. All week, she’d been carrying it around with her, trying to make up her mind. It held an offer from the hospital. Kind of a put-up-or-shut-up offer.

Her mother danced into the room, champagne cocktail in hand. With the classic Texas-blond blowout and more gold jewelry than a treasure chest, she gleamed under the overhead chandelier. “Are you pooping out already? Boo on you.”

“Taking a break, Mom. We’re not all party animals like you.”

“I shouldn’t complain. I never expected you’d be here at all.”

“Am I such a crappy daughter as that?”

Sue Ellen let loose a husky laugh. “Oh sweetie, that ain’t it. I know how you feel about anniversaries and all that silly stuff we get up to.” She swayed next to the love seat.

Lisa steadied her with a hand. “It’s not silly. Ten years is quite an accomplishment. I’m happy for you both.”

“Well?” Her mother waved at the binder. “Did you decide?”

“I did. You can be my witness.”

She opened the folder, grabbed the pen she’d clipped to the document and flipped to the final page. She signed her name with a flourish, then added the date.

Sue Ellen winked at her. “I see what you just did there. You chose the man. You and me aren’t so different, are we?”

Lisa made a face at her. “I didn’t sign this because of a man.”

The document was a small settlement from Houston Memorial. They’d also offered to hire her back if she preferred, along with a huge raise and a management position.

“Oh? Why, then?”

“The air is so clean and clear in Jupiter Point. Did you know that there are stars up there and you can actually see them? And the scenery is just breathtaking.”

Her mother laughed and laughed. “It’s that fireman, isn’t it? I know that look.” She circled her index finger in front of Lisa’s face. “Seen it on my own face enough times. It’s called love, sweetie. L.O.V.E. Loooooove.”

“Oh Jesus, here we go.” But a smile quivered at the corners of her mouth.

She wouldn’t admit it to her mother, but she missed Finn like crazy. She missed him so much she couldn’t even call him. She was afraid any contact would make her lose it, and she had to take care of business here.

It kind of shocked her, actually. In all her practical, hard-working life, she’d never been this moonstruck.

But that wasn’t why was going back to Jupiter Point. Of course it wasn’t. No, she wasn’t going to be the kind of woman who made decisions based on a man. It just made more sense to accept the settlement. And her Mercedes was still in Jupiter Point, so she had to back. And then there was Sparky…

Her phone rang, the McGraw name flashing on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Lisa? It’s Evie.”

The serious tone of Evie’s voice made her straighten. Molly. Something must have happened to Molly. “What’s the matter? Is your mother okay?”

“She’s fine, thanks to Finn. But he’s still unconscious. There was an explosion and—”

“What?” Half-blind with panic, she launched to her feet, then spun around every which way. “Where is he? Oh my God. Oh my God. Where is he, Evie?”

“He’s at the regional hospital near the airport. They think he’ll be fine. They ran a CAT scan and saw no swelling. But I thought you might want to know.”

“I’m coming. First flight.” Lisa picked up her tote bag, grabbed the binder and thrust it at her mother. “Mom, will you…” She couldn’t remember what was supposed to happen to the document and she didn’t care.

“Sure, sweetie. I’ll take care of this here. You go. And hurry, you don’t want to miss any of that fine stargazing.”

Lisa barely noticed her mother’s teasing wink as she ran out of the door. “Thank you. Love you.”

She pressed her phone to her ear. Evie was still talking.

“There’s more, Lisa. I have bad news about your car.”

“What?”

* * *

Finn drifted back to consciousness to the memory of baking bread. A beeping sound nagged at him. A warm hand held his. It almost felt like…

“Finn?”

Lisa. His eyes flew the rest of the way open. She wore a pink cardigan over a soft white t-shirt and looked like an angel to him. He feasted on the sight of her. But her dark eyes were so wide and worried, skin pale in the fluorescent light of wherever he was.

Hospital, he realized.

He sat bolt upright. “Molly! Where is she?”

“She’s fine. She’s already back home. Not a scratch on her. Last I heard, she was telling the entire tale to Mrs. Murphy.”

He lay back on the hospital bed. His head throbbed like a mother—

Mother.

“I remembered, Lisa. I remembered my family. Their name is DeLuca. I was Elias DeLuca. My mother’s name was Brandi, my father was Ryan. I think they partied a lot. She was probably smoking downstairs and passed out.”

It all came back like shattered glass flying in reverse, reforming a broken window. The paparazzi, the Mercedes, the Dumpster. Molly. His heart started to race and the monitor beeped faster.

“Hey, hey.” Lisa squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”

“There was a man with a gun, he wanted your Mercedes.”

“Actually, he was looking for any other files I might have hidden in the car. Dan Block knew I had some, but he didn’t know which ones or how many. He hired someone to destroy whatever evidence I had. That’s why the motorhome got torched—apparently he didn’t know we were in it, he was just trying to get rid of potential evidence.”

“But our cars were right there.”

“He came in from the woods so no one would see him, and I guess we were pretty quiet. We were kissing at the time, as I recall.”

As did he. He remembered every second of every kiss with Lisa.

“So then with the Mercedes, he didn’t have time to thoroughly search it, so he just blew it up. My last remaining possession.” She made a wry face. “Pretty rude, if you ask me.”

“I’m sorry. I should have done something but I had to get Molly out of there.”

She fixed him with a fierce look. “You did exactly the right thing. The car means nothing. And Blockhead’s going to pay, especially now that they’ve arrested this jerk. He’s going to sing like a bird. The other one, from Breton, probably will too, now that Block’s going down.”

Finn nodded, his energy flagging. “I might have to sleep now. You won’t leave…” He swallowed the words before he sounded like he was begging.

“Finn Abrams-Elias DeLuca, you should know that I am never leaving again.” She lifted his hand to her cheek, her long hair sifting softly across his skin. “When I heard you were hurt…” She broke off, biting her lip. Something gleamed on the upper curve of her cheekbone.

“Is that a tear?” he asked softly.

“It might be.” She wiped it away with her thumb. “Finn, I love you so much. I think I loved you since that first ridiculous pick-up line. You’re the only person I could ever be with, even though I have no idea why you stuck with me when I kept pushing you away. When I thought something had happened to you, I died inside, a hundred thousand times.”

In wonder, he took in the worry and love splashed across her face in shimmering tears. “You love me?”

“I love you so much.”

“A hundred percent?” He was really fading now, fatigue wrapping his head in a thick fog. But he had to get something straight before he went under again.

“Excuse me?” She wiped away another tear.

“A hundred percent sure. I can ask you to marry me again.”

She blinked at him as a wave of crimson flooded her face. “Finn, you have a concussion. This isn’t the right moment for this. Be practical.”

“No. You be romantic.” Sleepy-eyed, he interlaced their fingers together.

“You should sleep now. You need rest. I promise I’ll be romantic when you wake up.”

“Really, you promise?”

Bending over, she dropped a kiss on his scarred side, the one closest to her. “You’ll see. I can be romantic if I need to. Just promise to rest. I love you.”

He sank back into sleep on a cloud of bliss.

When he woke up again, the room was filled with people who weren’t Lisa. Sean and Evie, Josh, Rollo, Brianna, Merry, Will Knight…and his father.

His gaze flew right to Stu. There was something about Stu, about being sick…

Stu held up his hand in a “we’ll talk later” gesture as Sean stepped forward.

“You still with us?”

Finn did a quick internal survey of his head and body and realized he felt a lot better. Maybe even a hundred percent better. “Can’t get rid of me that easy. I’m an animal, you know.”

“Yeah, you are.” Sean reached his fist out for a bump, then gave up on that and turned it into a fierce arm grip. “You saved Molly’s life, man. Jesus. I’ll never forget that.”

God, were those tears in his boss’s eyes? Was everyone going to cry when they came in here?

Evie came next to Sean and kneeled by the bed. “Mom said you were a hero.” Her soft voice shook. “I am so grateful to you, Finn.” Her silvery eyes shone with a sheen of moisture.

Okay, now all the tears were making him nervous. “Evie, it wasn’t like that. I kind of got her into the situation to begin with. Those paparazzi, the carjacker—”

“Nope, none of that was you,” said Sean. “The paparazzi had a crash, you did the right thing by helping. How were you supposed to know a carjacker was following? Apparently he thought Lisa was in the car with you.”

Finn scowled in confusion. “He didn’t know she was back in Houston?”

Will Knight stepped forward. “Communication breakdown. Once the police got involved, Dan Block was afraid to contact his hired thug and call him off. Overall, not the brightest criminal mind on the block. So to speak.”

Merry grinned, then wiped the smile from her face as if she didn’t want to give Will the satisfaction. “He’s the same guy who ransacked your guesthouse, Finn. I snapped a partial picture on my phone before he zapped me.”

Finn’s head throbbed, not because of the concussion anymore, but because of Lisa’s absence. She’d promised not to leave, but she was nowhere to be seen. A whole hospital room full of people, none of them the one he wanted the most. “Where’s Lisa?”

“Oh, she said to tell you she’ll be right back,” Brianna sang from the back of the room. “She went to—” She ended in a squeak as Rollo clapped a hand over her mouth.

“It’s a surprise,” Rollo explained. “A concept Brianna still has trouble with now and then.” He grinned as his fiancée jabbed an elbow into his ribs.

“I’ll need to take a statement when you’re up to it,” said Will Knight. “And I’m sure it’s going to be a doozie.”

Finn nodded wearily. “No problem. So…” He looked around at all the hotshots and friends gathered around. “I love you guys. I don’t really know you, Will, I’m talking more to my crew now.”

“Gotcha.” Will laughed.

“I love you all. I’m really happy you came here. I don’t want to chase you out, but could I have a moment alone with my dad?”

In less than a minute, the room was cleared of everyone except Finn and Stu. His father came close to the bed, more hangdog than Finn had ever seen him. “You fucking scared the living shit out of me, Finn.”

Finn gave a bittersweet laugh. “How about me? I had to hear from the paparazzi that you’re sick? Damn, Stu. Why didn’t you tell me? What’s going on?”

“Eh, just some surgery coming up. Some chemo. Fuck the paparazzi, it’s none of their business.”

Finn stared at the man who’d raised him, more or less. A parade of babysitters and hot girlfriends had helped, but the center had always been held by Stu. No recovered memory was going to change that. “It’s my business, though, isn’t it?”

“You were so hot to learn about your birth parents.” Stu’s bushy black eyebrows pulled together in a frown. “The cancer news put me into a tailspin. You’re my only family left, but I’m such a lousy father. I was afraid if you found your real family, that would be it.”

“But…they’re dead. My parents.”

“Yeah, and even so they’re better fucking parents than I was. I’m sorry, Finn. I acted like a movie mogul trying to control everything, instead of a human being.” He rubbed a hand across his heart as if it pained him. “I should have told you I was sick. I should have told you what the detective found.”

“I remembered on my own.”

“Yeah?”

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t…” He hesitated. Stu didn’t use words like “love” except to refer to a great marketing campaign or a new chef at Spago. “I still love you.”

Stu’s mouth twisted. He started to say something, but it ended in a grunt.

Whatever. It didn’t matter what Stu said.

A feeling of peace settled over Finn. The kind of peace that came when all the questions didn’t matter anymore. He knew who he was inside. The rest was just noise.

“But Dad, you gotta knock off the manipulation crap. No more tabloid stunts. No more publicity bullshit.”

Stu spread his arms wide. “You got it, son. You live your own life, the way you want to. I just hope I’m part of it.”

Finn flashed him a thumbs up, because he couldn’t really form the right words.

“Well, maybe one more tabloid stunt,” Stu added. “Just one more.”

“No.” Finn raised himself more upright. “Call it off, Dad. I’m serious.”

“Can’t. It’s already on.” He gestured toward the doorway, where two people had just appeared.

The first was Lisa, whose face was lit up with the glee of a kid at Christmas. The other was the photographer from the Escalade. A bandage covered his forehead, but he was grinning too.

Stu stepped away from the hospital bed. “I can’t say no to a pretty girl, Finn. You know that.” He winked and made way for Lisa.

She floated toward him. He couldn’t drag his eyes away from her glowing face. “What are you doing?”

“Posing for the tabloids.” She set one hip on the bed and nestled against him, curling her body romantically against his. “They wanted a proposal, remember?”

His jaw dropped. “But I don’t have a ri—”

Stu cleared his throat. “Yeah you do.” He tossed something in Finn’s direction. It glittered as it caught the light. “Ellie’s,” he added. “Yours now.”

Finn caught it in his fist.

“Wait wait wait,” Lisa said in a rush, pushing Finn’s hand away. “This is my romantic gesture, proof that I don’t care about any of the Hollywood stuff, the cameras, the tabloids, none of it matters. I just want you. That’s why I invited them in and—”

But Finn was not about to miss this chance. “Sorry, babe. I’ve been thinking about this moment for too long. Lisa Peretti, love of my life, most beautiful badass nurse of all time, would you—”

Lisa clapped a hand over his mouth. “Finn Abrams, kindest, most compassionate, most wonderful firefighter of all time, the only man I’ve ever loved, would you—”

“Marry—” he spoke through her fingers.

She adjusted her hand. “Marry me and make me—”

“The happiest man—” he blurted.

“Happiest woman—”

“On earth?”

“In the universe?”

They both burst into laughter. Finn could swear that sparks were literally dancing around them. Lisa kissed him with passionate abandon, as if the whole world could be watching and she wouldn’t mind. Which it might be, since the photographer was taking shot after shot.

Finally, she drew away. She was blushing so hard her face looked like a strawberry. “Did you get enough, do you think?” she asked the photographer.

He lowered his camera. “Sure. Didn’t hear a yes from either one of you, though.”

Lisa turned back to Finn and touched her forehead to his. In the private, intimate space between their faces, she whispered the sweetest word in the world at the same moment he whispered the same thing.

Yes.