CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
A change in the vehicle’s speed and direction jolted Cassie awake. As Nic pulled onto an exit ramp, Jonathan, in the back seat next to her, stirred and rubbed his face. “Hey, what are you doing?”
“We’re not going far.” Nic pointed ahead on the left, at a small restaurant called Joey’s Tacos. “I ordered takeout.”
Cassie laughed. “No way. You’re like the dad who takes the kids out for ice cream after the ball game whether they win or lose.”
Nic pulled into the restaurant parking lot. “Well, if you’d lost, you’d be dead. And then I’d have way too many tacos.”
The grubby little cinderblock building looked sketchy as hell, but like any Southwesterner, she knew great tacos often came from hole-in-the-wall places. She didn’t even care if they were great. She could probably eat about twelve of them.
He parked and got out, saying, “Be right back.”
“Hey, Nic,” Jonathan called after him. Nic stopped, looking over his shoulder. “Give us ten minutes.” Nic nodded.
Jonathan wanted time alone with her. It made her smile. As Nic walked away, Cassie felt light and glowing inside, and not only because the painkiller had kicked in. “I hope I get to go on more missions with you. Do you think I will?”
His forehead puckered. “Hopefully, you’ll do all your training before they send you out again.” She couldn’t disagree with him there. It would be nice to be better equipped. There was probably nothing like doing one mission to convince a person to work as hard as she could at her training. “But I don’t know why not. We’re obviously amazing together.” His rare look of cockiness made her smile. “How’s your ankle?”
“It’s not bad now. Don’t you get tired of worrying about me?”
“Never.” The affection in his eyes made her melt. He took both her hands in his. “Let me go into your psyche.”
“What, now? Why?” He looked as though he didn’t know how to answer that, and she felt strangely reluctant to press the point. “Okay. Be careful, or I’ll wind up in you.”
A smile ghosted across his lips and then he bowed his head to concentrate. She felt no pain, only a jolt. The welcome smell of creosote and ozone surrounded her. She opened her eyes.
It was the same landscape as before, and yet not. The mountains stood in the same places. The wild herd of horses grazed, closer than before. But purple carpets of wild verbena and clouds of yellow brittlebush bloomed.
Jonathan, holding her hand, stared around in frank wonder.
“I’ve never seen a spring like this,” she told him. Scarlet stars bloomed at their feet. Indian paintbrush. “This is the high desert,” she realized aloud. The plant didn’t grow near Phoenix, except in carefully xeriscaped yards. “The elevation’s changed.” The air was cooler and softer. It rained more often here.
“And I thought it was amazing before.” Jonathan’s low voice held awe. The trees near the mountains were no longer burned out, but a healthy forest that looked like it had been there forever. Their scent came to her on the breeze. Ponderosa pine.
“It’s because of you,” she said. He gave her a gentle kiss that sent warmth all the way down to her toes. “Why did you want to come here?”
“I wanted a minute alone with you in a beautiful place.”
God, she always wanted to be with him. Would they get married? Have children, even? Maybe in a couple of years, once she was absolutely sure her powers were under control. Once, she’d imagined that kind of life, and maybe it could be hers after all. “We should… We should talk about the future.”
“We will. I promise.” Steady commitment reverberated in his voice, and joy lit his eyes. “Not now. You’re tired, you’re hurt, and you’re on painkillers.” He traced her cheek with a light fingertip. “I want it to be perfect.”
“I’m with you. It’s already perfect.” Her voice quavered.
He placed his palm flat on his heart, a gesture she hadn’t seen before, different from the salute to a superior. “Cor meum tibi offero.” Strangely, with him in her psyche, she understood the words with no trouble—my heart I offer—and their significance in Manus Sancti. It was a pledge of lasting love, a precursor to a proposal. “I’m yours as long as you want me.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “That might be a while, almeris— Did I say that right?”
“You did.” He pulled her close in his arms. The kiss started out light and sweet, but he deepened it, parting her lips under his. She’d never in her life felt so cherished or desired.
She was luckier than any person on the planet deserved to be. At last she knew what she’d been called to do in this life, and she’d do it by the side of the Knight she loved. More than ever before, she knew she was home.
THE END