Logan’s eyelids had to be glued down because he couldn’t open them no matter how hard he tried. If he didn’t know better he’d think Jace had pranked him. Voices echoed in his head, sounding loud and then soft as if someone was screwing around with the volume on a radio.

He must be dreaming because he could hear Jace’s voice talking with Weslee.

Weslee. The thought of her set off a chain reaction as events slammed through his head. It was like a PowerPoint slideshow gone berserk. He wanted to cuss out whoever was doing it and tell them to start over so he could make sense of the images.

“I think he’s waking up,” a soft feminine voice said with a southern drawl. He felt a hand slide into his, and he knew it was Weslee. He tried to squeeze her hand, but nothing worked.

“Yes,” another woman’s voice said, sounding exactly like his mother. “He’s trying to open his eyes.

“I’ll go find his nurse,” a man said. “The cute one, not the mean one.” That voice definitely belonged to Jace. Logan tried to make a sarcastic comment to his friend, but it was like his brain and his mouth didn’t connect.

“Just remember to send someone in, please,” his mother said with a laugh.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jace responded.

Mom. Mom. Logan tried forming the word, but all he got out was a moan.

“Logan, honey, it’s okay.” It was his mom again, and he felt her fingers wrap around his other hand. “You’re just fine, sweet boy.”

Sweet boy? He was either having a wicked nightmare or he’d come close to dying for his mother to call him a sweet boy.

He asked what had happened to him. He must have actually spoken the words aloud and inserted a few swear words because his mother reprimanded him. “Logan, you don’t want to scare off your beautiful girlfriend with that kind of language.”

“He can’t scare me off,” Weslee said with a soft laugh. “But I may have to make him start paying me money or something every time he curses.”

“Is that my boy swearing like a sailor?” Jace asked. “Good, that means his brain didn’t sustain any damage.”

Logan said something to Jace about his brain being the damaged one. His comment must have come out wrong because his mother squeezed his hand. “Logan, for goodness sake, son. You need to wake up before they have to censure your hospital room.”

“Stop being so naughty,” that southern voice whispered in his ear. “And open your eyes and look at me.”

He did as she commanded.

Logan blinked against the bright light as Jace snorted a laugh. “And another single-man bites the dust.” His friend came into focus at the end of his bed. It wasn’t the face he was looking for. “Looks like I’m planning a funeral after all,” Jace snickered.

“Jace Burns,” his mother scolded. “I swear I need to send you and Logan to a boot camp for manners.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” Jace said, sounding anything but sorry.

“Sorry, Mom,” Logan said, knowing his tongue was loose because of the meds. He usually had a better filter than this, but words just kept popping in his mind and slipping out of his mouth. He slid his eyes over to see his mom’s beautiful face. “Wow, Mom, you look really pretty with a tan.”

“Don’t try sweet talkin’ me, young man. Save that for your girlfriend.” She smiled at him and winked. “By the way, I really like her,” she whispered in a way that wasn’t really a whisper. “Pain meds or not, you behave, or I really will ground you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Then he turned his head, and his gaze collided with the most beautiful light blue eyes. “Hi, girlfriend,” he said, trying to lift his hand from the bed. He wanted to wrap it around her neck and bring her mouth down to his.

“Hey,” Weslee said with a tiny hiccup. Tears welled in her eyes, making the color shimmer like a cove in the Caribbean Sea.

A memory flitted across his groggy brain. He chased after the memory and caught it as he recalled her shooting a bow and arrow that knocked the gun from the kid’s hand.

“You shot an arrow to save my life, right?”

“Yes.”

He gave a low whistle. “Man, that was so hot.”

“So you said before,” Weslee said with a light laugh.

Jace guffawed loudly while his mother groaned out loud that she’d failed as a mother. But Weslee…she just curved those perfect lips up into the sexiest smile he’d ever seen, sending a rush of heat through his body.

“Hey, can you bring that pretty mouth a little closer?” he asked Weslee. “I really want to kiss your right now.”

That earned him another groan from his mother. He could hear Jace snickering in the background. “I’m posting this to YouTube,” he said. “It’s gonna go viral and make me a lot of money.”

He didn’t pay much attention because Weslee had obeyed him. She leaned in, and he caught the fresh scent of her hair. “I must really love you,” she said, her mouth close but not close enough, “if I’m about to kiss a man who has had his teeth brushed with a pink, minty sponge for the past two days.”

“You really love me?” he asked, almost positive they’d had this conversation before.

“Yes, Lieutenant Steele. I really do.” Logan wanted to tell her not to kiss him until he at least chewed a piece of gum, but the second her lips brushed his mouth he forgot all about it.

The kiss ended before he could respond and kiss her properly. “Hey, that wasn’t a very good kiss.”

Jace busted a gut, which covered up his mom’s sound of dismay.

“I promise to give you a much better one later,” Weslee said, kissing him on his cheek. “Besides, your doctor’s here now.”

The room quieted and Logan tried concentrating on what the doctor was saying as the man talked about how lucky Logan was to have had someone as smart as Weslee with him. Apparently, she’d saved his life twice that day. First with the arrows and then by tying a tourniquet around his leg and applying pressure to the gunshot wound.

“You’d already lost a fair amount of blood from the flesh wound to the shoulder, but the bullet nicked an artery in your thigh,” the doctor continued. “You would’ve bled out by the time the paramedics arrived if Miss Weslee hadn’t acted promptly and waited for them to help you.”

As the doctor talked about his recovery period, Logan sought out Weslee’s face. She was listening to the doctor so intently. He wanted her to look at him. He squeezed her hand, pleased he could actually follow through with the motion.

She shifted her attention to him and the look in her eyes made his throat feel like he’d swallowed a chunk of bread whole. She loved him. He could see in her eyes as if she’d spoken the words out loud again.

He blinked as a memory flashed in his mind. It was of her finally telling him the password to her computer. Other memories bounced in front of his eyes and then back out. She’d said a lot of other things to him. He just couldn’t grab a hold of what they were.

“What else did you tell me when I was dying?” he asked her in a hushed voice, trying not to disrupt the doctor.

“Shh,” Weslee said. “The doctor’s not done. We can talk in a minute.”

It was driving him crazy that he couldn’t remember what else she’d said to him. He would just talk quieter. “Just whisper so they don’t hear,” Logan said, pointing to his mom and the doctor.

Jace snorted a laugh and then covered it with a fake cough.

His mom sighed dramatically. “I’m sorry, Dr. Andrews. My son isn’t normally this rude. The medication is making him loopy, and he’s a little distracted right now, but I’m listening to every word you have to say.”

“I think I might be distracted too, Mrs. Steele,” Dr. Andrews said with a hearty chuckle. “I’ll check back in when I make rounds this evening.” He smiled and gave Logan’s good shoulder a fatherly pat. “Let your nurse know if you need anything.”

“Yes, sir,” Logan said, giving the man a salute. Then he shifted his gaze to Weslee. Man, she was prettier than he’d remembered. He watched her smile at the doctor and thank him before the man left the room.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said when she finally looked at him.

“I’m not sure if that’s you or the meds talking,” she said with a smirk.

He blinked a couple of times. “Nope, you’re still really pretty.”

“Ah, man,” Jace said. “My phone just died.”

Then, as if someone had just inserted a flash drive in Logan’s brain, he recalled every word Weslee had said to him. “You want to have babies with me?” he asked, that one sentence sticking out in the forefront.

“Good Lord,” his mother prayed out loud. “Please tell me where I went wrong.”

“Mama Steele,” Jace snickered. “I think we better leave these two alone.”

“I think you’re right. Besides, Miss Inez and Mr. Curtis are on their way back. We can give these two some privacy while updating the others on everything.” His mom’s face hovered over his. “Behave yourself, Logan Steele,” she said again, brushing a kiss to his forehead. “I really like her.”

Weslee pulled up a chair next to the bed, still holding his hand while she did it. It was just the two of them now. “So,” he said, giving her a wry grin, “do you want to have babies with me?”

Her smile was a slow lift of the lips. “Are you tellin’ me out of everything I said to you that’s the only part you remember?”

“Uh, yeah,” he said, accidentally slipping in a mild curse word. He was a guy. Of course, that’s the part he’d recall first. “Sorry about swearing. I swear I’ll work on cleaning up my language.”

That made her laugh. He loved her laugh. Oh, man, he loved her.

“I love you, Weslee,” he said, his voice husky with emotion. He’d always been so afraid to utter those words to any woman, which was kind of ironic for a former Navy SEAL whose job description required courage and bravery as a prerequisite. At least the girl he’d fallen in love with was fearless enough to tell him first. Only right now she looked completely astounded by his declaration. “You still love me, right?” he asked, lifting one eyebrow.

She answered him with a soft kiss that, once again, didn’t last long enough. “I love you, too, Logan,” she said, pulling back before he could lift his hand to keep her close.

His eyes skimmed over her face. A face he loved and wanted to see every night before he went to sleep and first thing in the morning. He’d almost died, and his second chance at life wasn’t going to be spent worrying about things he couldn’t control. Time was a precious thing, and he didn’t want to waste one second away from Weslee.

He wished he had some piece of jewelry he could give her because he wanted to ask her to marry him right now. Then he remembered his bracelets. He looked at his wrist, but they weren’t there.

“They had to cut them off in the helicopter. You needed more fluids, and they had to start another IV.” She squeezed his hand and then let go and stood up. “The nurse gave them to me to keep safe for you.” She rummaged around in her purse and found what she’d been looking for.

“May I see them?” he asked. “Please?”

“Yes.” She walked back to the chair and sat down. “But first you need to chew on this, soldier.” She placed a square piece of gum against his lips and then slipped it in with her fingers.

Dang, he had no idea how hot it could be to have a girl feed him. He definitely needed to put a ring on her finger. “Wow, thank you,” he said, chewing the gum in hopes of getting the much better kiss she’d promised sooner than later.

“Oh, it’s gonna be my pleasure,” she teased with a sultry wink that spiked Logan’s core body temperature to the point of spontaneous combustion. “Don’t you dare tell your mama I said that,” Weslee said with a laugh. “I couldn’t help it. After spending so much time with Jace I think his sense of humor has rubbed off on me.”

Logan narrowed his eyes. “He didn’t try to steal you away, did he?”

“Several times, but I told him I have eyes for only one Hot Navy Guy.”

“You think he’s hot?”

“Goodness, Logan, did you hear anything else I said?”

“You have eyes only for me?”

“Exactly.” She sobered a bit as she handed him the two string bracelets. “They were careful and cut them in a way you can re-tie them if you want.”

He rubbed the two strings with his thumb and finger, feeling the familiar edge. “I do want to re-tie them.” He shifted on the bed. “Does this bed raise up a little?”

She pushed a button that raised the head of the bed up so he was no longer staring up at her. “Better?” she asked.

“Much.” He held her gaze for a heartbeat before focusing on one of the bracelets, folding it over a few times to shorten the string.

When he was satisfied, he looked at her and held out his hand with his palm up. She placed her left hand in his, which was the one he wanted. Bringing her hand to his mouth, he kissed her fingers, saving her ring finger for last. Letting go, he picked up the shortened string and carefully tied it around her left ring finger.

“Logan,” she said in a shaky voice. “What’re you doin’?”

He gave her a crooked smile. “I promise I’ll get you a better ring, but this one will have to do for now.”

“A better ring?” she asked as her lower lip started to quiver.

“Weslee Anne Campbell.” He winked at her. “Learned your middle name when I ordered my stuff from Ground Zero.” He’d forgotten all about the order and hoped it was still on his doorstep. “Weslee Anne Campbell,” he said again. “I think I fell in love with you that day on the beach when you ran into me.”

She captured her quivering lip with her upper teeth, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. She seemed to cry easily, but if she could put up with him then he could tolerate her tears.

“I was too stupid to ask for your name and number.”

“I wouldn’t have given it to you, anyway,” she teased.

He grinned. Being married to her was going to be a lot of fun. She better say yes.

“I did come back a few times, hoping to run into you again. And then I walked into Sutton’s conference room and saw you sitting there.”

He knew she could razz him about thinking Jon was the one he was supposed to protect, but she didn’t.

“Let’s just say I knew that my life was about to change forever.” He swallowed and ran his thumb over the string on her finger. “That is if you’ll have mercy on me and be my wife?”

A small laugh bubbled out of her. “Yes! Yes, I’ll be your wife.” She sniffed. “And I don’t want a better ring. I love this one.” She held it up and admired it like it was a two-carat diamond. “I’m never taking it off.”

“Um, you’ve met my mother. I will buy you another ring.” He motioned for her to come closer. “I think we should kiss now, don’t you?”

Her enthusiastic yes was preceded with a mild curse word a preacher might use in a Sunday sermon. “And don’t you dare tell your mother I said that either,” she whispered with a teasing glint in her eyes.

His laughter was silenced when her mouth met his in a kiss that burned through him. He loved this girl so much, and he couldn’t wait to marry her. “We’re having a short engagement,” he said against her mouth.

“A very short one,” she said before giving him another kiss that was bound to set off his heart monitor.

Feeling his strength as well as a clearer mind return, Logan took over and kissed her long and slow, savoring the taste of her. He hadn’t planned on this happening to him—falling in love—ever. But nothing had ever felt more right.

Their lips parted, and she edged back to gaze into his eyes. Shoot, courage and bravery had nothing to do with loving this girl. Having babies with her? That didn’t scare him either, not with this beautiful woman by his side.