Forgive me, darlin’…

Jace opened the door to the office wide enough to toss in a stun grenade. After the concussive force had detonated, he raced inside, weapon drawn. It was cleanup time. First on his list was making sure Felicity was okay. Second was eliminating Kevin Quinn, who stood swaying on his feet in the middle of the room, piles of debris around him. He had a wicked-ass looking knife in his hand that he was waving around as he bellowed about injustice and being a martyr.

As the dust cleared once more, Jace kept Quinn in his crosshairs, his finger twitching on the trigger of his sniper rifle. One shot. Just one and this would all be over. No more Kevin Quinn. No more killings. No more guilt over the awful, senseless deaths of his buddy Travis and so many more like him. Kevin Quinn deserved to die for his sins. No more questions.

“Don’t shoot!” Felicity shouted from the corner near Jace’s desk. “We need him alive. Please Jace, don’t kill him!”

Relief swamped him. She was okay. He wanted to run to her, wanted to scoop her up in his arms and take her away from all this carnage and pain forever, but first, he needed to make sure she was safe.

Cursing, he lowered the tip of his rifle and fired off two rapid shots, one in each of Quinn’s legs, rendering the guy immobile. Mark burst out of the bathroom just as the echo of the last round died.

“Jesus H. Christ! I told you not to kill him!” Felicity called out as Mark tossed Quinn’s knife away then leaned over the wailing man.

“I didn’t kill him.” Jace lowered his weapon and clicked on the safety before rushing to Felicity’s side. “Just hurt him. A lot.”

She was bloody and disoriented, her right shoulder banged up pretty bad, but otherwise okay. He hugged her tight while she sagged against him then cried out. “Ouch! You’re hurting me!”

“I’m sorry, darlin’.” He relaxed his hold and cupped her cheeks instead, so happy to see her he could burst. Jace leaned in until his forehead rested against hers. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”

She squinted up at him, as if blinking back the effects of the grenade. “Is he dead?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Jace glanced over his shoulder to see Mark cracking open the first aid kit from the bathroom and tying off the bullet wounds in Quinn’s legs with tourniquets. Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second. “Did you call the police?” he asked Mark.

“I did,” Felicity said. “Kevin thought I was calling the airline to make a reservation for him.”

Jace chuckled. “That’s my girl.”

“I’m not your girl. I’m a grown woman.” She shifted in his embrace then winced. “My shoulder’s messed up.”

“Yeah, looks like a dislocation, possibly some torn ligaments.”

“Since when do you have a medical license, Jace Stevens?” she asked, her tone decidedly cranky and still the loveliest thing he’d ever heard. He’d take cranky Felicity any day over any other woman in the world.

“Since the woman I love got herself injured,” he said. Oops. Hadn’t meant to blurt out his feelings like that, but now that he’d done so, Jace couldn’t say he regretted it. Then he kissed her, just because he could.

Once he pulled back, she wrinkled her nose. “What did you say?”

Nerves made him hold back from what he knew she wanted to hear. He thought maybe she might love him too, but he wasn’t sure. “I said you got yourself injured.”

“No, before that.”

“I love you?”

“You do?”

“I do.” He grinned, then brushed the hair from her face. “Maybe someday you’ll love me too.”

“Maybe,” Felicity said, then laughed as his smile faltered. “Okay. Fine. I love you, Jace Stevens, even though you drive me insane sometimes.”

Joy like he’d never felt before burst through him like fireworks. She loves me too!

Gravel crunched as police vehicles and an ambulance swerved to a stop outside the building. Soon cops and first responders swarmed the place, securing the area and a pair of EMTs walked briskly toward Felicity. Mark stood off to the side with one of the officers, answering questions while Jace held Felicity’s hand as a paramedic attached an IV to her left arm and gave her some much-needed pain meds.

“You want me to come to the hospital with you?” Jace asked as they prepared to load Felicity into the back of a waiting ambulance. “I hate to leave you, Felicity.”

“No. You stay here and make sure they handle Quinn properly. He’s wily and I don’t want him getting away again.”

“Okay.” He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss before they wheeled her gurney away. “I’ll come up later to check on you. Love you.”

“Love you too.” She gave him a small, weary smile before they closed the doors.

He watched until the ambulance left the compound then turned his attention back to Quinn. Mark stood off to the side, arms crossed as the paramedics got the guy stabilized enough to load him onto a gurney. Jace’s shots were precise. He’d avoided any major blood vessels, but still done enough damage to keep the guy out of commission until he could stand trial for his heinous crimes.

“So, looks like we’ll need to contact the insurance company, huh?” Jace looked around the place. What a fucking mess. Papers and crap strewn everywhere., computers toppled and chairs on their sides. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Mark scrubbed his hand over his shaved scalp. “Man, this is just what we didn’t need. Not after all the crap press we’ve gotten lately.”

“Hey.” Jace frowned at his buddy’s uncharacteristic defeated tone. “We’ll get through this. We will. We’re SEALs. We made it through training and war and all out hell in the Kandahar desert. A few crumbled walls and scattered files is a piece of cake after that.” He held out is fist for a bump. “Brothers In Arms. Always. Forever.”

Mark looked at his fist, then him, a slow smile forming. He tapped his fist against Jace’s. “Always. Forever.”