Page 59 of Finding Love on the Slopes

When he reached for her hand to slip the ring on her finger, she pushed it away, “But I will not wear that.” She threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.

He was so stunned she had turned down his ring and she was kissinghimthat, for a moment, he was frozen in place. It didn’t take long for him to recover, and he stood with her in his arms and swung her around, their lips still locked in their very first kiss.

Clapping erupted near the door, and they ended their kiss to see that Mrs. Ellis and Lorenzo were standing just inside, cheering them on.

“She said yes!” Enrique shouted, swirling her around once more as Leighann squealed in delight.

Mrs. Ellis swatted Lorenzo’s arm and whispered, “I told you he wouldn’t make it through dinner. That boy has the patience of a flea.” Smiling broadly, she turned to go as Lorenzo replaced dinner plates with mini molten lava cakes for dessert.

After finishing their decadent dessert, Enrique stood, holding his hand out to Leigh, “May I have this dance?”

She laughed, her joy of the moment overflowing. He could listen to her laughter all night, like tiny bells ringing in his soul.

“I hope you don’t expect the real thing. I can win a gold medal gliding down a mountain at eighty miles an hour, but dance lessons were not included in the list of experiences my brother provided.”

“No worries. I will be perfectly content to hold you in my arms and sway. We can save the dance lessons for another time. Now I have something to teach you.”

He led her to a clear area of the floor so they wouldn't trip on any of his candles, wrapped one arm around her waist, and placed the other on her shoulders as she draped her arms around his neck and looked lovingly into his eyes.

“I could get used to this,” she murmured softly.

“What? A five-course meal prepared by a Michelin star chef, served on fine china in a candle-lit ballroom?”

Leigh leaned back and punched him in the arm, “No! You are… Ugh! Annoying,” she finished, not able to find the right words.

“Oh, you meant being held in my strong arms, serenaded by an award-winning string quartet, savoring the taste of my kiss on your lips.” He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, stalling her argument.

Pulling away, Leigh looked at him, humor dancing in her eyes. “Okay, that was nice, and yes to the rest of it. I like this. I like us. I’m glad we found each other.” This time, she kissed him before adding, “Thanks for not being a total jerk and dying on me.”

He laughed, resting his cheek against the top of her head and swaying to the music as he held her close to his heart. “I love you, Leighann, with all my heart.”

They lost all sense of time as they spent the last evening together before embarking on the next phase of their lives.

Chapter Fifty-Two

February flew by as they were each immersed in their work. They called each morning to start their day and occasionally ate breakfast while they video-chatted. They talked for at least an hour every evening before dropping off into dreamland. Several times, they fell asleep before they ended the call. Long distance wasn’t ideal, but they made it work.

The papers were signed, making Enrique the managing partner in Azure Waters Retreat. He joined Gabe and the design team in discussing the final finishes and motif before the construction started, so he felt he had a bit of himself in the project.

Plans were made for him to go on-site the first week of March to check that everything was going as planned, which lined up perfectly with his plans.

He and Julio met with the legal team to finalize the merger of their two security firms. The groundwork had already been laidsince this was the plan all along; they had just needed to wait for Julio to separate from the Marines before closing the deal.

Julio was surprised when Enrique made the request for him to be CEO.

“What? We were supposed to be equal partners, each running our own divisions, keeping the two sides running smoothly in tandem, but keeping a glass wall between the two to prevent anyone from knowing too much. Why the sudden change of plans?”

“The glass wall still needs to be in place, but only for the highest security risk jobs. I will still work on those and oversee a team of my top security agents. Managers can be used to run mixed teams on all the lower-level jobs, the ones that wind up in the paper. You are the war hero. You can be the face of the company without raising any eyebrows. I need to stay in the shadows, now more than ever.”

“What does that mean? You’ve been weird since you got back from vacation. Did something happen?”

“You will have to wait for New Year’s Eve to hear that story. But yes, something happened. When I returned home, I had visitors waiting for me… in my house.” Enrique looked at his brother pointedly. “I keep my identity a closely guarded secret for a reason. The fact this information breach happened was a problem. The fact it was one of your secret codes was a bigger problem. My friend Tom and his brother-in-law, a scary ex-ranger, wanted to make sure that the breach was contained and that no information about their family was included.”

“Wait, these two dudes got the jump on me back in January and wanted to know about the security breach from me, too. One of them was a bear of a man. Was that your friends?” Julio was incredulous and still annoyed by the whole situation.

“Yes. Tom is the other shadow hacker who runs the Brothers Satellite Network with me to make sure that servicemen like you and his brother’s ranger team never lack overwatch support due to bureaucratic red tape. He reached out to me after he almost died on a mission. He already knew about you because we had worked support for your team together on a couple of occasions, and I let it slip. I was always comfortable with him, but he put me in my place... hard. Said I needed to guard my family at all costs. We set up a protection system and launched the satellites. Kinda nice that the government can’t keep us out of space. There’s a lot more stuff floating around up there than people realize,” Enrique commented, more to himself than to Julio.

“So, you set up this satellite system and created secret codes to give to folks like me when my team was in trouble. How did that lead to this shadow hacker showing up in both our homes with an enforcer by his side? I’m telling you man, walking into my house one second and waking up tied to my kitchen chair the next was not an experience I ever want to relive. That guy was seriously pissed...the big one, the little one seemed oddly calm,” Julio noted, thinking back on the situation.

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