Page 128 of Second Chance Savior

“What?”

“Fuck it. I’m serious. We make our own rules.”

Her mouth hardened into a line. I heard thenoright there on her lips before she said it.

But then, she hesitated.

“You really think we can do that?”

I laughed. Pulled her to me and kissed her, very gently, on her uninjured temple. “Here’s what I know. I screwed up with you before. So many times. I was too much of a coward to tell you how I really felt. So here’s me, laying it all on the line.”

My throat bobbed as I swallowed.

“I’ve never believed I could be what you need. I thought I was too selfish and had too much to prove. Just a few days ago, I thought I had nothing better to offer you than a fling. But you have my heart, Charlie. Since I was seventeen years old, my heart has been yours. So why shouldn’t I give you the rest of me?”

She looked up at me. “But I don’t want you to give up your life here. And I can’t give up mine. I have three more years of my term, and what if I want to run for reelection? Or run for another office?”

“Then we’ll do it. If we both want this, we’ll find a way to make it work. Who says we can’t? Even if it’s long distance. You think that scares me, after the years I’ve been apart from you?”

“With the Protectors, you break the laws I’m supposed to uphold.”

I shrugged. “Seems to me like we’re going legit. Partnering with the FBI, like Brynn said. We’ll figure it out. Butnobody decides what our forever looks like but us. As long as you think you could feel the same way I do.”

I gazed back into her eyes. And I waited.

Never, in all my years as a SEAL or a clandestine operative or a vigilante Protector, had I been quaking like this in my boots.

Charlie brushed her finger over my lips. “I’m falling in love with you.”

I took a brief moment to close my eyes and revel in that fact. She was falling in love with me. I mean,of courseshe was falling in love with me. How could she resist?

“So you’ll do this with me? Figure out how to make it work?”

“I still have to go back to Denver tomorrow. You can’t come with me, simply because it’ll be a distraction. I need you here working your hacker magic on research. We’re sharing the Stillwater list with the FBI, but I want to know everything about those names myself.”

“I thought you didn’t want me breaking laws anymore.”

“Well, we can’t betoostrict about it.” Her eyes smiled. “But I promise I will see you as soon as I can. I’ll be counting the days. Okay?”

I gritted my teeth. Our first test. But no problem. I would pass it. “Okay. I can live with that. I’ll stay here.”

“There’s one more condition.”

“Name it.”

She leaned in and whispered, “Call me Charlie-Baby when we’re in bed?”

All my feelings for her were caught in my throat. But I was smiling so damn big. “I will call you whatever you want me to, as long as I can call you mine. Every single day for the rest of our lives.”

Epilogue

Charlotte

“Char,you flip the pancakes while I make the orange juice. River, you set the table.” My mother pointed at him across the kitchen.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a huge grin. He looked adorable this morning in plaid flannel pajamas, a knit beanie pulled down over his forehead to ward off the cold. I was in a fleece robe and fuzzy slippers.

I took the spatula my mom handed me. “You know, you never make fresh squeezed juice when it’s just Megan or Cora or me visiting.”

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