Page 41 of Vodka and Violets (The Hamiltons)

He curled one arm around her waist, pulling her back against him. “We may not matter much in the grand scheme of things, but I’m not too worried about the grand scheme. I feel like I did my part to contribute what I could there while I was in the Navy. These days, I’m more concerned with my own life – our life. And to me, you’re not small – you’re the biggest part of my life, the most important part.”

“Aww. I want to tease you and tell you that you’re such a sweet talker, but you mean it, don’t you?”

“Every word. I’m deadly serious, sprite.”

She chuckled. “I know.”

“That’s just one of the many things that I love about you. You believe me. You’re not into playing games or being insecure.”

“I don’t think I can take too much credit for that. If you think about it, I wasted a lot of time being insecure before we got together.”

He shrugged. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad that we got that out of the way.”

“Me too. And besides, it’d be impossible for me to doubt just how serious you are. I mean, no guy would put up with being dragged around all those crystal stores and galleries in Santa Fe if he were just looking to get laid, would he?”

She could feel the laughter rumble up through his chest. “No. You’ve got a point there.”

She had to laugh with him. He’d been such a good sport, following her around for hours while she visited all those little stores and chatted with the owners about the different crystals and admired paintings that he had no interest in. He thought the whole crystal thing was hokey as hell, but he hadn’t criticized even once. He teased her, but in a good way.

She looked down at the new ring on her pointer finger. He’d even bought her that. She’d fallen in love with the turquoise stone set in a silver band and been so disappointed when it didn’t fit her ring finger and was too small for the middle one. Xander had slipped it on to her pointer finger, and asked why she couldn’t wear it there.

She’d been so busy admiring it and wondering why it hadn’t occurred to her to think outside of that particular box, that he’d managed to pay for the ring before she had the chance to argue.

As if he could read her mind, he touched the ring and smiled. “I didn’t put up with all the shopping so that I could get laid.” He winked at her. “I didn’t need to, you’re a sure thing.”

She pushed at his arm with a laugh.

“I didn’t mind any of it because I got to see you happy, got to learn more about you and the way that weird and wonderful little mind of yours works.”

“I think that’s mostly why I believe you, that I’m not insecure about you or us – it’s because you already know me, and what you don’t know you’re eager to learn.” Her smile faded. “I already know you, too. And I hope it doesn’t seem like I don’t want to learn more.”

“It doesn’t; why would you say that?”

She turned within the circle of his arms so that she was facing him. “Because sometimes there are things that I’d like to ask you, but I don’t.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“I don’t want to make you talk about things that make you uncomfortable. I mean…” She’d come this far, but she didn’t want to bring up subjects that might spoil his enjoyment of this amazing day at the Grand Canyon.

“You mean about my folks?”

She nodded slowly.

“And about my deployments?”

She nodded again.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll tell you anything that you want to know. But for the most part, I don’t really think about any of that.” He shrugged. “It’s not that I avoid it, it’s just that I don’t see the point spending my time and energy on things that I can’t do anything about.”

She wrapped her arms tightly around his middle and hugged him as fiercely as she could. “I just want you to know that I see you – I see how brave you are, and I know sometimes it must still hurt, all of it. I know I’m not as strong as you, but I’m strong enough to carry the weight if ever you want to unload on me.”

“I know. Thank you.”

“Anyway. What’s next?”

He chuckled. “It’s up to you. If we get on the road now, we can hit Vegas late tonight.”

She turned to look out at the amazing view of the endless landscape laid out before them. “I think I’d like to stay here again tonight. Maybe we can get up early and watch the sunrise – we can call that the dawning of our new day.”

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