That sounded good, but her mind couldn’t hold on to a single thought. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m sorry I let fear and old wounds keep us apart.” He balanced his forehead against hers. “I will never do that again.”
“You love me?” The words didn’t even sound right to her.
He lifted his head and stared down at her. There, written on his face, she saw tenderness and hope, a good bit of lust and, yes, love. She had no idea where or why, but the hope finally took hold. She didn’t bat it away or downplay it. She held on.
“Almost losing you nearly killed me.” He lifted her hand and pressed her fingers to his lips. “I don’t want to be away from you.”
“You were last night.” That piece didn’t make any sense in light of all the wonderful things he said now.
The corner of Shane’s mouth kicked up in a smile. “I had to tell Holt while I didn’t need his permission and wasn’t asking for it. I hoped we had it.”
“I talked with him.” She ran through the conversation in her mind. Now some of Holt’s stray comments made sense. “He never said anything.”
“I asked him to let me win you back first.” Shane shrugged. “For the record, he made me work for it.”
As if that would be hard. “I bet.”
“I would have done and said anything. Though I have to admit you are the one I want to win over, not him.”
She tried to imagine that conversation and how hard a time Holt must have given Shane. The idea that he would go through that, that he’d even thought it was important to take on the challenge of winning Holt over, made her smile.
“I love you.” She said it because she needed him to know. She’d thrown it out in the heat of the attack. Now, in the middle of the parking lot with people walking by and nothing on the line, she made the vow again. “With all I am and all I have.”
“Good.”
The response made her laugh. “That’s all you’ve got to say?”
“Definitely not. I have all sorts of things I want to say and do to you. Some of them in bed. Some against a wall. Some on G-rated dates.”
She loved the sound of all of it. “You tell me when and where.”
“We’re going to do this right.” He lifted her off the ground and held her tight. “Start over. Not fast-forward the relationship and skip over the good parts.”
She wasn’t sure she loved that. “Meaning?”
“We’re going to date. Go out to eat and do whatever it is dating people do. You’ll probably need to help me with that, because I’m clueless.”
“You’re doing great.”
“And, just so you know, I’m going to kiss you...a lot. Like, all the time. In private and sometimes in parking lots, like here.” He followed through by doing just that. Planted a kiss filled with promise and love and every great thing on her. It went on and on, and dragged her under.
When he lifted his head again, all the strain around his eyes had disappeared. She couldn’t help running her finger over his eyebrows.
“You’re going to know every single day how much I love you,” he said in a husky voice. “How much you mean to me and how you are my future.”
Light burst to life inside her, washing away the exhaustion and the doubts. Her head cleared just as her heart sped up. “We should start now.”
He laughed. “Are you making a pass?”
“Do I need to?”
“No, because I’m already yours.”
Then she kissed him. Parking lot or no, she wanted her life with him to start right now. “Take me home, so you can make up for leaving me yesterday.”
He nodded. “I’m willing to spend a lifetime doing that.”
* * *
FOUR DAYS LATER Shane still hadn’t stopped smiling. He’d survived seeing Holt again. Made it through all the doctor checkups and Makena moving into his place. That last one being the best thing to happen to him in...ever.
Every piece of his life had fallen into place.
He’d been the last bachelor in the group. The only one not attached, and he’d held that as a badge of honor for a long time. Something he now saw as ridiculous.
Maybe he hadn’t put a ring on Makena’s finger or waited for her at the end of an aisle, but he would. And not years from now—soon. Now that he saw his life with her, he wanted more. There was no reason to wait and see. He knew her. Knew them. Knew that life without her wasn’t worth much.
Connor walked into the conference room at team headquarters and dropped a file in front of Shane. “You ready to get back to work?”
He glanced around. “Am I the only one on this case?”