Guardian Ranger (Shadow Agents #2)(63)

As if she were every dream that he’d ever had.

“I love you more than life,” Jasper told her. His voice wasn’t so flat anymore. Emotion rumbled in his words. “Hell, you are my life, Veronica. I might have screwed things up at the beginning, but from here on out, I’ll be the man you need me to be. A man you can want—”

She rose onto her toes and kissed him. The silence around them was thick enough to slice. “You are the man I want.” She smiled at him.

“He’s gonna be in the family,” Cale growled, sounding lost. “The EOD agent who hunted me down is gonna be in my family.”

“Yes,” Jasper said, and he smiled, too, a big, bright, happy smile that took Veronica’s breath away. “I sure will be, brother.” But then Jasper glanced over at Cale. “Only I won’t be an EOD agent for much longer.”

What?

Jasper’s warm gaze turned back to her. “Seems that Whiskey Ridge could use a sheriff, and I know someone who could pull enough strings to get me that job.”

“I’m good with strings,” Logan added, offering a shrug.

Veronica knew her eyes had widened in surprise. “Y-you’re staying here?”

“Is this where you’ll be?”

A nod.

“Then this is the only place I want to be. We’ll build our home together. Live together. Be happy here.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m happy wherever you are.”

“Ah, damn,” from Cale. “Get a room before I poke my eyes out.” But she’d heard the happiness in her brother’s voice. Cale just wanted her safe. He wanted her to be loved.

And he knew that Jasper loved her.

The danger was over. Time for the living and loving to begin. She had everything that she wanted right there in front of her, and Veronica wasn’t about to let him go.

They’d survived a killer’s deadly game. Now it was time for the happy ending that they both deserved.

Time for love and a new life.

Jasper took her hand and led her outside, away from the others. The rain had finally stopped. The sun shone down on them, lighting the town.

Jasper turned toward her. “I’m sorry, Veronica.”

She stared back at him, her body held carefully still. “Sorry?”

“I wish I’d never lied to you. I wish I could go back and start things over.”

“I don’t want to go back.” She didn’t want to hear apologies or regrets. She much preferred it when he just talked about loving her. She stepped toward him, put her hands on his chest. “I just want to go forward, with you.”

“It’s so fast. What if you change your mind?”

He was afraid. Her big, tough ranger. Afraid he wasn’t worthy of love. “Do you trust me, Jasper?”

“With my life.”

The words had her heart beating faster. “Then trust me when I say that my mind won’t change. I love you. I’ll love you today.” She leaned up. Kissed his lips. “And I’ll love you for every tomorrow that comes.”

His hands locked around her, so tight and strong. “I want you so much that the need I feel scares me.”

“I think that’s how love is supposed to be.” Not perfect. Not gentle. But wild and dark and consuming. “Because that’s the way I feel for you.”

Not safe.

Not easy.

So much...so much it scared her, too.

Then his lips were on hers. He kissed her with a savage need. A need she felt for him, too. Finally, finally they were safe. Cale was clear. It wasn’t about a mission or evidence or the EOD. It was just about them.

About the new life that they were going to start, together.

Scary, consuming...not perfect, but just what they both craved.





Epilogue

Cale watched the sun as it slowly dipped below the horizon. It was so red, like blood in the sky. Seemed as if he spent most of his days covered in blood.

Killing.

Fighting.

“Why’d you save all those people?” The quiet question came from behind him. He tensed because he hadn’t heard any footsteps approaching.

Cale looked over his shoulder. Sydney Sloan stood just a few feet away. She’d come out of the temporary headquarters without making so much as a sound. She stood with her hands on her slender hips, surveying him with a hooded gaze.

He forced a shrug. “Someone needed to save ’em. Why not me?”

She gave a little laugh. He watched her with care. Sydney Sloan was a beautiful woman, no doubt, but as an EOD agent, he knew the woman was also deadly. A man needed to be extra cautious around a woman like her.

He looked over her shoulder, didn’t see her usual big, fierce EOD shadow, so he had to ask, “Where’s Gunner?” Because from what he’d observed, he always seemed to be just a few steps away from Sydney.

She frowned at his question. Then she shrugged, but he didn’t find the move to be as careless as she’d probably planned. “It would seem that most of your psych report was bull.”

He nodded. “Most.” His “aggressive tendencies”—yeah, that part had been true. He could get more than a little aggressive when the right circumstances occurred.

Like when someone was targeting his sister for death.