He’s alive. He’s alive. He’s alive.
I’m not going to cry.
She could actually feel the heat and strength of him under her fingers. She shot surreptitious glances up to his face. He looked down at her with a heated glance.
Oh, God, this is really happening.
She was going to have a heart attack, right here in the middle of the church. Every single one of her dreams had come true.
Mr. and Mrs. Alderton were practically running to catch up with her and Asher. “Eden, what did you mean about Sheri?”
“They’re Sheri’s parents. We’ve got to speed up,” Eden hissed at him. Asher easily kept up with her as she ran to the back of the parking lot where she’d parked her rental car.
Wait a minute, he was running pretty good. He can’t be that fucking injured.
She fumbled with her clutch to get the keys out and unlock the car.
“I’ll drive,” he said as they got close to the vehicle.
“Just thank your lucky stars that I’m letting you come along,” she growled. She jabbed her finger at the passenger door.
There must have been something in her expression that got through to him, because he went to the passenger side and got in.
She pulled out of the parking lot and drove around the block into the Fred Meyer shopping center parking lot. She slammed the car into park and shut off the engine, then turned to Asher and screamed.
“How dare you just show up alive! How dare you not call me!”
He held up his hands. “Eden, let me explain.”
She raised a fist to hit him, then held back. “Where can I hit you that won’t hurt you?” she demanded to know.
“You’re pretty tough. I think anywhere you hit me will hurt.”
“Don’t try to make me laugh. I’m so damn mad at you, I’m going to scream.”
“You’ve been screaming,” he pointed out calmly.
She hit his shoulder. Not hard. If he was any kind of gentleman, he would have flinched.
“Explain,” she said as calmly as she could.
Instead, he reached for her, and fool that she was, she fell into his arms. Oh, God, he felt so good. Better than she remembered. Better than all of her dreams. Her hands slid under his suit coat, trying to touch flesh. She wanted to rip the buttons off his shirt.
“Easy,” he whispered.
“No.”
His fingers were busy undoing her hairdo—bobby pins were falling on the floorboard—and soon he had his fingers tangled in the dark mass. He tilted her head and dove in for a kiss. A kiss that tasted of need, of desperation.
Eden managed not to melt. She needed him too much. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and opened her mouth, sucking his tongue inside, suckling him, doing all she could to keep him close, to prove to herself that he was real, that he was hers and not leaving.
He moved so that his hot hands cupped her cheeks. It took a long moment for her to realize that his thumbs were brushing away teardrops. She broke the kiss and looked up at him through tear-filled eyes. Dammit, I told myself I wasn’t going to cry.
“Why didn’t you call? I don’t get it. Why didn’t you call?”
“Honey, for the first couple of weeks I wasn’t in any shape to call anyone. They ended up calling my brother. Mom flew in from Belgium.”
“You could have died?” she wailed. “And I would never have known.”
“Kane and Law would have told you. Kane would have known to call.”
“But why didn’t he? I wanted to be there.”
He hugged her close to his chest. “Next time you will be, I promise.”
She shoved away from him and he gave an abbreviated groan. “There better fucking not be a next time, Sailor. And I better damn well be notified next time. What’s changed?” She demanded to know as she glared up at him. Her emotions were all over the place, she was happy and mad and so freaking thankful. She wanted to eat him up and hold him close and never let him go.
“You’re my woman. The guys know that now.”
She arched her brow. “They do? How do they know that?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
She thought about making it harder on him, but why? He was right where she wanted him to be. And she was in his arms, right where she wanted to be. She pulled his head down for another kiss. He shook his head.
“Hold up. Are you sharing a room with anybody? If you are, we have to check into a new one, because I’m rooming with Lawson.”
“You’re here with your brother? I want to meet him.”
“You can in a couple of days.”
Her entire body tingled at his words. “I like your plan, and no, I’m not rooming with anyone. I’m checking out tomorrow though.”
His hand cupped her breast. “Not now you aren’t.”
A loud sound interrupted their reverie.
A teenaged skateboarder had just slammed the flat of his hand on the hood of Eden’s rental. “Get a room,” he called out.
They looked at one another and laughed.
Asher stared at Eden. He’d never seen a woman look so beautiful before. She was perfect. From the top of her chocolate-brown hair, to her pink swollen lips and witchy green eyes, down to her tiny feet in silver heels.
“You’re so keeping this dress,” he murmured as he reached behind her and started tugging on the zipper.
“Not so fast,” Eden shook her head. “I want to inspect the military’s medical job and see if you’re up for any physical activity.
“Lady, I’m so up for this you’d be amazed.”
Eden snorted. Then she went back to being serious. In her heels she came up
