She sniffed. “I’m fine. I think. I mean he didn’t really hurt me, but my throat is a little sore.”
“We’ll have to check that out when we get out of here. Make sure everything’s okay.”
“I understand. But what about you, really? Are you all right?”
He was still processing everything, but he could feel the thaw happening inside, which meant his emotions were starting to churn again. He glanced back at the room, at the cage with the door hanging open and the padlock dangling uselessly from the latch. “I’m okay. It was a shock when Bliss told us they were caged, but I’m glad you were able to relay that. We knew they were safer inside there than if they’d been free in the room the way you were. We didn’t know if we’d be coming down on top of you or not, but we had to do it.”
“Okay, Noah. I just thought… maybe it brought up old feelings.”
He swallowed and nodded, amazed that she was worried about him right now. “It did, but they were nothing compared to the thought of losing you.”
He pictured everything since the moment he’d dropped through the ceiling—and nearly froze again as he replayed it. Jenna had thrown herself onto Owen Fisher when he’d been firing at Noah.
He hugged her tightly to him, and she melted in his arms. He pressed his mouth to her hair and choked back an overwhelming urge to cry. Where the fuck had that come from?
“Never do that again, Jenna. Never put yourself in danger like that. Not for me, and not for anyone.”
She tilted her head back to look up at him. “I was closer, and he could have killed you. If he’d gotten a head shot—” She sucked in a breath, and hugged him tighter. “I had the key, Noah. He wasn’t expecting it.”
He wanted to chastise her some more. Sit her down and lecture her about all the reasons she shouldn’t have done it. But he didn’t. He lay his cheek on top of her head and held her, letting the rightness of it flow through him and make everything better.
“You would have done the same,” she whispered when he didn’t speak.
“Yeah, I would have.”
“I love you, Noah.”
“I love you, too.”
“Can we go home now?”
“Yeah, we can go home.”
She went down the stairs in front of him. They went over to the restroom and turned on the sink. It worked, and she washed the blood off, muttering the whole time. He figured that was a good sign, though he expected her to react hard at some point. He cleaned up as well as he could, then he put his arm around her as they walked through the warehouse.
“How do you feel about a vegetable garden?” she asked.
“If you want one, I want one.”
“What about a cat or a dog? Or both? I always wanted a pet, but we never had them because we moved so much.”
“Get them both if you want.” He stopped her before they reached the Jeep. “I want what makes you happy, Jenna. If it’s a cat or a dog or a vegetable garden, I’m down for it. If you want to paint our bedroom pink and put in rose curtains, I’m there. I’ll help you hang them. All I need is for you to smile at me every morning and every night, and tell me you love me at least once a day. I’m easy to please.”
And he was. So long as he had her and Alice, and even Maggie, his life was going to be better than he’d ever expected. He would always miss his mom and sister, but he was going to live every day to its fullest with the family he had now.
With the family who’d saved him and shown him what he could have if he let himself feel all those emotions he’d worked hard to suppress over the years.
Being in love was messy and scary and awesome and amazing, and so many fucking things it would take him a lifetime to figure it out.
But it was going to be so worth it.
“We’re going to have fun together, aren’t we?” Jenna asked a touch shyly.
He smiled. “Yeah, we really are.”
Five days later…
Jenna’s phone was ringing. She reached for it, bleary-eyed, and picked it up. A glance at the time told her it was only three in the morning.
“Hullo?”
“Jenna, it’s me.”
She scrambled upright in bed, her heart racing. “Noah? What’s happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She could hear the drone of an engine. Or so she thought. “We’re coming home.”
Happiness bubbled inside her. “You are? Really?”
“Really.”
“When will you be here?”
“About an hour, I think.”
“I—what’s that sound? I thought you were on a plane or something.”
Noah laughed. “It’s Gem’s Corvette. He’s giving me a ride since you have the Jeep.”
“Oh no, he’s going to be annoyed with me. Why didn’t you call me? I could have come to get you.”
Lola was finally in the shop getting her new battery, which was why Jenna had kept the Jeep. Lola was getting a brake job, too. Turned out she needed that pretty badly. Jenna might sell her, but she wasn’t selling her with shitty brakes.
“I didn’t want you to have to wake Alice.”
“Aunt Maggie is still here,” she said, feeling guilty that he hadn’t known. She hadn’t texted him because he was supposed to be out of contact for at least a week, maybe more. By then Aunt Maggie would’ve been home again. “We went to Dunkirk for a couple of days, but then she came back with me and Alice because she decided to let Nora Burtle see what it was like when she had to handle the church bake sale for a change.”
Noah chuckled. “Giving Mrs. Burtle a taste of her own medicine, huh?”
“Yep.”
“I missed you, Jenna.”
Happiness was a warm flame inside her. “I missed you, too. I guess you’ll tell me when you get home why you’re back early.”
“It won’t be the first thing I do, but yeah, I’ll tell you.”
“Should I put on some coffee?”
“Nope. How about a robe with nothing under it?”
She laughed. “I can do that. See you soon.”
Jenna’s entire body tingled with satisfaction. Noah had been home a little over an hour, and they’d taken advantage of every moment. She rolled over in bed as Noah returned from the kitchen with two cups of coffee. She pushed up on an elbow and watched him. He was so damned handsome, so strong—and all hers.
“I should be the one fetching coffee for you,” she said, yawning. “You were out there on a mission while I was here lounging around in the backyard with Alice and Aunt Maggie.”
He perched on the side of the bed and leaned over to kiss her. He was mighty awake for someone who’d just spent five days on a mission only to return when extremists attacked the congresswoman’s convoy. The congresswoman had been shaken enough to cancel the visit, and everyone had boarded a plane home. Noah said he’d slept then, so that’s why he was awake now. Plus, it was midday where he’d just come from.
“It was a short one. I’m not complaining.”
“I saw it on the news, but I didn’t know that’s where you were,” Jenna said as she took a sip of the hot liquid.