Page 114 of Finding Kenna
“Yeah.”
“Is that what it’s like when you’re on a mission?” she asked.
Aleck couldn’t help but chuckle. “Not even fucking close,” he told her.
Kenna looked up at him. “Really?”
“Really. I’ve never felt as helpless on a mission as I did tonight. I had no plan. I was frozen in fear for you. I knew if I made the wrong decision, it could result in your death. I didn’t have my team at my side—well, not all of them, and Jag and Pid didn’t have a plan either. That’s a shitty feeling for a SEAL. And above everything else, I knew I wouldn’t be able to survive if something happened to you. I’d never recover. So yeah, it sucked.”
“Marshall,” she whispered.
“I’m proud of you,” he told her, moving one hand to her nape in the familiar hold they both loved so much. “From the first time you jumped on my head, I’ve known you’re a woman of action. You’d never sit back and do nothing when someone was in danger, including if that someone was you.”
“I didn’t jump on your head,” she grumbled without heat.
“I love you,” Aleck said. “So much it almost scares me. You’ve somehow changed my whole outlook on life. The sun seems brighter, the water is crisper, the air is cleaner. I wake up thinking about you, and I go to sleep with you on my mind as well. You’re literally the best thing to ever happen to me, and I have no idea what I’d do without you in my life.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she told him. “You’re stuck with me.”
“Forever?”
“Yup.”
“Good. So we’re getting married?”
Kenna snort-laughed. “Um…”
“You said forever.”
Kenna leaned up and kissed his lips. It was a short kiss, and Aleck so badly wanted to deepen it. But there would be time to reaffirm that they were both alive later. He had plans to make love to her for days. Long and slow, hard and fast. Staying inside her long after they were both satisfied. He needed their connection. Needed to feel her heartbeat against his chest as he held her.
“Yes,” she said simply. “But not tonight. And not tomorrow. And I want a luau. With the whole roasted-pig-in-the-ground thing. It should be a big party, not all dressy. I want everyone to be comfortable and happy. Um…if that’s all right,” she said a little sheepishly.
Aleck chuckled. “As long as we end the day with my ring on your finger, and yours on mine, you can have any kind of wedding you want.”
“And our parents should be here,” she added.
“Of course. I can’t wait to introduce you to mine,” he said, knowing his mom and dad would fall head over heels in love with Kenna, just as he had.
“Same,” she agreed. “I love you, Marshall. So much. I was so scared about you doing something that would get you killed.”
“It’s over,” Aleck told her, ignoring the niggling voice in the back of his head that reminded him of the loose end in the situation.
“You two ready to go?” the nurse said as she came back into the room, making Kenna flinch against him as the woman startled her.
Aleck tightened his hold for a second, then slowly let go. She turned and nodded at the woman. “We’re ready.”
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting in the backseat of Slate’s black Chevy Trailblazer. Kenna pretty much kept the conversation going all the way back to his condo, being careful not to mention anything about Shawn, Duke’s, or what had happened.
Slate pulled up as close to the front doors as he could and walked around to hold the door as Kenna and Aleck climbed out. It was nearly three in the morning now, and no one was around, which Aleck was glad for. He wanted to get Kenna upstairs and in bed before she crashed.
Slate surprised the hell out of him when he yanked Aleck into his arms for a quick but heartfelt hug. “I’m glad you didn’t get dead.”
Then he nodded at them both before jogging back around to the driver’s side of the car.
“I love your friends,” Kenna said softly.
Aleck did too. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”
