Page 108 of Finding Carly
“She’s got a magic touch. I think I’m envious of Mustang.”
“Hey,” Carly protested, poking him in the stomach. “I can cook.”
“Of course you can,” Jag said immediately, knowing better than to contradict his woman…not if he wanted her to ever cook again in the future.
“But not like she can,” Carly added. “Jag?”
“Yeah, angel?”
“I love you. So much. And I’m not scared of it. I thought I’d be wary of falling in love for a long time, after everything that happened, but I know without a doubt that this is where I’m meant to be. I had to experience everything I did with Shawn, and even with Gideon, so I could end up right here. I’d go through it all over again if it meant being with you.”
Jag was nearly overwhelmed with emotion. But he understood what she meant. He wouldn’t change anything about his own life if it meant being with Carly. It was a startling thought. For so much of his adulthood, he’d been so bitter about what he’d gone through. But now? He understood that he’d had the experiences he did in order to be the man Carly needed. “I love you,” he managed to whisper.
Carly nodded against him and let out a long breath. “I think I could sleep for days,” she murmured.
“Me too.” Jag felt exhaustion pulling at him. He’d been awake for more than thirty-five hours. The adrenaline spiking through his veins had helped him stay on his feet, but now with his woman safe and sound in his arms, Sparks dead, and knowing Carly would marry him, he felt himself crashing.
The last thing Jag remembered was inhaling deeply and smelling Carly’s sweet cherry blossom scent. She was finally free of her past, and all that lie ahead of them was a beautiful future.
* * *
Carly didn’t know what woke her up later, but when she looked at the clock, she saw that it was only three in the morning. She’d slept deep and hard, safe in her man’s arms, but now her conscience nagged at her. She knew she could close her eyes and go back to sleep easily, but there was something she needed to do.
Surprised when she was able to slip out of Jag’s arms without waking him, Carly tiptoed to the door and headed into the living room. It was obvious Jag had suffered while she was missing, and she vowed to do whatever she could in the future to help him get over what had happened.
Her phone was sitting on the kitchen counter, where Jag had left it when they’d gotten home. His teammates had retrieved it from her car after locating it in that parking garage. She picked up the cell and saw she had several text messages from her friends. They were all expressing their gratitude and happiness that she was home. Even Monica had sent a short text letting her know how relieved she was that she was all right, which meant the world to Carly, because she knew the other woman wasn’t exactly a “texter.”
Kenna had also started a group text about what everyone should bring to the barbeque that weekend and was being her usual bossy, organized self.
Carly would respond to all her friends later, but first she had more important things to do. She didn’t even hesitate to click on the name in her contact list. It was late, or early, but she instinctively knew it wouldn’t matter.
“You all right, Carly?” Baker said quietly when he answered after only one ring. “Where are you?”
“I’m fine,” she said softly, sinking down onto the couch. “I’m home.”
“Then why are you calling?” Baker asked.
“Where areyou?” she countered.
He sighed. “I’m sitting on the beach up here at the North Shore.”
“If you’re sitting there obsessing about what you think you should’ve done differently to find Gideon or to prevent what happened, I’m gonna be pissed,” she told him.
But he didn’t laugh. “It was my fault, Carly.”
“That’s such bullshit,” she insisted. “Do you control what everyone does or says these days? Because I didn’t get the memo.”
Baker was silent on the other end of the line, so Carly continued.
“I know everyone is kind of scared of you, and that you’re this big bad former SEAL who everyone relies on when shit hits the fan, but you’re human, Baker. You eat, drink, and shit the same way we all do…unless you don’t and no one’s told me…but that’s neither here nor there. The only people to blame for what happened are Shawn and Gideon. No one else. You aren’t Superman. You couldn’t have prevented what happened.”
“I should’ve figured out that Gideon was the accomplice,” he said quietly, the agony easy to hear in his voice.
“How? Osmosis? The guy was sneaky and smart. It’s likely he tailed Jag and me for months, and we had no clue. And there was no way you could’ve interviewed every single one of his coworkers and people he saw on a regular basis to find out about the boat he borrowed. If he was the only suspect, then maybe you could’ve seen behind the bullshit façade he showed the world, but he wasn’t. There were plenty of other people you were looking into. I’m not good at math, but if there were a hundred friends and acquaintances you had to investigate for each of the people who were close to Shawn, it would’ve taken you forever.”
Baker grunted. Carly was taking that as a good sign.
“You want to know why I’m up right now?”
