Her mom leaned in and hugged her, being careful not to touch her bandaged shoulder. “Again, just say the word about the wedding, and I’m here,” she said.
“It’s not going to be anything huge or fancy,” Carlise warned. “In fact, Riggs has already requested we have Granny’s Burgers at our reception.”
“Sounds good to me,” her mom said with a grin, not looking upset in the least. “As long as my baby’s happy, it doesn’t matter what kind of wedding she has.”
“I love you, Mom,” Carlise said.
“I love you too. I’m going now, before I ruin my makeup by crying it all off.”
“Call when you get home,” Carlise ordered, doing her best not to cry as well.
“I will. Bye!”
Carlise watched through watery eyes as JJ took her mom’s arm and led her to his Bronco. She felt a cold nose nudge her hand and looked down to see Baxter sitting by her side, looking up at her with concern. “I’m okay,” she told the dog.
She saw his gaze dart to the left a split second before she felt Riggs’s arm come around her waist. She leaned back into him and waved with her good arm as JJ drove out of the apartment building’s parking lot with her mom.
“You okay?” Riggs asked.
Carlise nodded.
“You’ll see her soon.”
Carlise nodded again.
“How’s your shoulder? You need a pain pill?”
“I think I’m okay until later.” She turned in his arms.
They were standing on the landing outside his apartment door. The building he lived in wasn’t fancy, just two stories, and all the apartments had outside doors. There was a set of stairs leading up to the second floor and a small parking area. She’d already met most of his neighbors. They’d all been appalled to hear what had happened to her and had gone out of their way to make sure she and Riggs had everything they needed so he wouldn’t need to leave her side while she was healing.
“How’re your hands?” she asked.
She’d been alarmed the first time she’d noticed his damaged hands on the way to the clinic. He’d shredded his fingers trying to dig through the snow and ice to get to her. They were bandaged now and healing well, but she hated that he’d been hurt in the first place.
“They’re fine,” he said. “And before you ask, Baxter’s paws are also fine. The vet said to keep him out of the forest for a while, and he’d be good as new in no time.”
Carlise knew that, but she still worried. She looked down at the pit bull with a tender gaze. Baxter hadn’t moved from her side, his gaze still locked on her. Riggs hadn’t been wrong earlier when he’d said that Baxter was her dog. He was completely devoted, and the feeling was definitely mutual.
“April’s coming over later and bringing a casserole,” Riggs told her.
“Another one?” Carlise said with a small laugh.
“Yup. JJ’s jealous as hell about it too.”
“What’s going on with those two?” Carlise asked. “I mean, they can’t keep their eyes off each other, but as soon as one knows the other is looking, they pretend they weren’t just staring wistfully.”
“I think it’s complicated,” Riggs said with a shrug. “She’s our employee, and he’s still dealing with what happened to us while we were POWs.”
“I could talk to her,” Carlise offered.
But Riggs shook his head. “Don’t. Until he’s ready, it won’t do any good. And if you talk April into making a move, and he rebuffs her, we’ll lose the best admin assistant we’ve ever had. They’ll figure it out sooner or later.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because if it’s meant to be, it’ll be. Look at us. Somehow, against all odds, we’re here, safe, madly in love, and getting married. Speaking of which . . . we need to set a date.”
Carlise chuckled softly. “You that worried I’m going to change my mind?”
“No. When you find the best thing to ever happen to you, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible,” Riggs said, making Carlise melt into him. “Besides, when I get you pregnant with our first child, I want to be married. And neither of us are getting any younger. If we’re having four kids, we need to get on that.”
Carlise’s belly clenched. She couldn’t wait to give Riggs babies. She pulled out of his arms and turned to the apartment door. “Come on,” she said breathlessly.
“Where?”
“To bed. If April’s coming over, we don’t have a lot of time.”
“Your shoulder—” Riggs started, but Carlise shook her head and interrupted him.
“Is fine. You’re just going to have to be creative. I need you, Riggs. Inside me. It’s been days. And we’re finally alone. All this talk of babies and being yours has made me extremely horny.”
He chuckled, letting her lead him into their bedroom. Baxter, seeing where they were headed, went to the expensive dog bed Carlise had bought for him to take a nap.
“Help me get this shirt off,” she told Riggs.
He carefully grabbed the hem and leaned down to rest his forehead against hers. “I love you,” he said softly.
“I love you too,” Carlise said on a sigh. “And to answer your question . . . soon. I’ll marry you as soon as I can arrange it.”
“Good.”
Then there were no more words as they used their bodies to prove exactly how much they loved each other.
Later that night, Chappy was glad he and Carlise had taken the time to make love when they had. Because not only had April shown up with a casserole, but the rest of the guys had been right on her heels. JJ reported that her mom had gotten to the airport just fine, and they were celebrating the fact that both Carlise and Chappy—and Baxter—were safe and everything had turned out all right.
His friends were sitting on the floor around the coffee table in front of his couch, everyone playing a cutthroat game of Uno, when Chappy got up to refill drinks. He stood in his small kitchen and watched as Carlise threw her head back and laughed at something April had said.
It was amazing how well she was doing. Of course, she’d had a few nightmares, and he’d held her while murmuring into her hair that she was safe and brave and how proud he was.
What had almost happened to Carlise made him physically ill whenever he thought about it, which was more often than he wanted to admit. He’d never forget the moment when he’d opened that bunker door and seen her. Lips blue, gasping for air . . . she had literally been minutes away from dying. He had no doubt of that.
Baxter had saved her again. And she’d saved herself. He was prouder than he could ever fully articulate. And he’d hated to take his eyes off her ever since that moment. It had been excruciating to leave the room while the doctors dug the bullet out of her body. And even though his friends and the doctors and nurses had all tried to convince him to go to his apartment, take a shower, and get some sleep, that Carlise wouldn’t even know he was there, he couldn’t make himself leave.
He’d almost lost her.
Had come way too damn close.
It hadn’t helped that it happened the first time he’d left her alone by going to town. It was going to take a while for him to get over that. He was grateful business was slow right now and he hadn’t had to leave her alone since.
It would take Carlise a while to get over the fact that her best friend had been the one terrorizing her. But together, they’d make it through.
She’d agreed to marry him. To have his babies. To stay here in Maine. He’d never felt like a particularly lucky man, but now he felt as if he was the luckiest person on the planet.
“Hey,” Cal said quietly from right next to him, making Chappy jolt in surprise.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Cal said. “You good?”
“Yeah,” Chappy said, keeping his voice low. “Thanks.”
“How’s she really doing?” his friend asked, motioning toward Carlise in the other room with his head.
“Amazingly well,” Chappy said. “The doctor said there wasn’t much damage from the bullet, and she’ll be back to normal in no time.”
Cal nodded. “They found her friend.”
Chappy blinked. “They did?” The last he knew, the search was still ongoing.