Rafe didn’t hear a thing. Lifting onto his forearms, his heart dropped at the sight of her beautiful green eyes staring up at him. No longer cloudy or hazed with pain, she looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and awe.
“What’s wrong?” Fuck. He couldn’t breathe, holding his breath while waiting for her answer.
“I think I should be asking you the same question.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t think I’m the only one who hit my head.”
Rafe couldn’t help but grin. With trembling fingers, he caressed the edge of her swollen lip with his thumb. “I think you heard me correctly, baby.”
“My ears are still ringing a little, so you should probably tell me again. In explicit detail.”
Rafe leaned down until their lips brushed with every word. “I love you, Penelope Lucky Kline. I nearly died a thousand deaths getting to you because I love you so much that I can’t breathe when I picture you no longer in my life. And I want that life with you. I want a life. I want a future. I want beautiful redheaded little girls who are just like their mother—so brave and strong and abso-fucking-lutely amazing.”
He caressed the already darkening bruise over Penny’s cheek and prayed her tears were happy ones.
“I told myself I’d never ask you to sacrifice what you want out of life,” Rafe continued, pushing through the lump of emotion clogging his throat, “but I have to. I need to. I need you, Red. I’m begging you to give us a chance, and I’ll spend every damn day of my life proving to you—”
Penny silenced him with her lips. At her slight hiss of pain, he lifted to pull away, but her hands trapped his cheeks and held him close. He let her lead, not wanting to cause her any discomfort as he slipped his hands into her hair and gently kissed her back. This was where she belonged. In his arms. In his heart. Everything he had, body and soul, was hers.
By the time she slowly withdrew her lips from his, his head spun. The moisture welling in her eyes matched his. It was her turn to caress his face, her fingers gently brushing over his chin and mouth.
“You don’t need to prove anything to me, Rafe,” Penny murmured. “Ever. And there’s nothing sacrificial about loving you or wanting a life with you.”
“I’m not a knight in shining armor, sweetheart. I’m bossy and overbearing, a practical Neanderthal when it comes to keeping you safe. Despite the fact you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself, I want in on the action, too.”
She palmed his cheek. “And I wouldn’t change a single thing. I love you—Neanderthal parts and all. And if you don’t kiss me right now, I’m going to be forced to take matters into my own hands.”
“One more kiss and there’s no getting rid of me. You’ll be stuck with me. For life.”
She brushed her lips against his, making his soul tremble. “That’s exactly the life I want.”
EPILOGUE
Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
Six Months Later
Penny nibbled her lower lip, smiling and giddy as she stood in front of the weather-beaten door. Instead of rushing through, she took a deep breath. It was done. She was finished. The next phase of her life could officially begin, and the man—at least one of them—in the building in front of her would be part of it in a very huge way.
She couldn’t wait any longer. Heart trilling in her chest, she pushed through the front door of Alpha. Not yet opened for business, the former biker bar sat empty, its only occupant the fine layer of sawdust coating the floor. Plastic tarps hung in each doorway. Tables and chairs were tucked into one corner and new windows were stacked neatly along the far wall, waiting to be installed. Alpha, both the bar and the agency, was nearly done with its face-lift.
Finally.
Those that needed to find them could, but only if they already had one foot in the door or knew someone who did. When they weren’t being the official badasses behind Alpha Security, they were going to take over the lives they’d been comfortable portraying during their stint in Central America.
Bar owners. Bartenders. Bouncers. To everyone around them, they were a band of brothers, all former military, all not to be trifled with. But to Penny, they were family.
“Well? How’d it go?” Penny heard Charlie before she saw her. And then the other woman stood up from behind the bar, a crate of bottles in her hands.
“Flying colors.” Penny beamed. “Nearly as colorful as your hair.”
With a laugh, Charlie leaped the counter and wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug that Penny returned. “I told you that you could bloody well do it.”
“You were bloody right.” Penny chuckled.
Charlie snorted on a laugh. “You finally used bloody in the right bloody context. I’m so bloody proud.”