The cold water kept falling onto them. He forced his head to lift. He should move them. Get her dry. Get her warm.
But instead, he kissed her. He’d always loved her mouth.
And when he pulled back, she was smiling at him.
The most beautiful woman in the world…the woman who’d gone through hell and come back…was smiling at him and staring at him as if…
As if I’m not a monster.
“Tell me you love me,” Rose whispered.
“I love you.” He’d tell her that a thousand times. A million. Every day for the rest of their very long lives. Because maybe…when he’d first got Rose to come back as a vampire…maybe he’d made a secondary deal with Luke.
I wanted to always be around to protect her. To be there, whenever she needed me.
And Luke had given him that extended life…for a price.
There is always a price with him.
Luke’s words whispered through his mind. As long as you walk the earth, you’ll swear to stand at my side. When the battle comes between me and Leo…you will stand with me.
He’d already planned that particular stand, so agreeing hadn’t been exactly hard for him.
“I’m not…wrong,” she said. But then he saw fear flicker in her eyes. “Am I?”
He kissed her again. “No. You are the only right thing in my world.” He believed that to the depths of his soul.
Her smile flashed again. The fear vanished.
“But, love, do me a favor, okay? Promise me…” He turned off the blast of cold water with a flip of his wrist. “Don’t ever drink from Leo or Luke again.”
“I promise.”
He lifted her into his arms again. He loved to hold her. He just fucking loved her. Julian gazed into her eyes.
“Julian? Are you sure…I…is something wrong?”
“No, it’s right.” Finally. The guilt was gone. The fear was gone. For them both. They’d chosen…each of them. And they’d chosen life.
Love.
She curled her arms around his neck. “Take me to bed. I’ve really had one hell of a day.”
Laughter came from him. Laughter…after everything. Only Rose could make him feel that way.
“If you think today was interesting…just wait until you see what our nights will be like.” His lips pressed to hers. The kiss wasn’t rough or wild. It was sweet. Tender.
“Promises, promises…” Her voice was a husky temptation.
But… “Yes.” He nodded once. “I do have promises. I promise, I will love you forever. I promise…I will never let go.”
Her breath sighed out. “I’ll hold you to that.”
And he’d hold her. Forever.
Chapter Nineteen
Two weeks later…
“You know everything about me.” Julian’s voice was deep and dark and it made Rose want to shiver. They stood on the balcony, the ocean pounding against the beach below them, and she knew she was in heaven. “The good and the bad. The dark sins that stain my soul.”
“I rather like your soul.” Her hand reached up and curved along his jaw. The rough stubble slid over her palm. “Because I love you.”
“You don’t see a monster, do you?”
Rose shook her head. “I only see you.”
“Maybe I should have stayed away from you…”
“You most definitely should not have.” The pain, the fear—it had all been worth it. Wasn’t love worth fighting for? Especially a love that was going to last forever.
“I saw you and I knew my world would change.”
She had to look away from him for a moment. This talk…it was so much like the one they’d had—a lifetime ago. When a panther shifter had tried to convince a human that monsters were real.
And then death had come.
“I saw you, and I knew what I’d always been missing. For the first time, I felt complete.”
That was sweet. Her gaze slid back to him. Her big, bad panther…and he was standing before her, exposing his soul.
“I never wanted you to fear me.”
“I don’t. I never will again.” Trust went soul deep. She smiled at him. “I think you were made for me.”
His eyes widened. Did he remember that he’d once told her that exact same thing? Julian cleared his throat. “And I was made for you.”
He did remember. Because those words had been the ones she’d given to him, so long ago.
It was all the same except…
This night wasn’t going to end with her dying. No bullets were flying at them. Stars glittered overhead and the scent of the ocean teased her nose and—
Julian had dropped to one knee.
She tried to fight her smile. She couldn’t. Just like she couldn’t make her heart stop racing.
“Rose, will you—”
“Yes!”
“Marry me?” Julian finished. Then he blinked. “Wait, yes?”
She grabbed him and yanked him back up—the better to hug him and kiss him like mad. “Yes, absolutely, yes!” Marriage. Forever. She wanted it all.
They would have it all.
Who said monsters didn’t get a happy ending?
They did. They fought like hell for those endings…they fought like hell for each other.
His arms closed around her, and she knew—Rose knew that life was just beginning. Her life with Julian. Her life without fear.
Her life…her choice.
And it was going to be amazing.
***
Julian was laughing.