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That’s why the clock and time tattoos. It all makes sense now.
“My dad never did fly a helo. He let his fears of failing or crashing get into his head. Well, my mom’s fears, her lack of belief in him, stopped him.” He met my eyes this time and added, “I don’t want my own fears and fucked-up past to stop me from being the only thing I’ve never truly been. At least, not until you.”
I blinked back tears. “And that is?”
He reached between us, forcing me to step away, so he could draw my chin into his palm. “Happy.”
I let the dam break, and he caught my wobbly lip and my tears with his mouth. Giving me his love in that kiss even more intensely than ever before.
“Diana?”
“Yeah?” I asked, breathless, still coming down from the high his touch always gave me. My heart was still breaking at his painful memories.
“I don’t want to wait until the mission is over to tell you I love you.”
His words skipped through my mind so fast it took my heart a second to catch up with my head.
Eyes back on mine, he cradled my face in his hands. “I want a future with you, and a life of making memories together to form our past.” More tears slipped down his cheeks, and from such a strong, tough guy, it was just . . . God, my heart ached for him. “I want our kids to wake us up, bouncing on the bed. I want to cook breakfast together, and do all those normal things I never could do. I want that. All of that. With you.” He lowered his forehead to mine. “I don’t want time to slip by.”
Searching for my voice, strangled by emotions, I finally pushed out, “I don’t need more time to know what I want. I’ve been waiting thirteen years for you. I’ve been waiting for our time, and it’s now.” I set my hands on top of his as we remained locked in that position. “I love you,” I whispered on a breath.
“Good,” he choked out, then he let go of me and dropped to his knees, like he was bowing to me.
I quickly sank to the hard ground, collapsing along with him, reminding him, “Equals, remember?”
A sexy smile cut across his lips as he reached for my hand. “Yes, but in this case, I was going to ask you to marry me.” He cupped my face between his big palms. “Patience when it comes to waiting to be with you is not something I have.” He swallowed, and so did I. “So, what do you say?”
I nodded, the tears flying nonstop now, splattering over his hands. “Spend the rest of my life with you and have your children? Save the world somewhere in there, too?” I leaned in so our lips were close enough to create fusion. “That’s a yes.”
67
CARTER
Standing inside our private hangar at the airport that afternoon while we waited for Gwen’s arrival, as well as Diana’s Irish escorts, I peered over at Diana as she spoke with Mya. I couldn’t help but question whether I’d fucked up that morning. Should I have waited to ask her until after this mission like I’d originally intended? Picked out a ring for her first, even though I knew she didn’t care for jewelry?
I’d planned my proposal while pulling together the evidence against the Novaks. Thoughts of Diana being my wife one day had kept me from falling apart myself. I had no doubts I wanted to spend my life with her, but I didn’t want her to second-guess if my proposal had come from a place of fear. That I’d asked her to marry me because I was worried I wouldn’t survive the op.
Had I planned to drop before her and ask her to be my wife that morning? No, I’d wanted to offer her the fairy tale she deserved. But instead, my head took a backseat to my heart. I was too eager to tell her how I really felt, and I’d been unable to stop myself.
She said yes, I had to remind myself. She doesn’t think I’m crazy.
“You good?” I glanced up at Jack as he joined me between our two jets, his voice tight but steady.
“Are you? You sure you want to go to Zurich when your wife is pregnant?” I closed one eye, trying to remember if I was supposed to know that piece of intel.
“Ah, so my man told you? I should’ve known.” Jack locked his arms across his chest, taking in the view with me, including both Falcon and my old crew loading the jets in preparation to fly to Switzerland.
“He did. Say the word, and you go with Diana, Oliver, and Mya to Ireland. Hang low. Stay safe there so you make sure you make it back to your family.”
What am I saying? We’re all going to be good no matter what. We have no choice. I may have been forty-five, but with Diana in my life, I felt like I was just starting out. I had no intention of missing out on this second chance at life.
Jack moved in front of me, blocking out everyone around us, forcing me to give him my undivided attention. That was always hard to do when Diana was within the same room. “You won’t let us down. I’m not worried. I learned long ago to trust you know what you’re doing. Who knew this better plan would be a result of heckling you about how much you look like . . .” His words trailed off as he smiled at someone or something over my shoulder. “Speak of the devil. Well, the other devil.”
“Sebastian Renaud here?” I pivoted to the side to see the door to the connecting hangar open. I trusted the man enough to know he’d never let anyone know he was in Scotland, let alone taking Diana safely back with him to Ireland. Otherwise, she’d never be leaving my side.
Jack checked his watch. “Right on time with Gwen,” he added as she trailed in behind the man who reminded me a bit of myself, both in his looks and his overall demeanor. We had the vigilante thing in common as well.
Whatever alias Gwen had cooked up to fly abroad overnight made her unrecognizable as herself, or Diana, which was the point. Fake tattoos on her arms. Piercings on her face. A red wig. Black fishnet tights.
