Page 145 of Falling for the Playboy Pilot

She tilted her face up to look at me, her hair a mess and her lips swollen from my kisses. She’d never looked more beautiful. “Are you okay with leaving tomorrow? If Chief calls?”

I was quiet for a moment, considering the question. A month ago, I would have said yes without hesitation. The job was everything. But now, looking down at this woman who had somehow managed to crack open my chest and make herself at home in my heart, I wasn’t so sure.

“I have to go if they need me,” I said finally. “But for the first time in my life, I don’t want to.”

“Because of me?”

“Because of you,” I confirmed. “Because now I have something worth coming home to.”

She was quiet for a long moment, and I wondered if I’d said too much. I was too scared to put words to what was happening between us. At least, the old me was.

The new me knew I had to say it.

“I love you.” The words were out there. Hanging. It felt like every millisecond stretched for hours.

“I love you too,” she replied in her still raspy voice.

The words hit me like a physical blow. I’d never heard them before, not directed at me, not from someone who mattered. My parents had never been the type to say it, and I’d made damn sure to keep every other woman at arm’s length. But hearing it from Janna, seeing the vulnerability in her eyes as she said it, something shifted inside me.

The words felt foreign on my tongue but completely right at the same time. “I never thought I’d say that to anyone.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “You changed everything for me. From the moment you came crashing into my life, literally, you turned my world upside down. Made me want things I never thought I deserved.”

“What kind of things?”

“This,” I said, gesturing between us. “A future. Someone to come home to. Someone who gives a damn whether I make it back or not.”

She propped herself up on her elbow, studying my face. “You deserve all of that and more.”

“I’m starting to believe that,” I said. “Because of you.”

She leaned down and kissed me softly, a promise and a prayer all rolled into one. When she pulled back, I could see tears in her eyes.

“Come back to me,” she whispered.

“Always,” I said, and meant it. “And you have to do the same. I can’t lose you, Janna. I won’t clip your wings, but I’m going to be worried every time you go up. But I also know you. I know you’re a fighter. I know you won’t quit. That’s going to be what I hold on to.”

“Ditto,” she said with a smile.

“I want you to have a drawer. Hell, three drawers and half the closet.”

“What?”

“I want you in my space. I want to make it our space. Don’t leave when the season is over. Stay here with me.”

Her whole face lit up. “Are you sure you know what you’re asking for?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Alright, but don’t get mad when I don’t put the cap on the toothpaste and spill coffee grounds all over the counter.”

I chuckled. “I’ll find a way to survive.”