Page 41 of Rescuing Macie

He sighed in relief.

“But I’m always going to be a nervous wreck,” Macie warned him. “And if we have kids, it’ll probably get worse. I’m going to need you to balance that out with our children. The last thing I want is for them to learn to be afraid of the world like I am.”

“You’re not afraid of the world,” Colt countered. “And I love you exactly the way you are. You make me feel needed. Sure, I could go out and find a woman who was sure of herself one hundred percent of the time and who could take care of herself and all fourteen of her kids, but that’s not what I want. That’s not who I want. I want you. Every gorgeous, beautiful inch of you. You’re not flawed in my eyes, Macie. You’re perfect, and I’ll remind you every day of our lives if you let me.”

“I’d love to move in with you,” Macie told him quietly.

“Good. I’ll call my men in the morning, and your stuff will be here by noon, and you can fix your author’s website, and we can be back in bed trying to make a baby by dinner time.”

Macie rolled her eyes and chuckled. He was pushing his luck, but she didn’t call him on it. “I’m ready for a nap,” she said instead.

Without a word, Colt stood, taking Macie with him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and felt his hands under her ass, holding her to him as he walked toward the stairs. He took her to the guest room and laid her on the queen-size bed.

When she started to ask, he put his finger over her lips. “Just for tonight. Tomorrow is soon enough to face any lingering demons in that room. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said. Then, as an afterthought, she asked, “Is there a way out of this room…just in case?”

He smiled down at her and brushed her hair off her forehead and nodded toward the window. “I went out and bought rope ladders after you jumped out of your apartment window. There’s one in every room on this floor.”

“I love you,” Macie said as she shut her eyes.

She felt Colt’s lips on her forehead and heard him say, “I love you, too.”

Epilogue

“Can I ask you something?” Macie said.

Colt chuckled and tightened his arm around his wife’s waist. They were lying naked and replete in each others’ arms. They were on their honeymoon in a fancy resort in the Caribbean. It had cost an arm and a leg to rent the room right on the water, but it had been worth every penny when he’d seen how relieved Macie had been.

At six months pregnant, he thought she was the most beautiful woman alive, but she wasn’t quite ready to parade around the public beaches with her baby belly.

“I keep telling you that you don’t ever have to ask me if it’s okay to ask me anything. You can just ask,” Colt told her, grinning.

She twirled her finger around one of his nipples, and Colt forced himself to pay attention to what she was saying instead of throwing her on her back and fucking her again.

Macie had gotten pregnant almost as soon as they’d begun trying. She’d been knocked up so quickly, he hadn’t even officially asked her to marry him. He’d rectified that immediately, and the same night she’d said yes, he’d called Truck and told him to clear his schedule because as soon as they could get an appointment, they were getting married by a justice of the peace.

Colt knew without asking that Macie would hate a big wedding. She’d hate to have all those people staring at her and she’d worry herself to death over every little detail. So the small ceremony at the courthouse suited him just fine.

That didn’t prevent the wives of the men under his command from throwing them a big-ass party. Colt had been relieved that Macie didn’t seem to mind, and in fact had the time of her life that night.

“Mary told me about that one mission you went on, and you explained what happened…but I heard her talking with Casey later and she said something else about you.”

Colt didn’t even tense at the reminder of that day so long ago. Macie didn’t love him any less as a result, and he’d finally come to terms with it himself. Gris and his family had shown up at their wedding party as a surprise. Truck had found out about the man and had called to invite him. It was so good to see his friend so happy and settled, it helped with any remaining guilt Colt felt about what had happened all those years ago.

“What’d she say, hon?” Colt asked.

“She was asking Casey if she should tell me about a time when you refused to allow one of the soldiers in your unit to leave when his baby was born.”

Colt knew exactly what she was talking about. “Mary’s right. I did do that.”

“Why?”

Colt smiled. He loved that Macie didn’t get huffy with him or tell him he was coldhearted. She always gave people the benefit of the doubt. It was one of the million and two things he loved about her.

“The soldier in question was married at the time, and the woman having his baby wasn’t his wife. He had been cheating on his wife for months. My hands were tied. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, adultery is unacceptable conduct and a soldier can be demoted as a result. This guy wasn’t legally separated, and he didn’t give a shit who knew about this other woman. Not only that, but the other woman knew he was married, and apparently she didn’t care either.

“I refused to let the soldier take leave because I knew he was going to lie to his wife about where he was going and why. Not only did I not let him go, I did my best to push for a court-martial as well.”