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Anxiety was a process, and she needed to work through it; Lord knew she’d helped him work through many a breakdown. However, he didn’t want to tell her everything would be all right to try to assuage her panic. Chances were, things wouldn’t be.
“How about I get Josiah?” he asked. “The bed’s big enough for four, especially since one of them didn’t grow much since the days he used to call me ‘Jo.’”
She looked around the room, her expression blank. “No, Josiah’s okay. It’s okay. He’s getting to that age, you know? I don’t want to crowd him.”
“Eesh? Look at me, babe.”
It took her a moment, but when their gazes connected, he made a mental note to schedule an appointment with a cardiologist to discuss what eye contact with her was doing to his heart.
“Know what I just realized?” He took her hands and had her rise to her feet with him. “I have the nerve to call you my fiancée, yet I haven’t taken you on a proper date.”
He loved her now, and regardless of what he’d been tangled in with Sydney, he’d loved her then. He loved her smile, her laugh. The way she smelled. The way she felt in his arms, soft and warm while he watched her sleep, wondering if he’d saved an angel’s life at some point to be blessed with this woman entering his.
He loved her cooking—except for her eggs. He half-expected a baby chick to step right off his plate whenever she served eggs.
Despite being confident in her profession, he loved how anxious she could get. He loved the kind of mother she was, how her mind worked, and how she approached a problem. And he loved how she talked about him, how she talkedtohim. Then, even if it was only a glance, the way she always found him, no matter how large the room or expansive the open space, drove him crazy with infatuation.
“What do you say, gorgeous?” He kissed the palm of her hand. “Will you have dinner with me? I’ll ask one of the guys if they’re okay with watching the boys while we go out. I think Theo’ll feel comfortable with Giorgio. What do you think?”
She nodded. “Definitely.”
“And what if I get Tay and Gage to come with us? That way, I won’t end up spreading you out like a buffet on the table in the middle of the restaurant?”
A smile hooked one side of her mouth.
Helpless, he smiled in return.
“I wouldn’t object,” she said. “But we might get kicked out of Sweden.”
“And I already almost got us kicked out of Maui. By now, I’m on somebody’s radar.”
Her smile widened, and he nearly told her he loved her. It wasn’t as if he believed she would seize up or say she didn’t feel the same, but he was saving it for a very specific moment.
She leaned forward and gave him a kiss that dropped an anchor in a chamber of his heart.
“I’d love to have dinner with you, Joel.”
While she got ready for bed in the bathroom in the owner’s suite, he used the one in the hallway. Once finished, he reentered the bedroom to find Ayesha asleep with Theo curled against her.
Most days, he couldn’t believe it. Soon, he’d be doing the whole marriage thing again. This time, marriage would come with a family. A family he would protect, even if it meant having to kill to ensure their safety.
And he fully intended to.
Without blinking.
CHAPTER4
“Damn it, Trevor.” Wesley Barnes grabbed his midsection where his teammate, Trevor Mason, had landed a solid punch. “Isn’t that supposed to be the arm where you got shot back in Angola?”
Their phones buzzed as four additional men entered the training room—Lee Jeong-Hyeok, Nicholas Spettro, Siriano Lavigne, and Adrían Delgano.
“This is one for you, Adrían.” Trevor pointed at him with his chin. “Recon on the Savea widow. I’m telling you, Savea was close to Wolfe, and we know Wolfe leads Team Alpha. We track Savea’s widow down, we find Wolfe, and we find Alpha.”
Wesley snickered. “Would be funny, Omega wiping out Alpha.”
Nicholas raised an index finger. “I can do the recon. We don’t have to send Adrían—”
“I’m going.” Adrían studied the image on his phone, but he wouldn’t need it. He’d run this op before. After all, he was the one responsible for making Savea’s wife a widow in the first place. “Lavigne got spotted by the kid. I won’t make the same mistake.”
