She’s every damn dream I ever had.
Cassidy glanced over at him, and she smiled. Her dimple flashed. His heartbeat kicked up.
Slowly, she strode toward him. “Hi, there, cowboy.”
The title had been mocking once—still was their own joke. The cowboy and the princess. That was how he thought of them.
Two different worlds. They probably should have never been together.
But they were.
When he’d finally been released from the hospital, Cale hadn’t been able to get her home soon enough.
And this place...with her there, it truly felt like home.
“I’m happy here,” Cassidy said, the words simple. True. No telling hitch gave away a lie.
She didn’t lie anymore or, at least, not to him. That hitch had sure slipped through when she’d gamely tried his sister’s roast beef the day before.
“Could you always be happy here?” he asked her carefully.
Her hands rose. She stroked his face, her fingertips lightly smoothing over the stubble that lined his jaw. “I told you before, I’m going to be happy as long as I’m with you. And I don’t care where we are.”
As long as they were together.
He held her gaze and slowly dropped to one knee.
“Cale?”
He opened the box in his hand. Before he’d left D.C., he’d picked up one very special item. He opened the box.
A diamond wasn’t nestled inside.
An emerald was. One that reminded him perfectly of her eyes.
Those eyes were very wide right then.
“Cassidy Sherridan, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
She just stared at him.
Oh, hell. He should have gone with the diamond. Getting the emerald had been a bad idea. It was just—
She yanked him to his feet. Kissed him hard and deep and wild. He could taste her love and her passion and all the sweetness that was his Cassidy.
“Yes,” she whispered against his lips. “Yes!” That time, she shouted her answer.
And he laughed and held her tighter.
Sometimes, dreams did come true—even the broken dreams of an ex-mercenary.
“Like I was going to let you get away,” Cassidy whispered, giving a small shake of her head. “Not happening.” Then she sobered as she stared at him. “It’s not every day that a man is willing to die for me.”
And it wasn’t every day that he was given something special to live for—someone special.
His Cassidy.
“I hope the wedding’s soon,” she told him, and a wicked glint had entered her eyes.