When he broke the kiss, she looked up into his hot blue eyes and knew that she and A.J. would make a wonderful life together. “Would you mind being married to a Navy SEAL instructor?”
“What?”
“It’s time for me to enter a different phase in my life. Even though I’m still in excellent shape, I’ll never be where I was before that grenade. If I’m one second too late off the mark, it could spell disaster for a mission. This way, I can contribute and still be part of the teams.
“Not the instructor part, the married part. I don’t care what you do, only that you love me.”
“That was a backhanded way of asking you to marry me.”
“The answer is still yes.”
“Then we’re home free, babe.”
“Tell me something,” she asked as they began to walk up the beach. “You don’t look like you’re getting ready for a mission.”
“Who told you that?”
Sienna started to laugh.
“David,” A.J. said. “Family—you can’t pick ‘em…”
“And you can’t live without them,” Sienna said, looking up into his eyes.
EPILOGUE
Sienna couldn’t think of any place more comfortable to meet A.J.’s parents than the house she’d grown up in. She came through the front door, a bag of groceries in one arm and a bouquet of fresh flowers in the other.
The smell of roasted chicken hit her the closer she got to the kitchen. Cutting through the dining room, she smiled when she saw the table all decked out.
“Hi, sweetheart,” her mother said, kissing her on the cheek and taking the bag from her. “Oh, the flowers are beautiful.”
“I thought it’d be a nice touch. Thanks for putting on the fancy lace tablecloth.”
“It’s not every day that we meet the parents of the man our daughter is going to marry.”
“Could it have anything to do with the fact that A.J.’s father is a senator?”
“Mmm, maybe.”
“Where’s Dad?”
“Upstairs, getting dressed. Call him. I think they just drove up.”
Sienna went to the bottom of the stairs, but her father was already coming down.
“Hi there, sweetie. Got a kiss for your dad?”
“Sure do.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek just as a knock sounded on the front door.
Her mother came in from the kitchen and opened the door. A.J. stood there with his mother and father.
“Come in,” Sienna invited.
They stepped into the foyer. His mother was tall and willowy, of obvious Hispanic descent. His father had salt-and-pepper hair, the spitting image of David.
For a moment they all stood there in silence until her father blurted out, “Want to see my new jigsaw?”
That broke the ice, and everyone laughed.