“Because, regardless of everything, when I watched him fighting for his life tonight, I realized he’s no different from me. He loves his job, he’s passionate about it, and that’s clouded a lot for him. He’s not a bad person, and you know that.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Please consider it.”

He nods, standing. “I will, for you. Now, I have more reports to submit. Get some rest, Laney.”

I smile up at him. “Thank you, Nak.”

“For what?”

“For believing in me.”

He smiles. “Anytime, sweetheart.”

Then he leaves. I sip my coffee and look over to Jax, whose eyes are fluttering open again. I stand and walk over, looking down into his face. I love this man, heart and soul, and no matter what happens, that won’t change. Nearly losing him showed me that. He’s the best mistake I ever made. When his eyes fully open and fixate on mine, I smile. “Well, hey there, handsome.”

“Hey yourself,” he croaks. “Kitten.”

EPILOGUE

ONE MONTH LATER

“Oh, Delaney, he’s here!” Aunt Bett cries, rushing around like a chicken with her head cut off.

“Aunt Bett, chill!” I say, walking out into the living area.

She skids to a stop and stares at me, then proceeds to burst out crying. I smile and walk over, wrapping her in my arms. “Stop crying or you’ll make me cry.”

“You look so beautiful,” she blubbers.

I squeeze her tighter and then let go. “I have to go.”

She nods, sniffling. “Don’t pay for a thing, and make sure he opens the car door for you.”

I shake my head with a fond grin and walk to the door, opening it. Jax is standing on the other side, looking like pure masculine beauty, looking at me. He’s wearing a pair of black jeans, fitted but not too tight, and a dark grey button-up shirt that’s got the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up. His hair is flopping messily over his forehead and his eyes match his shirt. He looks gorgeous.

“Hey, kitten,” he says, his voice husky.

He swoops down and captures me, kissing me softly. “You look gorgeous.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself, handsome.”

“Are you ready?”

I nod and step out, shutting the door, still hearing Aunt Bett’s sniffling. Jax leads me down to his car, the car he’s driving, the car I’m not escorting him to. Yes, that’s right, Jax and I are going on our first date without escorts, or people chasing him, or jealous friends. A date. A real date. I’m so excited, my stomach is a flurry of butterflies.

The last month has been a blur. Kyle got out of the hospital and Nak didn’t fire him, which I’m completely grateful for. He did get put back down to basic cases until he can prove himself, but he’s okay with that. We made peace, in a sense. It was an awkward conversation, but we cleared the air between us and he even thanked me for saving his life.

Tori and Red went home, and Red was nice enough to be kind to me when he left, saying he wished Jax and me well. Tori refused to see Jax, and when I asked if that upset him, he said no. He’s certain she’ll move on and when she does, then they might have the chance to rebuild some of their friendship. That upsets me, because I feel partially responsible, but Jax assured me that Tori would have done this, with or without me in the picture.

I believe that.

I started work again two weeks ago, and chose to only do normal cases that didn’t need high security. My life is a far happier place because of that. Jax went back to life as normal and the gang members went to trial and got life in prison for a number of charges, including murder, assault, sexual assault, drug charges and weapons charges.

We haven’t had one problem since then.

Jax takes me to a fair. I have no idea why he picked a fair for our first date, but the excitement bubbles out of me when we get out of the car and I see the big rides, the candy stores and the games. I squeal and turn to Jax. “A fair?”

“I figured you were the kind of girl that got off on fast things, and I told you after our last failed attempt at going out together that I’d make our first real date amazing.”

I snort. “You certainly seem to be making that happen, though I think you’re wrong about the fast things. I’ve been known to play with slow things.”

He flashes me a wolfish grin. “Careful, kitten.”

I grin and stretch my hand out. “Take me on a ride, Mr. Shields.”

He slaps my ass and then takes my hand, and we enter the fair. Typically, I rush to the fastest, craziest ride first. We ride and laugh until we’re ready to puke, and then we load up on the worst-nutritional-value food in the world and walk out of the fair and over to a beautiful big park, where fireworks are being shot off.

Jax sits down and pulls me into his body, my back pressed to his chest. We stare up at the sparks of color flying through the sky, and I feel so at ease for the first time in my life. Jax has his arm around my waist, and every now and then he puts a piece of whatever food he picks out of our little stash, into my mouth.

“So, how do I rate on the first date scale?” he asks.

“Probably a five.”

He pinches my side. “Why a five?”

“You didn’t buy me flowers. All girls need flowers, handsome.”

“How do you know I didn’t buy you flowers?”

I grin, even though he can’t see it. “Well, did you?”

“No, but I will.”

“Ah, ah, that’ll ruin the surprise.”

He grunts. “Women.”

“You should familiarize yourself with the art of dating.”

He traces a finger up my arm, making me shiver. “Why? I’m an amazing lover, I look good, and I have money.”

“Ugh, Jaxson, that’s such a rich manwhore thing to say.”

He chuckles. “You wouldn’t have me any other way.”

“Hey, you came this way. I didn’t get a choice.”

“And if you could have gotten a choice, would you change anything?”

I sigh and smile. “God, no.”

“My point, exactly,” he says, nipping my earlobe.

“What about you, would you change anything?”

He sucks my lobe into his mouth and I shiver. His arms tighten around me.

“Yeah, I’d have you protecting anyone else but me.”

“Still got ego issues?”

He snorts. “I can tell you it won’t be happening again.”

“Is that so?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“Look, macho man, you had the chance to have the last save, that should be enough.”

“You’re right, I did get the last save,” he says cockily.

“And you feel pretty good about that, don’t you?”

He laughs softly. “I’ll never let you forget it.”

“I didn’t figure you would.”

He’s silent for a minute, then he squeezes me softly. “I’d go to the ends of the earth if it meant you were safe, Delaney. Don’t you ever doubt that. You might be tough, and bad ass, but I’m always going to protect you.”

“Dammit, Shields,” I say, my voice thick. “You’re going to make me cry.”