His entire body burned with shame. “Go ahead and do it.”

Now she looked wary. “What are you talking about?”

“Break up with me. I wouldn’t blame you if you changed your mind about being with me.” Misery hung on his every word. “You were right—you need a full-time partner. A man who’s going to be there for you and protect you and—”

“Are you f**king kidding me?”

Jen gaped at Cash, wondering if he’d hit his head during that mission or something. Because he was talking like a crazy person. Kind of looked like a crazy person too, with that wild look in his blue eyes and the dark scruff covering his face. She’d been so happy to see him when she’d walked out of the bathroom and spotted him in the hall, but the more he babbled on about breaking up, the unhappier she became.

“No, I’m not kidding,” he mumbled. “I wasn’t here for you, and isn’t that what you were afraid of? That you’d be forced to handle everything alone? And you had to f**king handle being assaulted! Holy hell, I should have—”

“Jeez, cowboy, would you shut up already? Nobody’s breaking up with anybody.”

Cash faltered, and a flicker of confusion replaced the feral look in his eyes. “No?”

“No.” With a sigh, she reached up to cup his chin, the stubble there abrading her palms. “It’s not your fault that Brendan showed up. If anyone’s to blame for this, it’s me, for not being more cautious when I went back to my apartment.”

Cash still looked dubious. “You’re not angry that I wasn’t there to protect you?”

“I protected myself just fine,” she replied. “And you know what? As messed up as this sounds, I’m happy Brendan showed up this morning. Now the cops are involved and they can deal with him, and besides, the whole encounter was proof that I can take care of myself. The self-defense training my family shoved down my throat paid off, and I got out of the situation with nothing but a black eye when it could’ve been a lot worse.”

Jen smiled. “So no, I’m not angry with you. And hell no, I’m not dumping you. I was strong enough to deal with my psycho ex, and I’m definitely strong enough to be in this relationship with you.”

Before she could blink, Cash tugged her into his arms again and kissed the living daylights out of her. His lips were firm, his tongue insistent, his beard growth prickly as it scraped her chin. The kiss robbed her of breath and made her heart pound, and when they broke apart, the relief in Cash’s eyes was unmistakable.

“You mean it, right? You’re okay that I wasn’t here when you needed me? Because it could happen again, sweetheart. The military is my life. I will be gone at times.”

She traced his mouth with her fingers. “I know. And I can handle that. We can make this work.” She paused. “And anyway, you won’t be the only traveling partner in this relationship.”

He cocked a brow. “Oh really?”

“Uh-huh. In fact, I’m flying to Lake Tahoe Wednesday morning. It’s just a day trip, but it still counts as travel, right?”

“Is this your way of telling me you got the job?” he teased.

“Yep.”

Jen yelped when Cash lifted her off her feet and hugged her. His happiness was contagious, making her forget about this morning’s terrifying showdown with Brendan and reminding her of all the incredible things she had going in her life at the moment.

“I knew you’d get it,” he said gruffly.

Her heart constricted as he bent down to capture her lips in another deep kiss that left her tingling in all the right places.

“I’m so damn proud of you, sweetheart,” he went on, sweeping his thumb over her lower lip. “I believed in you from the start, and I’m glad you’re finally believing in yourself.”

“I am,” she agreed softly. Emotion clogged her throat. “And even more than that, I believe in you, Cash. I believe in us.”

Chapter Fifteen

Carson paced Jen’s living room carpet, distress creasing his forehead. “What if she doesn’t come?” he said for the tenth time in the last five minutes.

“She just texted saying she’s on her way,” Jen reminded him.

He kept pacing. “What if she sees my car and realizes it’s an ambush?”

“You parked at the grocery store around the corner,” Cash spoke up. “She won’t see your car.”

“But what if she stops to buy groceries?” He sounded anguished. “Fuck. She’s not going to come.”

With a sigh, Jen rose from the couch and marched over to her brother. Cash stayed seated, watching her with an amused expression on his gorgeous face. For a second, she was tempted to flop right back on the couch and kiss that sexy mouth of his, but she reined in the impulse. Besides, she and Cash had done plenty of kissing over the past two days—surely they could afford to take a short break to help her brother.

Clapping both hands on Carson’s shoulders, she fixed him with a stern look. “Chill the f**k out. Holly is on her way here. Any second now, she’ll knock on the door and—”

The knock came as if on cue.

Jen gave those broad shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “See?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “How do I look?”

She swept her gaze over his perfectly starched dress whites, the blond hair he’d slicked back with care, the clean-shaven jaw and familiar blue eyes, the same shade as her own.