Epilogue

Jesse

June

T he sea was a sparkling blue today, and the temperature was perfect. My little apartment was a converted open basement that Sofija, the elderly lady who owned the house above me, rented cheaply in exchange for help with her garden. My private patio area, overflowing with oleanders and hydrangeas, looked out over the Adriatic Sea.

I closed my eyes and leaned back into my lounger, enjoying the breeze off the water. I still didn’t feel settled, still wasn’t sure what to do with myself, but life was simple and that was good enough for now.

A few moments into a half-assed attempt at meditation, something light landed on my chest. I startled, looking down in a panic.

It was a battered postcard with a picture of Rummikub tiles.

A grin the size of Texas took over my face.

“I was wondering when you’d show up.”

Rafferty stepped in beside me, looking down at me with a serious expression. “That postcard is the only clue you left me. I landed here almost a week ago.”

I lifted a shoulder. “You’re a detective, Raff. I had full faith in you.”

“I was a detective,” he corrected. “Though I do like the idea of you having faith in me.”

I laughed, then jumped up and threw my arms around him. “You have no idea how good it is to see a familiar face.”

“Mm,” he rumbled. “It is good to be seen.”

To be honest, I had doubted he’d show up at all. I found out through an Austin news website that my father and I were declared missing and that I was presumed dead. Additionally, no flags had gone up on my cousin and, save for a small hiccup at the Dallas airport, I’d been able to get out of the country fairly easily.

Coming back to the present, I stared at Rafferty, suddenly awkward, not sure where we stood. Were we friends? Were we lovers? Was he here on an international mission to kidnap me and return me to the States? We hadn’t had a chance to talk about it.

Before I could catastrophize his presence, he grinned down at me and I was reminded of the feeling of being known , just like I’d felt in that cabin with him.

Rafferty shook his head and pulled me in for a kiss. A moan escaped my throat as he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue into my mouth. Carefully, we sat on the lounger, and he pulled me down onto his lap.

“Hey,” I said, straddling him.

“Hey,” he responded, running his nose across mine.

My cheeks heated and I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face into his neck.

“Why so shy?”

“I just...” I huffed out a laugh, feeling ridiculous. “I don’t actually know what this is.”

“What do you want it to be?” he asked, running his palm over the buzzed look I’d grown fond of .

I bit my lip and looked out at the ocean. “More.”

His smile could light a darkened cave. “I can work with more.”

Rafferty—July

Ronnie had not been surprised when I returned from my brief Christmas vacation with a notice in hand. She did ask, however, that I finish out my open cases—including the Travis family case—before I left.

It was a gut punch to witness the two mangled trucks being pulled from the lake. The department dragged the water for Jesse’s body, but the divers declared that the conditions at the bottom of the dam made it impossible to continue the search, and the local businesses complained that shutting down the waterways was hurting the local economy.

Jesse’s case was still open, and it’d be years before he could be formally declared dead, but the department was no longer actively looking for him.

When the Rangers investigated the loss of their protective agents, they discovered that Jesse’s father had been tracking his movements. None of this ever officially circled around to Kyler, who was resting comfortably at the bottom of Lake Buchanan with Jesse’s uncle, but I was absolutely certain he’d been the one to track Jesse and leak the location of the safe house.

Even though I’d been anxious to move on from my career, I’d also been grateful for the workload because I was a mess waiting to hear from Jesse. I breathed a little easier when I got an email from an offshore account that had been set up in my name. Using Kyler’s identification and access, Jesse had been able to tap into his family’s offshore holdings.

When I got the blank postcard stamped Bar, Montenegro at the beginning of May, I finally took a deep breath. I put the cabin up for sale and left as soon as everything was settled. Bar wasn’t a huge place, but tracking Jesse down without setting off any alarms had been damned difficult.

In the end it’d been a stroke of luck that brought me to his door. I’d asked around at a local coffee shop if they had any recommendations for room rentals, and the barista had mentioned Sofija’s place, since it was right on the water. One of the old guys in the shop said that another American had beat me out for the location, a Texan, and suggested his uncle’s place instead.

I declined his offer, then all but ran to Sofija’s place, my heart nearly leaping out of my chest as I neared the picturesque home.

When Jesse and I were first reunited, I didn’t think either of us knew what we were going do with ourselves. We both admitted to wanting more, but given our history, who the hell knew what that would look like. In the end, I asked him to show me his adopted country, and he did. We explored, we ate the local cuisine, and he taught me what he’d learned of the local language. I also got to know Sofija, who was fiercely protective of her Jesse and a damn good Rummikub player.

Jesse and I also spent lots of time making love on his lumpy bed with the sea as our backdrop.

In the end, it didn’t take me very long to figure out what more meant to me. Now I just had to tell him.

“You look like you’re swimming in deep thoughts,” Jesse said, coming up to me with a cup of coffee.

I smiled and pulled him down onto my lap. “That’s because I was, in fact, swimming in deep thoughts.”

“Care to share with the class?”

I took a sip of coffee and looked out over the horizon. “This month with you has been the most amazing month of my life.”

His face fell and he slid from my lap. “ But ...”

I shook my head and dragged him back onto my lap, laughing when he spilled a few drops of his coffee.

“No but . It’s been the most amazing month of my life, period. Because I got to know you even better, and I like what I’m finding out.”

“You do?”

The fragile hope in his eyes made my heart soar.

“Yes. And this is where you say that you’ve enjoyed getting to know me as well.”

He punched my shoulder lightly, then kissed it. Then kissed me.

“I have loved getting to know you better,” he said, breathless. “You are incredibly sexy. And funny. But you make me feel cared for. And protected. And I love that.”

“Do you love that ?” I asked, running my fingertips across his brows. “Or do you love me?”

He blinked at me, his eyes reddening in an instant.

“Jesse?”

“I think you already know the answer to that.”

“Mm . . . yeah. But I want to hear it.”

After a moment he sat back and scrunched his nose, the opposite of the hatred I’d seen in the courtroom. I winked at him, and he let out an undignified grunt.

“I’ve probably been in love with you since you opened that door. And I don’t want to think about life without you.”

“Good. Neither do I.”

“Because?” he asked, arching a brow.

“Because I love you, too.”

We laughed and kissed and spilled a little more coffee, but it didn’t matter.

“Kinda feels like we’re celebrating Christmas in July,” Jesse said, sighing as he rested his head on my shoulder.

“I agree. And I can’t think of a better present than having you in my arms.”