“Me, too.” His voice was thick, hoarse with emotion, and he squeezed her tight. “You’re not hurt?”
“No. You—”
“They never touched me. God, Bailey, when they took you—”
“When we were on the dance floor, just before they came,” she said. “You heard me, right? You heard me say—”
“Say it again.”
“I love you.” She fisted her hands in his shirt, feeling his heart pounding sure and steady beneath his ribs. “I love you, Noah Fisher.”
Two uniformed officers ran inside, guns drawn. From the kitchen came two more. “Drop your weapons!” they yelled to everyone.
More uniforms poured into the house. While chaos ruled, Bailey tipped her head up. Unbelievably, money was still dancing through the air, coming down like green rain. “So it’s over?” she whispered to Noah.
“No.” He buried his face in her hair, as if he could inhale her. “It’s just beginning.”
Epilogue
It was Friday afternoon, the last day of school before summer vacation kicked in. Bailey was back in the place she knew she was meant to be—at the head of a classroom.
She had no more fears from her past. Alan’s resorts had been sold and were being completed by a different resort company. The men he’d invested with were in jail. If Alan hadn’t been killed, he’d be there as well.
Kenny was gone, on another case. She still marveled that he was FBI….
Her life was good, and she knew she owed that to her smart, sexy adventurer…Noah Fisher. They couldn’t be more different; he the world traveler, never settling down, never wanting to. And she wanting nothing more than to do just that, to make a real home.
They’d been together plenty in the past few weeks since that long weekend where he’d saved her life. They’d laughed, talked, danced, made love. They’d spent enough time together for her to know what they had was rare, and real, and exactly what had been missing in her life.
And yet she couldn’t tie him down; she would never want to tie him down…“Everyone take out their crayons.” She stood at the front of her second grade class and smiled at the bent heads, as each of the kids hustled to do her bidding, pawing through their desks for their crayons.
Her life was back, just as she’d wanted. “We’re going to color your folders to fill them with your schoolwork,” she said. “That way you can look at it over the summer.” They all got busy, and she filled her heart with joy just watching them. She paused as the door to her classroom opened.
When Noah stepped in, her heart squeezed tight.
Tall, tanned, and smiling—God, she loved his smile—he waved at the class, then walked to Bailey and handed her a cluster of wildflowers.
The class whooped and hollered.
Noah grinned.
And she felt her own tug at her mouth. “Excuse us, Mr. Fisher, but school is still in session.”
“Yes, but I wanted to say good-bye to the kids before I left.”
Her heart, which had stopped at the sight of him, kicked hard. “You going somewhere?”
“Yes,” he said with a smile she recognized. It held excitement and daring.
He was going on a trip. Though the thought made her ache, she smiled, because she knew how much he needed to wander, explore.
Be.
The bell rang, and he stood by her side as she hugged the kids good-bye, smiling and laughing and joking with each kid in turn, and when they were all gone, her heart felt heavy and uncomfortably full as she turned to him. It was always bittersweet to say good-bye to the kids, but she had a feeling it was going to be nothing compared to this good-bye. “So.”
“So.” He smiled.
She tried to return it but failed. “You going on a new adventure, then?”
He stepped closer. “As a matter of fact, I am. My biggest one yet.”
“I see,” she said, though in truth she didn’t. She’d hoped, she’d dreamed, that she would be enough for him. “What’s your plan?”
He stroked a strand of hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “I’ve left most of it unplanned actually, wide open for the unexpected, because I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot of the unexpected going on in this one.”
His eyes were bright and shining. He couldn’t wait to go. “Is it dangerous?” she managed in an even voice.
“Physically? No.” He drew a deep breath. “But to my heart and soul? Possibly lethal. I’m buying the house I’ve been leasing. I want to make it my home.”
“Really? But you’ve never wanted—”
“Things change. People change.” He took her hand, then pulled something out of his pocket and set it in her palm.
She stared at the diamond ring sparkling against her skin. Her heart threatened to pop out of her chest as it sank in, as it all sank in.
“I love you, Bailey Sinclair,” he said. “I don’t know what’s ahead of us, but I know it’s going to be an amazing adventure. Say you’re up for it.”
She laughed through a few tears, slipped the ring on her finger, and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, I’m up for it.” She pressed close, then closer still, very happy to feel that Noah was up for it, too….
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