“God, where are my manners—come in,” she said. “You’re getting wet.”

As she stepped back, he hesitated. And then he put the rose between his teeth and bent down to untie the laces of his combat boots.

Grier started laughing.

She couldn’t help it and it didn’t make any sense, but there was no holding it in. She laughed until she had to back up and sit down on the mattress again. She laughed from joy and confusion and hope. She laughed at everything from the perfect rose to the perfect moment . . . to the perfect timing.

To him being a perfect gentleman—to the point that he didn’t want to track in on her bedroom rug.

Her brother was right.

She was going to be okay.

Her soldier was home for good . . . and she was going to be perfectly fine.

Isaac stepped into Grier’s room in his stocking feet and he was careful to shut the door behind himself. Taking the rose out from between his teeth, he smoothed his hair and beat back the feeling that he wished he could have shown up in a tux or something.

But he just wasn’t a tuxedo kind of guy.

He approached his woman and got down on his knees in front of her, watching her laugh, and smiling a little himself. She’d either lost her damn mind or she was glad to see him—and he hoped like hell it was the latter and didn’t care if it was the former as long as she let him stay.

God, she looked good. With nothing but a black silk blouse on and a pair of hose, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen—

As she wiped her eyes, he realized she had something in her hand and it wasn’t some sappy-ass flower. It was a foil packed of . . . pills?

Grier clearly tweaked to what he’d focused on, because she stopped laughing and tried to tuck the thing behind herself.

“Wait,” he said, “what is it?”

She took a deep breath, like she was bracing herself. “Why did you come back?”

“What’s up with the pills.”

“You first.” The look in her eyes was dead serious. “You . . . go first.”

Well, now he felt like a fool, but then again, even though all was fair in love and war, there was no place for a man’s pride in that mix, was there.