She sighed. “Listen. I spent my entire life watching my dad vanish—”

“And I don’t want to do that to you again.”

“So don’t. Keep me in the loop. Don’t vanish.”

He stared at her. “I don’t—”

“And don’t do anything stupid.”

His mouth closed. “I don’t do stupid things. Especially out in the field. I’m not Colt.”

“No. But you are . . . you are in a more challenging position than you were.”

He drew in a breath.

“You might not have noticed, Range, but you’re a Kingston. You are just as stubborn as your brothers.”

His lips pursed and he looked away.

“You don’t want to admit when you’re in over your head. When you’ve gone too far and you’ve found yourself in trouble. I’m afraid that you’re going to get people killed. Yourself killed.”

He looked at her, his blue eyes fixed in hers.

She matched his hard gaze with her own. Finally, “I’m angry that you didn’t give me the choice to say yes. To be as brave and willing as you to do the hard things. Do you not know me at all? You’re not the only warrior here.”

His mouth slowly hitched up. “I know that, princess.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Then promise me that you’ll stay wide-eyed and won’t let your ego make promises that your eyesight, and body, can’t keep.”

He took a step closer. “My body can keep a lot of promises.”

She put her hands on his chest. “I know it can. But you’re still not invincible. And”—she drew in a breath—“I can handle letting you go if I know you’re not out there trying to prove something.” She lifted her face to his. “Because you don’t have to do that, not anymore.”

He nodded, slowly.

“Being an operator and being my husband aren’t mutually exclusive. And I get that now. And I want you to get it also.” She wound her arms around his neck. “You’re going to join Jones, Inc. Because once a SEAL, always a SEAL, right?”

He smiled. “Mm-hmm.” Then he kissed her. And in it she tasted all his promises, all his I dos and all the happy reunions ahead.

Because he was also stubborn enough to keep his word.

So Tae said she loved him.

So what?

So . . . Colt swallowed, watching the final load of sky bums as they spun out of the sky, their red ribbons of smoke intersecting as they fell.

“I’m just going to . . . trust that God loves you as much as I do.”

He’d just been knocked off guard is all. So much to take apart.

Trust. God. Loving him. Her, loving him.

Yep, a lot.

The problem was, maybe he didn’t know what love looked like. Felt like.