He led her to the back of his Rubicon, popped the hatch open, and stared at Miss Betty’s case. For years, that gun had gone almost everywhere with him.

“Your secret is your rifle?” Nic teased and leaned into him, kissing his bicep. “It’s not a secret. I know what you do.”

He didn’t say anything, just stared at the gun case, searching for the right words.

She stepped closer, two fingers grazing over his cheekbones. Her fingers drifted across his skin, leaving a trail of heat, and stopped over his lips. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Cash kissed her fingers and turned them both toward the case, clicking it open. He pulled the rifle out, cradling it as he had a thousand times. “Have you ever heard the Rifleman’s Creed?”

She shrugged. “Probably. I’m not sure.”

“This is my gun. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life… That’s how it starts. The whole Creed isn’t important, but its symbolism is.” He took a breath, turning to her. “Before you left, I wanted to marry you, but life changed in ways we couldn’t control, and my rifle became my world.”

“You’re a sniper. I understand how important your weapon is to you.”

He stepped closer to her, needing to press against her. “I still had your ring, and you were my best friend. You were my life, my whole world. I graduated college, and before I knew it, I had a rifle that kept me alive. That I chanted about day in, day out. My best friend. My life.”

Nic started to say something, but he took her index finger in his and smoothed it over the trigger. “I didn’t know what to do with your ring after you were gone. And this gun was with me everywhere. This is what I did: the trigger’s gold plated. I couldn’t get Roman’s tattoo. I couldn’t scream from the rooftop that the woman I loved was gone. But I could have this with me, no matter where in the world I was.”

“Cash…”

He looked at her in the dark, trying to make out her features and read her mind. “The Creed goes on to say My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. It just fit. You’d always been with me. And somehow, thinking about us together in spirit, trenched out in the hellholes and kill zones I’d been sent to, it was nice to know you were in my foxhole. And Nicola Beatrice became… Miss Betty.”

She paused, then her voice was strong and powerful. “I love you, Cash. And I love that you did that.”

“Miss Betty kept me sane. Safe. I talked to her. Trusted her. She defended my life, my country. But it was always you, and I’ve always loved you.”