They’d been kept apart in separate rooms at the hospital and had only seen each other fleetingly over the past few days.She’d given her statement to the police, and that was the end of it, but Mårten had been inundated with interviews from both the FBI and the local police, defending his actions.A Swedish cop shooting an American citizen—even if he was a wanted felon—on American soil was a tangled web of legal and operational hurdles that they had to unpick very carefully to make sure Mårten wasn’t charged with any offenses.It’d been a tense few days, and for a while, Summer had been petrified that Mårten was going to be thrown in jail for his actions—all because he’d come to save her life.But Jacob and his partner Miller had been instrumental in making sure Mårten had been cleared of any wrongdoing, and as of yesterday, the FBI had declared Mårten was free to go home to Sweden.
Mårten reached over and took her hand in his less damaged one.She tried to withdraw it, afraid she was going to hurt him.“No.”He shook his head.“I need to feel you, to touch you.I’ve missed you.”
“Me too,” Summer admitted, raising her gaze to meet his.She’d been craving his touch the whole time she’d been cooped up in hospital, dreaming of his powerful arms around her, like they’d been all too briefly after he rescued her from the flames.
“Actually, I’ve more than missed you,” he amended.“I’m in love with you.”He let the words hang in the air, fixing her with his steady ice-blue gaze.His abrupt declaration hit her hard in the middle of her chest.Oh, blast.She wasn’t ready for this conversation, not just yet.Of course she’d considered where this relationship would go next while she’d been ensconced in a hospital bed—it’d been just about the only thing she’d thought about.And she was sure she loved him too.But there was so much at stake here.If she revealed she was in love with him, what did that mean for her?Her carefully crafted, safe life would be in jeopardy.Was she ready to throw that all away?Mårten deserved to know the truth about how she was feeling.
“I’m scared,” she admitted at last, her voice coming out in a croak.
“So am I,” he conceded.“But I’ll do anything to make this work.I’ll even move to America if that’s what it takes.If Jacob can do it, so can I.”His silver eyes fixed intently on her face, and she knew he meant every word.Wow, Mårten was prepared to uproot his life and move.For her.That was big.Huge.He had a career and a life over there.As did she here in Seattle.
She gave a weak laugh, and suddenly her mind went to images of her and Mårten living in the house next door, with the white picket fence and the wide veranda out the back, waving to Nikki and Jacob from their front garden.They could be friends, go on double dates.But something about it felt wrong, and the image was quickly replaced by her and Mårten sitting on his small porch sipping red wine and contemplating the birch forest full of birdsong.She suddenly realized she’d been at her happiest when she’d been with him in Sweden.
Could she do it?Could she move to another country for Mårten?For Love?If she didn’t do it now, she knew she’d most likely end up miserable and alone.She wanted Mårten in her life.Needed him like she needed air to breathe.Her answer had to be a resounding yes.
“Well, I’ve been thinking.”She raised an eyebrow and looked at him from below lowered lashes.“I don’t need to stay in.Seattle,” she mused.“I mean, I could easily run my business from anywhere else in the world.”
She didn’t tell him this, but she’d already looked up possibilities for extending her environmental videography business in Luleå.The university there had just opened a new research center focusing on the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions.The online blurb said it was a hub bringing together various researchers and their expertise on different projects, such as climate change and sustainability in areas affected by human habitation and even by global wars such as the Russia and Ukraine conflict.It sounded impressive, to say the least, and more than one project had piqued Summer’s interest.Even if they didn’t need an experienced environmental photographer, Summer didn’t doubt there would be plenty of other opportunities in the area.
Mårten’s grip tightened on her hand, and she almost winced for him.“What do you mean?”
“I mean, Sweden is so beautiful in the summer.In my line of work, I could find plenty of assignments on offer in Europe, or I could even fly back and forth to America if need be.”
“Summer,” Mårten breathed.“Would you really do this?What about your friends?Your family?”He twisted on the couch so his knees thrust up against hers, a spark of something elemental and hopeful in his eyes.
It would be hard to leave her friends, but her family were all the way down in San Jose, and she could just as easily visit them from Sweden as she could from Seattle.
She wouldn’t be giving up anything career-wise.Wouldn’t need to renounce any of her grand passions.She may even be enhancing her opportunities to grow her photography business if she could get her foot in the door of some of the world-class institutes in places such as Finland or Germany.The Nordic countries were years, if not decades ahead of America when it came to sustainable living and their care for the environment.And she’d have her pick of triathlon events to choose from; the European competitions were robust and even more competitive than the American ones.Perhaps moving to Sweden was the answer she’d been looking for all along.
And then there was Mårten.
For the past twelve years, Summer had held herself separate from love.Had never allowed herself to dream—not even for a second—that she might be worthy of love.That if she let it in, then something good might come of it.
“I realized something on the day Tyrone tried to kill me,” Summer said, pursing her lips and reaching up to touch the cross sitting in the hollow at the base of her neck, its familiar shape giving her courage to continue.Marco had given her this necklace for her seventeenth birthday, and now it felt as if he were speaking to her through the warm metal, giving her permission to let him go at last.
Mårten nodded, waiting for her to talk, but she could feel the slight tremble of his hand in hers.
“I realized I was wrong.I can’t escape pain and heartache by building walls to avoid those emotions.They’ll come for me anyway.So I may as well embrace them, embrace all that life offers, and take the good along with the bad.As long as I’m with you, I can bear any adversity, overcome any difficulty.”And who knew, maybe one day her love for Mårten might even help to reverse the damage all those years of trauma had wreaked on her soul.
“I love you,” she said.“And I want to come and live in your cottage in the forest, if you’ll let me.”
He cradled her chin with his thumb and forefinger and brushed his lips against hers.“Let you?Of course I’ll let you.I’ll even pack your bag for you.We could go right now.Right this instant.Come on, I’ll carry you to the airport.”He stood, tugging her up with him so she had no choice but to be pulled into his chest.
“Slow down, Inspector Viskten,” she laughed.“We have plenty of time.”His eagerness was infectious, and she stood on tiptoe so she could reach his mouth, ignoring the twinge of pain in her legs.
“I want to take you back to my home,” he murmured against her lips.“I want to make love to you, over and over, in the grass in the meadow.I want to show you with my body how much you mean to me.”
“I want that too,” she agreed as a twist of desire unfurled in her gut.She cursed her damaged flesh, and his damaged hands, and kissed him again, harder this time, letting her desire run away with her.“And I’m sure if we’re very careful…we might work something out right now,” she said with a seductive tilt of her hips against his.
“Damn right we can.”Before she could stop him, he’d picked her up, cradling her against his chest, careful not to touch her bandages, and headed down the hallway.“Let’s go and celebrate in the best way possible,” he said, almost banging her shoulder on the doorframe in his hurry to get them into her bedroom.
Summer kissed his cheek; her heart almost exploding with emotion.This man was everything, and she couldn’t wait to start their new lives together.In some peculiar, perverted way, perhaps she owed Tyrone King her thanks, because if he hadn’t sent his lackey to burgle her apartment, she would never have met this amazing man, the love of her life.Never have discovered she was capable of giving love and receiving love, so that she was finally free of her demons.Without a moment’s hesitation, she knew she would go through everything she’d endured over the past three weeks all over again if it meant she could give Mårten her heart.
“I love you so much,” she whispered in his ear as he closed the door behind them and laid her reverently on the bed.Then she took his mouth with hers, and everything else was forgotten.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THREE MONTHS LATER
