“That what I’m supposed to be doing, Angel Smith?”Angel Cooperone day, if he had his say.
He broke out into a cold sweat.He hoped.Because he couldn’t stand to live without her.
Suddenly, he needed to hear her say it. “I love you, sweetheart.”
Her smile lit up her face like magic. And to think he hadn’t believed in this sort of thing once upon a time. “I love you, too, Ford. And, in case you’ve forgotten, I told you first.”
“Well, obviously. You’re smarter than I am.”
“It’s an EQ thing.”
“EQ?”
“Emotional Intelligence.” She craned her neck up, reaching for him. “Now kiss me.”
He dropped his lips to hers and kissed her the way he did every time—like he meant it. Like he’d cross the world for her, brave anything for her. Like it could be their last kiss, their last breath, and he wanted to spend it with her.
When he pulled away, she followed him partway and then dropped her head back to her pillow, as if it weighed a ton.
“This place…” She rolled her eyes to one side, then the other. “It’s like a resort or something. You think it was Zoe’s idea?”
“I know for a fact it wasn’t.”
“Eric’s?”
“Yeah. My brother—Navy SEAL, roughneck, billionaire owner of…whatever this is.”
“Polaris. The mothership.”
He laughed and bent to rub his nose against hers, loving the way she bubbled through him, humor, smiles, warmth, desire. All the things he’d thought he had to give up in order to survive in the world.
“You’remymothership.”
She turned and gave him a side-eye. “I know that was meant to be romantic, but it came out a little weird.”
“I’m a science guy. We’re weird by our very nature.”
“You can say that again.” She sat up. “Hey. Didn’t Zoe mention a balcony?”
He grabbed a sweater and followed her outside, where he dropped it on her shoulders. And then, because keeping her warm was a pleasure he’d never get sick of, he wrapped himself around her and looked up at the night sky. “There’s only one thing I regret.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“I never got to show you the aurora australis.”
With a sigh, she scooted even closer, snuggling into his chest in that way she had that made him feel huge and strong, like a man who could take on the world and survive.
“Right. The southern lights. Oh, I bet we’ll make it there one day.” She kissed his chest in that spot that felt likeherssince he’d first held her all those weeks ago in Antarctica. “As far as I’m concerned, Ford Cooper, our adventure is just beginning.”
When she put it that way, he knew for a fact that he could—and would—take on anything in the world for her. And he’d do it with a smile on his face.
Epilogue
One month later—Familia Kitchen, San Diego, California
Angel hummed to herself as she shoved the leftover cilantro into the fridge, pleased at how it had grown out in the middle of nowhere, along with the tomatoes and basil and everything else she’d planted in the Polaris platform’s massive interior courtyard. With the chickens she’d just brought out there and the goats she’d harassed Eric into considering, Polaris was quickly turning into a farm.
An offshore farm. The world’s first, maybe? Now all they needed was a puppy. The thought of grumpy, stoic Von holding some cute tiny fuzzball decided her. They were getting a puppy.
