They moved into the hotel,where the manager arranged for them all to have a late dinner and drinks.
Chase sat on one side of Alana through the meal while her father sat on the other.Like Mr.Neal, he didn’t want her out of his sight, not after almost losing her.This woman, whom he’d married in a drunken stupor, had found her way under his skin.Strong, courageous and feisty, she was everything he could have ever wanted in a wife and hadn’t known he needed.
After the meal, the team dispersed.Gina went with Carson, Alana’s father retired to a room the manager had arranged for him, and the others convened in the bar.
Chase took Alana’s hand.“Want to go for a walk?”
She nodded.“I haven’t had a chance to walk on the beach in the moonlight,” She laughed.“At least not that I remember.”
They walked down to the beach but didn’t go far before they sat and stared out at the star-filled night.
For a long time, neither said anything.
Chase opened his mouth several times, wanting to find out where she stood on their marriage.He closed his mouth before uttering any words, afraid that if he asked, she’d say she wanted to end their marriage.
“We haven’t discussed the annulment,” Alana said softly, breaking the silence.
His pulse picked up as he stared out at a calm ocean.“No, we haven’t.”
Gentle waves lapped at the shore, the sound soothing when his heart was racing.
“I don’t want one,” she said.
Chase let go of the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.“Good.”Joy swelled in his chest, making it impossible for him to say more in that moment.
“Good?”She looked across at him, an eyebrow cocked.“Is that all you’ve got?”
“It’s the best news I’ve heard all night.”He pulled her into his arms.“I don’t want an annulment either.I believe that, in our inebriated state, we let our walls down and were open to something we might’ve missed had we met when we were sober.”
She smiled up at him.“Best tequila shots I ever drank,” she whispered and lifted her lips to his.“No regrets.”
“No regrets,” he echoed against her mouth as he took her lips and gave her his heart.
Epilogue
Two weekslater
After a week in Cabo San Lucas and another in Eagle Rock, Montana, Alana and Chase flew to San Diego to wrap up Chase’s life there.
After a day filled with cleaning and sorting through the contents of Chase’s apartment, they’d ended the day with Alana sitting on a stool in McP’s Irish Pub in Coronado, California.She smiled as she watched her hunky former Navy SEAL walk across the floor toward her, a grin spreading across his face.When he reached her, he gathered her into his arms and planted a kiss full on her lips, a kiss she gave back as good as she got.
A full minute and a half later, and to the wolf calls of the men around him, Chase lifted his head.
Alana’s cheeks heated, and she chuckled, pulling away just enough to look up into his eyes.“What took you so long?”
“I had to drive around the parking lot several times before I could find a parking space.”He kissed the tip of her nose.“Did you miss me?”
She nodded.“I did.Why were you grinning so much?”
“It’s my natural reaction to seeing my wife,” Chase said, the grin broadening.“I can’t help but think how lucky I am that you chose me.”
“I thoughtyouchoseme, and I just went along with it because I had nothing better to do in Cabo San Lucas,” she teased him.
“You mean you haven’t since fallen for me because of my skills in a kayak?”
“Uh, no,” she said.“You flipped it and took me down with you.You nearly drowned me.If it had been in Cabo, I wouldn’t have minded as much.But getting dunked in a glacier-fed stream in Montana wasn’t my idea of a good time.”
“Hmm.That’s not how I remembered it.I thought I saved you from drowning after you capsized us while trying to kiss me.”He nibbled a line along the length of her neck, slowing to test the pulse beating at the base.“Either way, we lived, and we’re here now,” he murmured against her skin.
