Page 87 of A Texas Hero

“You want everyone to get what they want, but life doesn’t work that way. Whatever happens, I’ll be okay.”

“I want you to be okay,” Zoey said, her fingers in his hair, tugging him close, kissing him. “But we just got started.”

For the next two days, they rarely left each other’s company. Archer packed and made plans, gave up his lease and put things in storage. But every other spare second and night was for Zoey. He drank up her sweetness and kindness, wondering why he couldn’t have somehow met her sooner. Wishing for once that he hadn’t been trusted with a first-rate assignment and been sidelined for longer. But Ian had been impressed with the way Archer managed to deal with such a low-key assignment without once complaining. If he only knew.

He hadn’t been bored since the moment he met Zoey and she tried to sell him some costume jewelry for his nonexistent girlfriend.

On their last night, they were lying outside under the stars in the same sleeping bag, her head on his chest. He’d decided not to tell her that he loved her, not to put that burden on her, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t tell her how much she meant to him.

“After I lost my foot, I thought I’d never be normal again,” Archer said, studying the shimmering sky before him. “I didn’t think I’d ever argue with a woman again, much less be comfortable being intimate. But you healed me. The doctors healed me physically but you healed my soul.”

He caught a tear in her eye with his thumb and wasn’t surprised to see that she was crying.

“I used to think being a soft touch was a bad thing,” he said. “That being kind was a weakness. But you taught me otherwise. There’s strength in kindness, too, and you have so much of that, more than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“And I was stuck on certain beliefs about love, and you taught me how to let go of traditions that weren’t serving me anymore.”

“You were still grieving. It’s okay to grieve as long as it takes, even if it’s forever. Do you want to know something? My therapist suggested I have a mock funeral for my lost foot.”

“No way.”

“She said it would be symbolic. A way to say goodbye. You did that instinctively, keeping traditions alive.”

“Did you have a little ceremony?”

He chuckled. “No. But I did write a note. Then I tore it up. It felt ridiculous, and maybe that was the point. I have more to offer… I’m sure as hell a lot more than just a foot.”

“Or a footnote for anyone,” Zoey joked. “You’re more like a foreword, or the acknowledgments.”

He smiled back and tugged her close. “Who knows? Could be I’m the epilogue.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Zoey said. “You’re the whole book.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

On a warm September morning, Zoey and Archer parted as friends when she tearfully said goodbye to him at the Houston airport. He texted her to let her know he’d arrived safely in China after an exhausting twenty-two-hour flight and had been set up in a hotel room suite with the rest of the team. She would have liked to text daily, but Archer told her he would be on the move and unavailable a lot of the time. Then there was the twelve-hour time difference. Because of that, they’d decided not to put pressure on each other. They weren’t technically in a relationship, because how could they be? Maybe if she’d told him she loved him it would be a different story.

Maybe.

A week later, on Saturday night, Zoey was sitting on the couch watching Frasier and eating popcorn when Archer phoned.

“Hey,” Archer said. “It’s me. I have a moment. We’re just waiting outside the embassy to go to our next location.”

“Are you having fun?”

“What? I didn’t hear that.”

“I asked if you’re having fun, which is stupid because you’re working. You shouldn’t be having fun.”

On the other hand, they’d certainly had fun.

“It’s been interesting. Busy all the time. Mostly, I’ve missed you. Are you seeing anyone?”

Excuse me? It had been a week!

“Why? Are you?”

“No.” He laughed. “No time for that.”