Page 83 of Her Faithful Protector

“Am I your Cami?” she asked softly.

“Damn right you are. I love you, you can take that to the bank.”

Epilogue

Camilla stretched before getting into her hatchback. Her neck was still tight, but a massage from Nic should clear that up. Of course, the one-hour drive to his place was only going to make it worse. Thank God it was the start of spring break; God knew she needed a vacation. She placed her bulging satchel in the passenger seat and started the car.

As she made her way onto the highway, she thought about her talk with Roxanne in her office that afternoon. It was the girl’s first time back on campus. She was considering taking classes next year and she wanted Camilla’s advice. Roxanne hadn’t been the first of the kidnapped students to come and talk to her, and she was glad. It was good to see that they were all gradually recovering. When she found out that Roxanne hadn’t sought counseling, Camilla had advocated hard that she do so. She’d even shared her experience with her therapist. She crossed her fingers that the girl would try it.

She looked over at the briefcase and thought about all the e-mails that were on her computer. It was time to talk seriously to Nic about the career change she wanted to make. She was being headhunted by a couple of companies that were offering her some consulting work that she could do from home with minimal travel. The predictive analysis work that they wanted her to do dovetailed nicely with the papers she had written. She was almost one-hundred percent sure Nic would support her in this decision, but there was still a niggling doubt. If he would just propose, then everything in her world would be great.

That was when she’d decided to take the bull by the horns. For God’s sake, she and Nic had even discussed the fact that they wanted a large family because they both grew up as only children. It should be a done deal, and she was sick of waiting. Who said that the man always had to propose anyway? She wanted to get their life together started. She loved this man with every particle of her being, and she knew deep in her heart that he loved her too. She was tired of waiting, she wanted him tied to her. Now.

This coming vacation would be a perfect time to propose.

If you’re so confident, why are your hands sweaty? she asked herself in the rearview mirror?

“Shut up. It’s going to be fine.”

* * *

Nic snapped the ring box shut and shoved it into the pocket of his cargo shorts. He loved Camilla desperately and had wanted to marry her for years. But since they’d been back together there was one thing stopping him. He wanted to make sure she could handle it when he just up and left in the middle of the night to go on a mission. He knew that she’d worry and wait. It was a lot to ask of someone. Could she handle it?

Since she’d gone back to teaching, he’d been away three times. He didn’t know how, but Camilla had handled it just as well as his other teammates’ women. She was incredible. She didn’t pester him for details, she just welcomed him home with open arms. He had really watched her to make sure she wasn’t putting on a false front, but she wasn’t. So it was time. He couldn’t wait to make her his wife.

Nic had been up in the air as to where to take Camilla for vacation. He sure as hell wasn’t going to take her anywhere tropical. When it turned out that Kane and A.J. were going away for a week and Kane offered up his lake house, Nic jumped at the chance to use it. Camilla was really beginning to relax. He knew that school had really been stressing her out lately.

Tonight he was going to do some grilling and make her a margarita so they could enjoy the sunset out on the deck.

“Do you need any help in there?” Camilla asked as she came into the kitchen.

He looked down at the steaks that he’d marinated and shook his head. “No, I’m good. The potatoes are already on the grill, I’ll put these on now.” He handed her a strawberry margarita which she gladly accepted. He grabbed a beer for himself.

“Hmmm, this tastes good,” she said as she took a sip.

“It’ll taste even better with dinner,” he promised.

He hustled them outside and soon had them eating a perfectly prepared meal. “You did good, Mister Hale.”

“Why thank you, Doctor Ross,” he grinned at her. “Would you like another margarita while we sit in the lounge chairs?”

“No, I’m good.”

They both went about cleaning up the dishes and putting them in the sink, then came back out to the deck. Camilla started sitting down in one of the chairs, but Nic pulled her into his arms and sat her down on his lap.

“Oh, I like this,” she said as she snuggled into his warm body. So did Nic. He always liked how Camilla’s body fit perfectly into his.

She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with magic. He could tell she wanted to say something.

“What, love?” he asked.

She struggled with the pocket of her sundress, then pulled out a small white box.

“What’s this?”

“Open it, Nic.”

He looked into her eyes again. They were a little bit anxious, so he kissed her. Then he opened the box and saw two matching platinum rings, one sized for a man, the other for a woman.