She stared up at him. “You’d really have come to visit me wherever I was working?”
“Even if it was Mars.”
For some reason, this got her in the feels more than anything else he’d said, and she shook her head. “You deserve more than having to follow me around. And plus, I like the idea of a home base, taking shorter and fewer contracts. And I think I’d like to transfer from the urgent care clinics to the actual hospital. It’s better shifts and more stability.”
He was already shaking his head. “Don’t do that for me, Jane. I don’t want to change anything about you.”
“I’m doing it for me,” she said. “Because I need more of us than a visit here and there. You are my person, Levi. And I’m yours.” She took his hand. “You could stay with me until your place is ready. Unless you’d like to keep sleeping on your parents’ couch?”
He grinned. “So I’ll be a kept man. I like it. Don’t worry, I’ll put out as often as you like.”
She laughed. “How long can I keep you?”
He cupped her face. “How does forever sound?”
Her heart turned over in her chest, exposing its underbelly. “It’s a date.”
Epilogue
Five years later
Jane staggered down the stairs, plopped into a dining room chair, and did gimme hands toward Levi’s coffee mug.
He slid it to her.
She sipped, grateful it was still steaming hot. It also had more cream than coffee, which meant . . . “You made this for me.”
There was a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Sleep well?”
She smiled, scooping up Cat, who’d been winding around her ankles. “When you finally let me go to sleep.”
Levi flashed a grin. “I don’t remember hearing any protests.”
“Not a single one.”
In response to this, he hooked a foot around the leg of her chair and pulled her closer.
Miffed, Cat jumped off, and Levi scooped Jane into his lap, pulling her in for a heart-stopping kiss that had her melting into him.
“Ew.”
They broke apart and looked over at Nicole, their four-year-old daughter, who with the exception of Jane’s own green eyes was the spitting image of her daddy. Their daughter was still in pj’s, wearing—if Jane wasn’t mistaken—syrup. A quick glance around the kitchen told the tale. Waffles had been made. Messily.
“Why do you and Daddy kiss so much?” Nicole wanted to know.
“Because we love each other.”
“Is he your boyfriend?”
“Sort of,” Jane said. “But we’re married, so that also makes him my husband.”
“Did you like kissing him before you were married too?”
She glanced at Levi, who was watching the twenty questions quiz with amusement. “I’ve always liked kissing your daddy.”
“My friend Shelley at school says her mommy thinks my daddy’s hot.”
Levi choked on the unfortunate sip of coffee he’d just swallowed.
Jane laughed. “I’d have to agree with her.”
Nicole crawled up into Jane’s lap, and as she was still sitting in Levi’s lap, it was a very tight fit. “Do you have to go to work today, Mommy? Can we go sledding down the hill?”
The house that they’d built had a slope in the backyard—perfect for sledding. Jane kissed the tip of Nicole’s cute little nose. “I’m not working today.” She was now employed at the Sunrise Cove hospital and loving it. She’d taken the week off because Mateo had finally talked Charlotte into saying “I do,” and as her best friend’s matron of honor, Jane had a lot to take care of.