Carlise’s belly clenched. She couldn’t wait to give Riggs babies. She pulled out of his arms and turned to the apartment door. “Come on,” she said breathlessly.
“Where?”
“To bed. If April’s coming over, we don’t have a lot of time.”
“Your shoulder—” Riggs started, but Carlise shook her head and interrupted him.
“Is fine. You’re just going to have to be creative. I need you, Riggs. Inside me. It’s been days. And we’re finally alone. All this talk of babies and being yours has made me extremely horny.”
He chuckled, letting her lead him into their bedroom. Baxter, seeing where they were headed, went to the expensive dog bed Carlise had bought for him to take a nap.
“Help me get this shirt off,” she told Riggs.
He carefully grabbed the hem and leaned down to rest his forehead against hers. “I love you,” he said softly.
“I love you too,” Carlise said on a sigh. “And to answer your question . . . soon. I’ll marry you as soon as I can arrange it.”
“Good.”
Then there were no more words as they used their bodies to prove exactly how much they loved each other.
Later that night, Chappy was glad he and Carlise had taken the time to make love when they had. Because not only had April shown up with a casserole, but the rest of the guys had been right on her heels. JJ reported that her mom had gotten to the airport just fine, and they were celebrating the fact that both Carlise and Chappy—and Baxter—were safe and everything had turned out all right.
His friends were sitting on the floor around the coffee table in front of his couch, everyone playing a cutthroat game of Uno, when Chappy got up to refill drinks. He stood in his small kitchen and watched as Carlise threw her head back and laughed at something April had said.
It was amazing how well she was doing. Of course, she’d had a few nightmares, and he’d held her while murmuring into her hair that she was safe and brave and how proud he was.
What had almost happened to Carlise made him physically ill whenever he thought about it, which was more often than he wanted to admit. He’d never forget the moment when he’d opened that bunker door and seen her. Lips blue, gasping for air . . . she had literally been minutes away from dying. He had no doubt of that.
Baxter had saved her again. And she’d saved herself. He was prouder than he could ever fully articulate. And he’d hated to take his eyes off her ever since that moment. It had been excruciating to leave the room while the doctors dug the bullet out of her body. And even though his friends and the doctors and nurses had all tried to convince him to go to his apartment, take a shower, and get some sleep, that Carlise wouldn’t even know he was there, he couldn’t make himself leave.
He’d almost lost her.
Had come way too damn close.
It hadn’t helped that it happened the first time he’d left her alone by going to town. It was going to take a while for him to get over that. He was grateful business was slow right now and he hadn’t had to leave her alone since.
It would take Carlise a while to get over the fact that her best friend had been the one terrorizing her. But together, they’d make it through.
She’d agreed to marry him. To have his babies. To stay here in Maine. He’d never felt like a particularly lucky man, but now he felt as if he was the luckiest person on the planet.
“Hey,” Cal said quietly from right next to him, making Chappy jolt in surprise.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Cal said. “You good?”
“Yeah,” Chappy said, keeping his voice low. “Thanks.”
“How’s she really doing?” his friend asked, motioning toward Carlise in the other room with his head.
“Amazingly well,” Chappy said. “The doctor said there wasn’t much damage from the bullet, and she’ll be back to normal in no time.”
Cal nodded. “They found her friend.”
Chappy blinked. “They did?” The last he knew, the search was still ongoing.
“Yeah. Her body was swept down along the front of the slide, and the searchers found her earlier today.”
Chappy was relieved. The last thing he wanted was to have to think about Susie’s body being out in the wilderness for the rest of winter, revealing itself only after all the snow had melted. He’d wanted her found for Carlise’s sake. For both their sakes. They needed to move on. He dreaded having to tell Carlise and potentially bringing all the bad memories to the foreground. But she’d be all right. He’d make sure of it.