“What?” Julie stared up into the gaze that claimed her heart more and more each day.

“You’re biting your upper lip, baby.” Danny’s roughened thumb stroked across her lip, releasing it from its imprisonment. “Bottom lip means you’re wanting; top means you’re worrying. Talk to me.”

This is it. You need to tell him; no more dancing around the issue. In all the time they had spent together—at Chester’s while she worked, at her house on the nights they stayed together, the trip to meet his family, the hours of talking and making love until the sun came up, fucking when gentle just wasn’t enough for either of them, the possessiveness he emitted as he watched her tending bar, the jealousy she felt when women tried to flirt with him and she could do nothing but serve drinks and smile—in all that time spent loving on one another, they had never professed it to one another.

The lack of words hadn’t been an issue, not even a thought really, as they were affectionate and vocal about their pleasure in each other. She’d say she loved his touch, his laugh, his eyes. He returned with he loved her smile, her lips, her heart, and her sweet pussy, but never had they crossed that final threshold. He was hers, and she his. They were young, but she believed in him, in them. She knew in her heart that he would never hurt her. Yet each time the image of him surrounded by flames crossed her mind, she got breathless, panicked, and petrified. The idea of losing him was more frightening than any of the losses she’d dealt with before. Emotions built up in her chest like champagne bubbles, trying to reach the surface without care as to which got there first.

“I’m yours, Danny, and I love you,” she blurted. “I’ll support you and your decisions, but I’ve got to be honest, the thought of you fighting fires scares the shit out of me. The thought of losing you…I won’t let myself go there.”

Danny’s chest expanded. His eyes softened the way they did when he made slow, sweet love to her, the way they did when she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down so she could kiss him, the way they did the first time she’d made him blueberry pancakes after learning from his father that blueberry was his favorite. It was his love look, and she did, in fact, love it.

“You love me, huh?” His long, muscled arms circled around her waist, securing her in a hug, a feeling she longed for when they were apart. “Well, thank God for that, honey, because I’ve been in love with you since the morning I woke up hung over with nothing but a fuzzy memory, a glass of water, and a couple of aspirin.”

What? Astonished by his admission, she stood silently for a beat.

“Don’t look so surprised, Jules. You’ve known that you love me if not just as long, then close enough,” he murmured into the top of her head. “I learned back in the beginning of our relationship that if I had doubts, I’d ask you instead of assuming. No doubts here. Just didn’t wanna rush you, sweetheart, make you admit something you weren’t ready for. That being said, I was only giving you until July to come to terms with it. It was killing me not to tell you every fuckin’ day how much you owned me.”

“J-July?” Julie stammered.

“Yeah, honey, July. You couldn’t get those words that I’ve seen floating around in your eyes out of your mouth by our one-year anniversary, I was going in after them.”

An unrestrained laugh burst from Julie’s chest. “Danny, oh my God, baby, I wasn’t holding back.” The sharp glare he gave her made her adjust the statement. “Okay, I wasn’t holding back intentionally. Clearly I love you, you said yourself you knew it. Guess what? I knew you felt the same about me. I just… I was scared to admit it, okay?” Out loud, her reasons sounded a bit juvenile, but after what she had been through, juvenile worked for her.

“Talk to me, honey,” Danny repeated.

“I’ve lost the only people I ever loved. Admitting, even to myself, how I felt about you scared me. Deep down I knew my feelings, hell, on the surface I knew them, but I couldn’t voice them without feeling selfish.”

“Selfish?” He cocked his head. “In what way?”

“I guess I was scared if I admitted my feelings, something would happen to you. And you, Danny Marcus, are the most amazing man I’ve ever met. The world deserves to have you in it.” The feel of his rough hand on her cheek was enough to get the butterflies flapping in her belly.

“I’m certainly not complaining, baby, but what changed your mind?”

She inhaled deeply before letting the breath out slowly. “In a couple of months, you’ll be discharged from the army and start the Fire Training Academy. You’re going to be a firefighter.”

The process was a lengthy one though. The application process took almost twelve months, then he’d go through twenty-one weeks of training. Afterward, he needed to find a job. Hopefully his brother’s friend would pull through on that part.

Sighing, Julie closed her eyes, reached for the strength deep within her, and finished her thought. “You’re going to fight fires, Danny. It’s fucking dangerous. I can’t lose you. I won’t. So if you’re going to do this, you’ll damn well do it knowing I love you with my whole heart.”

***

INCREDIBLE. THAT WAS the only word he could use to describe the feeling surging through his body. Hmm, maybe invincible, indestructible, and head-over-fucking-ass in love. Yeah, those would work too.

“Honey?” He reluctantly placed a few inches between their bodies while keeping her hands firmly grasped in his own. “I know how much you love me. I feel it every single day, deep down in the marrow of my bones. I feel it because you own me.” He moved one hand to her chin and tilted her head back so he could look directly into her gray stare. “You…own…me. You’re part of the reason I’m on the path I’ve chosen. If I’m not fighting to make our world safer for you, the least I can do is watch over our little section of it.”

“But—”

“No, babe, listen, I know you’re scared. Firefighters, like soldiers, risk their lives every time they go into the field.” He slid his hand up her cheek and through her silken hair until he cupped her head. “But my father was a fighter, and Neal is too. The protective gear that’s issued is state-of-the-art stuff, honey. Plus, why do you think the training is so intensive? It’s gonna be fine. I’m gonna be fine. Promise.” The small hairs on the back of his neck prickled when he uttered that last part. Danny didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep, another lesson his father had drilled into him as a child, but Julie needed reassurance, and Danny believed in himself enough to make the statement.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she muttered before wrapping her arms tightly around him.

Smart woman, Julie was. The only response he gave was a tighter hug and a silent prayer that he’d never make a liar of himself.

Chapter Six

Now You’ve Got Her

“SCARED OR LIBERATED?” Chester asked as he slid an icy mug of beer in front of Danny.

“What’s that?” Danny barely heard the question because his eyes were glued to Julie’s firm, Daisy Duke-covered ass as she made her way from behind the bar to the storage room. The woman’s body could tempt a priest, and he was no saint.

Chester’s deep chuckle pulled Danny’s mind straight out of the gutter. “I asked if you were scared or liberated? Every soldier feels at least one of those things at the end of their service, son. So which is it?”

The question wasn’t one he’d given any conscious thought to, but it had definitely swirled around in his chest over the past few weeks.

“Peace,” Danny finally replied.

He’d joined the army as a boy on a revenge mission. He’d wanted to avenge his brother’s death, his mother’s demise, and his family’s pain. He had dragons to slay and monsters to kill. What he got instead was a sense of unity, the strength of knowledge, and an understanding of his brother that he’d have never gotten had he not committed himself to the armed forces. Jeff had died believing in his country, fighting for his people, and honoring his oath. After four years, Danny was leaving the army as a grown man with his demons slain and his heart no longer numb. That last part had to do with the strawberry-blonde beauty that had invaded his life and colored it in a way he’d never noticed was missing.