Taking his hands in hers and massaging them, she asked, “Who steered you toward the military and FBI?”

“The cop I told you about? With the good search programs? He caught me on his computer. Instead of kicking me out as he probably should have, he took me under his wing.” He smiled briefly, remembering. “Taught me how to not get caught. Suggested the military would be a great way to learn some respect for authority and a place where I’d learn to be a part of a unit. And he was right. I grew up a lot. As for the FBI . . .” He shrugged. “Felt right.”

She smiled. “You’re full of surprises.”

And, he knew, she related to a lot of what he’d grown up with. The uncertainty, moving from family to family, not sure where she fit in . . . He couldn’t believe he’d been so blind when it came to her. He never realized that the things that he’d shoved down deep inside and made so insignificant to him would have meant so much to her to know. How he’d gotten his name. Where he’d lived. His early experiences. And he wondered if he’d ever fucked up anything as much as he had his relationship with her.

He looked at her in the pale dawn light. Ran a finger along her temple, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, needing to touch her. He’d missed this. He’d missed her. “I’m sorry I haven’t shared more with you,” he said. “I’m going to change that.”

“Uh-huh.” She smiled. “You, Walker Scott, are going to become an open book?”

“With you.”

“Why?”

He had to laugh at the question. “Only you would question it.”

“Humor me.”

“Okay,” he said. “I like being with you.” He grinned. “In and out of bed.”

She stared at him for a beat, then dropped the eye contact and turned to stare at the water and the streaks of color across the sky. “Spending time together was never our problem,” she said. “For those few days in Vegas, I was so happy.”

“What’s stopping us from being that happy now?”

She looked at him as if he’d gone daft. “Besides the fact that this”—she gestured between them—“is over after tomorrow’s wedding?”

“And why is that again?”

“Because I’m leaving to go home to Santa Barbara, back to the grind. And you’re going back to the FBI three thousand miles away.” She paused. “Aren’t you?”

He drew a deep breath, needing to be honest but also not wanting to scare her off. Again. “It is where my life was only a week ago.”

Crickets literally chirped.

“Right,” Maze finally said, and tried to move off him.

But he held her in place. “Was,” he repeated.

She studied him for a moment. “You really think this could work?”

“Pretty sure we proved that earlier.” He smiled.

“You know what I mean.”

“I do. And yeah.” He ran his hand down her back, snugging her in closer to him. “I’ve always known it could work, Maze. But . . .”

“I hate the but already.”

He palmed and squeezed her sweet ass. “But . . . it means getting rid of all the bullshit.”

She was still for a long beat, so still he wasn’t sure she was breathing. Then she carefully inhaled. “By bullshit, do you mean mine or yours?”

“Both,” he said, and could almost hear her self-doubts. “Hey,” he said softly, nudging her a bit to make her look at him. “Hey.”

“What?”

“I wouldn’t change a single thing about you, so stop thinking that.”

“Get out of my head, dammit.”

“I could only wish to be in your head, Maze.”

“No, you don’t. It’s a scary place.”

“Do you remember when we first met?” he asked.

“Yes.” She gave a small smile. “I was in Caitlin’s front yard when her parents pulled up with you.”

He nodded. “You were in the middle of a brawl with the kid next door. Like actually rolling around on the grass in a full-out war.”

“Not my finest moment,” she admitted softly.

“Are you kidding?” He was smiling at just the memory. “He’d thrown a rock at Michael and beaned him in the head. You were standing up for him, giving the little punk asshole a badly needed lesson.”

“That’s not how the parentals saw it. I was grounded for a week.”

“I don’t care how anyone else saw it. I took one look at you, bleeding from your nose, hair wild—”

She grimaced, and he nudged her again, wanting eye contact for this.

“Your jeans were ripped and your shirt had dirt all over it. Your expression was fierce and unapologetic and . . . well, pissed off at the world. And I thought you were the most impressive thing I’d ever seen.”

She looked embarrassed. “Come on.”

“You were amazing and incredible, and I still think that.”

She swallowed hard and her eyes skittered back to the view. “You see me differently than everyone else. They see the wild, feral kid, no plans, no dreams.”

He squeezed her hand. “That was never true. Well . . . okay, maybe the wild, feral part is,” he said, laughing when she rolled her eyes. “But you always had plans and dreams. You wanted to be a bartender. You used to make us fun drinks from stuff in the fridge.”

“Some people think I should aim higher.”

“What people?”

She lifted a shoulder. “People.”

“Since when do you care what anyone thinks?” he asked.

She bit her lower lip. “Okay, it’s me. I worry that I should be aiming higher. I guess that’s why I’m in school too. Maybe I can be a business manager at a place where I can also take on some bartending shifts.”

“Cat told me you volunteer at a women’s shelter.”

“Cat has loose lips.”

He smiled. “She loves you. She’s proud of you. And so am I.”

She squirmed, uncomfortable with the praise, so he changed the subject.

“We all had simple dreams back then. Simple doesn’t mean not good enough. And the way I see it, you’re the only one of us currently following your dream.”

“You were interested in owning your own place because you like people and also like to gather them around you. But more than that, you wanted something of your own that no one could take away from you.”

“You remember all that?” he asked, surprised.

“I remember everything,” she said softly. “Caitlin wanted to be the cook. Heather wanted to be in charge of the books because she likes numbers.” She laughed a little. “God, we had it so good back then and didn’t even know it. Why can’t life be like that all the time?”

“It could be. With you, I know it could be.”

She looked stunned . . . and uncertain. “How do you know?”

She was still in his lap, so he turned her to fully face him, wrapping his arms around her. “Because being with you now is as easy as it was back then. Don’t you get it yet, Maze? You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to my life.”