eyes do that thing they did. My body ached for her touch. I forced myself to focus on her words.
“John, I’m not looking to get married and have children right now, you understand. I love what I do and don’t want to have to put things on hold because of a wedding or even to have kids because they are what comes next after that band of gold.”
I swallowed hard at her words, amazed that she was even voicing what I had run through my own head many times over the past few weeks. I turned and watched Mike run after Mark then body slam him into a snowbank. Mia and Savi were sledding across the icy driveaway.
“John?”
“I’ll make you a deal.” I leaned my forearms on the railing. “Let me marry you, and the rest can fall into place whenever. There are enough kids at the house right now, and I’m not in a hurry for any either. But you have to let me make you mine officially.”
“No,” she retorted, but I heard her amusement in my offer.
“Yes, and I will give you a steel ring, not gold.”
She laughed.
“Come on, Sloane, you know my charm will win you over.”
“This is hardly romantic, John.”
“Oh, you want romance?” I chuckled playfully. “Okay, I can do romance.”
“Oh my God! And who said I would say yes to marriage?”
“Me, because,” I changed my tone to a serious one, “if you love me even a tenth of how much I love you, then you would say yes.”
Silence.
I waited because I wasn’t joking. It was the truth, I loved her more than I ever imagined I could. If she needed a moment to let that sink in, then so be it. I wasn’t going anywhere.
“I love you, John, and I never wanted to fall in love with someone in the Army, but that’s where I am now. Just let me get through this, and we can talk. Okay?”
I smiled at Savi, who gave me a thumbs up, asking if everything was okay. I gave her a wave and knew Sloane needed time to process. Her life would be changed more than mine would be.
“Okay,” I brushed the snow off my gloves, “I’ll wait for now.”
She let out a long sigh. “Why do I think something more is coming?”
“Have you ever heard of how Keith won over Lexi?”
“Not really, no.”
“Well,” I laughed a little, and Mark looked over, “let’s just say we Blackstone men don’t give up easily.”
“I can tell.” I could hear her smile through her words. “I should get some sleep. I’ll call you after ten.”
“Night, babe.”
“Night.”
Chapter Eighteen
Sloane
The last soldier from Nick Stewart’s class never showed up for our meeting. A part of me wasn’t surprised. The news had spread fast that I was digging. Problem was, they thought I was trying to uncover who the general was who was probably being paid off, but he was never my focus. Well, to be fair, now that I knew it wasn’t my father, I couldn’t care less.
But where lies were buried, guilty consciences were never far from the surface. I just wished I could have had three minutes alone with this guy to ask one question and watch his face as he answered. I found it incredible that these guys hated Nick so much that when I said he had been killed not even a flicker of remorse could be detected. Clearly, Nick had been a sore spot for all of them in the class, and it was obvious he was a source of resentment and anger for them when he had been accepted into North Rock right out of training. But aside from all that, regardless of how he got there, Nick had been killed by the cartel on one of his very first missions. Somehow the cartel were one step ahead of Blackstone, and that was what bothered me more.
How?
I rubbed my hands over my face and wished I could move just one step forward in this case. Something was there, most likely staring me in the face. I simply needed to mute the white noise to find out what I was missing.
“Am I happy to see your face!” Kelly wrapped her arms around me and kissed my cheek. “Ellie, come take a seat.”
“Hey, Ellie, remember me? I’m Sloane, a friend of your brother’s.” I addressed her, but I could tell she was tired by the way her eyelids looked heavy. “How was your day?”